Author: cabinart

A List and an Attitude

Here is a list about the vicissitudes* of my life; you may detect a certain attitude coming through. Tomorrow I will try to resume a more professional and detached approach to blogging.

Samson caught his first rat! Yep, rat, not mouse. He played with it until Michael took it away. His cat food must be too tasty for him to consume a rodent.
I updated the web page of The Cabins of Wilsonia so you can now look inside the book a little bit. There are arrows on the side of the book that take you to those interior pages. Or use the dots. Or is it my outdated browser on my outdated operating system on my outdated laptop that makes it appear this way?
I no longer have a cell phone. What? You didn’t know I had one? Yes, a flip phone with a broken hinge served me somewhat for about 15 years. The Huge and Rude and Indifferent Phone Company offered me a replacement and said the old one would no longer work by the first of the year. I accepted the new phone, waited until the last possible minute, and called Huge&Rude to activate it. No problem. Done. Nope, not done. Called Huge&Rude again who insisted that I needed a passcode. A what? Can’t set it up over the phone, sorry, my apologies. Maybe via email? Oh guess what – they’ve had the wrong email address for me since 2001. My apologies, Ma’am, can’t correct the eddress without a passcode. You’ll have to go to a Huge&Rude store to set one up. I decided that I’d rather not continue with Huge&Rude, so I asked to cancel. Oh guess what – they cannot cancel over the phone but I need to visit Huge&Rude in person in order to set up a passcode in order to cancel. Why have a cell phone if there is sketchy service at my address and if I choose to not be available 24/7? No reason. I’m not driving 40 miles to stand in line at a store for 2 hours to get a passcode to cancel.
My laptop is on its last legs. I had to make a very expensive decision. I hope nothing gets interrupted or lost.
This is getting unpleasant. Here’s a better subject: the Mineral King Room at the Three Rivers Museum will have its grand opening on Sunday, January 22, from 1-4 p.m. You can see my murals in person, listen to people talk about Mineral King, look at artifacts and learn about the mining and the Disney era, and eat and drink.
UPDATE – and now I’m hearing that the various for sale pages aren’t working on the website. HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?? Somebody make it stop.

If you made it to the end of the list, you deserve a treat.

Cruise, anyone? Wouldn’t it be nice to escape the rats, the Huge&Rudes, updates, and broken things?

Dream on.

Okay, here’s what I really think:

Samson agrees, but he is a bit more attitudinal.

*Vicissitudes is a fantastic word. It means “changes of circumstance or fortune, typically unpleasant or unwelcome”.

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Happy Birthday, Trail Guy!

If you see this man around, treat him to a vanilla latte with a blueberry muffin. He is aging well, dontcha think? 😎

more-trail cruiseship

Happiness is being surprised by Trail Guy!

Trail Guy throwing rocks at Soda Springs

Heart of Agriculture

THIS IS THE COVER OF THE NEXT COLORING BOOK!

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AND THIS IS ONE OF THE INTERIOR PAGES!

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Yes, there is a hidden heart in every picture, even this one. I did my best to not have to draw cotton, but the customers (plural – there was a committee) requested it in spite of my explaining that it would be boring to color. So, I drew cotton, lots and lots and even more!

The coloring books are not yet ordered, but when they are, I’ll add them to the website, under the For Sale, then Books, then Coloring Books. There will be 20 colorable pages, and the price will be $15.

Thank you, Tulare County Farm Bureau, for the opportunity to draw the agriculture of this place that feeds the world!!

Tulare County art

Because Jimmy Asked

Who is Jimmy? A friend of mine.

What did he ask? Something about William O. Clough and his memorial and Franklin Lake’s dam and the dams built on lakes by the Mt. Whitney Power Co. It wasn’t a specific question, more of a request for more information. He asked me, because Google sent him to my website (probably among several hundred thousand others).

Bill Clough was a colorful guy (an early Trail Guy, perhaps?) who had the job of closing the dams for the winter that Mt. Whitney Power Co. built on four lakes out of Mineral King. Or maybe he opened them. . . I don’t know how this works. (Yes, it still works, but might involve helicopters for transportation these days.)

