Eight Things I Learned in September

Started with six and then two new learnings arrived. It was a month of great thankfulness for no fires and for a little bit of rain without lightning.

  1. King Arthur Flour is supposed to be superior for baking. I have always just bought the cheapest unbleached white and whole wheat flours from the bulk bins at Winco, so this will be a giant leap forward. My tastebuds are not very discerning, so I may decide it isn’t worth the extra moola. However, I have been told it is worth the higher price. I looked it up and the shipping is high (of course!) and the website sent me around in circles, so I am not providing the link. Found the flour at SaveMart. Expensive, so it had better be good*.
  2. Simon Beck is a snow artist. Say what? He creates 2-8 acre “murals” in the snow, geometric designs, by walking in a pattern with snow shoes in new snowfalls. Here is an article about him with more photos than words.
  3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a wonderful book, one I read many years ago, again in 2003, and just finished. Why does it seem as if I have never read it before?
  4. Fiestaware is the last pottery factory in the United States. I had no idea. Dishes are overwhelming thrift shops because people rarely buy sets anymore and definitely don’t choose “fine china” along with “everyday dishes”. Guess I was way ahead of my time when I decided against “fine china” back in the early ’80s. But oh my, I do love those bright colorful dishes. (I learned this while listening to Mike Rowe interview Salena Zito – Episode 268).
  5. Also on Mike Rowe’s podcast (episode 260), I learned about a dairy called Fair Oaks Farms in Indiana that is entirely self-sustaining. They found a way to feed their cows so that the milk is lactose free, has 1/2 the sugar and 1/3 more protein than regular milk, and Coca Cola bought the brand, naming it Fairlife. I bought some—super expensive, and good, but not sure it is worth the extra money. But I felt so hyper-nourished and righteous about it).
  6. Painting on a south-facing wall is an activity best done in December, January, or February. I learned this years ago when I painted my first giant mural in Exeter. However, when the work appears, it doesn’t often come with ideal options. (Begun in January, completed in May.
  7. Asphalt driveways DON’T need to be resealed every year. In fact, about every four years is right, according to ASR, an excellent asphalt seal and repair company. We’ve been thinking we were neglecting the driveway by skipping a year or two, and in fact that was the right thing. If you keep resealing it, it traps moisture and starts flaking. Who knew?? Obviously not the guys driving around resealing driveways every single year!!
  8. There was indeed a carousel at Mooney Grove Park. It has been restored and now is in front of Hanford’s Fox Theater, according to old friend/blog reader David Stevens, who also provided this photo (THANK YOU, Dave!)

*Good, but not awesome.

An Artist’s Aimless and Arbitrary Random Roundup

How is that for a fancy name of a lazy listicle? Sometimes there are various and sundry things taking place in my life  and sometimes, I think you all might be interested. Let’s have a look:

  1. Remember the commissioned flowing water drawing that I was redrawing because the the original had sold? IT DIDN’T SELL! IT WAS HANGING ON THE WALL IN MY STUDIO THE ENTIRE TIME!! Good grief Charlie Brown. This is the new version.And the old:I found it impossible to duplicate the old one exactly, but it doesn’t matter, because water motion doesn’t duplicate itself exactly either.
  2. We have a bad bear in the neighborhood. This was our first attempt to thwart him after his first attempt to tear into the door.
  3. This is the second way “we” (Trail Guy, but I watched a little bit) secured the door against Mr. Bad Bear.
  4. I mailed the sweater to my friend that I began for her back in August, and this is how she reimbursed me for postage. (Now should I reimburse her for $4 it cost to send this plus a very appreciated turquoise necklace?)
  5. The lawn was still a meadow until recently, I allowed Trail Guy to mow it. This year I am clipping and saving the seeds to see if I can fill in the bare spots, which don’t show under the long blades of grass (or under Tucker, who doesn’t show among the long blades either). Once mowed, I realized the lush lawn was actually the botanical version of a comb-over.
  6. Oh, Fernando, you have been so faithful. I’m so sorry about your ignition switch. If you live in Tulare County and drive Honda, Toyota, Lexus, or Acura, you NEED Foreign Auto Works, 210 N. Cain, Visalia. Mark’s number is 559-734-8285. You are welcome. (I wouldn’t dream of driving something he doesn’t work on!)
  7. The ignition switch is now repaired; now the windshield wipers don’t work. When does the owner of a much beloved old car say “enough”? Sigh. (If I didn’t have AAA and Foreign Auto Works, I’d probably be more inclined to update my ride.)

