I left sunny Three Rivers and headed down into the fog. I remember worse fog when I lived outside of Ivanhoe with my parents, so this wasn’t too awful.
Downtown IvanhoeCan you see the mural through the fog?
The mural looked like this. I seem to forget where I left off from week to week. I’m pleased with the repaired mountains. Intern and my Number One Fan (Josie brings me treats, encouragement, and posts to some FaceBook group) both noticed the improvement.
I began with orange blossoms.
Intern began working on another layer of white over the words on the label. Since there was only one color used, instead of using a palette, I told him he could dip straight out of the jar. Might have been a mistake, but one we can recover from. When the paint dries, we will simply peel up the plastic, because mural paint is acrylic, and acrylic is plastic.
Slight spillage in the mud. I scooped up as much as possible and put it back in the jar. I wonder if this will dry in the ensuing week.
Next, he worked on the lower border of the auditorium inset.
The two orange groves in the Twin Buttes inset weren’t good enough. So, I made them better. Here are the steps:
Next, orange blossoms on the close branches on the right side.
After Intern left, I was bored* with orange blossoms so I decided to tackle the most difficult piece: the auditorium. Although I prefer drawing architecture to almost any other subject, painting from a poor photo on a rough wall while sitting in the mud presents some challenges.
Most of what remains is tight detailing. This might mean that I’ve almost run out of ways for Intern to assist. However, he will be quite helpful on the distant orange blossoms.
*Probably not actually bored, just wanting to do something with more impact so it felt as if I was making measurable progress.
On the way to Ivanhoe on Friday morning, a clear, sunny, and cold morning, I pulled over for a few photos of oranges.
Is that center orange rotting on the tree??
The mountains were very visible from the library’s address. (Just keep your eyes above the waste.)
Intern and I had a brief discussion about what needed to be done next, I let him choose the task he preferred, and we dove right in. I took no photos until I had worked on the lettering and begun the auditorium.
The oranges still weren’t bright enough on the right side. Intern worked on those.
I began with the auditorium inset and then moved to the label. What a thrill to use all those bright colors! Of course, sunshine made a huge difference.
This is the first time I’ve seen sunshine on the wall. I kept taking photos because it was so interesting and fun (easily amused here.)
It felt as if I was treading water, and the more I did, the more I saw that needed to be done. After standing back and running through a mental list, I sorted the tasks into ones that Intern can do and ones that I need to do. He had left for the day, so I had to decide what I might be able to finish in the remaining hours. If sections are left partially finished, I have less of a sense of forward motion.
I chose to work on the mountains, finally deciding that Sawtooth needed to move south (to the right, both in real life and on the wall) and needed to be smaller.
too round-toppedbettersmaller SawtoothHard to tell with the spotty sunCastle RocksKaweah drainage more realistic
See? Castle Rocks!
See? The Kaweah drainage and repaired Alta Peak!
The daylight is lasting incrementally longer each week, and I was able to work until 4:30. The setting sun made for a different kind of lighting on the final photo. Check out the shadow cast by the fruitless mulberry, that is STILL holding onto some leaves.
In case you are wondering, all the previous days’ blog posts croaked with my website. So, here is the best I can do to recreate the most current day for you.
These orange trees have been “skirted”, which means pruned so nothing touches the ground.
I tried to fix the trees on the mural to appear this way. Tricky business. . .
Intern and I mixed a paint color for the inset of the Ivanhoe Elementary Auditorium.
My mom and her brother helped a little bit.
To work on the auditorium, I would have had to sit in the mud. Instead, I sat on the slimy log to work on the inset of Twin Buttes.
The mural looked like this at the end of day #8.
And thus we end the abbreviated version of Day Eight on the Ivanhoe Library Mural.
Now I’m going to either bang my head on the wall or try to learn to back up all my posts so this doesn’t continue to happen OR I’m going to look for an alternative to BlueHost.