One fall, Bill didn’t return. The following spring or summer, or maybe even a later spring or summer, someone found his boots near the little cabin he built about halfway between Mineral King and Franklin Lake. Did he live in the cabin? In the summer?

So many questions. . . wish the guy had kept a journal, or a blog or something else helpful.

This giant red fir near his cabin ruins has a memorial plaque. Placed by whom? When?

Memorial plaque for Bill Clough — What does it say?

Bill Clough's plaque — Look how high up it is – it must have been placed many moons ago, when that place on the tree was reachable. (Hi Deendie!)

So many questions, so few answers. Here is a list of what I know:

The dams out of Mineral King are on Franklin Lake (the lower larger lake), Crystal Lake (upper or lower? It’s been too long since I was there), upper Monarch Lake, and Eagle Lake (only one of those in Mineral King).
The cave out of the South Fork (of the Kaweah River) Campground of Sequoia National Park is called “Clough’s Cave”. The cave has a gate, so forget about it.
You can read more about Bill in Mineral King: The Story of Beulah by Louise A. Jackson
My second mural in Exeter called “Men + Mules + Water = Power” is of Franklin Lake as it looks now, with insets of related historic scenes.

Hope that helps, Jimmy, and thank you for asking so that I could put a Mineral King post up on a Friday in the middle of winter when the ideas are a little sparse.

NEWS FLASH: Bill Clough’s great-grand-niece just left my studio. Uncle Bill closed the dams for the winter. He closed the Franklin dam one fall, then returned to his cabin area, sat down and died. The following spring, my friend’s granddad went looking for him and found his boots and his beard. Uncle Bill was “eccentric”, had a very long beard, and sometimes he preached. (To whom? What? Always more questions around here. . .)

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Mineral King Mineral King mural

3 Mineral King Paintings in Progress

I’ve been inching along (more accurately, “layering along”) on the 3 largish Mineral King paintings. With colder temperatures, the oil just isn’t drying quickly enough to make much progess.

Here is Farewell Gap with a few more layers.

Here is White Chief with a few more layers:

And here is Sawtooth with a new sky:

Mineral King oil paintings oil paintings

Just One More Frivolous Post

I know, I was going to get back to work, but Samson is so fun that I have become one of those internet ~~weirdos~~ bores who post endless photos of her cats.

This is for Kaylee, and I don’t mind you called The Boy “Sammy”.

This is my blog, I’m 57, so I’ll post what I want. Risky, I know.

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Growing Sequoias With Paint

Ever heard of growing Sequoia trees with paint? It’s figurative, not literal. Unlike the new (wrong) use of the word “literal”, I mean that I am figuratively growing trees. As in a figure of speech. . .

Please excuse the detour. Words mean things, and sometimes people need to be reminded, although I believe my blog readers are exceptional people, exceptionally smart and aware of reality. Otherwise, why would you all choose to read a blog by a realist?

This one is finished. It needs to dry, get scanned, varnished and added to inventory on my website. I can’t remember the title (Sequoia Number Something or Sunny Sequoias Number Something) and can’t turn it over to check the title while it is this wet.

Yikes. This is so ugly with only its first layer. You can see I have begun on the left side, which also happens to be farthest away.

I think it could use another layer of detail, but it will have to wait until it is dryer. “Dryer”? Isn’t that a machine for drying clothes? Maybe I mean “more dry”. Anyone know a good editor??

And this one is also ugly with only a first layer. I’m learning not to despair after only one pass over the canvas. It has only taken 10-1/2 years of painting to understand that ugly happens for a much longer amount of time than the fun part.

Layer by layer. . . this one will also need more detailing and some color correcting.

Here are all three, progressively more complete as you see them from upper to lower.

Sequoia painting

Two Oil Painting Commissions

When there is work to be done, I’d rather get it done than postpone it. Someone has described people like me as “precrastinators” rather than procrastinators.

