Fall in Three Rivers is often late, subtle, or hidden in smoke. Most of the trees are evergreens, whether a variety of oaks or even some conifers. Some of the deciduous trees are also oaks, and they simply have green leaves that fall off without any hooplah. That doesn’t stop me from hunting fall color. In fact, the few places of color really stand out against all the brown, green, and gray.
After a number of years living here, I know where to look for the prettiest colors. Here are a few of the autumn leaf displays that I anticipate each year.
Virginia Creeper
Flowering pear with a small glimpse of a brilliant Chinese pistache in the distance
Crape myrtle (some special unnamed variety)
Chinese pistache
Redbuds make yellowleaves. (Yes, I know, “yellow leaves”, not one word, but it goes with “redbud” as one word.)
Chinese pistache are the champions of fall color in Three Rivers.
By the time this post goes live, many of these leaves will be gone.
The Great Western Divide is the name given to the ridge of peaks seen from the top of Moro Rock in the Sierra Nevada. On this side, water drains west and on the other side, it drains east .
I haven’t painted this before, at least not from this view. The mountains show in the distance of many of my citrus/foothills/mountain scenes, but only once did I try to make them perfect. And that was tricky, because I worked from many photos, piecing the range together, and then faking the hills.
Why did I fake the hills? Because they were different in every single photo, because each photo was taken from a different place. There is no place besides an aircraft where you can see the entire width of the Sierra Nevada.
Here we go. . .
At the end of the painting session, the light was a bit too low to be accurate on both the colors and the shapes.
So, I photographed it the next morning in the bright sunlight. Looks washed out because the wet paint is reflective.
When it is dry, I will scan it, and then, as always, I will tell you it looks better in person.
The Great Western Divide, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×12″, $125.
This blog post is just a short report on a personal topic. Trail Guy and I attended a 99th birthday party for his great uncle. The invitation came over the phone, so I didn’t hear the address or the time. I knew Great Uncle lived next door to a friend’s house, which I drew a number of years ago, figuring that Trail Guy had the address in his head or written somewhere.
He asked me what time we needed to leave because I wanted to do two errands while we were down the hill. I thought that because it was a lunch party that it was at noon, so I did some calculating, built in a little buffer, and said “quarter to eleven”.
After the second errand, he said, “Now what do you want to do?” I said, “We have the right amount of time to find the house, because we don’t know which side of our friend they live on”. Indeed, more than plenty, because the party was at one! Oops.
I thought he had the address, and he thought I knew the time.
So we went to CACHE and spent some time looking at the exhibits and the art.
Drawn so long ago that the landscaping was different. (2008)
When we decided to head toward the party, I followed my memory to the house I had drawn. Alas, it had been 15 years, and the signature birch trees which were to be my landmark were nowhere to be seen. We drove around the block, and then parked near the house that I was fairly certain was the right one. (Silly me, all that assuming, and I even didn’t look at the drawing first either—simply relied on memory). A neighbor came out on one side and asked if we were lost. Turns out that we weren’t lost after all; the party house was on the other side of the house that I remembered. By then, all we had to do was watch to see where cars pulled up with people we knew.
Great Uncle’s wife of perhaps 10 years read a sweet poem she wrote, and then Great Uncle recited a poem he wrote. What a story: engaged, then broke up because he didn’t want to leave a fiancé behind when he served in WWII. They married other people, and when both were widowed, they reunited and finally got married.
This photo was completely unposed and does not do justice to this handsome couple.
After the toasts and poetry, Trail Guy and I joined up with his favorite cousin outside. Favorite Cousin’s son had driven his mom and her husband to the reunion. He and I sat on the edge of the pool with our feet in the cold water and got acquainted. He was a delight to talk with! He said something profound, that first he attributed to Banksy, and then after looking it up (EVERYONE has a phone), we decided his version was clearer and simpler.
Everyone wants to be an artist, but no one wants to learn to draw.
Yesterday you learned the term “glazing” for building a painting in layers.
Now let’s look at glazing some fruit.
This was a little tricky. I started with a photo, then started rearranging and adding more fruit so that there was more color. I kept gathering more photos, trying to make this look believable but also full of variety and vibrance.
The color varies from photo to photo here because of the light differences in the painting workshop, depending on the angle and the time of day.
It needed an orange, and obviously the orange will need some brightening up.
At the end of the painting session I realized that the light on the fruit was not consistent. So, I lifted off the lemon and will paint another one over the top. The orange needs to be brighter. The apple was a good way to calm down that giant yellow pear. The persimmon needs detailing on its green top. A tangerine will be a good addition where the red circle is. Obviously the pomegranate, yellow pear, and peach need to be finished.
Then, everything will need to be tightened up even more. Since this painting is a gift, I can spend as much time as I want without paying attention to whether or not the price is right.
