Bouncing Project

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The South Fork Estates sign project was a biggie, one with some unresolved questions, but I did my part and then passed it back to the customer. Being a fine artist (an artist who makes art to put on the walls) doesn’t qualify me to understand the chemistry of paints, sealers, varnishes, stains, or how to treat wood. It is easier to just state that fact up front.

However, the customer for those signs decided they needed to have the background wood painted. Initially, in 1990, the entire signs were painted a burgundy, then overpainted with the colors. This was evident after the 32-year-old signs were sanded and scraped. The customer only asked me to refresh the colors, or I would have first (reluctantly) coated them with a burgundy or dark brown. I say “reluctantly”, because I thought it was bare wood, and it pains me to cover bare wood with paint.

Alas, the customer was concerned that my 2-3 coats of paint were insufficient, and requested that I paint the background, so he brought them back to me, for quite a bit of discussion. I told him that he was the boss.

This is a tricky situation: is it me guaranteeing my work, or is it a “change order”, as contractors refer to extra requests? I decided that the extra layer of color was on me, and the meter would be running for the background.

After adding another layer to the colors, I sent him this email:

“Before I begin painting the background dark brown, I am hesitating in order to give you a chance to reconsider whether this is really what is best for the signs. 
 
“I am reluctant to dive in because:
1. I don’t believe this is the best solution; the two sign painters I talked to each recommended wood stain or oiling, not paint, saying that wood needs to breathe.
2. Once the paint is on the signs, there is no going back to the natural wood.
3. Because of the rough surface, it is not possible for me to do the outlining of the letters or the narrow channel between the gray-blue border and the narrow yellow line, so the signs still won’t be completely dark brown on the non-colored parts.
 
“I can do this but want you to be absolutely certain it is the right next step, because there is no undoing it.”
 
It was a relief when he replied and asked that I stain them dark brown. I did a tiny section and sent him a photo for approval (with no idea what I would do if he didn’t like it).
He liked it!
This sign is stained:
This one is not:
Now I need to remember to detour past the subdivision in order to see the refreshed signs in place.

Mineral King After a Summer Storm

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Last week there was such a storm in Tulare County that the marina at Lake Kaweah experienced some real destruction: the docks slammed around, wrecked houseboats, the docks broke apart or sank or both, and five houseboats also sunk. Now they are just in these large jams and people can’t get to them. What a freak of nature storm.

I was down the hill; Trail Guy was up the hill. The evening after the storm, he took these photos in that beautiful glowing light called “the magic hour” by photographers everywhere.

A couple of days later he took these photos out on the trail. This first one is white flowers that I have never seen before. Maybe I saw them and thought, “White, meh”. But I don’t remember.

