Author: cabinart

Sold in Summer

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

Sales have slowed down a bit, which makes me concerned for my sellers and their businesses. However, I remain both busy and optimistic with some new projects pending. That will appear in another post.

Sequoias, some poppies remaining from spring, one commission, and the rest was Mineral King, of course. No pencil drawings this time.

But, summer isn’t over, not in weather, nor the calendar. Of course, the calendar says September 21 is the beginning of fall, but everyone knows that Labor Day is the other bookend to Memorial Day, holding together those weeks that remind us of the beach, fluffy reading, swatting mosquitoes, fireworks, watermelon, road trips, cowering in the A/C, and a sense of NEEDING to be off work.

Thus we conclude another peek into the (seasonal) business of art.

Relaxing Time in Mineral King

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. By now you know that I go to Mineral King almost every week, balancing time up and down the hill, consistently showing you Mineral King things on Fridays. Because this is the World Wide Web, I don’t publish my schedule, or tell you when I am away. (Of course I trust you, Faithful Blog Reader, but who knows how many bad guys might be waiting to steal my beloved Fernando, a ’96 Honda Accord with 240,000 miles on it, while I am in Mineral King??)

We finally had a few quiet days in MK, without scheduled events, cabin neighbors*, broken water lines, parking troubles, and hordes staring at our cabin as they tromped past.

Here is a peek into a quiet few days with my usual commentary.

This is Hoopes Sneezeweed, an odd name for a flower that looks blown out even when newly blooming.

The split wood was getting low.

The Honeymoon Cabin, a mini-museum for the Mineral King Preservation Society, has new steps, thanks to super volunteer and MKPS board member Dan V. and his capable assistants. (Hi R and A! Sorry to have missed you.)

Random people enjoy fishing below the Honeymoon Cabin.

From left to right: hatchet, ax, bigger ax. Good tools for a somewhat peculiar and very practical hobby.

We walked up to Black Wolf Falls, which I think of as Monarch Falls because it is on Monarch Creek.

Trail Guy was ahead of me while I was oohing and ahhing over my favorite wildflower, Explorer’s Gentian.

There is a mining tunnel by the falls. I didn’t go in this time. Seen one dark dripping tunnel, seen ’em all.

This might be the very best Grass of Parnassus I have seen yet. It is the first time I’ve seen them at Monarch Falls. What’s up with that balanced rock? I resisted the urge to knock it over because I am very mature about such things. While in Oregon, I made a new friend who was struggling to knit this sweater. The instructions were ridiculous, so I found a way to make it for her without following a pattern. It is now on its way back to Oregon so my friend can have the joy of completion.

Please admire this beautiful arrangement of my tools, brought to you by Tool Guy. Oops, I mean Trail Guy.We headed up the canyon for an easy walk, and I got sidetracked by the light on this horse.

There is an island in Crystal Creek where it crosses the trail that is a little flower garden.

This is Sierra Gentian, a cousin of my favorite, Explorer’s Gentian.

Trail Guy led us to a spot where there used to be a cabin. I found this nail to be intriguing, because it is a modern nail next to a historic site. Besides, the light was good.

Can you tell that this is a man-made platform? There are no log cabin corners, but it definitely is a place where a cabin once stood.

How did Trail Guy recognize it while looking at this view? He’s just good that way.

I think these are called Common Madia. However, yellow flowers do tend to look alike. (Anyone know of a good Mineral King wildflower book?)

This is a tiny pink flower I have never seen before. The blossom looks like Wire Lettuce (nope, not making that up) but the foilage is clearly different, more like a shrub.

Thus we conclude another random ramble through our favorite place, Mineral King. (The road is very very terrible, in case you were wondering, but 4-wheel drive isn’t necessary.)

*We love our neighbors but it certainly is quiet without them around.

Mineral King

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Chapter Four

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. “Day Four” refers to the number of posts in the series rather than to the number of the vacation day. And this day was definitely not a vacation day—it was a goodbye day and a 550 mile driving day.

