These little Mineral King paintings got some skies. It was cold and rainy, which meant it was dark in the painting workshop. Trail Guy kept offering to light the heater; that meant I’d have to shut the door, but I needed all the light there was, so brrr.
I worked more on the commissioned painting of the little Mineral King cabin, working from several photos to make up the scene. The customer requested that I put a horizontal subject into a vertical format; in order to make that work, I added mountains that weren’t visible to that degree in real life. This meant we had to do a lot of communicating and adjusting until the painting fit both her memory and the space she wants to hang it.
I scanned it, thinking it was finished. Then she asked about the doorknobs. It needed more trees behind and above the cabin. Bearskin, the patch of snow on the right slope of Vandever (peak on the right side of Farewell Gap) didn’t look the way she remembered it.
The purpose of a commission is to create just what the customer wants.
(The color is different between photographs and scans.) I made the requested adjustments, and then reworked Bearskin yet again, with the customer’s help. (We might have stood closer than 6 feet to accomplish this, but so far, so good, health-wise.)
The most difficult commissioned drawings and paintings are the ones when the customer wants me to do something that I cannot see. This is possible only when the customer can articulate what she wants. My approach is that a commission isn’t finished until the customer is happy.
What is this???
The customer was so happy that she asked me to paint it again, smaller, to give away. (Just in case the intended recipient is reading, I’ll keep this information to myself).
Upside down is not an April Fool’s Joke. It helps me see the shapes more accurately. That might be a little unsettling to you, so we’ll continue more conventionally.
Not done, but moving quickly since all the difficult decisions were conquered in the original version.
If you can’t beat ’em. . .
Next, I drew on some guidelines. This was easier than the first time. That’s how practice is supposed to work.
Here is a photo to help you see where basket #2 will go.
The paint colors were already mixed, so I was able to dive in.
But wait, what is this??
Sometimes I like to just have a little fun.
Next, I drew on the guidelines with blue chalk. (They don’t show much in this photo.)
Okay, that’s a long enough break, Central California Artist. Get back to work.
Several folks have said, “I hope that shrub in front of the Sequoias gets removed”. I think it is pretty, especially when the light hits the new reddish growth, which matches the Sequoia trees.
The orange grove now has a hidden item.
The Big Trees now have a hidden item.
I thought I might be able to finish it that day.
Then I thought I couldn’t.
Then I thought maybe I could.
Then I didn’t think it would be possible.
Got it covered, but it needs better detail, some corrections, the usual adjustments.
Nice new awnings over the entry door on the left and the office door on the right.
Clearly, I like this particular view.
For once in my muralizing life, I wasn’t paralyzed by indecision. This felt easy to begin.
There is no pattern to how I move around this wall – just a little here, a little there, maybe I can do this, if I do that it might help me see the proportions more correctly, up the ladder, down the ladder, step back, try this color. No matter what part I work on, the wall is getting covered.
Then I decided to get a bit more systematic, and work left to right.
Then I didn’t want to work from the ladder any more, so I hunkered down in the mud to work on the bases of the trees.
Not bad for a day’s work, eh? What makes this so pleasant and makes all this roaming around the wall in a random method possible is the fact that the wall is north-facing, and I never have to worry about protecting my palette or brush from the direct sun.
Better.
Best.
Oh-oh, this is going to be S L O W. 
Some friends stopped by, and I decided to be like Tom Sawyer. If someone had let me paint on a public wall in a park when I was 8, I would have been paralyzed with doubt, but maybe have just gone for it anyway. I told Justin that it didn’t matter what he did, just make some marks to see what it felt like, and I’d paint over anything that turned out weird.
There are poppies, fiddleneck, and mustard. You might have to see them in person to fully appreciate them.
Next, I will finish the details above the grove – a barn, some non-grove-like trees, a couple of wind machines. Then, I’ll move to the panel on the far right.