More Miles of Canvas

Early Timber Gap, painted on board (Hey painting owner, want a touch-up??)

Timber Gap as painted this summer – yes, I know all the little canvas lines show in the photo.

With these 2 Farewell Gap paintings, I can’t decide which was painted earlier. Guess I finally caught up with myself for awhile in terms of painting ability! (But the cropping in photography could use a bit more practice. . . )

Miles of Canvas

According to my records, I have painted about 460 canvases and boards since beginning oil on March 8, 2006. (“About 460” is because sometimes I mis-number pieces or do something that doesn’t get into the inventory because that bookkeeping kind of thing doesn’t really float my boat.) If you follow my blog, you have probably figured out that honesty is bigger to me than false pride! So, at the risk of embarrassing myself, I am going to show you some comparisons. My digital camera, computer, and iPhoto skills have also improved, so that is probably skewing the contrast a bit too!  (If you are the owner of one of the early pieces and would like a touch-up, bring it back and I’ll fix it for you.)

Here is one of the first oranges painted as a single object:

early orange

Here it is again painted a few months ago:

new orange

These 2 images of the Honeymoon Cabin were painted from different photos. (I know, “duh”.) It seems obvious to me which was done earlier!

THANK YOU!

Betsy, for keeping me in tomatoes while I worked on the mural. She is a one-woman-campaign aganst artists starving around here!

Jack Elam, who primed the wall for me and never sent me a bill. I don’t even know him, but when I see him, I will give him this picture that I painted for him. Why a flag? Because he describes his painting company as “an American family company”, and that is a clue to me that he would like this little painting titled “Oh Say”!

In addition, I could not have done this mural without the generosity of Bill Sario of Rising Sun, a construction company. He lent that fabulous electric scissor lift and always was available for help and support. Then there was Capella, a Coffee Company. My goodness – they never complained when I hogged a parking spot daily, used their electricity for the lift, their water for cleaning brushes, their building for cooling off, and their place for displaying the model painting of the mural! And Larry Lee Photography was so generous that they gave me a key to their business so I had access to a place anytime the need might arise to go inside. There are more to thank, of course, but these are the standouts in my memory.

Mural Celebration!

It was hot, reallly really hot.

If it hadn’t been my mural, I doubt I would have braved the heat, but these folks were hardier than that!

Mickey gave a thorough history on the Mt. Whitney Power Co. and the dams in Mineral King. I hadn’t settled in yet and was hanging out in the back with my friend from the Three Rivers Post Office, so I had this nice view of the group.

When Mickey passed the mike to me, I asked the crowd if I could photograph them for the blog. I love doing that – it always makes people smile. Besides, who would have the courage to say “NO DON”T DO THAT”?

I told a few things about how the mural idea happened, a few facts about the dam at Franklin Lake, and a few stories about painting the mural. I said a pile of “Thank Yous” to the wonderful folks who helped make this mural happen. We ate some REALLY good food (that tri-tip from Exeter Meats was so tender it was easy to eat with a plastic fork!!). We even square-danced a bit – it was much cooler standing up away from the tables after dark, and Paul Pfeninger is a terrific caller! I got to catch up with lots of friends (including Ron Hughart, famous local author) and made a new friend, Matthew, who is also a painter. Despite the heat, it was a lovely evening!

Hidden Objects

Men + Mules + Water + Power has multiple hidden objects. Here is the list:

  1. pick-axe
  2. fish
  3. 2 heart-shaped rocks
  4. 1904
  5. a real rock
  6. a real mule-shoe
  7. 6 varieties of wildflowers – Sierra Columbine, Indian Paintbrush, phlox, Hoope’s Sneezeweed, Golden-beard Penstemmon, Wild Blue Flax.

Here is a little piece of the mural for you to study and identify a few of the objects:hidden.jpg

Another Long Walk

This walk was on Sunday. We took a load of firewood to my sister-in-law, who gave us a nice soft bed, fed us very well, and watched a bunch of baseball with Michael. I did a lot of knitting, waiting for the long walk to begin.

Told you so!

Kind of intimidating to be with all those athletic people. . . no worries, because they all took off and left us walkers in the dust.

This man got us started and then showed up again about 4 miles later. I’m thinking he had a ride.

The scenery was beautiful, of course.

This was a welcome sight!

I walked as fast as my short fat legs would go on short fat feet that kept going to sleep, got blisters, and finished #29 of 39 women in my age group. And, I finished 7 minutes slower than last year – prolly from all the stopping to adjust my shoes! I’m done with these expensive organized athletic events. Perhaps I’ll  even let the Inner Lazy Slob have free reign for awhile.

So there.

Work in Progress

Have you noticed that www.cabinart.net no longer works as a website? Maren and I have been redesigning it for awhile, mostly in our heads and in conversation, to reflect my current art, which is now primarily oil paintings. Yes, I still draw in pencil and teach people how to draw in pencil. But, now I call myself an Oil Painter and a Muralist. The new website will begin emerging a page or two at a time and I will keep you posted here.