A Word From Captain Obvious

The blog series “How I Designed a Logo” is temporarily postponed while I keep you updated about the show, “IMAGES OF HOME” at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery. We will resume the story tomorrow (unless something show-related happens that cannot wait.)

I am painting as if I have a deadline because I do. One of the customers at Images of Home wanted to take his painting with him rather than wait for the show’s indeterminate ending. This left a blank space on the wall. 

Since it was a 12×12″ orange grove scene which sold, I wanted to replace it with something similar. (We didn’t just arbitrarily tack paintings and drawings to the wall, but instead, we grouped them somewhat by subject matter.)

This painting was already started:

I spent an afternoon refining it, doing the forbidden and frowned-upon (by The Art World) drawing with my paintbrush. (That is my preferred method of painting, and clearly, the attendees of the art show agree with me, so take that, Art World!)You can see that I ignored the eucalpytus trees in the background in the photo and substituted my favorite foothills and snow-covered Sierra.

The painting is too wet to scan (Captain Obvious speaking here), so I photographed it, carefully carried it into the somewhat warmer house (we’ve been having very mild weather this week) to get a bit drier, and then will deliver it still somewhat wet to the gallery. Since the gallery isn’t open again until Saturday, the degree of dryness doesn’t matter. I will put a “Wet Paint” sign near it.

The title is “Picking Time”, the size is 10×10″, the price is $150, and the medium is slow-to-dry oil paint.

Because I fully anticipate further sales in the next weeks building up to Christmas, I am working on these other 2 paintings to fill holes on the walls.

First, this one has been troubling me. I keep studying it to figure out how to make it better.

Okay, bye-bye stump. Yes, it tells me where I am on which trail, but it doesn’t enhance the painting. In case you are wondering, I like deer in Mineral King; I dislike them eating my plants in Three Rivers. 

This is better, but I am still not convinced that it is finished. These little adjustments are probably only discernible to me. 

Okay, enough of this painting that feels too hard for me. Time to work on something I know how to paint.

When this stage is dry, I will start the detailing that I so dearly love to do. This is the classic Mineral King scene; this time it is titled Mineral King Dusk, because it is dusk in Mineral King. (This is your captain speaking). It is 6×12″, and the price will be $125.

Do you think I should raise my prices? What would Captain Obvious say?

Never mind. Here is an updated flyer about Images of Home; both of the pieces shown have sold. (Sawtooth on the left sold four times, which I already told you, but again, this is your captain speaking).

 

Special Painting for a Special Person

Remember when I painted a Farewell Gap oil painting and wouldn’t tell you why? I said it had to be the very best painting I had ever done. The Best Version of the Classic Mineral King Scene

The painting was commissioned by the Mineral King Preservation Society and the Mineral King District Association to be a gift for Louise, someone who has been very instrumental in both preserving the history of Mineral King and developing a good relationship between the cabin owners and Sequoia National Park. 

She also happens to be one of my dearest friends, someone who coached me through my first murals, got me my first paid public mural, and has been more encouraging than anyone I have ever known. She is also an author, and I had the privilege of editing and publishing two books for her: Trail of Promises and The Visalia Electric Railroad. We work together like a well-oiled machine, one that laughs a lot while producing good results.

Here are some photos of the presentation of the painting.

I love this lady.

P.S. These came via email:

1. What a beautiful post, beautiful painting, and beautiful lady.  How is Louise doing?  She looks well. – Jon S.

2. Your “Louise gift” in this morning’s post brought tears. what a touching tribute to my very special cousin.
three cheers for a beautiful exhibit! – Bev

Friday List

Here a listicle for you because I spent all day staring at the computer and feel a little dull.

