On an overcast and chilly morning with our final fire of the season in the wood stove, I sat with my laptop and tackled some unpleasant tasks.
A new scanner: I went looking online to see if the one that served me well for 15 years was still available. It is not. A similar one appeared to be available, but it isn’t sold in the U S of A. So, begrudgingly, I went to the Big A and found (settled for?) a flatbed scanner made by a company called Plustek. I’m guessing that Mustek (my last scanner company) morphed into Plustek. Every piece of information available seems to indicate that it is easy to set up and will work with my outdated MacBook Pro.
2. My printer is one of those 4-way deals: print, scan, copy, and fax. (Fax?? Who does that any more besides medical offices, which I do my best to avoid?) It works as a scanner in a pinch, except that it only handles 8-1/2 x 11” documents and the lid isn’t removable for thick canvases. It is a good printer, but it uses SO MUCH INK. I always check the box for black & white copies, and somehow, the other ink cartridges run low. It is hard to buy only black, and the blue, red, and yellow cartridges appear to be multiplying in the dark while I wait yet again for another overpriced order of black ink. Rip-off.
3. An online printing company is where I get small amounts of notecards printed. In the last handful of years, suddenly they charge sales tax after I have submitted all my resale permit info. I learned that I have to resubmit the same forms, Every Year, Year After Year After Year. So tiresome. OF COURSE they don’t ever receive the email, which necessitates a “chat” or a phone call, where someone keeps reassuring me that they will look into it. The people are nice, and they are helpful, but WHY IS THIS NECESSARY, OVER AND OVER??
4. Someone asked me what other murals I have painted, and I realized that I don’t have them on my website, other than the page “What my customers are saying” or some such thing. So I spent a couple of long sessions make a new mural page, finding, organizing, and posting the photos. No dates or sizes are included. They don’t all show in full, due to my use of “galleries”, which means a cluster of photos with predetermined shapes and sizes. It was kind of cool to realize that I have that many under my belt.
Instead of all this administrative stuff, I just want to paint. Actually I just want to draw. Sure would be nice to have a secretary, administrative assistant, intern, apprentice, servant, butler, lady’s waiting maid, something.
However, then I’d have to work more to pay that person, and I wouldn’t have enough money to pay for all those ink cartridges or a new scanner.
Painting #38 of Tulare County’s best bridge (according by your Central California artist) is inching forward into excellence. Can you see the incremental improvements?
We can probably consider it all finished now, EXCEPT FOR THE BRIDGE ITSELF!
Ahem. Excuse me for shouting. It just surprises me that after I put an enormous amount of concentration and effort into the painting that the most important part remains to be detailed.
Maybe it would be fun if I did a series of posts with all the different versions I’ve painted of this bridge.
But first, this one needs to be finished.
Here is a photo taken with my real camera instead of the inferior phone camera; the colors aren’t as strong, but neither is it as pixelated, which doesn’t matter here on the interwebs.
We call this the Oak Grove Bridge; people who don’t know it very well might call it the Kaweah River Bridge or the Mineral King Road Bridge or the East Fork Bridge. Those names sort of work.
Not that bridge
There are folks who, when they see my paintings or drawings of the bridge, say, “I’ve eaten at that restaurant”. They are wrong—the only eatery at the Oak Grove bridge might be the tailgate of one’s pick-em-up truck. The Pumpkin Hollow (“Gateway”) bridge is at the confluence of the East and Middle Forks of the Kaweah River. It isn’t over a deep canyon, just one lane wide, and with a single arch.
See the difference?
Maybe it is time to draw the bridge again in pencil. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve done that; there are only 2 versions in my computer, because so many drawings didn’t get scanned or reproduced or even photographed in my early days.
Eagle Lake (a painting formerly known as a dog’s breakfast), 7×14”, oil on wrapped canvas, $200, currently drying, destined for the Silver City Store, unless it sells first from this little spot on the interwebs.
Oak Grove Bridge
The Oak Grove Bridge is a bit more challenging. I started with the attitude of “close enough” and as usual when drawing or painting architectural subjects, I ended up measuring and redoing several things.
The width of each arch needed to be the same, and the top of the bridge was too thick.
So I measured, redrew the arches (yes, with my paintbrush—anyone here have a problem with that?), lowered the top of the bridge, and then planted some manzanita on the lower left. I also started locating various rocks.
You’d think that after painting this forty-eleven* times, I’d have all the rocks and the arch proportions memorized. You’d be wrong in that thinking. I could make it up, but I’d also be wrong.
Such a grand little bridge for our slightly down-at-the-heels Tulare County. There are plans to turn it into a pedestrian-only bridge with a stout replacement safe for driving upstream of this classic one. The county had to do the eminent domain thing to acquire the land, and I have a feeling this will be a long, disruptive, and messy construction project.
