cabinart | Cabin Art

This, That and The Other Thing (and my job description)

Natalie, please tell “Jee-um” Happy Birthday from me today – thank you!

This rain is wonderful. I went driving around, not just for the sake of burning fuel, but to see some stuff. Artists have to see stuff.

What’s my job description? I see stuff and then decide if it is worth showing to other people.

I saw lots and lots of water, here in January in Tulare County. This is the St. John’s River. I crossed it several times, and also crossed the Kaweah, drove along several irrigation ditches, and crossed the Friant-Kern canal several times.

If the bridge above looks familiar, it is because you may have seen it on the 2017 calendar. This also gives you a chance to admire my ability to clean up real life, which tends to be messy and cluttered.

What’s my job description? I fix visual messes.

St. Johns bridge

That was “This“.

Now for “That“.

That oil painting of the P fruits is coming along. If you are wondering, the dimensions are 6×18″.

The Other Thing is how beautiful it is in Three Rivers this time of year, especially when it is a wet season. Please excuse the lines across the photo. They are actually what enable me to post on this blog, but unfortunately they connect me to Huge & Rude. (the phone co.)

Can you see the elephant on Alta Peak? Here is a little visual aid as to how it is posed:

elephant

The trunk on my elephant is going the wrong direction and his head is bit outsized; you’ll have to use your imagination a bit.

What’s my job description? I help people understand what they are seeing.

Thus we conclude the post “This, That and The Other Thing”. Thanks for stopping by.

Getting Real About Oil Paintings

Did you think I’ve spent the last weeks just driving and walking around, marveling at the river, snow, rain, and Samson in the water?

Nope. I’ve been oil painting every workday. See?

The 2 oil paintings of Sequoia trees are drying, along with the blacksmith shop. (The Commissioner likes it!!)

And, what is this? Sometimes when a painting doesn’t sell, I turn it into something else. This used to be a field of red tulips. No one cared except me.

Hi Samson. Stay out of my palette.

People in my life care more about Sequoia trees than tulips.

Whoa. What is this? It used to be a field of red and yellow tulips. I hope people in my life care more about pomegranates than tulips. I thought briefly about painting all the fruits that begin with “P” – poms, pears, peaches, plums, persimmons and maybe even a pumpkin. A pumpkin would be large and weird with those others. And what would I name it? “Ps”? I could throw in a quince and call it “Ps & Q”. . . never mind.

Hi Samson. Like your new perch? Stay out of my palette. That concrete block is holding down a box over the phone because you have knocked it off the hook too many times.

Part of the business of art is being honest with myself. I have to ask hard questions and face the answers. Why doesn’t a particular painting sell? Maybe it isn’t good enough, or maybe no one cares. I have to face facts and paint things that sell. Otherwise, I might need to get a job.

Sequoia painting

Sell, Sequoia Tree, Sell. I really don’t want to paint this one out. Paint it over? Paint over it? And don’t worry, this isn’t finished.

Never mind. Back to the easels. . .

oil paintings Sequoia painting

Painting My Favorite Bridge

My favorite bridge is the Oak Grove Bridge on the Mineral King Road. I’d link you to previous posts about it, but things aren’t working very well on my website right now. Besides, I already talk too much and take up too much of your time. Current “wisdom” on blogging is to only post once a week. My head would blow up if I did that.

Here is the gradual, incremental, snail-paced evolution of a messy canvas into a commissioned oil painting.

Thanks for stopping by and listening and looking.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

Samson wanted to help.

I wonder if he got any white paint on the tree?

Field Trip up the Mineral King Road

One day while I was painting the Oak Grove Bridge, Trail Guy said he wanted to drive up the Mineral King Road and see how things looked. I put down my brushes and put on my boots.

All that muddy water obscured the boulders and rock formations that I have been struggling to decipher in the photos.

Through the windshield after the we reached the snow.

I got out of the truck to lock the hubs. Glad I wore those LLBean boots.

Lookout point after I locked those hubs. — Lookout Point after I locked those hubs.

We didn't make it very far. This is at the asphalt pile turnout. The snow was about 3" deep there. — We didn’t make it very far. This is at the asphalt pile turnout, maybe 10 miles from the bottom of the road. The snow was about 3″ deep there.

Trail Guy closed the lower gate. Bit of a slide there, but it is easy to drive around.

This is Squirrel Creek, near Lake Canyon, AKA Mitchell Ranch, AKA Sweet Ranch, AKA Way Station. It goes dry in many summers.

