Drawing Cold Water in a Hot Month

Someone I know saw a drawing she loved at my show “Images of Home” last November and December at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery. It was called “Rock & Roll”, and she wasn’t the only one who loved it. It sold.

She got in touch to ask for the drawing, and I showed her three others that are available.

Every Drop

Life Source

Rough & Tumble

Nope. She wants Rock & Roll. 

So, I offered to draw it again, and she said yes. Her deadline is about 6 weeks away, but because it doesn’t require a drafting table with a straight edge, I took it to the cabin and dove in.(Yep, I said that.)

All I had was my 2017 calendar picture to work from because it was too hot in the studio down the hill to look for the original photos.

I also didn’t remember to take my current favorite pencils (Tombow) up the hill, but I have plenty of other pencils to choose from. It was quite pleasant to just put in an hour or two for several days running.

Using pencils, oil paint, and murals, I make art that you can understand, of places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.

(Unless you just filled your gas tank on the way back from the grocery store before opening your electric bill.)

 

Testing my Skills with a Sunflower

While you were reading about Mineral King, I may have been cowering in the air conditioned studio, testing my drawing skills with a sunflower. 

Does that make you curious?
My Kansas artist friend Carrie Lewis gives a colored pencil drawing challenge each month in her magazine Colored Pencil Magic.

The last issue had a few references to me, so she sent me a copy of the magazine. I proofread for her, and then asked permission to take that month’s drawing challenge, working from a sunflower photo that she provided. Of course it was a sunflower, the state flower of Kansas.

I cropped it significantly, because there was an odd-shaped scrap of good paper ready to go. (That means easy to grab.) I didn’t spend a ton of time drawing it because a sunflower is a forgiving shape, and I just wanted to start coloring. (Serious colored pencil artists call it “painting”, but I just can’t bring myself to call it that, not being serious about colored pencil and being an actual painter.)

I rotated it around multiple times, both while working on the shapes and while coloring. My printer is a bit weak, so I worked from Carrie’s photo on the laptop. See? Weak.

Yellow isn’t an easy color for me to use, probably due to the fact that I rarely draw (or even paint) yellow things, so I don’t know yellow colored pencils very well. Hence, a cheat sheet.

When it was finished, I scanned it.

Then I got the bright idea to test my drawing skills, since I accidentally drew it almost the same size as the weak print. Can I actually see proportions and shapes correctly? To find out, I traced the print and then laid the tracing over the completed drawing. 

Not great, wouldn’t work on something that really mattered such as a building or a face, but it’s not too bad for just sort of throwing it together while cowering in the air conditioning.

Next time, maybe I should warn myself that there might be a test and then try harder.

P.S. Thanks, Carrie!

 

A Week of Mineral King, Chapter 6: White Chief

When our little group headed to Eagle Lake, Trail Guy stopped before the rocky section. He pointed out the route to White Chief, a hike, nay, a scramble that we took a few years ago. (I’d give you the link but I can’t find the blog post about it; this is to be expected after 14 years of blogging, a total of 3,443 posts.)

Suddenly, Trail Guy was gone. We knew he wasn’t going to Eagle Lake, but didn’t know he was going to White Chief, up and over the ridge that separates the two bowls.

Because I wasn’t huffing and puffing behind him with my camera, we only get this photo of White Chief from the top of the ridge. Or maybe halfway down. (I wasn’t there.)

Here is everyone’s favorite juniper.

And, (perhaps it is my influence), here are several beautiful wildflower photos of a late season flower. I think it is fuchsia, in spite of being red rather than fuchsia colored.

Thus, we conclude one week plus one day of Mineral King posts. My 2023 calendar may follow this theme, but this is an idea that is just percolating, not fully formed. (THANK YOU, BARBARA L. FOR ANOTHER EXCELLENT IDEA!)

A Week of Mineral King, Chapter 5: Eagle Lake

Yesterday we stopped at the Eagle Lake dam, a steep hike on a tough trail out of Mineral King. 

Wait—isn’t there supposed to be a lake? Isn’t that the purpose of the dam? 

Well, oops. The dam either didn’t get closed last fall or it got opened too soon this summer. Looks more like Eagle Pond.

However, these gentlemen caught quite a few fish (catch and release, using a spinner).

Little Sis replaced her cat ears with a Kevin jacket (ever seen “Up”?). We watched the raindrops on the pond while discussing circles, ripples, and shiny places.