Commission #1 – Kaweah Colony blacksmith shop

This mess on canvas is becoming the Kaweah Colony’s blacksmith shop. The background doesn’t show in the photo, so I went to the site where it used to be until the flood of 1997 took it out. The camera battery was dead, so I drew the shape of the background hill on tissue paper laid over the photo.

The customer requested autumn coloring. I’ll figure it out. . . layer by layer.

Commission #2 – Oak Grove Bridge

Some folks bought this painting of the Oak Grove Bridge as a gift. #1576 Oak Grove Bridge XVI

They decided they want one for themselves, so I am painting another one. This is the painting on the cover of the sold out 2017 calendar. I saved one for myself, something I haven’t always done in the past. Good thing, because it is helping me, along with the photo, of course.

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commission oil painting Oak Grove Bridge oil paintings

End of the Year Thoughts

Those year end newsletters are good for updates, and they make everyone else’s life seem so sparkly, happy and fun, just like Facebook (Nope, not on, and not going to join). Life is a balance of both good and bad things, but who wants to put the sad, bad and hard stuff in a newsletter?

Here is some of what I remember about 2016, but not all of it. I want my life to look sparkly, happy and fun too, but realistic. The list could be longer, but I want you to stay for the photos at the end.

Personally:

Lost neighbors on three sides, all for different reasons (We aren’t lawn-parkers, don’t have barking dogs, don’t have loud parties or lights that stay on all night – what’s the deal??)
Lost Perkins, the kindest-hearted cat of 17 years, and gained Samson, the fiercest little feline I’ve ever met
Visited Israel (still in shock – did this really happen??)
Took very long road trip – Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada
Hit 30 years in the marriage department
Walked the Lake Tahoe Marathon

Professionally:

Edited a novel
Edited, designed and published Trail of Promises
Painted 5 murals (2 in someone’s Events Room and 3 in the Three Rivers Museum)
Designed and published 4.9 coloring books (#5 is completed but not printed yet, waiting customer approval)
Did all the other normal work stuff – lessons, oil painting workshops, speaking to groups, oil painting, pencil drawing, blogging, bazaars/festivals/boutiques/shows
Received an award, Women in the Arts, from the DAR (Not sure why, but appreciative all the same!)

strawberry

Trail of Promises

The cover of the next "Heart of" series of local coloring books for grown-ups.

botkin-2

T and I were cold, excited and ready! — T and I were cold, excited and ready for our 1/2 marathon in Lake Tahoe

Bridges, always bridges. . . what is it with the Central California artist and bridges? The answer is that a bridge picture is the perfect combination of scenery and architecture. This one is in Oregon, not in Central California. I don’t know if California has any covered bridges except for one in Wawona near Yosemite.

mineral king coloring book Heart of the Hills

DAR award

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Mineral King mural in Three Rivers Museum of Empire Mt. mining area.

2 more murals in the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers Museum

Thank you, dear blog readers, for sticking with me through 2016.

Happy New Year!

P.S. Am I always standing by people I love with my arm thrown over their shoulders?? Nope. Couldn’t stand to be touched in Israel because it was always too hot.

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Two Last Non-Art Subjects

Subject #5

What is this? Inquiring minds NEED to know. . . we got a pair of insulating mugs for Christmas, and got curious as to which sort of mug will keep coffee the hottest. So, we conducted an experiment. They were all within degrees of one another, with the short Starbuck’s mug in the middle slightly ahead. Trail Guy is a little bit sad that his special old mug from Cabela’s with its hand-carved wooden handle didn’t win.

Subject #6

On Boxing Day, as December 26 is known in England, Trail Guy and I drove down to Lake Kaweah (AKA “The Lake”) to take a walk. This is an interesting place to spend time when the water level is low. There are great views of Alta Peak, lots of birds, an old road to walk on, a bridge or two to cross, cockleburrs to pick out of your socks, rocks to contemplate, the river (Kaweah) to watch, mud to slide around on, and people’s undisciplined dogs to fend off.

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Three Rivers