If you subscribe to my blog, you probably received an email last night about a new post. It is scheduled to publish on Friday, but I hit the wrong button. Then I immediately rescheduled it. So, you may have read Friday’salready (or you may have no idea at all what I am talking about here!)
Yesterday was a day of painting oranges. The challenge was to separate the trees from one another as they diminish toward the distance. It was a little boring to photograph each step, so let’s start with how it looked the day before yesterday.
Before
I got a little bogged down so moved to the label.
I could hear my internal coach saying, “HEY! Paint from back to front!” So I began working on the oranges on the right side. That side is noisier and colder (the wind comes around the corner) and darker with those peculiar fruitless mulberry trees that are still holding their leaves.
Thus we conclude Day Six. I won’t be back to paint until a week from tomorrow.
Sky and mountains are the farthest away, and I think they are finished. Next closest is the orange grove. Oy vey, those leaves!
Very very cold day. The garbage truck went up and down the street about 8 times. There were roosters crowing. The little pickup with the giant stereo pulled in across the street and this time he shut off the “music”. I saw the normal 2 or 3 cats, and the handful of little dogs that trot around with purpose. The county supervisor stopped by and I also talked to a group of women who were meeting in the library, a man named Ruben, and a neighbor, who reassured me that the recent murder was a family dispute and took place on the bad side of town, not where we are.
Good to know.
Today I might paint oranges on the trees. Or dirt on the ground. The ground on the painting, not the muddy ground I stand on to paint.
Intern returned, so we studied the wall together and discussed the next step. He put a base coat on Twin Buttes, and I worked on the mountains south of Alta Peak, since I got a few semi-helpful photos on Friday.
Together we mixed the color of the background of the packing label. Intern was SHOCKED that I painted the two oranges on the label before the background. Together we peeled back the masking tape, and he did a great job while I kept figuring out the mountains and a facsimile of Venice Hill. This is an odd group of hills just east of Ivanhoe, not exactly visible from town but definitely a landmark. I just made it up, because it looks different from every vantage point.
When I was satisfied with the distant mountains and fake Venice Hill, I began tinkering with the last inset, the auditorium of the Ivanhoe School back in the last century when I attended school there.
Intern was so cold that his teeth were chattering, so I told him that he had done enough for the day and sent him home. He was very helpful in many ways, and I also was able to teach him some helpful things about perspective and portraiture. Although he is a college student taking art classes, the instruction is insufficient. That’s how it was when I was in college too, and it is why I love helping people learn to draw.
The orange leaves have been troubling me. I know they will be delineated in the closer branches and trees, and be less clear when farther away. I can paint orange trees in oil and draw them in pencil, but using acrylic paint on a wall is just confounding me, handcuffing me so that I cannot figure out how to paint orange leaves. So I got a little help with them from a fellow muralist in the form of some texted photos and tried again. This time I just started with the farthest trees, hoping that I’ll figure out how to detail the closer ones.
After painting awhile, I stood back to see if the 2 halves of the mural make sense together. This caused me to jump over to the right side and rearrange the rows a bit, then begin texturing the distant trees.
After 6 hours of standing in the cold and the mud, I was ready to quit. So, I tried the combination on the trailer locks and was able to figure out how to open the thing. I carried my crates and stepladder to the opposite side of the library from the mural and put them in the ridiculously oversized trailer. Can you say “overkill”?
I have been asking for months to be given a key to the library so I can stash 2 ladders (now down to needing only one) and 3 crates of paint (now down to only 2), and to have access to water and to a facility. Instead of doing this apparently easy thing, they hauled in this giant trailer, parked it far from the mural, and I have no access to either water or a bathroom.
They’re from the government and they are here to help me.
I am able to make process in spite of this “help”.
Intern had other obligations, so I was on my own again. First things first: what is that little doghouse on a post, secured in a tire? I sent a photo to the previous librarian for the answer.