The Farmer found a checkerboard as he explored the edges of the pond, formerly known as Eagle Lake. My guess is that some youngsters’ phone batteries died so some oldsters showed them this primitive, non-tech game.

The exposed rocks in the lake are bizarrely geometrical.

This is the “normal” view of the lake, looking back toward Mineral King.

And this is looking toward the upper end of the lake. 

I’ve painted it from a similar angle.

Enough recreation and lollygagging. Time to make like a cowpie and hit the trail.

The Farmer found this rock, and we all thought it would make a great paving stone but had the good sense to leave it as a concept rather than a reality. It is a weird geologic formation, not someone’s early attempt at mosaic.

Does this look like a trail to you?? I turned back toward Eagle Lake to take this photo, because even though I’ve hiked it many times, it still astonishes me.

Finally found some flowers. These are Pride of the Mountains. Sawtooth is in the distance, with its “shadow”, Mineral Peak just to the right.

Well, yea. A little bit of good trail bed.

Haha. Fooled you. Climb over these rocks, you mountain goat.

After the rocks, I stopped taking photos with the exception of two more of the scene that I have been struggling to paint for 2-3 years now. (Not gonna show you that sorry mess today.)

With 2 miles left to go, Little Sis ran out of gas. She asked for breaks about every 20 yards. That is the slowest mile I have ever walked on a trail, and we were quite relieved that her pa was waiting at the White Chief junction. They did a pack shuffle, and she rode the last mile on her pa’s shoulders. I chased Big Bro for awhile at a rapid pace, marveling that the child never ran out of steam, never slowed, never complained.

Those are two amazing children who accomplished a huge journey on foot.

Tomorrow, we will return to White Chief, our favorite destination.

A Week of Mineral King, Chapter 4: Eagle Lake

One day, a group of cabin friends went to Eagle Lake, the most popular hike in Mineral King. It has been 5 years since I went there, and I had an ominous feeling that this might be the last time I see it. Dramatic? Maybe, but that trail is TOUGH. (Trail Guy actually refuses to go there any more.)

Remember this little hiker from last year? (You can read about our hike here.)

This year Little Sis wanted to go to Eagle Lake. There was a bit of a competition going, since she wanted to go before turning 5, because her Big Bro had gone to Eagle before age 5. Eagle Lake is closer than last year’s hike, but oh so much tougher.

Big Bro studied the trail sign as we were heading out.

Instead of a cat tail this year, there were cat ears on a hoodie.

Whoa, Daddy, is that a flower in your cap?

What? We have to go up that?

Holy smokes, the trail is rough. However, I think it is a little bit improved over its 2017 condition. Maybe, maybe not.

The views are spectacular. With all the stopping to huff-and-puff, there are many opportunities to enjoy the view.

I probably have photographed this twisty tree (a juniper) every time I have gone to Eagle Lake.

Oh yeah! A break from the rocks and the climb.

This is a weird rock, a leverite, as in “Leave ‘er right where you found ‘er”.

AT LAST! The dam. We have arrived. 

You’ll have to return tomorrow for the rest of the story.

Here is the story from 2017: Part One and Part Two

A Week of Mineral King, Chapter 3: Franklin Falls

One day I took a walk with two friends to Franklin Falls. This is a four mile round trip walk, fairly flat, a nice way to just meander along the valley floor in Mineral King for awhile.

We discovered a creature poking his head out of a hole, until he filled the hole with dirt. Guess he was shy.

We wondered what this little fern-like plant is that no one has seen previously but is very abundant this year. Maybe it will have flowers…

We meandered up the Franklin trail just to the falls. Not much water in late August/early September. (Look at the beginning of  this post from 2017 to see it roaring.)
This little flower has been hanging in there for awhile. I think it is a fuchsia, but I can’t quite tell. It is red, but the color fuchsia is bright pink. Anyone know of a good wildflower book?

I like this view of Crystal Creek, even when it is low and spread out, probably because I am just ravenous for green.

I considered posting a photo of my two friends at the falls, but since this is the World Wide Web, I decided to keep that one for myself. 

Tomorrow, Eagle Lake.

A Week of Mineral King, Chapter 2: Nature Trail

This is the classic view of Mineral King: Farewell Gap, the Crowley Family cabin, the creek (sometimes called “the river”, which would make people in wet places fall down laughing). I snapped this photo as we crossed the bridge at the end of the road. This is one of the easiest routes: down the road, up the Nature Trail.