I hated leaving. But over a week ago, I hated leaving home. Leaving is tough. Bye-bye, Beautiful Oregon.

This time I was prepared to see Truck Village, but still couldn’t get a decent shot. It is better to pay attention to the road than to the scenery when one is a driver.

The goal was 550 miles, in order to spend a night with a dear friend in a suburb of Sacramento. An audio book by John Grisham helped to pass the miles. He isn’t an author I enjoy reading, but it was perfect for driving.

I found my friend’s house without difficulty, following her directions rather than those of the unreliable Talking Lady. The next morning we took a walk, since I didn’t want to encounter commute traffic by leaving early. She lives in a pretty neighborhood with good walking routes available.

We had breakfast by her pool, which was such a welcome sight when I pulled in the previous evening.

As I was leaving her town, I saw this inexplicable road sign multiple times. When I asked her later what it means, she said, “Lookie?” Apparently she doesn’t know either.

I chose 99 for the route home, on the recommendation of family members who prefer it to The Five. I did not like it better than The Five, but enjoyed looking for the 2 trees that demarcate the center of California. This funny little landmark is between Madera and Fresno, a palm tree on the south and a pine (or fir?) tree on the north.

I stopped in Lemon Cove to get “cheap” gas, and felt compelled to document this. It is another angle of the scene in a recently completed commissioned painting. (Scroll down to “If This Ever Gets Returned in this link to see it.)

Thus we conclude our series of What I Did on my Summer Vacation. Next week we will resume our normal broadcast schedule. Wait. That’s not accurate. Next week we will resume our normal topics. Thank you for reading to the end!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Chapter Three

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. Oregon is known for its blueberries, in the same way that California is known for our oranges. There are U-pick farms, so we chose one, took 6 buckets to fill, loaded up my grandniece and nephews, and headed out of the city.

Blueberry farmers plant grass between the rows, blueberries have no thorns, and it (usually) isn’t hot in Oregon, at least not hot in the way I am accustomed to.

In the afternoon, I went to another blueberry farm with my brother-in-law, this time just to glean. There I learned that it is normal to plant grass in the rows to hold down dust and allow for driving between rows during muddy times. I also learned that piling sawdust around the base of the plant is normal. Finally, I learned that they harvest the berries by a very specifically designed machine. I didn’t learn if you call the place a field, a grove, an orchard, or something else.

This is part of the haul. I filled many gallon ziplock bags and 4 salvaged berry boxes, ultimately filling up 2 ice chests.

Obviously, I had to leave the next day, because one cannot expect 2 ice chests of blueberries to just be fine indefinitely.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Chapter Two

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. After our three days of work, we went to the beach. (Because I am involving other people in these posts, I am keeping their faces small and leaving out names in order to use good World Wide Web etiquette.)

Oregon was so beautiful that I did not even attempt to knit on the drive. Instead, I was a sight-seer who took these photos from the back seat. The only unfortunate part about sitting there was that the window was tinted. Otherwise, I was perfectly content to be a passenger after driving 800 miles a few days prior.

The beach was beautiful, of course. I hadn’t seen the ocean since October of 2019 and could have happily spent hours (possibly days) walking along the edge, sitting in the sand, listening to the sounds, absorbing all the blues and greens.

Since my sister and I had our mom with us, “long walk” was redefined and no one sat in the sand, but we all were very happy to be there.

That might have been the “vacation” day. The next day of the trip involved farm labor.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Chapter One

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. Do you remember those terrible assignments on the first day of class in the fall (always the day after Labor Day—none of this ridiculous school attendance in August!)? I couldn’t think of a thing. Until age 11, we went to the beach for 2 weeks, but I never ever considered those other weeks to be a “vacation”. It was hang around the house time, and there was nothing to say about that uneventful sort of life. (I must have been so dull to not have told about days in the pool, trips to the library, or bikerides, and somewhat thick-headed as to have considered such unencumbered free time to be unremarkable.)

