Category: Mineral King

View from Farewell Gap

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Just in case you think I am only messing around while in Mineral King, here is proof that (almost) every place can be a business trip! This is what you can see from the trail leading to Farewell Gap. That is Timber Gap in the distance, and the flowers are lupine and some yellow thing whose name I have never learned.

I painted this a few years ago and would like to do so again. (Remember the blog entry about Series?) Besides, this year’s views were too smoky! The weirdest thing to me is that I kept looking for this very view while hiking to Farewell Gap and I never did see it this year. Too busy counting switchbacks. . . there are 21 between the last water source and the Gap, in case anyone cares.

drawing from photos

People ask if I work from photos or from real life. The answer is both, but with a heavy emphasis on photos.

I use a camera to gather my information, and I use sketches to arrange and improve a scene. Real life is messy, and I try to clean it up! There are principles of composition that make 2 dimensional art more pleasing without seriously altering reality.

Here is a photo and a drawing of the same scene. You may notice there is more stuff in the drawing than the photo – this is because I work from multiple photos to create the scene that I experienced, rather than copy the photo by rote. True confessions: I used to copy everything exactly as it appeared in the photo because I was greener than grass, didn’t know any better and thought it would be “cheating” otherwise! Live and learn . . . this is called GROWTH!

Friendship

For one weekend each summer at the cabin next door to ours, there is a group of men who call themselves The Sawtooth Six. They met in college, and have been assembling in Mineral King for 25 years now. The one who owns the cabin was one of my first commission customers back in 1986, and I may have met his buddies that same year.

Each year we learn a little bit more as we gradually move from acquaintances to friends. They have grown (less howling at the moon), married (some more than once), become fathers (one has 4 boys!), gotten more degrees (at least one Ph.D and probably several MBAs), changed jobs or careers, moved to different cities, states, or even countries, and traveled the world. There is a definite aura of confidence and success, combined with a sense of humor and courtesy. Several have returned to the area with their families, renting places at Silver City just down the road. ( www.silvercityresort.com ) When they bring their wives, parents and children up to show them the cabin, if we are around we have the pleasure of meeting their families.

Usually one or two will wander over to our cabin and we’ll sit and visit. We love hearing about their lives from around the country (currently San Francisco, Long Beach, San Luis Obispo, Spokane, somewhere in New Jersey and Snohomish, Washington). We don’t know where each one works, all their wives’ names or even all their last names. They live in entirely different worlds than we do, and yet while hanging around in the mountains, we are all just people. They seem to like hearing about my husband’s job and my art, and watching me split firewood (with lots of jokes about taking photos home to their wives to show them what “real women do”!)

So, Sawtooth Six, I thank you for taking the time to visit my studio today and I wish you a happy, healthy, safe year so we can visit again next year in Mineral King!

(if you count seven, that is because one of these handsome guys is my husband!)

Inspiration, Part 7

If you check my blog regularly, you might have been wondering if my computer croaked in last week’s heat wave. No, it is fine, and so am I (thanks for your concern)! I was gathering new inspiration in a place that has no electricity. Here are a few glimpses into that place for you:

This is a view of Timber Gap this morning. It was smoky out from all the California fires, and a thunderhead was already forming.
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This is the view back toward Mineral King from Farewell Gap, a very long walk. It is always worth the effort, especially to see the Sky Pilot flowers, which only bloom above 10,000′.

This is Farewell Gap as it looked a few weeks ago. The lowest point between the two peaks is 10,589′, and that is where we were!

One week’s difference

This is not about my art directly. However, it could apply to the category of Series: photograph and paint the same scene in many different seasons and times of day. It could also apply to the category of Inspiration: it is ALWAYS beautiful in Mineral King!

Here is a photo of the trailhead this morning. Last week it was all under snow!

Summer?

This weekend we went to Mineral King to open the cabin for the season. We were all excited to begin summer. It snowed on the way up, snowed in the afternoon, and more snow is predicted for this afternoon and evening. So, I guess more summer will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .

Check out this photo; it is the same view as the painting beneath it!

Eagle/Mosquito Trailhead – 8×10 – $80

Learning to draw

For 14+ years I have been teaching people to draw. I tell them all “drawing is a skill, not a talent”. Some find reassurance in that; some feel disappointment. Then I liken it to typing – everyone can learn to type. Some type 25 wpm, and others hit 90 wpm. Those speedsters are the ones with talent, but all are typists.

Lots of people get the yen to paint, often when they are retired. However, most don’t understand that drawing comes before painting, sort of like grunting and pointing comes before public speaking. (not that i equate drawing with grunting, but hopefully you get my drift!)

Unless one can draw, one’s paintings will be weak. What I mean by this is that unless you can make your shapes believable, understand perspective, values (that means darks and lights) and can see proportions, your paintings will be exercises in frustration. (Then again, maybe you don’t care how they turn out!)

Some folks have taken lessons so long that I have become a habit to them. I tell them they don’t need lessons because they know how to draw. They tell me that unless they pay their $50 per month, they will not carve out time in their lives to draw.

Truthfully, I love these folks. I love my students – we become friends, comrades, buddies in the artworld. I show them my art and give them the freedom to tell me anything they think about it, good or bad. We speak truth to one another, and it is helpful and refreshing and sometimes, it can be hilarious! Drawing has to be fun, or we wouldn’t persist.

Honeymoon Cabin II

I have drawn this cabin in graphite multiple times, and it remains interesting to me! It is a cute little place, right on the stream, with a great view of Vandever in the background. (That is the peak on the right/west side of Farewell Gap that my studly husband climbs almost every summer while I sit on the porch with the 2way radio and my knitting!). Now I have painted the cabin twice, and probably will continue painting it from various photos taken at different times in the seasons and times of the day. Eventually I hope to paint it standing on location.

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