Although this view from the top of Endurance Grade is gorgeous, the camera is often incapable of relaying that information to you.

Wait, I have a better photo from another day:

On this little walk, Trail Guy explained everything to us, starting with these giant nettles above the Tar Gap parking area. (It ain’t much of a lot, but it is a place to park.)

Do NOT touch that stuff. It will hurt you. We believe the seeds came with feed for the stock that used to be in a pack station that used to be at this site. (Burchell pack station)

These are tracks from a millipede.

This is the source of the cold spring that gives Cold Springs Campground its name. Wait—one spring, but Cold “Springs”? Looks a bit weak and tired, but it never stops flowing.

We also explored the walk-in campground sites at the lower end of the campground. They are downstream from the rest of the campground, farther than I expected. I’d never seen them before, nor had our hiking friends. Nothing much to photograph, but interesting to see in person. With the online reservation system now in place for the campsites, it is pretty difficult to discern how to reserve one of those walk-ins.

It was a hot day, so we abandoned the idea of heading out on the Tar Gap trail a ways.

Instead, we headed back up the Nature Trail. There is a clear sign stating no dogs, but it seems that there are many illiterate folks in Mineral King this summer.

Now Trail Guy is telling the story of installing the water tank that supplies the campground and cabins in the area (he was Maintenance Guy back then). The situation got a bit dicey, and there may be a dent in the tank, but none of us wanted to climb the hill to inspect it.

The Nature Trail deceived us and somehow we were on the mini loop that goes past the garnet mine. I didn’t see any garnets.

We stopped for some fuel at Iron Falls and were thankful that The Farmer carried enough food to share with us all, which made it a hike for him and a walk for the rest of us.

This is how Iron Falls looks when we were plunked on the rocks, looking downstream.

This is how it looks facing upstream, while practically sitting in the stream.

And this is how it looks in an oil painting. (Last time I did inventory at the Silver City Store, it was still there.)
This is some mine tailings.

Here is the site of an old ranger station. The Farmer is “walking up the front steps”. (Use your imagination)

A little ways past the ranger station is this weird bathtub. Looks scratchy and pokey.

And beyond the tub is another trough, or a something else?**Come back tomorrow for more Mineral King. I wonder if I can stretch it to a week plus a day. . . stay tuned.

**Trail Guy just explained this item. It was a place to cook, an outdoor stove that probably had a sheet of metal with removable plates on top and a chimney pipe at the back. 

 

A Week of Mineral King, Chapter 1: Clough

Recently I spent a longer stretch than normal in Mineral King and now there are lots of stories to tell, hikes to follow, hanging out to see. Let’s call this one Chapter One, Clough.

“Clough”? William O. Clough spent a great deal of time in Mineral King in the early 1900s. He disappeared one winter, and now we like to go to a site where he had a cabin.

First, this is an example of how a bear marks a tree.

We took the Clough Cut-off trail (off the Franklin/Farewell trail) and started up. The trail isn’t maintained, and we were relying on memory. I was looking for the gnarliest red fir tree around, and when I saw this one, it looked right but the terrain was wrong and the surrounding trees were missing. I was confused.

Trail Guy was in front (as usual), and he found the correct tree. This time the light was wrong so you cannot appreciate the true gnarliness of this giant red fir. It shows up in this old post about Bill Clough.

There’s Vandever, the peak on the right side of Farewell Gap.

Those people think they are going to find gold up there in some mine tailings. I’m happy to just bumble around below, looking for the missing memorial sign on the giant red fir. 

The bear scratch marks showed up better on the way back down the Franklin/Farewell Trail.

Look at these guys. This view is common to me on our hikes. Makes me smile.

Monday, chapter two.

Many New Things Learned in August

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. It was a month of lots of new information.