Mineral King Oak Grove Bridge

Water Cat

With all the rain, Samson has been quite interested in the movement of water.
samson 1 Samson 2 Samson 3 Samson 4 Samson 5 Samson 6 It is official. I’ve become a bore with photos of my cat. He’s really Michael’s cat, not mine. He took all the photos. Just wanted to be clear. Does that make me less of a bore?

Don’t answer that.

Rain in Three Rivers

Three Rivers got 9″ of rain in 10 days. This is phenomenal! We walked to the Dinely Bridge several times to check out the river.

I can’t remember how many storms – one big one? a wave of storms? The early ones were warm and the river was very exciting.

See that white stick on the lower left? It shows the depth of the river. I’m not sure the water even reached the stick last winter. In these storms, the stick washed away.

Looking downstream, Kaweah River middle fork, from the Dinely bridge.

Looking upstream. St. Anthony Retreat Center is the group of white buildings with red roofs in the distance.

Looking downstream again. Either the stick is buried or it is washed away. See the little rocks sticking up on the distant ridge? Stay tuned.

Looking upstream on the Dinely Road side of the river.

Looking upstream on the highway side of the river.

Okay, now for those rocks in the distance. They are called “Comb Rocks”, either because they look like a rooster’s comb or because someone named Mr. Comb (or Combs?) owned them. I don’t know.

What I do know is that my walking buddy said to me one morning, “Turn your head sideways and look at those rocks. Whose profile does that resemble?”

That’s what I’d call a peculiar sight.

Three Rivers

Gotta See it in Person

The old Kaweah Colony blacksmith shop went away in a flood in 1997. I remember that flood because we were house hunting in Three Rivers during that time. It was interesting to drive around and see washouts and high water marks, but I wasn’t aware of the Kaweah Colony blacksmith shop.

I’ve been painting from this old photo.

kaw_col_blacksmith_shop

The background is invisible in the photo, but that’s no excuse for leaving part of a painting blank. This necessitated a field trip.

These photos look like a mess but show me how to fill in the missing parts. Sort of. Real life is so messy. Scenery often involves tangled gray, green and brown matter.

These photos weren’t enough. For one thing, I was in the wrong location. When I went back to the right place, my camera battery was dead, so I did a sketch. It wasn’t complete enough, because the tree to the right of the building remained a mystery. I can see the trunk and main branches, but what are the leaves doing??

It was raining the afternoon I needed to know. I went anyway. This time I took 2 cameras and an extra battery and a parka.

Here is the tree, missing a few branches. Can’t see the leaves because there aren’t any, but I can tell it is an oak, and I get an idea of the tangled gray, green and brown shapes behind it.

These are the 2 sycamores to the left of the shop. These photos helped immensely with detail. All the photos taken in the rain helped.

Finally, I think I may be finished with this commissioned oil painting. I sent this photo to the commissioner (doesn’t that sound official? The man actually owns a tire shop or 2. . . I wonder if he’d like being referred to as “Commissioner”.)

Kaweah Colony Blacksmith Shop

I hope The Commissioner thinks I am finished. If not, I’ll make the adjustments that he requests. That’s how commissioned oil painting works. But, maybe he’s gotta see it in person too. (I KNOW “gotta” isn’t a word, just like “prolly” isn’t, but sometimes a writer’s gotta say what she’s gotta say.)

commission oil painting oil paintings Three Rivers

Sometimes in Church

Sometimes in church, I draw.
lupe-helen

And sometimes I paint.

First Baptist National Forest

I gave my church snow-covered mountains for Christmas.

Things are a little different in Three Rivers than down the hill.

drawing mural Three Rivers

Simple

Painting the Oak Grove Bridge is anything but simple. After two more hours on the current oil painting of my favorite bridge, it looks like this:

I spend a ton of time sorting out the shapes under the bridge. No one really knows or cares if they are exactly right, so I’m not sure why I spend so much time on them. I think it is so everything will fit. What if I leave out an important rock?

The colors and textures don’t matter at this stage. I just concentrate on getting the proportions and angles right, and try to get close in values (the darks and lights).

Seeing those rocks and parts of water is tricky. The shrubs keep growing and obstructing the views. The water is reflective, so it appears as simply white in places on the photo.

I’ve stood on the bridge and stared at the rocks and water, and it seems completely different from what is in the photo. I might be a bit simple.

This doesn’t have to be perfect, just believable. I’ve drawn and painted the Oak Grove Bridge so many times that it seems I ought to be able to stop using photos. I can’t. It is possible that I am a bit simple.