Mooney Museum Mural, Day 2

The mural looked like this in the morning. If you ran past it, it looked finished, but it needed detail.

Those middle hills were a bit confounding, so I just hunkered down in the mud to plant an orange grove. Oh-oh, this is going to be S L O W. Some friends stopped by, and I decided to be like Tom Sawyer. If someone had let me paint on a public wall in a park when I was 8, I would have been paralyzed with doubt, but maybe have just gone for it anyway. I told Justin that it didn’t matter what he did, just make some marks to see what it felt like, and I’d paint over anything that turned out weird.

County Parks Director Neil suggested wildflowers, which OF COURSE I should have thought of myself, and OF COURSE I immediately added in.There are poppies, fiddleneck, and mustard. You might have to see them in person to fully appreciate them.

Next, I will finish the details above the grove – a barn, some non-grove-like trees, a couple of wind machines. Then, I’ll move to the panel on the far right.

Stay tuned!

Mural at Mooney Grove

If you grew up around here, you are probably accustomed to hearing about the county park on the south side of Visalia as “Mooney’s Grove”. When I painted a mural to go inside the Tulare County Historical Museum at Mooney Grove about 10 years ago, I learned that I had been saying the name wrong my entire life. 

I began my 4 part mural there this week on this building, listening to yacking Canada geese all day long. (They aren’t as bad as barking dogs in spite of being louder.)

First, the masking tape to protect the borders.

Getting the sky painted quiets the rude Voice of Incompetence and Insecurity in my head.

Next, I located the mountains, following my photos. (Of course I included Alta Peak with the elephant.)

Then, I got confused. Too many photos, too many viewpoints, too many options. So, I took a break to enjoy my surroundings at Mooney Grove, a park set aside for its Valley Oak trees.

The clock chimes every hour. It is pleasant, a nice alternative to the fire whistle in Exeter which almost knocked me off a scaffolding at noon until I learned to climb down and cover my ears at 11:59 each day while painting there.

The hills continued to confound me, so I just started covering things with paint to sort out later. 

Standing back helps me to see what needs to be adjusted.
Eventually I was able to find some hills and figure out the right colors. The wide band of green on the bottom will become an orange grove.

Not bad for one day’s work! So, I went for a walk around the park. When the mural is finished, I’ll show you a collection of photos of this lovely piece of somewhat cultivated nature on the outskirts of Visalia.

A Day of Variety

Sometimes it is a little hard to work from home. There are many other things requesting attention, opportunities to be productive in other ways, chances to just lollygag around or find other occupations. Last week I had such a day.

It began with wandering outside while drinking coffee and seeing a bit of pruning, and then finding Tucker in my herb garden.

See why I want to be outside this time of year?

Notice that these flowers are in the primary colors.

Next, I made plans with a friend for a walk at the lake early in the afternoon, and that made me willing to dive back into work, knowing my time was limited to paint. Sometimes deadlines help me to focus.

This was dry enough to begin detailing until it was time to gather up my friend and head to Kaweah Lake. (Oh-oh, I can’t remember if it is Kaweah Lake or Lake Kaweah again; what’s with the mental block on this subject? This may be why we’ve always called it “The Lake”.) We just walked in the lake bottom, not close to the lake except where it covered the pretty bridge.

The lake level is rising slowly. We walked to beneath the Horse Creek Bridge, and the mustard was striking.

After our walk,  I was able to paint a bit longer on the Mineral King cabin oil painting commission. I think I can get even more detailed on this, but it needs to dry a bit more.

And thus we conclude a day of work combined with distractions.

Commissioned Mineral King Oil Painting

You saw this photo of the beginnings of a commissioned Mineral King oil painting.

Here is the reference photo for the little cabin.

The customer wanted it to be in a vertical format, and I suggested making Farewell Gap more dominant. She approved of that first sketch on the canvas, so I began painting.

This was a combination of the familiar and the fake with the goal of believability.

When this dries, I’ll start “drawing” with my paintbrush. Adding details to the cabin will be particularly enjoyable, because you may recall that I love to draw.

7 Things I Learned in February

  1. A Life Less Throwaway by Tara Button is a good book which encourages the reader to own less with lots of how-to tips. The main idea is that if we own high quality lasting goods, we go through less items, waste less, and have simpler lives. (The author probably cares more about the planet than our individual improvement, but it is good anyway.) I’ve thought this way for years, which is why I am still carrying the Coach purse that I bought in the mid 1990s. Tara Button wasn’t born yet. 
  2. Oval pre-stretched canvas is available, but I cannot show you the project until April because of the top secret nature of the job. Just another odd job, full of its own special challenges.
  3. It takes 6 weeks of exercising to actually build muscle; if an exercise gets easier before the 6 weeks, it is simply muscle memory. I learned this from Vance Physical Therapy, a place in Exeter with a terrific physical therapist named Josh Vance. 
  4. Did you know that old fire hoses make durable and beautiful purses and tote bags? I learned this in the book I read and was so curious that I looked them up. Elvis and Kresse Reclaimed fire hose (I’m not in the market – my purse from the last century is still just fine, thanks.)
  5.  Second date update podcast – Listening to this podcast is similar to wanting to gawk at wrecks along the road. It is horrifying and fascinating and will make you both shudder and laugh. Most of the troubles could be avoided by simply not drinking. . . are these people stupid? The rest of the troubles could be avoided by telling the truth. 
  6. Coffee beans cost less at Trader Joe’s than at Winco. TJ’s is .37/ounce; Winco is .43/oz. Too bad there are no TJ’s in Tulare County. No amount of petitioning can convince them that we are a good location.
  7. Acorn woodpeckers are what we have around here. I didn’t know their specific name until I painted one in the mural completed in February at St. Anthony’s Retreat in Three Rivers.