On my recent trip to Oregon, I took photos, and I have plenty to say about it, so this will be a series. I don’t know if it was a vacation or not; I certainly had a good time, but is it a vacation if one spends 4 days driving? Is it a vacation if one spends three days working on a garage sale and one day doing farm labor?

The sale was enormous – the garage, driveway, front lawn, front walkway, all covered with merchandise from about 5 different households. We were very organized, dividing things into appropriate categories, helping customers as if it were a department store, making friends, seeing old friends. Everything was priced and labeled by owner’s initials. Day One of the sale. We continually rearranged the merchandise for better attention attraction. (Note I said “merchandise” rather than “stuff” or “junk”. Stuff is the junk you keep; junk is the stuff you throw away.)

Day Two of the sale was significantly smaller, but just as tightly arranged. If you hadn’t been aware of Day One, you might think this was the only day.We had an enormous amount of jewelry, which was enormously popular.

The most commonly heard comments were: 1. You two must be sisters! and 2. Everything is in such good condition!

This precious child fell in love with this doll, and her dad made her offer a lower price than the marked price. I told her yes but on the condition that she name the doll “Martha”.

This bumper sticker cracked me up, and the customer gave permission to photograph it.

That was two days of work, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Mineral King Without Me

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. Today’s post is photos taken by Trail Guy from last week and weekend. I was far far away at the time.

Some friends went with Trail Guy to Soda Springs. Do I spy my red pack??

Still green.

My very favorite wildflower, Explorer’s Gentian, is abundant right now.

Trail Guy went to Farewell Gap. This is the view from one gap to another—that is Timber Gap in the distance.

He met Charlie from Mammoth and Kentucky who was “bagging peaks”; this man came down from Vandever, which is the peak visible on the right when you look at Farewell Gap from Mineral King.

Fireweed.

Still green.

Still my favorite.

Still flowing—this is Franklin Creek.

Mineral King

Agreeable Customer, Disagreeable Weather

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. A swamp cooler doesn’t help in hot humid weather. When it is horrid out, I am able to paint a few hours before melting. So, I am thankful to have such an agreeable customer while working on his project in this disagreeable weather.

Because the sign is 20″, and will be outside, I am going to attempt to do this with my mural paints instead of oils. I might need oils for the detailed parts, but maybe the scenery can be accomplished with mural paints.

Rough start. I need a photo rather than the old sign. Good thing this is about Mineral King, because I have a couple of photos on my computer of Mineral King. A couple thousand.

This will work. I drew a partial circle around it to help me see which parts to include.

How did I paint before I learned to use photos on the laptop? Easy. I could see small things up close in the olden days.

Now we’re cooking with gas!

And that might be why I am melting. This project is going to have to wait for better weather.

Mineral King

A Repair and an Agreeable Customer

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

Repair

This returned painting now has a cleaned up sky, new snow on Bearskin and new whitewater in the creek. I photographed it wet, which is why the color looks patchy. It is not actually inserted in the frame, which is why it looks unframed. Duh. I just propped it in the frame so I could photograph it.

Redo for an Agreeable Customer

This sign was well used and loved for 10 years.

The customer asked for a larger one this time, so I ordered a 20″ round instead of the 12″ version. After applying 3 coats of exterior paint to both sides, I decide that the back of the round would make a more interesting sign than the flat front. The customer is very agreeable, so that’s what I will do.

I used oil paint on the first sign because I was unable to achieve a satisfactory level of detail with mural (acrylic) paints. Because this one is bigger, I am going to try it in the mural paints, and then if the detail needs to be tightened up, I will finish it off with oil paints.

I love these custom jobs for agreeable customers with no deadlines.

custom art Mineral King Mineral King oil paintings oil paintings

Little Pale Beige Dots

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

I asked the customer of this commissioned oil painting of an orange grove with his urchins if he wanted a wind machine, and he replied, “No, let’s go old school”.

I asked him, “What? You want smudge pots??”

After we laughed, I told him that I just needed to add orange blossoms and do a bit more work on the urchins. He is very easy to work with, and was pleased with the progress.

These little blossoms are indeed little.