The next morning, I had a few hours to make a little more progress.
The ArtSpeak word for slowly building paintings with layers is “glazing”. You’re welcome.
This might be finished. The photo on the left was taken in the afternoon; the one on the right was taken the next morning. I’m hard-pressed to tell you which is more accurate.
Wait, nope, I spent yet another hour on the phone with someone whose main phrase was, “Yes Ma’am”, as she tried to figure out AGAIN why my new phone won’t work. Or wait, is it the new SIM card? Perhaps it is the new provider?
See a pattern here? It is the word “new”.
STOP WITH THE CHANGES AND UPGRADES AND UPDATES ALREADY!!
Okay, where were we. . . oh yes, in the day’s accomplishments and forward progress at the easels.
Neither of these paintings are finished, but they are both much closer than the last time you saw them.
The base of the tree was beginning to look good.
Not good enough yet, but much closer.
That Sequoia is called the Sentinel Tree and it is in front of the building formerly known as the Giant Forest Market. Now it is the Giant Forest Museum.
The difficult thing about this commission wildflower piece is keeping the edges of the poppies slightly blurry so that the brodiaea AKA Blue Dick really jumps out.
I love this kind of detailed realism, even if it does take (almost) all day. And both of these subjects are exactly what one would expect from a Central California artist. All that is missing is some oranges.
Hmmm, I am sort of like country music with my three subjects: redwood trees, poppies, and citrus. (Country music’s three subjects are cheatin’, drinkin’, and storytellin’.)
Wait, I also paint Mineral King, cabins, single oranges, entire groves, the foothills with mountains in the background, various views of the Sierra Nevada, Three Rivers, and whatever else people are interested in hiring me to paint.
Phew. Thought for a moment I was gittin’ real simple-like.
See? I did more than just be on hold and paint. . . I did me some thinkin’. Real high-quality thought.
This painting needed some improvement on the arrangement. That’s called the “composition” in ArtSpeak.
This next painting is a commission. I am combining multiple photos, trying to somewhat match a looser painting that the customer admired, but wanted in my detailed style. Because it is of wildflowers, I have lots of reference photos to work from. It is fun to use bright colors, in this and in the fruit painting above.
The next one is a 6×12″ of part of the Great Western Divide, as seen from Moro Rock. I sketched it with a paintbrush while the canvas was upside down. When I flipped it over, I decided there needed to be less sky, so I scooted everything a bit higher, while improving accuracy of the shapes.
Kaweah Arts requested some Sequoia trees, so here we go again. . . This is the pair of redwood trees at Redwood Canyon, or simply “Redwood” on the Mineral King road. Some former cabin neighbors referred to them as “Aunt Tilly and Uncle Pete”. I can’t tell which is which. Must have been married so long that they started looking alike.
This last one is 6×18″ and is the Sentinel Tree, in front of the Giant Forest Market. I mean the museum. My cousin worked there one summer (or more), and used to get a kick out of customers who would ask, “Where can I see the big trees?” She would simply point out the door.
All of these need to be relayered, then detailed, my favorite part. After they are dry, I will either scan or photograph them. Next, I will post them on the blog and tell you that they look better in person.
I went to Sequoia National Park twice in October because this place attracts people from all over the world, and it is ONLY ONE HOUR FROM THREE RIVERS!! I don’t go very often because we go to Mineral King, another fabulous part of Sequoia. But when Mineral King isn’t accessible, why not go to the main part of “The Park”, as we refer to it here in Three Rivers?
On Saturday, October 28, I was supposed to go to the Native Voices exhibit unveiling at the Three Rivers History Museum, but this lovely opportunity presented itself. (Besides I thought there would be too many people at the museum.)
Trail Guy and I headed up the Generals Highway with The Farmer and Hiking Buddy. Because we were with other people, I didn’t keep calling for a pullover to take photos even though the dogwood were really getting their fall colors. I have enough photos. (Maybe.)
Climbing Moro Rock is unmatchable in its awesomeness. There is this little nagging thing in the back of my mind that says one day either my feet won’t let this happen any more or The Park will decide that it isn’t safe and just shut it down. That would be tragic.
This time I didn’t take any pictures on the way up. (There were too many people.) What I find surprising is that each time I go, it feels unfamiliar, as in, “I don’t remember this stretch of steps”.
The smoke from the fires in Redwood Canyon was much stronger than 2 weeks previous.
Sawtooth is visible from the top of Moro Rock but none of the signs on the route up Moro Rock naming the peaks go that far south.
A week or so earlier, I learned about the Marble Fork bridge, just beyond Lodgepole. I’d seen it many times, but never paid attention because the Clover Creek bridge is bigger and more noticeable. The Marble Fork bridge has lots of parking, picnic tables, and easy access to the water, but not too many people. Why don’t more people stop here? Because it isn’t highly publicized or signed. Look at this fabulous piece of rock construction:
Look at this little fire tipi; there were several, because the Park has been doing mechanical thinning.