She replied thus: “It was a community event that we kept seeds and but of course it didn’t last by a week”. I concluded 2 things: 1. Even librarians don’t proofread their texts and 2. It was a failed experiment for sharing seeds (the current librarian said someone tore the door off immediate. . . sigh.) I guess that people who garden already have a network for seed sharing. I wonder how it can be used.
I unloaded the car next. After lugging the 3 crates of paints for 2 painting days, I realized that the gallon buckets aren’t necessary. I can refill the jars at home when necessary. Still have to haul water, because there is no faucet available. I do not have access to the library on the days it is closed, and the storage closet is more trouble than the trunk of my car or the back of the pickup. The county hauled a trailer to the site, supposedly for me, and my stuff will only occupy about 1/100th of the space!
It was cold, and I couldn’t figure out where to start. (What the temperature has to do with indecision is an unsolved mystery.) When I don’t know what to do, I pick something easy. Time to mix orange paint (because I work from the primaries, I mix my own colors. )
I must have taken these photos while standing around, trying to figure out where to begin.
Finally, I decided to just focus on the far left edge. Get some oranges in place, build a few leaves around them.
I walked to the edge of the library yard and picked a leaf from the neighbor’s citrus tree. This reassured me that my greens are mostly okay while slapping me with the reality that my leaves are coming up insufficient. The orange paint is transparent and will take multiple coats.
Still bumbling around, fumbling along, so I tried the smudgepots.
Never mind. Entirely the wrong size, completely unacceptable. Maybe I’ll just tackle the orange label. I know! I’ll fill in the triangle between the insets and fill in the areas of dirt that were previously taped off.
Is that sunshine?? It is!!
Maybe instead of trying to do perfect leaves on the far left which are supposed to look close, I’ll just work on the distant more vague trees.
That label was calling my name, and I didn’t want to waste the bright orange paint on the palette paint bucket lid.
Ooh, that is looking fine. Fine! Finally, something is working. (See all that mud? It ends up in the feet of the ladder and the shoes of the artist.)
The hills behind are supposed to bring to mind Venice Hill, a geographical oddity in the vicinity, and also start delineating the trees in the row on the right.
A few interesting things on Friday: I met Cuco from the public utilities/waterworks, who told me of a tank they might want a mural on; met Melé from across the street who used to draw and whose son is interested in art; someone in the neighborhood has a stereo with bass that almost shook my two fillings loose (I’ll be taking earplugs next time); a group of women crocheted together in the library in the morning; the library will soon activate a computerized machine where reserved books can be retrieved by scanning one’s library card; still no key provided for access to storage and facilities but by George, there is a locked trailed on the opposite side of the liberry, just waiting for my use (IF anyone provides the combination to the locks.
Brrr, BRRR, and BRRR! In driving the 35 miles down to the mural yesterday, I learned that the defroster in Momscar* is INSTANTLY effective, and I actually used the seat warmer, which seems like an ultra luxurious feature. Now I just need to figure out which button makes heat land on my feet.
Step by Step on Day Two
I took MomsCar so instead of just working off the tailgate of the good pick-em-up truck, I unloaded everything on the curb. (This is the curb of the driveway, not the actual road.)
Next, I had to satisfy my curiosity about that box on a pole.
No idea.
It is overwhelming to look at all that needs to be done, so I just eased into it. First, I removed the tape on the outside of the left inset.
Then I retaped it on the inside of the inset.
Because I paint from back to front and the sky is mostly finished (might add wispy clouds later), I mixed some “purple mountains majesty” color.
Starting on the left side, working my way south.
I had to keep standing back to see if it was believable. My goal was to make the mountains accurate, but I can’t seem to get a photo of how the range looks from Ivanhoe because of the overcast. My one good photo only goes from Alta Peak north. So, I just painted a first coat on the second half, getting Sawtooth in place. I will finish the mountains after I get some better photos.
Next, the upper edge of leaves. That was confusing because I am interpreting multiple photos, trying to make it believable. I alternated among 3 greens and used a tiny hint of orange. I’m not sure what the best approach is yet, but I have plenty of real estate in which to solve this problem.