  1. Mineral King cabin owners are allowed to go up and finish the process of securing their cabins for the winter. 2 teams went in last weekend, warriors in a posse to rescue cabins from various elements. Now some of the owners will get to inspect, perfect and complete their work. (“Some” because many live far away or don’t feel the need to go up before the predicted storm.)
  2. The storm is predicted to be bigger than any we’ve had for 2 years.
  3. Precipitation doesn’t always put a fire out. Things smolder for many months.
  4. There were 10 things broken on my website, several of which were repaired, and several which remain a mystery. I think there might be 2 versions of my blog – one which allows commenting and one which does not; one which shows the heading in a normal way, and another which does not. This is way out of my limited experience to explain or fix. 
  5. After spending an entire day staring at the computer screen, the new coloring book might be finished. (Will be $20 each) Here is the cover:
  6. The details of my upcoming SOLO show at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery got nailed down.

Images of Home

Opening Reception: Sunday, November 14, 2-4 p.m.
Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery, 125 So. B Street
Gallery open: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 12-4
Show will tentatively hang through Christmas Eve
I will be there on Fridays!
 

 

The Best Version of the Classic Mineral King Scene, Ever

We cannot get to Mineral King just now. It probably looks like it did last year at this same time.

So, let’s just reminisce about better times and look at this important painting I recently completed. Can’t share any details as to why it is “important”, but I can show you the steps. I want this to be the best version of this scene that I have ever painted.

I began the painting while in Mineral King. The idea was to size and place the main parts.

Once I was back home in the studio, I began putting in the details, working from top to bottom, back to front (which means I paint the things that are farthest away first).

This is fun. It is classic “drawing with my paintbrush”, a frowned upon practice in the Art World. Hey Art World, are you wanting to buy my paintings? 

Silence.

Thought not. Well, I’m not making art for the Art World. Instead. . .

. . . I use pencils, oil paint, and murals to make art that people can understand, of places and things they love, for prices that won’t scare them.

P.S. It looks better in person (Yeah, I always say that, because they always do.)

Painting in a Makeshift Studio in Mineral King

These photos are from Three Rivers yesterday morning around 9:30 a.m. We are under mandatory evacuation from Mineral King and cannot go there. Evacuation is voluntary for our section of Three Rivers.

This post is about time spent in Mineral King approximately 2-3 weeks ago.

I guess that any place an artist decides to paint can be called a studio. I painted on the back porch of the cabin. (I hope I get to do that again next year.)

First, I started three of the paintings at home.

These three along with 3 blank canvases went to Mineral King. Because paintings have been selling well at Kaweah Arts , I wanted to keep my inventory up for them.

It wasn’t an ideal situation for painting, but I made decent progress over the course of several sessions (while avoiding red fir cones that the chickarees were dropping out of trees in the backyard).

It involved days of moving them inside to the stairs at night and back outside to dry during the day.

These 2 might be finished.

When the others are finished, I will scan them. Maybe I will remember to show you. Maybe they will show up in a post about sold paintings.

Long Stay in Mineral King

Labor Day is the traditional end of summer. We had a nice long stay in Mineral King leading up to Labor Day, a great time of variety with a sense that there was plenty of time to do everything. (Of course that was a false sense because there is never enough time – new things will always crop up.) 

I painted.

Things definitely slow down as Labor Day approaches. ONE CAR in the parking lot?!

This tree often confounds me when I paint this cabin so I took the opportunity it examine it up close.

I painted some more. What are these pink flowers?

We went exploring.

Look at the blue sky!! And the green ferns! Such bright clean colors after weeks of smoke and months of drought.

The Farmer found a heart-shaped rock.

Trail Guy led us to the old stamp mill site below Timber Gap, where the tram line brought ore from mines on Empire.

We showed our friends where we got married almost 35 years ago.

We saw alpenglow on Empire several evenings.

This is a last hurrah for some flowers at a spring. (Asters and Sierra Gentian, which you can learn from Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names).

Franklin Creek is low, which makes for easy crossing.

The aspens are showing some yellow.

Franklin Creek was perfect for “icing” my knee. (much better, thanks for asking)

Hiking Buddy and I saw this strange sight below the Eagle/Mosquito/White Chief trail. 

These little white daisies (nope, don’t know the name) open in daylight. I photographed them too early in the morning for you to see their charming little faces.

We went for a long hike with neighbors from 3 other cabins. That is a 4-year old, wearing a sparkly skirt with a cat’s tail on the back. She and her 6 year old brother made it the entire 9.5 miles!!