We drove to Wuksachi, with the intent to explore some of the trails around the large area. This was developed in the early ’90s to take pressure off Giant Forest; there are still at least as many people in Giant Forest. It has the museum, big parking lot, the Moro Rock/Crescent Road and all are the first area you come to that feels as if you have arrived.
Wuksachi had tremendous plans for expansion. More lodging, perhaps some little cabins were planned, but nothing has come to fruition. It has three sort of Motel-6-ish units, and a giant lodge (why “lodge” when there are no places to stay in that building?) with a gift shop, lounge area, bar, and restaurant with giant windows and a fireplace.
Wuksachi doesn’t have any redwood trees, and a lot of the area around has been burned. It has many meandering trails, lots of rustic bridges, and it connects to a trail that leads to Lodgepole or Twin Lakes. I’d never been on those trails, and didn’t know Clover Creek ran nearby, nor that you can walk to Lodgepole from Wuksachi. (We didn’t.) This bridge caught my eye because it looks as if it has been there for awhile, rather than the new (from the 1990s) ones throughout Wuksachi’s grounds.
Looking downstream from the bridge, I saw berries that were new to me.
They looked like pyracantha berries and tasted incredibly foul. (No, I didn’t eat one—just put my teeth in one briefly to see what it was like.)
Instead of eating at Wuksachi’s Pizza Deck as planned (too many people), we ate our backup picnic lunch on some abandoned and mostly broken picnic tables off in a sunny place. There are lots of large outdoor storage areas, probably intended for parking lots or more lodging, and they definitely didn’t have too many people.
Then we continued exploring on foot, and I was attracted to other bridges. This one was a driving bridge; the light didn’t seem right for good photos on those other footbridges. (I might need to go back again.)
There is still some road construction on the Generals Highway. On the way down we hit a red light beneath some black oaks with a few leaves beginning to turn their golden fall color.
We were hoping to look across the canyon to Admiration Point and then use binoculars to see if the Colony Mill Ranger Station is still standing.
I didn’t take a turn with the binoculars because I saw penstemon in bloom. Penstemon in late October?!
Admiration Point is across the canyon. I haven’t circled it on the photo; just know it is there.
Thus we conclude another day of not painting or drawing. Next week perhaps I will be more productive, artwise. But sometimes an artist needs a few field trips to refill the well.
For several months, I had no work. Instead of worrying about it, I enjoyed guilt-free time at the cabin. Well, guilt-free except for the fact that the road was closed, and other people couldn’t enjoy Mineral King this past summer. Life is a series of good things and not-so-good things; we do our best with what we have been given. Or I do. Most of the time. I don’t know what you do. Maybe you just complain. . .
My point, and I do have one, is to show you that I did have a few sales. One must pay closer attention when times are a little hard, because the negatives are often much louder than the positives. Here are my positives from that slow period plus a couple of months beyond.
I am guessing on the titles and some of the sizes. Closies count. . .
Pencil, 6×9″, a commmission drawing
Pencil, 11×14″, a commmission drawing
Oranges, 5×7″, oil on panel
North Fork, 10×10″, oil on canvas
Navel, 6×6″, oil on canvas
Sawtooth, 8×8″, oil on canvas
Unspiced, oil on canvas, 6×12″
Alta and Moro After a Storm, 6×18″, oil on canvas
Craig’s View, 6×6″, oil on canvas, a commission painting
It is time to do a few small paintings to sell at Kaweah Arts. The proprietor requested Sequoia trees and mountain ranges. I looked through my canvas sizes, looked through my photos and made some decisions. Inventory number, title, wire on the back, add to the inventory lists, crop and enhance the photos—all needs to happen before paint lands on the canvas.
Wait! This isn’t a Sequoia tree or a mountain range. What is it?
It is a scene I have wanted to paint for many years, but felt it was a bit too hard. This will be one of my long slow paintings, with many many layers. There is no deadline, and I want it to be Most Totally Excellent.
Okay, this is a standard 6×18″ painting of a big tree, AKA redwood, AKA Sequoia, formally known as Sequoia gigantea, not to be confused with the redwoods of northern California, called Sequoia sempervirens.
WHAT IS THIS???
This is a work in progress, a housewarming present for someone Very Important in my life. She showed me the pieces she has in her kitchen, and I was inspired to ask her what I could paint to add to the collection. (These might not be the actual pieces that she has, but hers are very similar to these.)
The sequoias and mountain range paintings can just hold their camels* for a little bit. I have some designing, improving, polishing, rearranging, composing ahead.
*Learned to say this while in Israel back in 2016 and decided it is more fun than horses.