Central Calif. Artist in Sandy Eggo

After the family wedding on the Queen Mary, I headed down to Sandy Eggo. San Diego. (When I lived there during college, I saw an occasional bumper sticker that read, “I go to Sandy Eggo State University”.)

First, a stop at my mural. I didn’t paint it, but it seems that someone must have painted it for me.

My sister and I love to walk through neighborhoods. Look at the name of this one:

I saw a business there called “Abnormal” something-or-other. 

We walked several miles looking at houses and yards. Because it costs so much to live there, even the most modest homes are very well maintained, landscaped, and just doggone cute. I really love the attention to detail, especially in tile work.

This corner with all sorts of blue treasures in the dirt grabbed me. I am used to looking for treasures, an occasional blue sparkly something to take home. But these clearly belonged at this address. (Why would someone sprinkle blue sparkly things in his yard this way??)
We found a monastery. A real monastery! It is so very beautiful, a large piece of property with gardens galore, high walls and hedges to keep the mystery in and the gawkers out. (Tulare County could use some nice architecture like this.) 

There were several Little Free Libraries, but this was the first one I’ve seen with succulents growing on the roof.

This citrus tree had 5 varieties budded onto it. I think this type of tree is called “tutti-fruiti”.

So much variety in the plant life. This upside-down morning glory is on a shrub.

Then, we went to the beach. Of course we went to the beach – we were in Sandy Eggo!! We Central California natives are always happy to walk along the Pacific Ocean.

Monday will be the post about things I learned in February, and then I hope to return to our regularly scheduled broadcast on Tuesday. 

This means I will stop diverting your attention away from my art and get back to the business of being your Central California artist.

The Queen Mary

Yesterday I promised photos of the Queen Mary, a beautiful ship docked in the Long Beach, California harbor. One of my dearest cousins got married on this fantastic boat last weekend. I’ll keep the family photos private, but am happy to share with you some of the photos of the ship.

My first view – wow.

I went early so I could wander around and take in the sights.

The day had rain, clouds, sunshine, and rainbows.

Tomorrow I’ll show you where I went next.

Random List

  1. Customer approved of this beginning arrangement on a commissioned oil painting.
  2. Thought I’d begin a new mural this week but life brought an annoying interruption and interfered with my plans.
  3. Someone bought this painting last fall and just finished making payments; she’ll claim it as her own this week. 
  4. The Queen Mary is beautiful. I’ll show you photos tomorrow.

Until tomorrow, . . .

More Mineral King Oils

Drying in the morning sun; this time all three vertical 6×18″ Mineral King oil paintings are finished.

This is how they look in the afternoon light. I’ll wait until they are completely dry, then photograph them, because they are too big for the scanner.

Lupine comes in many colors, so I just mixed up a shade of bluish purple that looked good with the painting. The photo lupine color was too pink and it wasn’t believable to me.

Next, I moved on to the current painting of my favorite subject, the Oak Grove Bridge.

This is the stage where I detail it to the nth degree, the style of painting that plein air painters usually don’t bother with. (They might be too tired of swatting bugs by them.)

Oh my, I really like this one! (Yep, I am allowed to like my own work.)

Have you noticed that ever since I published Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names that I almost always include wildflowers in my paintings? What took me so long to figure this out?

One more Mineral King painting, this one a commission, working from a customer photo and some conversation about how to present things. (Not the Honeymoon cabin – this cabin is no longer standing).Before I go any further, my customer will need to let me know if this is the arrangement she has in mind.

Pippin

I’ve heard a few blog readers express their appreciation for glimpses of our cats. We currently have three, down from seven last spring when Scout, now deceased, gave birth to five babies, 2 of which found safe homes, and one which disappeared.

Trail Guy and I are doing our best to protect our herd. There is a strict curfew each night, and we herd them into the outbuildings where they are imprisoned during the darkness for their own safety and our peace of mind.

However, we have lost plenty of cats during daylight hours, so we are wary, leery, cautiously optimistic, and possibly slightly weird about those who remain.

Of these three, Pippin is the friendliest and the most photogenic, possibly the most loveable. (With apologies to Tucker and Jackson, but you two could try to show up more often and be friendlier, you know!)

Trail Guy took all of today’s photos. Is it possible that he is more Cat Disordered than I am??