Despite the relentless heat and lack of water in Central California, it is green in Mineral King in the summer.
Here are some recent photos taken by my husband, AKA Trail Guy.
Can you see the pika? (Pronounced “PEE-kuh”)
Upper Cobalt Lake.
Fourth of July in Wilsonia
You’d think that when writing of the Fourth of July in Wilsonia that I’d show a cabin with a flag.
Instead, it is the sweet little cabin on a meadow without a flag.
Why?
Because it will be included in Wilsonia’s silent auction on Saturday, July 4.
She-Who-Runs-The-Silent-Auction thought this would have the most appeal, so here we go!
Yeah, yeah, I know I said I don’t give my art away.
Sometimes I do. Wilsonia has been good to me and I want to be good back to them.
The book, The Cabins of Wilsonia, is for sale there and here.
Lost
Sometimes I refer to myself as a “loser” in the true sense of the word. My mom used to tell me that I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached. As usual, Mom was right.
The Mural Gallery and Gift Shop in Exeter sells my oil paintings. We’ve had a good run lately, so I took another batch of paintings to them. I forgot to include something of oranges, so planned to take one down on my next trip. The sweet lady who works there said, “Bring them all – they sell!”
So, I went into the overheated and underused workshop (too hot to paint there in the summer) to retrieve some oranges. Found two oil paintings of oranges.
Funny. I have three. Where is the 11×14″?
Blooming Oranges, 11×14″, oil on wrapped canvas, $175, available here
Lost.
Did I sell it and not write it down? Did I take it to a gallery and not write it down?
AHA! It was part of the show at the Visalia Convention Center this spring! It is sitting in someone’s office in Visalia, someone whose hours do not coincide with my trips down the hill!
Found! I wrote it somewhere, but obviously the list is lost.
Drawing Lessons
For about 21 years I have been teaching drawing lessons.
This sounds formal. The more accurate description to my way of thinking is simply that I show people how I draw and thus guide them to do their own pencil drawing.
It is one of the most satisfying and rewarding (more than just financial) parts of my art business.
There are no lessons in July or August because it is too hot and attendance is traditionally down.
So, today is it, the last one until September 8.
This is Rosemary and her wonderful walrus.
Delighted and delightful!
If you are interested in taking drawing lessons, either in a small group ($55/month, 1 hour a week) or private lessons in my studio ($35/1 hour, $45 1-1/2 hour, scheduled as it suits), email me using “cabinart at cabinart dot net” (written that way to confuse the trolls who roam the internet looking for trouble). Or call me at 561-7606 (area code is five-five-nine, also written that way out of general troll paranoia.)
S L O W
This project is difficult and slow, oh so v e r y s l o w.
I often tell my drawing students, “You can be fast or you can be good. I get to be both.”
Not this time. I am S L O W. Or perhaps it is the claybord that is slow. Or the drawing. Nothing ninja crazy here.
Want a closer look?
The good part is that I don’t have to duplicate every rose and every leaf. The bad part is that I can’t see very many individual roses and leaves, so I have to make up much of it.
Not gonna quit!
Wet Spring in Mineral King
The drive up the hill was sunny, clear and hot. I stopped at my favorite bridge to contemplate some rock formations that confound me each time I paint the scene. I’m not sure these photos will add any clarity.
A few hours later, it was HAILING in Mineral King. It hailed for about 3 hours.
Look at the back steps of the cabin!!
Look out the front windows. What a hardy (dumb?) bird!
When it was over, it was over. No more precipitation, no more clouds.
But look how deep the hail is on the ground!
The water was really flowing, like it does in a normal spring after a normal winter. Wait. Is normal wet, or is normal dry? The recent normal has been dry. So, I am very very thankful for all the rain and hail we have gotten so far this spring in Mineral King. VERY. VERY.
The hail turned the corn lily into shredded wheat.
Monarch Falls was charging full! It was running like chocolate milk for a little while.
The side of West Florence reflected nicely in this puddle on the road.
The following day we walked up to Crystal Creek. These are mud flows across the trail. It was a mess.
And Crystal Creek was running at a much higher volume than over Memorial Day weekend. We didn’t measure the precipitation from those storms, but this one told our rain gauge FOUR AND ONE QUARTER INCHES!!