Change can be so difficult.
Thus, for now we must enjoy the bridge as it was and as it is, and not think about as it shall be.
*This is actually #38, if I kept count correctly, which is doubtful.
The commissioned painting of fields and groves needed more drying time, so I began a new painting of my favorite bridge—Oak Grove, on the Mineral King Road.
It is always difficult. I make it even harder by choosing canvases of non-traditional proportions. This is 8×16”.
It sometimes helps to crop off the unnecessary parts, making the photo the same proportions as the canvas.
But sometimes I do that too late, and decide to just go with the close-enough approach. Can you see that the bridge takes up more real estate on the canvas than on the photo?
Good enough to start.
Is that a Dog’s Breakfast or a Painting?
Next, a 7×14” canvas for another new painting. It might be too ugly for you to tell what it is going to be.
Jackson doesn’t really care what I paint as long as he gets fed.
These paintings are destined for the Silver City Store this summer. Each year I think I have enough inventory, then around early August, I have to slam some out very quickly. I try to guess what subjects, sizes and quantities will sell, but there are no proven formulas.
P.S. Blog reader/author/artist/friend Louise thought I could do a better job finishing the commissioned oil painting. She always tells me the truth, something I value highly, and she was right. Here it is after I followed her suggestion. It is not in my nature to be a perfectionist; instead, I am always wanting to finish things. So, sometimes it takes an honest and wise second set of eyes to make sure a piece of my art is finished well. THANK YOU, LOUISE!
No more confusion* over “Lake Kaweah” or Kaweah Lake: here is an official sign.
The Mineral King Preservation Society organized a tour of the dam that creates Lake Kaweah. I have been there, but it was before the new fusegates were built in 2004. The purpose of that previous trip was to get photos for this drawing. That’s story for another blog post sometime. Maybe.
We met in the parking lot at the Lemon Hill Visitor Center. The name must be a nod to Lemon Cove, since the dam is closer to Lemon Cove than to Three Rivers. This photo looks over the marina where all the houseboats live, toward the dam. As usual, the lake is very full this time of year.
We drove back to the highway, headed downhill, then turned below the dam and went through a couple of security gates with cameras, to park near the tower.
We all loved the views in spite of the hazy quality of the air. Haze? Smog? Don’t ask, don’t tell.
Looking north up Greasy Cove.
Looking southeast toward the marina
Our guide was very very new and didn’t know a whole lot. We were all very curious about the bootprints imprinted on 4 concrete pads below us, and the 4 red bootprints under shallow water on the lake side and the 2 red bootprints on the spillway side.
These are the fusegates. Each of the six is a little different level, so that in the case of a giant flood, only one gate at a time will open and get pushed aside. This ensures that the water flooding downstream will go in a somewhat regulated fashion rather than all at once. (I learned this from a knowledgeable fellow tourist.) The guide thought that the gates get tested every so often to be sure that they will open if there is a catastrophic flood.
There was a hawk with a nest on something that looked as if it was constructed for that purpose.
I loved the views on the downstream side of the dam. Dry Creek Road is over there, heading up into the hills and eventually into the mountains.
Here are 2 more photos of the tower. I don’t know what purpose it serves; it has a radioactive symbol on it by the door, which we were not invited to go through. Maybe it is a place for a couple of people to hide in the event of a nuclear bomb. I don’t know who those 2 unlucky people would be.
After the tour, our MKPS organizer invited us to send her any questions that she will pass along to the normal tour guide. OF COURSE I HAD QUESTIONS!! (Are you surprised by this?)
QUESTIONS
1. How long would it take to go from minimum pool to full, if there was a huge storm? Maybe a better way to phrase this is: What is the shortest amount of time it has taken in the past for the lake to fill?
2. Why is there a radioactive symbol on the tower?
3. What purpose does the tower serve?
4. Was that round wooden platform near the tower built specifically for a hawk to build its nest?
5. Is the water ever used to generate electricity?
6. Why the red footprints (4 on the lake side and 2 on the spillway side) and the ones pressed into the concrete squares??
More will be revealed in the fullness of time. Maybe…. it seems that the more ways there are to communicate, the less likely that responses appear. I do feel quite hopeful about this set of questions.
*Provided I can remember because it is possible that the confusion is embedded too deeply in my memory.
My single photo of avocado leaves was inadequate, so I stopped by the largest avocado tree I’ve ever seen in my life and took these photos.
I didn’t copy any of the leaves or branches exactly. These are all too thick and overlapping for me to untangle. So, I just studied them awhile until I thought I could make up my own that would look convincing.
Blueberries
I also tightened up the blueberries.
I sent this to the customer (there are 2 partners in the business but I am now just dealing with one—hence, the switch from plural to singular) to say that I wanted to do a bit more detailing on the fields and groves, and to verify if there was anything I missed.
A Little More Work
She agreed that some of the fields could use some tighter detailing and requested that I plant an orchard on the barren hillside on the right and add some avocados to the framing branches.
This one passed, so I photographed the entire painting again with the requested improvements and additions.
It is quite wet, but we are having a warm spell and I expect it to be dry enough to ship on Monday.
This has a been a thoroughly enjoyable commission, working with someone who communicates well, is open to suggestions, trusts my abilities, and provides me with a bit of artistic license (but not too much).
The distant groves and fields are probably finished.
Time to begin the embellishments. I found blueberry photos on the interwebs, AND I have my own from excursions in Oregon.
In my extensive collection of photos, I found one of avocado leaves, pre-digital. I used my inferior phone camera to take a picture so I could flip it on my laptop.
Not really adequate. . . I know where there is an enormous avocado tree, so I’ll go get some better photos to finish the leaves.
Then I’ll retouch some of the other details, paint the edges, sign it, wait for it to dry again, varnish it, and then package it up to ship to the realtor customers.
Reminder
I help people write books and get them printed. The books that I have shepherded from idea to publication but that I don’t sell can be found on this new page: OTHER PEOPLE’S BOOKS. This includes Tales of TB, Springville’s Hospital, The Crooked Cross of Diamond Lake, Only the Living, and Adventures in Boy Scouting.
Five step-by-step photos today, mostly painting left to right.
So many parts in the photo were ambiguous and repetitive that I often lost my place. A way to combat this lostness is to first paint the things that are definite, then make up the stuff around them. Some of my sizes are probably definitely wrong, and some of the fields are missing. The customer said accuracy isn’t important—she is looking for conceptual interpretation of the subject. I don’t think there are any Geography Police gunning for me.
Lower left will be blueberries; upper right will be avocado leaves.
I am liking the painting, which is always a relief, especially when it starts out so loose and rough and confusing.
Things got confusing, so I flipped it all upside down to see if I could focus better on the shapes.
Moving forward
Hi Jackson. Please do not bite me while I am painting. It would also be appreciated if you didn’t lean on the back of my legs.
Can I get all the different groves, fields, and patches in? How important is it to get each one perfect? The customers said it isn’t, but accuracy is a driving force as I paint.
The roof of the house is now in the lower left. There will be blueberries covering most of the house, a decorative addition. They will be balanced by avocado leaves in the upper right corner.
Now it can dry a bit before I continue adding and tightening the detail.
REMINDER
I can help people write books and get them printed. The books that I have shepherded from idea to publication but that I don’t sell can be found on this new page: OTHER PEOPLE’S BOOKS. This includes Tales of TB, Springville’s Hospital, The Crooked Cross of Diamond Lake, Only the Living, and Adventures in Boy Scouting.
1.Actually, I learned this on March 31, thanks to Reader Marjie: those tiny tangerines are called “Pixie Tangerines”, and many (all? prolly not) grow in Ojai.
2. DO NOT BUY THINGS ON THE INTERNET IN A HURRY! I got swept away by a good offer from Photo Affections that was about to expire, and I was so enamored with my iris that I ordered something that is just a waste of money—flat cards with no room to write instead of foldover cards. I thought I’d learned this lesson earlier, but nope, here I am again. Hmmm, I wonder if these fall into the category of Cruft. (See #4 on March Learned List.)
3. Have you ever programmed a complicated timer for a complicated irrigation system? It’s complicated. The fact that the directions use different words than the actual box (i.e. valve=station) further complicates a complicated situation. To add to the complications, many of the items in the box are not labeled so I keep forgetting which word applies to which knob/button/dial. But I think I have it figured out. Complicated, for sure. (Have I ruined the word “complicated” for you yet?)
4. There are friends in life who influence us deeply. Some friends are there for just a season or for a particular reason, but that doesn’t negate the marks they leave on our hearts, memories, and even habits. I have one such friend, a roommate for 2-3 years many decades ago, whose influence keeps appearing in multiple places in my life, in spite of only exchanging birthday cards (Can’t forget that because we share the same birthday). Recently we began a little bit of texting, and it is such a miraculous thing to be in instant touch, so special.
5. lagniappelan-yap noun: a small gift given with a purchase to a customer. I’ve done this but didn’t know it had an actual word. I wonder how a customer would respond if I handed him a painting and said, “I’ve thrown in a little lagniappe for you.” The customer would probably say, “A what? Looks like a package of cards to me!”
