Mineral King, Just a Few Photos

Today’s post is just a handful of photos in Mineral King. I recently went to Hume Lake instead of Mineral King but understand that my audience prefers seeing and reading about Mineral King. No offense to Hume Lake people—just accepting the identity of my blog readers. The first best summer of my life was 1978 at Hume Lake. Then my first summer at Silver City (4 miles below Mineral King) in 1985 became the Best Summer of My Life (and that was even before I met the love of my life.)

Mineral King has rustic and unique cabins. I recently had the opportunity to spend time at almost every one. It was a work thing: another cabin owner realized the need for propane tanks to have their cabin numbers visible on the tanks. We discussed press-on numbers and stencils; hand-painted numbers were the simplest solution. Nope, no photos of the numbers, just two photos of things that struck my fancy.

Rustic, but undergoing a few repairs. Those stone steps really grabbed me (not literally—don’t worry!)
Unique—the light was uncooperative but if you study this, you’ll see that the chimney was built to abut this boulder.
Why is this horse standing with his front feet in the trough? Some questions just don’t have answers.

This road leads to the pack station, then becomes a trail. In the olden trails (when Trail Guy was just a boy), people could drive past the pack station and even go up to Crystal Creek and cross it! In their cars!

Maybe I’ll do a post on Hume Lake. . . more will be revealed in the fullness of time.

A Day with Oil Paint

There really are only so many potential titles to a repetitive blog topic. This could be “A Day at the Easels”, but I chose to paint flat on the table, or holding the canvas in my hand. It could be “A Day with an Audio Book”, but then I’d have to make a book report.

Let’s just get on with it, shall we?

Paintings are selling steadily at the Silver City Store; the main subjects are the Crowley cabin with Farewell Gap in the background, the Honeymoon Cabin, and Sawtooth. I wanted to paint something DIFFERENT, and after my recent hike to White Chief, it was an easy choice.

This isn’t White Chief but it is the trail to White Chief. I took a nice photo of Trail Guy with three cabin neighbors as he led them to White Chief (they haven’t spent much time at their family cabin—as a result, they needed a guide*). Because I don’t know them very well, it seemed prudent to keep their faces off of the World Wide Web. However, I thought the trail was quite nice in and of itself.

Break time! Oh look, there’s my favorite cat, Tucker, “hiding” in the tall grass.

This may look finished to most folks, but it wants another layer and more detail to satisfy your Central California Artist. (It is 8×10” in case you are wondering how I got so far in half a day of painting.)

Now, it’s time to paint White Chief. This is not how it looked in early July, although it could be how it looked in early July of a wet year. Can’t remember. . . I’ve slept since then. Besides, Trail Guy took my reference photo for this 8×10” painting, so I wasn’t there.

Yeppers, right on schedule, Jackson showed up and meowed at me. When I didn’t respond, he was fixin’ to bite me, so I hauled his 20+ lb. self onto my lap for a bit. He pretended to enjoy it, but put his claws in me** so I would just feed him already.

Like the trail painting, this requires another layer and more detail.

It was an altogether satisfying day of painting, one that flew by with that audio book. (Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate, in case you are curious.)

*They could have simply followed the trail but they would have missed out on a wealth of information.

**Not mean-like, just that thing cats do when they purr. He isn’t mean when he bites, only insistent and bossy. Downright domineering, actually.

Three More Improved Oil Paintings

Plein air is a good way to start a painting. It is also a good way to hang out with artist friends. However, all my plein air attempts require much attention later in the painting workshop.

Before
After- Ocean Avenue Beach, 8×10”, oil on canvas panel
Before
After – Garrapata, 8×10”, oil on canvas panel
Before
Alta Over the Kaweah River, 8×10”, oil on canvas panel

Three Improved Beach Paintings

All three of these paintings were done plein air. I finally completed them in the painting workshop at home.

Before
After – Carmel Beach, 8×10”, oil on canvas panel
Before
After — Asilomar Beach, 8×10”, oil on canvas panel
Before
After – Lovers Point Park, 11×14”, oil on canvas panel

Many Aspects to the Business of Art

Maintenance

Tony finished my steps. That man is an artist, in addition to knowing how to make these the most comfortable for the situation while incorporating existing elements.

Framing

I will be showing some pencil drawings in Around Here and Sometimes a Little Farther. Pencil drawings require framing. Although I prefer drawing over painting, that framing business is not fun.

Spray-painting mini-easels for little paintings on panels

Remember when I painted a bunch of 5×7” beach scenes on panels? Some will be displayed (and sold, one always hopes, “one” being me in this case) on natural colored easels and some on blue easels.

Improving paintings

My dear friend Louise is so helpfully honest when I think there is trouble with a painting. (She helped me with my first mural here at home!) She encouraged me to shrink that stack of haybales, so I did it first with Photoshop and sent it to her. It passed inspection by her excellent eye, so I fixed it on the painting. When it is dry again, I’ll scan it again. (This version is before I finished fiddling around with several parts.)

Painting new things

A friend sent me a photo of his country property. I thought it was so beautiful that I painted it on one of those little 5×7” panels. It’s too wet to scan.

Appreciating the ability to work while at home

I love working at home. Jackson and Pippin like it too. (Tucker prefers to play hide-and-seek in the lawn.)