Nine Things I Learned in June

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  1. There is a new(ish?) company that makes an alternative to soda (“pop”, “soda pop”, or my favorite “sodie”). Olipop is very expensive, and after the sample pack arrives (not free samples but six each of 2 flavors for a total of $31.03 including shipping when I used the promocode POUROVER for 15% off), then I will tell you what I think. This sodie has 2 grams of sugar, fiber, probiotics, carbonation (that’s the “pop” part of the name), all made from good-for-you stuff. As a highly frugal person, this will be consumed as a treat, and water will continue to be my beverage of choice. And black coffee (with 70% chocolate dunked in it). And Dr. Pepper, which I probably will never consume again. Sigh. (If it tastes good, spit it out.)
  2. The grass in our one small remaining lawn might be Korean Lawn Grass, or Zoysia japonica. This is the third summer of not letting Trail Guy mow in case it will spread by seed, transplanting new clumps as I find them behind the house (23 years ago it was back there but got wrecked during our remodel), hand weeding, and using Miracle Grow to get it to thicken. 
  3. No matter how many wonderful visits I make to Hume Lake, it never ceases to amaze me that most of the guests there are more tuned in to relationships than the natural world around them. They love the location but give me the side-eye when I go all nuts about a flower or a tree. Lovely people, lovely place, so different from Mineral King, except that cabin communities do share many common cultural practices. (Here are three posts from 2018 about cabin communities: Cabin Thoughts, Cabin Thoughts Part 2, Cabin Thoughts Part 3.)
  4. I discovered a redwood tree (Sequoia gigantea) at Hume Lake for the first time! How did I never notice this before? The elevation there is 5200′; I think most sequoias grow at around 6000′. Wait, The Duck just told me they grow from 4600′ to 6600′ in elevation. This tree was such a surprise to me that it took me awhile to decide that it actually is a redwood. It is so hard to tell when the needles are too far away to see, and when one is confused about the trees’ preferred elevations—those are my excuses. After I took this photo, I KNEW it was a redwood, because I have drawn and painted that kind of bark so many times. Alas, why did I have to see it on a screen to know? I need to get out more.
  5. Salt & Light, or Reading Rabbit, oil on board, 11×14″, Not for sale
    I read a fabulous book called The Ride of Her Life, by Elizabeth Letts. I read a tremendous amount of books and rarely post about them. This one is exceptional, so you get to look it up. Annie Wilkins rode her horse from Maine to California in 1954. She stayed in Tulare for awhile! (The name of my county, but not the county seat, oddly enough.)
  6. Many subscribers to my blog cannot see the photos in the email with the day’s post. Lots of thought has gone into (not) solving the problem, so I finally decided to add this paragraph to the beginning of each post: “If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not; it isn’t a problem I know how to solve.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.” I wonder if anyone will click through to the internet.
  7. Slowly, slowly, I am learning to stand up for my work. If a customer wants an addition after the job is bid, it is called a “change order”, and it is fine to state it as such. If a customer wants something that goes against my better judgement, it is fine to state that and present the reasons. I don’t know why this is so difficult; in most parts of my life I am not a shrinking violet, so why am I like that in my business? (Prolly need counseling.)
  8. There is an excellent art museum in Fresno, appropriately named the Fresno Art Museum. It has multiple exhibits, an auditorium, and a gift shop, along with other things. How did I not know of this place, built the year after I was born?? I went to a “musical memoir” there, the entire presentation created by a dear friend from childhood. She wrote the music, the lyrics, all the dialogue, figured out the whole thing, and performed it, along with 4 others who had some parts too. It was simply amazing (an overused word that actually fits here)!
  9. This lesson was a reinforcement rather than something new: it is great fun to do little enhancements to my neighborhood. It is my hope that reading all the words on this sign will cause people to slow down and think.* Good, but not good enough to spend that much money on something so unnecessary.

Refocusing on Real Art

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My real art is oil painting and pencil drawing. Road signs, deer cages, book safes are all just for fun. Useful fun, but fun, particularly because I listened to an audio book while working on them: Once Upon a Wardrobe, by Patti Callahan.

Then, I got serious and refocused on my real art.

I took this one all the way to the end.

Then I painted all the skies.

Next, I finished this one. Maybe. Now that I see it here, it is a bit too monochromatic for my tastes. (That means single colored . . . I wonder if wildflowers would look weird in the lower section. Certainly not believable, but maybe attractive.)

Finally, I finished another Sawtooth just before sliding into Idiotland.

Three down (maybe), five to go.

Mineral King oil paintings are the best sellers in the summer. The trick is to guess how many of which subjects and what sizes. 

I wonder if I could make a useful crystal ball??

 

Making Stuff is Part of Being an Artist

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“Artist” can mean someone who makes stuff for fun and it can mean someone who makes stuff for a living. I’ve been the Stuff For Fun type of artist as long as I have been a functional human. The business end of things came later in life.

Look at this list of phases I have gone through: paint-by-number, woven potholders, lanyards, notecards with pressed flowers with wax paper and glitter, decoupage posters on grape trays, sewing, macrame, crocheting, tatting, quilts, grapevine wreaths, willow furniture, mosaic stepping stones, knitting, bread, yogurt, hummus.

It is deeply satisfying to be able to make useful and functional items, even if one quits the craft before achieving any great level of success. (Let’s not talk about those paint-by-number or potholder kits).

Nothing has changed. A week or two ago, on a day that was meant for oil painting, I had projects galore that were calling out for attention. None of my paintings have imminent deadlines, so I took advantage of a loose schedule.

Current Projects

Project #1 is to turn a discarded road sign into something attractive that reminds people to not race through our neighborhood.

Project #2 is turning a book into a hiding place. (Just a Reader’s Digest Condensed book—don’t get your knickers in a knot.)