Tomorrow’s post will be our monthly Learned List. 

Quick Turn-around in Mineral King

For most of the summer, I caught rides up the hill with neighbors and then rode home with Trail Guy in the Botmobile. It is fun to drive the road, but there is no reason to beat my car up needlessly. It is also fun to spend car time with friends.

I didn’t make arrangements for a ride up the hill because I thought I’d still be painting in Mooney Grove. However, I finished the mural, and then wild horses could not have kept me from going to Mineral King. It was for only one night, a total of about 28 hours up the hill.

Hello, Oak Grove Bridge!!

Hello, Traugers! 

And this is what I meant by “beating up my car”. The potholes are legendary.

I didn’t photograph the hogwallows in the 3 dirt sections. The light and shade hides the deep dips, so you’d better be going v e r y slowly and paying close attention. (I thought for a bit that I needed a gear lower than first.)

Deck-time is precious, particularly in light of not having time up the hill during the past two Septembers. Much of my short stay in Mineral King was spent catching up with friends.

We had some work to do on the Honeymoon Cabin‘s new steps.

I still don’t understand why this is called the “Point Cabin”. It’s not on a point; what’s the point?

We had time for a short walk to Crystal Creek.

Fungus?

The light was rapidly changing, sometimes brilliant, sometimes muted.

The currant crop is very light this year but the juniper berries are thick.

The colors never look as good in photos as in real life.

Crystal Creek is like Facebook at this time of year: about 1/4″ deep, and a mile wide.  There was a stray clump of Sierra Gentian by the creek. (A PhD* camera isn’t adequate to the task of exposing the flowers clearly while blurring the creek.)

And thus we conclude a quick turnaround trip to Mineral King.

*Press Here, Dummy

Custom Art Means Accepting Commissions

I accepted the job of painting a custom sign for a cabin owner. This is a larger version of one that I did 10 years ago, one that fell apart from being out in the weather.

He asked me in July, and the summer got hot, as summers do in Tulare County. Because he wasn’t in a hurry (bless you, Mr. Customer!), I just piddled along, and then stopped for a few weeks when it was just too hot in the painting workshop. 

Suddenly, the heat quit, so I returned to the project.

It is a little bit too hard for me, so there is a fair amount of thinking, trying, erasing, waiting, and trying again. Here are the steps.

I am working from the old sign and don’t remember what the source was for this Norse god of winter, named Ullr.

I changed the border color from yellow to a more pleasing yellowish green.

A little bit at a time, because this is just difficult.

What is so hard? Seeing the proportions correctly, getting the oil paint and brushes to behave, figuring out where to place the border decor.

This time I will include some wildflowers. Mr. Customer and I discussed lupine, so there is more thinking involved in size and placements.

Finally, I am happy with the results, as is the easy-going customer.

P.S. Recently someone else asked me to paint another strange and unique sign, with blurry and uncertain reference photos and calligraphy. This time I had the good sense to turn down the job. An artist has got to know her limitations.

Unspiced Pumpkins for Falling Into Winter

Falling Into Winter is the name of an upcoming juried show at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery and Museum. I have many pieces that fit the theme, but most are colored pencil and need framing. This would probably be a poor monetary decision, knowing that oil paintings sell better than pencil or colored pencil drawings. 

Pumpkins are a fun subject, and people like them. They also like to make fun of pumpkin spice, but secretly love it. 

These are plain pumpkins, not spiced up. I painted them on a 6×12″ canvas in order to keep the price low enough to tempt an impulse buyer. 

They went on the canvas quickly, but this isn’t good enough yet.

Better.

A little more detailing.

Finally, I wrapped the pumpkins and background color around the edges and signed the painting.

HEY! I think I will call the painting “Unspiced”.

Now, if I only had a pumpkin spice latte, all would feel complete in my little world.

NEWS FLASH: Cold brew pumpkin spice from the big S coffee store is muy fabuloso. (Nope, not gonna advertise for them here. . . you can probably figure out who I am talking about.)

Mural on a South-Facing Wall in September. . . Part Two

When the mural was this far along, I begin having doubts about the wisdom of trying to complete it in one day. However, I knew the forecast was for even hotter temperatures the next day. It was difficult painting, but with my plan of attack, I decided to persevere to the end.