On the Drawing Board
Drawing board? Drawing table? Drafting table?
The piece of furniture where I draw pictures using my pencils.
Now that we have that figured out, let’s have a look:
Say what? Is that a typo? “Claybord”?
A customer found 2 antique frames at an estate sale. She loves my pencil work and asked me to do 2 pencil drawings, each one 16×20″ to fit in the frames.
Pencil drawings are on paper and when they are framed, they need glass, mat board and a backing. This stuff doesn’t fit into a frame designed for a piece of canvas.
A handful of years ago (feels like 4, must be 9 because I’m having fun so time is flying), I attended a very fine art show called “The Peppertree” in Santa Ynez, California. There were a few pencil artists, and I remembered seeing one’s work on board, varnished and framed as if it was a painting (without glass).
I called Dick Blick, the big deal art supply company that knows everything and has everything. Their product experts said “clayboard”. I thought that’s what they said. Actually they said, “Claybord”.
Wow, is this ever a challenge to draw on! Super over-the-top ninja crazy smooth and smeary.
On top of that, add in a HUGE size (normally my largest drawing might be 11×114″, multiply it by 2 and then consider the ambiguity of the various textures in the subjects my customer chose.
No problem. I am a pencil expert. Har har har, maybe I am and maybe I am not. This project is sort of a test of my skill on several levels. One down, one to go.
Relevant Links:
P.S. I don’t know what “ninja crazy” means. I heard it on the radio and liked the sound.
Oil Paintings at Home
Oil paintings at someone else’s home. Someone else who really likes my work. Someone whom I really like. But, this is the World Wide Web, so her identity will not be revealed.
She has others that are not yet hung, only propped against the wall the last time I was over. As she and I discussed the paintings she was considering, I suddenly had a flash of insight. “AHA! You are a color junkie, just like me!”
When one color junkie identifies another, there is no need to explain. We just get each other. Look at the flowers in her front garden!
When she wants a painting, it doesn’t feel like the business of selling; it is simply helping a friend with good taste, an interest in beauty and some disposable income (“disposable”? Who decided that word should go with the word “income”??). I love to help people choose the right picture, whether it is one I have already painted or drawn or one they ask me to create for them (the fancy word is “commission”.)
About Selling Oil Paintings
This post is about the business of art, selling oil paintings, but I only go on about it for a paragraph and then it is all pictures.
In the past month and a half, twelve oil paintings have sold.
TWELVE!
I would say, “I’ve sold twelve paintings”, but it wouldn’t be very true. I am not that good at selling, in spite of reading all sorts of websites, blogs, and books on the subjects. If you really want a painting and have the money, I want you to have it! But I am not going to convince you against your budget or your better judgement that you should buy a painting from me. Not gonna do it! It is fake to say certain “magic” words that will somehow separate people from their money. No phony-baloney-plastic-banana in me.
End of explanation (excuse?). Now, let’s rejoice!
P.S. I wasn’t related to any of the customers and some I didn’t even know!
Hail and Quail in Mineral King
Because it was almost a non-winter, we had early access to Mineral King this year. However, it didn’t act very summerish in those early weeks. (You may recall our cold, gray, overcast, foggy and rainy Memorial Weekend.)
Two weeks later I was back, and had an exciting afternoon in the cabin.
Is this hail??
It is, but the mountain quail doesn’t mind. Wow, it really piled up out there!
It cleared up for an evening stroll, so we got to see the alpen-glow on Empire (this is the rock outcropping, not the highest part of the mountain.)
Despite our lack of precipitation during the so-called “winter” of last season, these spring storms are providing water, for which we are very grateful.
Hail remained on Sawtooth for much of the next day.
If a bit of judicious pruning was done, the point of Sawtooth would be visible in this view. I have made it visible with pencils several times (all sold, no records, sigh.) I think of this as Tim and Judy’s view, because they were married close by 19 years ago. (or was it 21 years??) We’ve lost touch with several moves and 3 adopted children later, but they will remain forever in my heart.
Maybe it is time to paint this scene. Mineral King provides an endless source of inspiration.
Related link: