Away in Gilroy, Chapter One

Do you remember (or care?) that I went to Texas last year? (Here is a link to the opening chapter.)

My Texas friends are in Gilroy, California (yeppers, the garlic capital of the state or maybe the country or even the world), and since that is only 3-1/2 hours from me, I went to see them.

To get there, I went over Pacheco Pass, the same way I went to Monterey last fall. However, while last year I blew past the beautiful hills, this year there was road construction, which provided opportunities to take some photos. These are awful photographically, but very paintable. That’s why artists say they are using “reference photos”. Well, that, and because of the snobbery against painting from photos as opposed to creating the scene oneself or painting plein air. But that’s another topic for another day.

Mrs. Texas provided a list of places to go and things to see and do while there; all I cared about was being with her and going to the beach. (Big surprise, eh?) So, we hung out, played a fun simple game called Shut The Box and a more complicated one called Assassin Code Names while catching up and laughing, went thrift shopping (the thrill of the hunt overcomes my aversion to accumulating possessions), and of course, went to Trader Joe’s.

There were a few walks, because they are on the edge of town, surrounded by agriculture and golden hills. It is so beautiful there, not hot compared to the Central Valley. But it is a very desirable place to live for folks who work in the Silicon Valley, so traffic can be a problem.

Gilroy’s old courthouse is now a restaurant. It rivals the fancy courthouses I discovered when I was in Texas. (scroll to the bottom of the posted link)

Rio Del Mar was Mrs. Texas’s beach of choice, based on many years of living in Gilroy. 

Like many California beaches, it was foggy in the a.m.

 “Rio” is Español for river, and sure enough, a river flows into the ocean right there in Aptos. “Rio del Mar” means “river of the sea”. 

We found some interesting items: a fisherman caught this skate, and there were a few jellyfish, including this weird little rectangular one with a blue border. 

Mrs. Texas gathers little shells and pieces of driftwood to make mobiles with, one of which hangs outside my kitchen window in Three Rivers. 

Rio Del Mar Beach has a “shipwreck”, which is the SS Palo Alto, an oil tanker built of cement when steel supplies were low during WWI, not needed after all so converted to an amusement ship and parked by the pier in Aptos in 1929, and currently just serving as a bird place and a diving destination since the pier went bye-bye in 2023. You can read about it here.

What are Mr. and Mrs. Texas looking at??

WEIRD!!

A buried bird, with a blue foot and one blue toe sticking out of the sand. Mr. Texas offered to exhume it, but we more delicate women declined the offer. (We may have even squealed a little while running away.)

This is too long. See you tomorrow for Chapter Two!

Your Central Calif. Artist Went to Hume Lake

Well, why not? It’s my blog and I can digress if I want to. It doesn’t have to be all about Mineral King, drawing, oil painting, and Three Rivers—okay, the beach, odd jobs, drawing lessons, the business of art, editing, or plein air painting either.

This is the eighth summer reunion with my childhood friend at her Hume Lake cabin. Hume Lake Christian Camp was established in 1946 on a lake in Sequoia National Forest which began as a timber pond. From there, logs were sent almost 60 miles downstream (to Sanger) on a wooden flume to be turned into lumber. Maybe it was called a “lumber pond”. . . I wasn’t born yet. The camp is a very active place, with over 300 private cabins on leased land above the conference grounds. The lake fronts the Christian camp with a 3 mile trail around it, a dam on the east end (weird to me that a lake drains east, but it goes into Kings Canyon instead of the Pacific Ocean), with a Forest Service campground, fishing, and two ways in and out of the area.

This is looking northeast, past the dam into the majestic spires of Kings Canyon.

A large amount of time was spent on this deck.

A fair amount of time was also spent indoors. It was a hot weekend. An entire day was spent waiting for a tree crew to finish limbing and dropping trees around the cabin; we needed to be present but it was somewhat treacherous outdoors.

There were several walks around the lake.

We had a nice afternoon on the lake. There were kayaks, paddle boards, canoes, but I pushed for a rowboat so I could do the rowing. Eventually my two pals couldn’t stand the idleness of passenger living, and I had to share the oars.

On a somewhat solitary walk around the lake (my companions declined but there were plenty of strangers), I left the trail and followed the road back to camp because I wanted to see the cabins on Forest Service land. (Does this surprise you?)

We had other adventures, much conversation and laughter, good food (but almost no sweets because we are all fighting sugar, which took remarkable restraint since Hume’s Snack Shack is known for its milkshakes), some excellent Bible teaching (it is a big deal Christian camp so there are always outstanding speakers available), and there were a handful of moments of What Happens at Hume Stays at Hume.

See you next year, Hume Lake (if my dear friend from childhood chooses to continue our tradition.)

P.S. OF COURSE it was a business trip, my first in Mom’s Car. (That’s the car’s name for now.)

Oregon Beach Day (chapter 3)

Beach #2

We passed this air museum multiple times on this day of geographical challenges. It is enormous, and finally, I shot a photo through the windshield (as a passenger, fret not).

This beach is known for a giant sand dune. I climbed it two other times and wanted to test myself, SIXTEEN YEARS LATER. (I’ve never been this old before.) It’s the mostly bare one with a little group of trees on the top left.

I followed these people (whom I didn’t know), and when it got too slip-and-slide, I resorted to using my hands too, after watching one of those folks get up that way. It was not dignified, but I only knew my sister, and she’s seen me in many undignified situations through our years.
Looking back down from the top.
This is looking over onto the other side. I don’t know those people.
It is pretty doggone fun to step-and-sink-and-slide back down. My sister is a tiny speck down there somewhere.

There was a less steep way to ascend, a bit of a trail, so I went back up that about 1/2 way to the top for a second thrill of step-and-sink-and-slide back down. It was on the pretense of accompanying my sister that way up, but I really just wanted to descend another time.

After we left the beach, our old friend called. She said she was so very sorry to have missed us, but that she was in town picking up flyers for the service.

“WHAT SERVICE?”

Oh, wow, oh no, her husband died. My wiser older sister put on her pastor’s wife hat, flipped a U, and we drove on those now familiar roads straight back to see her.

It was a very good decision.

It was a very good day.

P.S. I let my sister drive the whole day because she will miss that car and because she supposedly knew where we were going and because I wanted to sight-see.

Oregon Beach Day (chapter 2)

Lighthouse

On my beach day in Oregon, we visited two beaches and one lighthouse.

We didn’t have a paper map, the cell service was spotty, I’m not very good at that electronic navigation stuff (who wants to operate a cell phone when the scenery looks like this?), and we were rather geographically challenged. Eventually we found the lighthouse.

On the trail down to the lighthouse.

The beach AND wildflowers—could life possibly get any better?!?

I don’t know those people.

We had to wait another 1/2 hour for a tour of the lighthouse, but there was another beach calling us. So, we headed back up to the car. It was hard to leave, but it is always hard for me to leave any beach or lighthouse.

Tomorrow: Beach #2

Oregon Beach Day (in three chapters)

I love the beach. Any beach. All beaches. While in Oregon, my sister and I had a day to go to the beach, so we went to 2 beaches and one lighthouse.

Beach #1

We had the address of some old friends from Visalia and decided to surprise them. This is the road that led to their place, but alas, they weren’t home. We poked a business card in the door and headed to the beach.

The seaweed on these rocks looks creepy.

Tomorrow: the lighthouse

Why I Went to Oregon

As you probably have surmised, I live in the sticks and don’t get out much. City things are not a regular part of my life. So, when I get to a city, I get busy. This trip to Oregon was full of purpose: a haircut, a new battery in my laptop, a box of clothing to a consignment store. This was all peripheral to visiting family (Hi Mom!) However, I had another purpose.

Fernando has received a terminal diagnosis. He’ll probably keep going for another several years, but the needed parts are no longer available except as “after market” which, rather than fitting, will need to be welded. This isn’t ideal. After 24 years in my life, it is time to let go for a better vehicle. (sob)

Fernando, Trail Guy, and I have had some fun together.

Is this a better vehicle?

Maybe after a new battery and a big wash job.

I think car washes are scary! But good results. . .

Never had an automatic. Never had a four-door. Never had a 6-cylinder. Never had a car that wasn’t green or blue. Never had a car manufactured in this century (talking about cars of my choice for my use, not the old family wagon or our good ’03 Toyota Tacoma).

Can’t say that anymore. But I’ve only owned Honda Accords, so that part is familiar.

Now I just have to stop slamming my left foot into the brake (because it is NOT a clutch) before starting the car and remember to put it in Park before trying to remove the key.

THANKS, MOM!

Walking in Oregon

Walking in the mornings in Oregon was just ideal. So many interesting houses, so much to see, so many great looking yards and growies! It felt like March or April at home.

a favorite house
hazelnut shells as mulch
peculiar landscaping for Oregon
Weeds or wildflowers?

Yea, kitties!

A favorite yard.

Another favorite house.

The lavender! With yellow roses!

This color combination always grabs my attention.

Yeah, yeah, I will tell you the reason (besides visiting family) for this trip. Stay tuned.

I Went to Oregon

This is the fourth summer in a row that I have gone to Oregon. This state is pertinear perfect in the summer. The folks here complain when it gets into the 90s, but to a Central Californian, this is mellow summer weather.

There were so many paintable scenes, but never a place to even pull over to take photos. Some day perhaps I’ll not be in a hurry and take side roads and legions of pictures.

I was a passenger much of the time and shot a few scenes through the car windows. Not awesome photos, but paintable. However, I probably don’t have a customer base for these subjects.

There was much hanging around.

What is in this rose bush? Yikes, how will we retrieve it?

I learned a bit about Legos. Holy guacamole, the Lego company does brilliant marketing and has endless ideas about creating new products. When I was a kid, Legos were simply little blocks that hooked together.

The lack of sales tax tempted me beyond reason to stock up on a few items, and gas is sure more reasonable in this state.

Later, I’ll show you why I came to Oregon (besides visiting family.)

This, That, and Something Else

This…

… is in bloom in my yard in January. They are called “paperwhites” and are very fragrant.

That…

… was completely blocking everything in the driveway one day. My neighbor is an outstanding tree service guy, and it was time to do some serious tree trimming on our property. (Not going to plug his business for him because he doesn’t have a website and doesn’t want jobs outside of the area.) I didn’t watch him and his crew do their interesting and skilled work because I was doing a year’s worth of bookkeeping in preparation for taxes. Ugh. That again. (year after year after year after . . .)

Something Else

What is this? Gessobord is a smooth surface on which to do very detailed oil paintings.

After my week in Monterey, I wasn’t convinced that plein air painting is for me. (Still not convinced.) However, I was convinced that I love the beach (this is not news), that I really love mixing these colors, and that I want to do some very detailed paintings of the waves. This means studio paintings from photos, because you may have noticed that those waves will NOT hold still.

First, a thin layer to cover the surface and establish where things will go. Just the opportunity to use non-mountain, non-citrus colors thrills my little heart.

The second layer gets even more thrilling. (I didn’t show you the beginning layer of these two.)

After these dry, I will add even more detail, then sign them. After they dry yet again, I’ll scan them so you can appreciate them more.

Finally, you can see them in person when I have my next solo show, coming in August*. The paintings always look better in person.

*Hold your camels; I’ll let you know more about it when the time is right.

Plein Air Painting in Monterey: One Last Peek

Among the 100 or so folks in Monterey at Fall Color Week, there were fantastic painters along with rank amateurs: my work fell solidly in the middle. I am a studio painter, and this whole thing stretched me. I could go on and on about what I learned, but I suspect that if you are not an artist, it will cause you to click off this page, maybe (horrors!) even unsubscribe (but ask me privately if you have questions about the value of plein air painting).

Liesel Lund painted this AND sold it while at the retreat.
Bill Davidson is kind of a big deal painter in the area and served as our guide to good places to paint. I think he offered this painting to us at a discounted price of $1000.
Pauline Roche was one of the first people I met while standing in line at registration. She painted this on the day I skipped out on Fisherman’s Wharf. She truly understands accuracy in architectural subjects, and I wish I had seen this view. Alas,I was trying to find a tripod for a borrowed pochade box that morning.
Wendy Ahlm was my favorite artist there. She had two different buyers vying for this painting while it was still wet. This is her website.
I forgot who did this. It is the view I wished I could get.
Pam Newell’s rocks blew us all away with admiration.
Wendy Ahlm did this on the first day when most of us were riding the Struggle Bus.

And then there are my paintings. I did 10 total, but only showed 8 of them in the room where we placed them each evening.

And thus we conclude our long series of blog posts “Plein Air Painting in Monterey”.

Now we can return to our regular blogging topics, and maybe I’ll actually finish some of these paintings to where I might confidently put them up for sale.

Simply Home

Here is today’s painting, done in the studio (because I was NOT going to carry my bad easel 4 miles), for Simply Home, a solo show at CACHE.

Salt Creek Falls, 16×20″, oil on wrapped canvas, $650

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00. 125 South B Street, Exeter, California