With shade on the sky, it seemed like a good plan to smooth out those clouds over that lumpy surface. I was in the sun, but at least the paint stayed a bit more moveable and smoothable.

Next, the tree. The upper parts were in shade, so it seemed manageable.

The shadow of the power pole is completely off the wall.

I added blades of grass, some yellow flowers (mustard?)and 3 very small cows. Please, may I be excused now?

 Yeppers: signed it, removed the tape and the drop cloth.

 

There were four other murals planned by other artists all around the park, so I thought I could stagger around to see what had been done. Meanwhile, there was a huge cross-country track meet taking place. I didn’t get a good photo of the crowds of fit young people running past, and I was too beat to wait for a good photo opportunity.

First stop: my murals at the museum on their lovely shaded north-facing wall.

This mural is by Joy Collier. She has worked on it in several three-hour sessions and was quite displeased with the surface of the wall. I agree with her that it would be quite difficult to get a pair of bear eyes looking good with all the lumps and bumps and holes. (I don’t think anyone will criticize these bear eyes.)

It is fun to have a bear in Lion Country.

Mooney Grove Park is so beautiful. The variety and abundance of trees just stuns me every time I walk (stagger) around. They have a TERRIBLE squirrel problem, so I had to watch my step very very carefully.

This one will be a beautifully designed Welcome to Mooney Grove picture in the style of an old fashioned postcard. I met artist Katy Nave Kemalyan earlier in the morning. Later, when I saw her design on the sign with Joy’s bear, I was very impressed with her work.

Colleen Mitchell Veyna and her business partner Kelsey Giles do their painting on some sort of vinyl in the studio and then “wallpaper” it to the wall. Excellent plan in this situation; they have a west-facing wall, like Katy’s. At least they get shade in the mornings! I wonder if there used to be a carousel at Mooney Grove.

The final wall was completely untouched and will be a beautiful poppy scene by Heidi Steinman.

Then I staggered back to my wall to see if it was truly finished. I think yes.

We were paid well, a good thing, because  I stopped for petrol on the way home. I was so stunned that I thought I’d share this photo with you: approximately $6.50 a gallon in Three Rivers.

And thus we conclude another mural at Mooney Grove Park, a jewel in Tulare County.

Mural on a South-Facing Wall in September. . . Part One

This is not ideal for mural painting, particularly in contrast my last experience painting at Mooney Grove on a north-facing wall in February and March.

Realizing that the entire day would have strong hot sunshine on the wall, I determined to finish it in one day instead of the prescribed four. I knew it might possibly take 2 days, but I was focused, locked and loaded, ready to rock and roll, and whatever other cliché you can find.

This will be one day of painting and two days of posting.

First, let me be clear about something: I am Very Thankful to have been chosen to do this job and at the same time, I wished it could have been done at home in my studio with these creatures hanging around. (Pippin is barely visible in the bushes, and Jackson appeared after I took this poor photo).

Alas, sometimes an artist has to go out into the world, kill something, and drag it home to the cave. (Don’t get worked up—it is only a euphemism for doing work away from home.)

Instead, I saw this creature. Mooney Grove is known for its peacock population, although now there are way more Canada geese. Fortunately, they were not in mating season or hanging around my location like the last Mooney Grove mural.

Hello, restroom. I was happy to see some shade. I didn’t know what was coming.

There were domestic geese waiting for me to set up, and very very bold about it. 9 a.m. and it was already hot in the sun.HEY! BUG OFF! Apparently he had a conference to attend, so eventually he waddled away. 

Let’s get to work. You guys too.

Farthest thing first – the sky. I didn’t have a colored copy of the painting that I submitted to the committee, so I was trying to recreate the scene using the original photos and a very poor pale copy of the painting.

Now it is in total sun, with the power pole shadow working its way across. I decided to put base coats on each segment, then return for detailing, rather than trying to complete each section as I went.

After applying blocks of color to each section and trying to squish the paint into the holes in the concrete block, I had to figure out how to proceed. The plan of attack: stand in the shade, plan the next move, decide the necessary colors, quickly grab the paints and brushes, sprint to the wall, and slam out the next small segment before running back to the shade to evaluate my work and figure out the next steps.

Watch the shadow of the pole move across. I kept dragging my crates of paint to the shadow as it inched to the right.

I ran out of water, and 2 wonderful park maintenance men brought me 4 bottles!! 