Your Central California Artist Walked to White Chief

Walked? Hiked! I carried a daypack with water and lunch, so I’m calling it a hike. So what, who cares? I went 7 miles on my numb feet, that’s what. Yea! I can still hike (maybe not far, but I’ll take what I can get here.)

Let’s just have photos, with minimal commentary and zero whining.

Spring Creek has a foot-bridge.
The White Chief trail is very steep. I followed these fine fit folks up and was thankful for the frequent Trail Guy/Guide and photo stops.
Everyone’s favorite juniper
I’ve painted it seven times.
Once you break into the canyon/dry lake bed, it’s much easier walking.
We didn’t go into the mining tunnel; can you see it? On the far right, in the center.
Once again, I forgot to put a dime or a quarter in my pack for size comparison. These are TINY.
Bye-bye, White Chief. It was GREAT to see you again!
Entering White Chief, oil on wrapped canvas, 12×16”, $375

Since this is my business blog, here is my painting of Entering White Chief. It is the picture I chose for the publicity of my upcoming show Around Here, and Sometimes a Little Farther, opening August 7 at the Tulare Historical Museum and Heritage Gallery, 5-7 p.m.

Just Three Photos Today

I had a stack of 8×10” paintings from my various plein air sessions last fall. It’s taken awhile, but I am finally accepting that my plein air attempts will probably always require several touch-up sessions in the painting workshop. When people who know me or my work see my unretouched plein air paintings, they say things like, “That doesn’t look like your work,” or “Are you finished with that painting?”

Therefore, I studied each of these paintings without looking at the photos of the scenes. What could be improved?

The answer was usually more color, brighter color, more detail, and/or cleaner edges. Only one had a signature.

This is the most satisfying aspect of painting to me. Those tiny little changes take a painting from “meh” to “nice!” (I hope that ’s what they do.)

The day was great for drying outside by the wood stack on those hot-from-the-sun metal panels. (old roofing?)

They are fairly light-weight and tend to blow off the adirondack chairs. Those chairs work just fine for the wrapped canvas, larger canvas panels, and masonite panels.

Looks as if you’ll have to wait for the scans or come to my show opening (August 7, Tulare Historical Museum, 5-7 PM) to see them right-side-up. Well, not Sawtooth or the Sequoia tree, because those are for stores to sell to visitors passing through.

Looks as if Tony is almost finished with the steps. I went spelunking in a box of found and saved random treasures to locate something to make the steps a little more special.

That Tony does great work! He is going to add another step at the bottom, where the concrete is sloped and gets slippery and treacherous. It is always wise to listen to an expert tradesman and consider his ideas.

Everyone is Focused

TONY WAS FOCUSED

While I was focused on painting, Tony (you don’t know him but you may remember when I painted a goose for someone—that was Tony) was focused on replacing the worn wooden steps to my studio. Trail Guy originally built them for me, not once, but twice. I’ve been in this studio since January of 2002, so it is time to have something more permanent.

JACKSON WAS FOCUSED

Jackson has been focused on getting my attention lately. He meows quite a bit, occasionally bites me, and one day he carried a squirrel into the workshop for me to praise him, and then, thankfully, he carried it back out.

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA ARTIST WAS FOCUSED

With my painting days rather limited in the summer, I have to focus on using time wisely and getting paintingsdry quickly.

Having finished the most urgently required paintings, I pulled out several that have been languishing, or perhaps just mulling for several months. That sequoia was recent, but the balance of foliage wasn’t right, so it joined up with all the Focus/Fix/Finish crowd.

I was so focused that I didn’t take any “After” pictures; when they are scanned, I’ll show you a couple of them.

Time for another Sawtooth. This is #67, an 8×10” since one recently sold in that size.

These all got finished, and will have their turn outside to dry so that I can scan, show you, and deliver. But I must remind you that EVERYTHING looks better in person (except celebrities.)

Painting With Focus

With the upcoming show (opening August 7), with many days and nights away from home, with a little stretch of mild summer weather, I have shifted into overdrive when it comes to cranking out paintings. I am focused on getting some inventory ahead for the local shops that sell for me, along with finishing things that previously didn’t feel very important.

This means that I sometimes set up paintings assembly-line-style.

Does this make you wonder where the creativity comes in?

It takes thought to decide what subjects and sizes will best meet the “demand”*, to prioritize, to organize, and to be highly efficient with my limited time. Then it takes focus to be sure that each painting is the best it can be. I don’t go for perfection, which is basically driven by anxiety. Instead, I view each painting as if I am a critical customer unwilling to part with my hard-earned green pieces of paper with dead presidents’ faces unless something really speaks to me. (Because I have been that person many times.)

Oops. Sometimes I flip my canvas upside down to paint and forget to see if the hanging hardware is going the correct direction. That’s easy to fix once the painting is dry.

*No one I work for is demanding—every last one is wonderful to work with.

Somewhere in Oregon

These paintings of rural Oregon scenes were high on my list of Want To Paint, but rather than go to a retail establishment that caters to visitors to Sequoia National Park, they will get framed and then be part of my upcoming show, Around Here, and Sometime a Little Farther, in August at the Tulare Historical Museum and Gallery.

I wonder if I should title it “Somewhere in Oregon”.

Then this one could be called “Somewhere Else in Oregon”.