No, really!

It was a very long walk on a trail that is sometimes scary.

This is the place where wildflowers are usually very abundant. On Labor Day weekend after a dry winter, although we had some decent rain during the summer, there is no evidence of any such floral exuberance.

And that is all about Mineral King for a little while. Maybe. More will be revealed in the fullness of time.

 

Oil Paintings Sold in August

This is Labor Day, so this is about some completed labors. Today I will share some oil paintings of Mineral King that sold as of mid-August at the Silver City Resort/Store.

I can’t decide if the sales are unusually high, or if I am simply thrilled because much of life seems less than thrilling these days. So, in the spirit of celebrating things for which to be thankful, rejoice with me.

Maybe it is showing off. Nah. I am just trying to be businesslike, reminding you all that:

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

Mineral King: Feet in the Water.

Two friends and I began our visit by stopping at Atwell Mill (campground closed again this year, due to the presence of a Fisher Cat) and walking down to the East Fork of the Kaweah River. There were about 1/2 dozen tree messes, AKA “tree failures” in trail crew lingo. You can see the East Fork and a painting of it in 2015 here.

Looking straight up gave us the visual relief of a blue sky.

This was our destination.

We climbed above the bridge to put our feet in the water.

The next day we went to a different bridge, where we put our feet in the water again. Normally I blow past this area on my way somewhere else, but this time it was the actually destination so there was time to contemplate matters of consequence, or, in modern lingo, “chill”. Spending time there, we looked up to see a weird tree formation.

We also meandered down the Nature Trail a bit (but not to put our feet in the water this time).

On our last day together, we headed another direction where there was no bridge. Feet in the water was the only way to get to the other side where we spotted a few wildflowers. Smoke, slow water, but the grasses were still green.

Explorer’s Gentian is one of the good things about my least favorite month.

But Wait! There’s More!

More oil paintings, finished and drying. Have a look at the process. The first one is a commission, the second is just because.

Oops. I forgot to take in-progress photos.

This one has more steps. You already saw the completed version in the Friday post about Mineral King, because this is a Mineral King oil painting, and I delivered it to the Silver City Store. (It could even be sold by now.)

I was very thankful to be able to find the original photo on the computer so I could enlarge to see what the mess of rocks in the stream truly looked like. 

Sawtooth as it looks (okay, I admit to slightly enhancing it) from the Nature Trail and the now famous Alpenglow on Farewell Gap, a commission delivered a few days ago.

“Famous”? Okay, I admit to slightly enhancing the claim.

Reporting on Sundry Items in Smoky Mineral King

I went to Mineral King with the weight of the world on my shoulders and heart. Terrible things in the world, the country, the state of California, and among several dear friends made me want to run away. It was a relief, but it wasn’t very pretty. My knee hurt, so I didn’t hike. Instead, I did a few chores, lots of knitting, sitting, and reading.

Here is one strange chore: Trail Guy and I noticed a tremendous number of nails near the old dance floor, so I took up a big magnet on a pole and together, we cleaned them up.

We stopped by the Honeymoon Cabin/Mineral King Preservation Society Museum to see a new item – a stamp from the stamp mill below the mines on Empire peak (and a couple of other unidentified metal objects). This is a surprisingly heavy piece of metal that smashed the ore to separate out the precious metals. I didn’t even try to lift it (my knee hurts).

In other news, I got some new “hiking boots”. Heh heh, this is what passes for hiking boots in my world of peculiar feet. Did you know Crocs makes a type of clogs with “Vibram” soles? They even have adjustable straps, fastened with Velcro. I hope my knee stops hurting soon so I can try them.

I spied some going-ons near the cabin. It was the wedding of a neighbor we don’t really know (because we are closer to her grandparents and there are way too many grandchildren to keep up with on their one weekend/year visits). They set up some sort of an archway, and I snooped through the trees.

Finally, I delivered another painting to the Silver City Store. It had to dry in the trunk of my car for a few days before I could leave it at the the store. Still striking while the iron is hot, in hopes that the great sales continue at least through Labor Day weekend.