Project #3 is PROTECTING SOME FLOWERS FROM THOSE BLASTED DEER IN THE YARD!  The shrub in the middle is a butterfly bush, chosen because the deer have ignored another one in the yard for several years. But here in the fake wishing well, one of those miserable creatures has been pruning this shrub with its teeth, and ignoring the petunias for some unknown reason. I planted more petunias, some statice, columbine, and something called “tickweed”. Then I pounded in these bamboo stakes, and later wrapped them with twine in a random, schlocky manner that I hope is very annoying to the deer. (I noticed that one of the tickweed plants had been unplanted and dropped on the ground. Those sneaky so-and-sos were sabotaging the new plantings while I was gathering supplies.)

A few days prior to these projects, Trail Guy moved a chair that was part of the herb garden fencing. It was gone for a short time before he put it back. Meanwhile, this is what happened:

We think Bambi was there all day before we noticed, so I hope he was traumatized enough to NEVER want to return.

My gardening efforts are a continual triumph of hope over experience.

Familiarity Breeds Comfort

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“Familiarity breeds contempt” in some cases; in the context of my oil painting endeavors, familiarity breeds comfort. “Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint #8” is signed, sealed, and delivered, another commissioned oil painting in the archives.

This means I can move into another comforting subject, one that I love to paint, although this one has its own challenges. This oil painting commission came with much freedom. The customer didn’t care what orchard as long as it is oranges, wasn’t concerned about the foothills, and after much conversation (“Really, you must care about something specific here!”), he decided that Sawtooth and Homer’s Nose made the most sense for the visible peaks. His focus is the children, and he provided good photos.

If I were a loosey-goosey painter, this would be close to finished. Alas, I am a painter who loves detail and when this dries, I will begin drawing with my paintbrushes on this Tulare County classic view.

 

Another Cold Weekend in Mineral King

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Some cabin folks across the creek registered lows of 20 and 21 degrees on their thermometer over the weekend in Mineral King.

Here is a little visible evidence.

A cabin across the creek from us keeps a sprinkler running, and it made a large patch of ice.

 

My ax froze in its bucket of water. We put it there when the handle gets loose so that the wood swells. (Froze my ax off?)

Here is the neighbor’s ice patch after the sun did its job.

The weekend was beautiful and clear. The parking lot was full of cars wrapped to keep out the marmots.

This marmot wasn’t interested in cars because he lives under a cabin.
The cold flattened the corn lily, AKA skunk cabbage. This mule belongs to The Park and is not interested in staying in the corral.

Crystal Creek was low. Nothing was melting up in the high country.

Brrr. We came home early where the weather in Three Rivers was moderate and comfortable.

A New Oil Commission

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Custom art, or “commission” work might be the most satisfying piece of my business. I am painting something that someone really wants, painting with confidence that it will be loved, and confidence that it will be sold. 

Artists can be so insecure. We pour ourselves onto paper or canvas, creating something that really lights our fire, getting lost in the process, and then . . . what? Nothing happens.

So, when I get a commission, particularly one of something that I am familiar with (orange groves, sequoia trees, Sawtooth, cabins, or anything Mineral King), it is a real pleasure to paint.

Beginnings

The customers chose 16×20″. I primed the canvas, assigned an inventory number, and wired the back. Pippin hung around, but wasn’t interested in the details. (And the vase of lemon geranium may have repelled the mosquitos.)

It was near the end of the day, and I was in danger of falling into Idiotville, where Stupid, Sloppy, and Careless reside, so I set it aside for the day.

And this is how it looked after the next painting session:

That again? 

Yeppers, this time in oil paint instead of pencil. Not sisters this time—a brother and a sister, different grove. And no deadline, so I will spend oodles of time make this piece of Tulare County art perfect.

Oodles, I said.

Really Painting Sawtooth Again

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I really am painting Sawtooth again. In fact, I finished the painting.

Clear, enlargeable photos, along with an operational swamp cooler, good podcasts, and nothing difficult hanging over my head made it easy to just git ‘er dun instead of looking for excuses to stop because it was too hard. Oh wait—must be experience that created the momentum.

See the South Fork Estates sign through the easel? That odd job is completed, which is why there is nothing hanging over my head. 

Here is the progression: I have finally learned how to scan and photoshop this size of painting in spite of it being too long for my flatbed scanner. When combined with Photoshop Junior, I can patch the 2 scans together.

This is not that; this is too wet to scan. But, it is finished!! Only took me seven times to get comfortable enough with this scene to be able to stretch it into a 6×18″.