I finally realized that I couldn’t hold the palette, brush, and the photo, so I taped it to the wall. Sometimes I don’t want to do that because the tape causes the fresh paint to peel. This paint stopped being “fresh” about 20 minutes after application. The maintenance men eventually brought this sign.

They also gave me permission to cross out the incorrect title. I didn’t bother with the incorrect dates, but I did add an “L” to Colleen MitchelL Veyna’s name.

Just rewriting this makes me almost collapse from the memory of heat. We will continue tomorrow with the rest of the very hot day of painting a mural on a south-facing wall in September at Mooney Grove Park.

Rain and Sunshine in Mineral King

We headed up the hill to Mineral King on a Friday morning, knowing that rain was coming. Did this guy know or care?

The umbrella is up on the back deck to protect both the BBQ and the BBQer.

Good thing I brought my knitting. (I always do.)

Trail Guy spent a fair amount of time watching rain through the window. (I offered to teach him how to knit, but he declined.)

There was plenty of reading material.

When it got too dark to draw, I found this book on the shelves and saw that I last read it in 2003. It was lighter reading than the books I brought.

The next morning had decent sunshine so we headed out to see what there was to see. First, 2 deer in the stream.

The classic view of the Crowley family cabin and Farewell Gap doesn’t begin to show the deep blue of the sky and the enormous clouds.

This is looking back down toward the valley (the San Joaquin valley, not the Mineral King valley).

Juniper berries.

Trail Guy is relieved to be on a trail instead of looking out a window.

Crystal Creek wasn’t any higher in spite of getting 7/10ths of an inch of rain.

These hardy Crimson Columbine survived.

Trail Guy is thinking that I’d better get a move on or it might be raining when we load up the Botmobile to go back down the hill.

Just a few flowers survived through the first 1/3 of September and the rain.

 

Today, Lord willing and the creek etc., I begin painting a restroom in Mooney Grove Park with this scene.

New Mural at Mooney Grove Park

About two and a half years ago, I worked on several murals on the outside of the Tulare County Museum at Mooney Grove Park on the south side of Visalia, California. Each day when I finished painting, I walked around that giant park of a zillion trees. As a muralist, I am always aware of blank walls, and I counted 7 concrete block restrooms, all painted white, all with multiple walls screaming for murals.

I photographed several of the buildings, photoshopped some of my paintings onto the plain buildings, then wrote up a proposal to present to a committee that meets 4 times a year. I also wrote a letter and asked to be on the next meeting’s agenda.

Then, The Plague struck. No response to anything I requested, no followup, nothing.

A few months ago, the Arts Consortium invited artists to submit five designs apiece, each proportioned to fit a 4×8′ horizontal mural. Five artists would be selected to paint a mural on a restroom. I submitted 5 ideas, and included my photoshopped versions for their visualizing convenience. (Always make it easy for the customer!)

Eventually, I got a congratulatory email saying my painting of the North Fork had been selected for one of the restrooms. Not my favorite, but I have painted and sold this scene about three times, so it seemed like a good candidate for a juried situation.

Next, I got instructions that all the muralists would be painting their restrooms on the same weekend, from a Friday through a Monday, and would be finished on that Monday, no exceptions, so there. 

I looked at the weather, saw that Friday would be 104, contacted the nice man at the Arts Consortium and asked for a postponement or to be fired.

Being reasonable, he agreed that paint dries too fast in those conditions and went to the committee making the decisions. 

We were then allowed to pick our own four day block to paint, and I chose September 21-24.

The forms began flying back and forth, along with a visual to remind me which painting had been selected, and a photo of it on “my” restroom wall.

Excuse me??

All-righty-then! So, I will be painting Yokohl Creek, which might indeed be my favorite. (GREEN!!)

Supposed to begin tomorrow, but many of the project details have been fluid, so time will tell. . .

More Cold Water Drawing

This is the first drawing titled “Rock and Roll”, one that appeared in my 2018 calendar, sold, and now has been requested by a new customer as a do-over.

On a rainy weekend in Mineral King, I worked on the new drawing for another few hours.

 

This time I remembered to bring my Tombow pencils and also the original photos. I try to work from photos so that I am not simply interpreting a previous interpretation. Flowing water isn’t an exact subject, but I want to keep close to the original view because the customer recognized this section of river. If I stray too far, she might say it doesn’t look right.

I wrote a few reminder notes on the facing sheet, and then because of the overcast and rain, it got too dark to see the details, up there in the Land of No Electricity, Internet, or Cell Service.