I also placed a few of the closer oranges by circling the placement.
I moved to the upper right leaves, and then I was just too cold to continue. Here is the final shot of the day.
Then I filled in the channel left unpainted by the masking tape around the left inset.
The leaves didn’t look right to me, so on the way home I took a few photos.
*Mom gave me her car, and after a few months of adjusting to the fanciness of a 4-door, 6 cylinder, automatic, I still think of it as her car. Thus, the current name of Momscar.
I have some other obligations and work responsibilities so won’t be back on the wall until Friday.
Calendar available here, $25 includes postage (and I’ll eat the sales tax if you are in California.)
I got to the library at 8:45 to survey the lay of the land. Muddy. Significant log. Big roots to NOT trip over. What’s that weird little box on a pole? Could it be a Little Free Library, right here at the library?
After I unloaded the ladders, I realized that the wall was full of spiderwebs and dust.
When I was almost finished wiping it down, the representative from the Arts Consortium showed up, along with my intern. There was a little bit of paperwork; I gave Intern some jazz about not being able to sign his name in cursive, and Rep had to tell him that his last name initial was needed. (“Kids these days. . . sigh”, thought the old artist.)
Intern was helpful. I was able to teach him a little about starting a mural, using various tools, deciding the order to proceed. He learned about measuring and translating the scale of 1/2” = 1’, along with using a plumb line and a square.
We started with measuring the wall, to be certain that the measurements and proportions matched the approved design. Next, we taped off the insets.
Intern wasn’t dressed for painting, but he was really careful, and we painted the skies.
Intern was a hungry cold boy, so he left for lunch and I began the green base coat.
When he returned after his lunch, we finished the green and I painted some dirt base coat.
What will I do today? I will be on my own, because Intern has end-of-term projects to complete. The library will be open some of the hours that I am working, so I will be able to store my equipment and supplies until Friday. But they don’t open until 10, so I will be starting later on Friday.
The logistics of this job are rather intricate and challenging. I’m not surprised, because it took 3 years from when the county supervisor asked me to paint this mural until I am actually on the job.
Three years ago, the county allowed elected supervisors to have a bit of free rein on things like murals in their districts. My supervisor asked me to paint a mural on the Ivanhoe library, the beloved library of my youth. You can read about it here, here, here, and here.
If you don’t want to go back and read those posts from 2 years ago, here is the short version. The county reined in the Wild West approach, a committee was formed, and a call to artists went out to submit designs and compete for MY MURAL!
Eventually I got chosen, but they forgot to find the money first. Another 2 years passed, until this summer I was given permission to begin. First I needed to wait for the heat to abate and then for my unbloggable situation to resolve.
Meanwhile, the committee gathered money, and decided to only have one mural on the West wall, probably because they didn’t have enough money to pay for two murals because the original payment offered wasn’t high enough to entice many muralists (only guessing this from a few conversations I had with some muralist colleagues).
They requested that I make a change on the orange packing label from “Venice Cove” to “Venice Hill”. I was willing to do this, but only with permission from Klink, the packing house. What a surprise—it has merged with 2 or 3 other packing houses and is now called California Citrus or something similar. Not “Klink” anymore?? This hurts my little Ivanhoe heart, but I’ll soldier on.
Today I thought I would be working on the mural. However, there is now red tape and bureaucracy to navigate, with many opinions, an anonymous committee, and a college student who wants to intern with me. My hope is to be given access to the building on days when the library is closed. Otherwise, I will only be painting on Fridays, and this could take a very long time to complete.
I am REALLY REALLY REALLY looking forward to finally painting this mural!
Meanwhile, I continue to work on a couple of commissions, one of which I have been showing to you and one which is still in the design and decision phase.
(And I’ve actually begun working on the 2027 calendar. The 2026 is available here or anywhere you run into me if I remembered to put some in Mom’s Car* or whichever pick-‘em-up I happen to be driving.)
*It is a really nice car, and I really miss Fernando. Really. Sigh.