6. When formatting and designing a book, it is prudent to order a single copy for physical hands-on proofing and viewing. Recently I could not make a purchased InDesign book design template work and in frustration, I downloaded a free template from the printing/publishing company. Author Louise Jackson and I were thrilled with the cover, but the interior of the actual book was just unattractive. So, I persevered on the temperamental template until I figured out how to bypass its idiosyncracies (well, whaddaya expect when it is from 2015 and so is my laptop, which can no longer be updated, because Planned Obsolescence is trying to bankrupt us all), and REDID THE ENTIRE BOOK DESIGN. It was worth the effort.
Happy with the outer appearance (and dressed to match, of course).
6. I read something in a fluffy novel that really resonated deeply with me, and I will plagiarize it here, making it personal: When I walk past Fernando, I “feel a strange longing that can only be described as a deep psychological problem; I seem to be locked in a prison of my own nostalgia.” Clearly I am a disturbed individual rather than a rational, wise, and mature 66-year-old. Sigh. Please be gentle with me. (Now I forget which book I got this from.)
Yeppers, added the canoe to the sale of the car because I no longer have a way to transport it and my wrist hurts too much. Hmm, a lagniappe!Hi Buddy! Do you miss me? I miss you!
7. You can make brownies without flour using black beans. WHAT? This is so weird that I had to try it. Here is the link to the recipe I used, chosen because it had the least sugar and the most cocoa powder: Black Bean Brownies. Decent, but of course boxed brownie mix with a handful of chocolate chips added to the batter are better. If you are curious, out of flour, can’t eat wheat, have black beans you don’t need, whatever. . . try it.
8. Life is complicated and if when something breaks, we have 2 choices: figure it out or replace/toss it. “Figure it out” = “just Google it”. But how? Type in the appliance number and see what appears. Try to figure out what part is needed, have a “chat” with “someone” for help, get the name of the broken part, try to match it to the list of parts, oops the part name is different from what the Chat Someone called it, get back in line to clarify the part name, order the part (if it is available), and then try to find someone who will call you back and then actually show up to install it. Who is designing all this? Young “hipsters” who are supposedly concerned about the planet/climate change/putting junk in the landfills? Life is complicated AND exhausting, because I am supposed to be painting, not waiting for my turn in a “Chat Request” line. (THE PART WAS $104 FROM GE AND $28 FROM AMAZON, in case you were wondering, and a friend/repairman replaced it for $100.)
9. I sent some watches to The Veterans Watchmaker Initiative, Inc. (P.O. Box 329, Little Creek, DE 19961) and SOMEONE WROTE ME A THANK YOU NOTE!! (I sent 5 watches, but the thank you said 4; I’ll let it pass.) Their website ticks like a clock—let not your hearts be troubled—At first I thought my laptop was about to explode.
10. Have you ever heard of a city named “Brno” or the country of Czechia? It was new to me, via my friend Elisabeth’s blog. She’s and her family are spending 3 months living and traveling in Europe, and her photos and information is terrific. The Czech Republic is now called “Czechia” and Brno is the 2nd largest city after Prague. The cities throughout her extended travels so far all kind of look alike to me; if I was doing such a trip, I’d be visiting the countryside and little villages, taking photos of barns, cottages, gates, fences, trails, roads, fields and streams. But I do love seeing the fancy architecture.
11. Sometimes it really helps to call for assistance. My MacBook Pro kept saying I was out of room, and Apple kept trying to sell me a larger “cloud” plan. (BUG OFF, I have an external hard drive and don’t need The Cloud, so there.) I called Apple for help, and after a few attempts, a supervisor did a screenshare with my laptop and discovered a bunch of useless and mysterious stuff slowing things down. It was thrilling to have it deleted, to see all the available space, and to have things working well again.
A different sort of apple; this is an exercise I devised to use teaching peope how to draw.
12. Egg doesn’t wash off once it dries on a wall. It also takes a few coast of paint to hide the shine left from the egg. I’ve heard it destroys the paint job on a car too. If eggs were still running around $7/dozen, maybe someone wouldn’t have wasted one on the Ivanhoe library mural.
13. I learned to use my Brother printer to scan pencil drawings. It isn’t big enough for most of my work, but it will help until I figure out another plan. Look at the difference in 2 scans of my drawing student’s artichoke picture; on the left is the Brother scan without any Photoshop touch-up and the Mustek scan is on the right (also no touch-up, duh).
14. I figured out how to add a page to the Store on my website. It’s called OTHER PEOPLE’S BOOKS, and it is where you can order any of the books I helped get printed, most of which are NOT on Amazon. My authors (and all authors unless you are like John Grisham or Danielle Steel) need help to sell their books. This is the only way I know to help them.