 

  1. Victor Davis Hanson interviewed Dr. Steven Quay who explained the 5 different types of gain of function research, three of which are considered acceptable and two which are considered bio weapons. I had to listen over and over, taking notes, slowing down the podcast to half-speed in order to understand. Interview with VDH on August 5.
  2. Dresser couplings (may you never need to know this): a brilliant simple device for repairing broken water pipes, available in plastic or metal.  A dresser coupling also has “teeth” in the center, and this is why: it gives a pipe wrench something to grab onto while you use a second pipe wrench to tighten up the twirly ends.
  3. Blueberry facts: A. farmers plant grass between the rows; B. they can be harvested mechanically; C. the plants benefit from sawdust.
  4. Oregon facts (many of which I already knew, but maybe you didn’t): A. No sales tax; B. Everything I bought was less expensive than in California; C. Trucks (big rigs) can haul three trailers; D. The roads are lined with Wild Carrot, AKA Queen Anne’s Lace, in August; E. Many of their town names are copycats—Portland, Salem, Glendale, Albany, Dallas, Harrisburg, Jacksonville, for example; F. Although most of the state is small towns and rural areas, the 2 largest cities decide the politics.
  5. Something very peculiar is happening with a book, Dawn at Mineral King Valley, by Dan Selmi. Trail Guy and I met Dan and his wife a number of years ago (5? 8?) when he was researching for a book about the lawsuit that prevented Disney from building a ski resort in Mineral King. I recently discovered that the book was published in June of this year, and I ordered a copy on eBay. I received an old paperback titled A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. What? I returned it, and ordered a copy on Amazon. This time I received a message that the book was out of stock. I ordered a third time from another seller and received the same message. I ordered from a third Amazon seller and received the message again. I ordered a fifth time (4th attempt on Amazon), and this time I received another copy of A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. This is truly baffling! When I worked out how to return the book, underneath the description of the book was this:In case you can’t read it, it says “There is a newer edition of this book” and it lists A Manual for Writers of Research Papers. . .” HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. Next, I need to compare the ISBNs on the 2 books. The Manual for Writers has ISBN 0-226-81619-2 Selmi’s book has ISBN 978-0226816197 (the 13 number version) AND 0226816192 (the 10 number version) Aha! Does the assigner of ISBNs have a problem? Looks as if Daniel Selmi has a problem. I certainly do, if I want to get the right book!**
  6. Perler Beads are tiny plastic macaroni that comes in multiple colors with little molds. You arrange the colors on a mold, melt them into place with an iron, and get these items. I made the blue one which is sort of a coaster.
  7. Do you know how much a gallon of propane weighs? 5.25 lbs., compared to 8 lbs. for a gallon of water. You’re welcome.
  8. This is more opinion than fact, but I believe it is better to drive through the Central Valley on Interstate 5 than on 99. Other people believe 99 to be superior; they are allowed to be wrong, because it will keep more traffic off 5.
  9. There are ice packs made from a gel that when thawed, can be put on your plants as fertilizer! They are called Enviro-Ice. My plants haven’t shot up as a result, but time will tell.
  10. If you want to package things securely in a ziplock bag, close the seal until the last inch, squish out all the air you can, insert a drinking straw, and inhale like crazy to suck out the air. Then, while still inhaling, pull the straw and speedy-quick-like-lightning, seal the bag. (I KNOW you are dying to try this!)
  11. The President and the Freedom Fighter by Brian Kilmeade was a wealth of new information about Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. I learned so much about both of these remarkable men and the War Between the States. (“Civil War” sounds to me as if there was a plot to overthrow the USA, when in reality, it was an effort to secede from the United States, not take it over.) My conclusion is that if everyone at the time simply acknowledged that slavery is sin, plain and simple, it would have ended and there would have been no war. (Can I get an “AMEN”?)

See you in September, maybe in about one week…

**I made a sixth attempt to order the book, this time from eBay. Instead of receiving the book, eBay sent an email saying the book was damaged in transit so it got returned to the seller, who, OF COURSE has no more copies!! 

Projects Pending in a Lazy Listicle

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog.

Today’s post of pending projects comes in the form of a Lazy List. This is because A. Many details are unknown; therefore B. Details cannot be revealed yet, and C. I am busy!

  1. A cabin sign (this has been pending for awhile because I was gone and it is too hot to paint and several other excuses which no one wants to hear)
  2. Drawing lessons resume September 6
  3. A mural on a bathroom at a county park
  4. Some drawings for a new county building
  5. A mural on a county library
  6. A group show at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery and Museum titled Falling into Winter means I need to round up some appropriate pieces

Quick, I need to find a photo to reward you for completing this list.

I agree with this sheep about today’s blog in terms of excitement.

What a rude set of photos. Kittens make everything better, and they keep their tongues in their mouths too.

After tomorrow’s monthly Learned List, I will be quiet for about a week. Let not your hearts be troubled.