Mural, Day One

This is on the grounds of STYC – seems really fancy for Three Rivers, but in a good way, something in which to have a bit of architectural pride. (There are some other nice buildings in town, but they are not public.)
The wall had enough shade to begin around 1 p.m.; it was sort of hot in the sun on November 2!
What am I painting here??
The dripping pipe kept my bucket full.
I bet you can guess now.
From a distance.
Now it is in shade.
That’s it for Day One.
The light is fading quickly so I left the mural at the stage where it is best viewed from the back of a fast horse (while wearing sunglasses at midnight).
Until next painting session, buh-bye.

New Mural Begins Today

This wall is at the Santa Teresita Youth Center at St. Anthony’s Retreat in Three Rivers. Instead of showing you what I plan to paint, I will simply show you each day’s progress.

My plan is to paint 3 afternoons a week – afternoons because I have to wait for shade to reach the wall, and 3 because I have standing appointments on 2 of the 5 week days. I could work on Saturdays too, but there might be gatherings at “STYC” (that’s how I’ll abbreviate it in future posts) and I try to not work on weekends unless the customer has a deadline (or I am fighting weather deadlines).

Let’s roll!

Two Job Conclusions

Thing One: the A-frame is now in place. I stopped driving by the pump like some weird stalker, and just waited. Eventually, a neighbor left a nice message on the phone saying how good the sign looked, and was it my work?

So, I walked that direction the next morning.

Hey! What’s that??

The dry season is to the front.

Spring is to the rear. I wonder, will it get rotated next year?The A-frame is in place.

Thing Two: I mailed the Coat of Arms on a Monday and was told the expected arrival was Thursday. It was received on Tuesday!

Now what’s next??

Refreshing the Mural, Day 4

At the end of Day 3 on the South Fork fire station in Three Rivers, I left thinking “oh, them barren heels.”

Excuse me??

When I was a kid, a couple of Mom’s Alabama cousins stopped by to visit us on their first trip to California. One of them kept saying, “Them barren heels!” Translation: compared to the hills of Alabama, our hills looked bare to her.

On Day 4, I fixed them barren heels.

Let’s have a little review:

2009, when the mural was new.
The yellow faded, leaving everything that used to be green now in varying shades of blue.
Refreshed in 2020, this time using a yellow paint that is more lightfast.

Next, I’ll need to stop by in the afternoon light to take a better photo of the mural.

Thank you for following along as I turned the faded tank mural back into one that makes drivers on South Fork Road smile.

 

Refreshing the Mural, Day 3

The left side begins the day in shade, but it involves some looking into the sun while painting.

The flag flapped around, casting disturbing intermittent light and shadow on the tank.

The hills need more detailing, more texture, maybe some color changes.

I added smears of various yellows and oranges to indicate fields of poppies, fiddleneck, and mustard.

One more session and it should be finished enough for me to sign my name and sigh with relief that another mural in Three Rivers is looking good.

Mural Refresh Day 2

The weather continued to be cool, which allowed me to keep moving ahead on the water tank mural at the Tulare County fire station in Three Rivers.

On Day 1, I noticed goatheads because they came right through the bottom of my apparently worn-out Crocs.

On Day 2, I took a big sheet of cardboard to put beneath me on the ground. Good thing, because I sat and knelt to work on the flowers.

First, the right side before the sun got too intense.

You can see the tremendous degree of fading here, particularly in the poppies.
Poppies first.
I really like the color combination of poppies against the strong periwinkle blue, which has to be painted over with green.
Lots of time on the cardboard, working green around lupine and poppies. Although the lupine are almost still a good color, they needed another layer of paint.
Time to move to the left side, which was still shady.
I was on a schedule, so I just slammed out some green. The details will have to wait until another time. You can see that the lupine are almost the right color in their faded state.

On Day 3, I hope to finish detailing the flowers and grasses on the left side, and then spend time adding detail to the ridges of hills. The lake might be just fine as is. 

Refresh

in 2009 I painted a mural on the water tank at the South Fork fire station. This is Tulare County Station 14 in Three Rivers.

I mixed the colors using red, yellow and blue, plus white. About 2 years ago, the mural company stopped recommending that particular yellow for outdoor use. 

See why?

The yellow faded, turning everything that used to be green into varying shades of blue.
Oops, I think this green is too dark.
This is lighter, but I’ll have to try more areas first to know how things need to be.
Couldn’t resist trying that brilliant spring green. It really emphasizes the fadedness. (I know that isn’t a word, but I can’t think of the right one.)
I just started slapping various greens on in a somewhat random fashion so that I could compare the darknesses.
Now there is more to work with, so I can start making adjustments.
The blue ridge behind the farthest green needs to be a bit darker, but first I’ll finish the greens.

There – see the darker blue now? Colors are supposed to fade as they recede into the distance. That is part of what helps us know what we are seeing.

Now the sun is too high to continue.

When the sun shines directly on a mural, the paint dries too quickly on my palette and in my brushes and I can’t do my best work. So, this shall be continued. The grasses and flowers will take quite a bit of time, and the lake might need another coat. Then I’ll probably start drawing with my paintbrush, making up ridiculously detailed areas because that is the most fun part to me.

 

Finished and Finished

The green looks a bit uneven because it is wet. Those tiny white letters were challenging, nay, CHALLENGING!

The two sided A-frame mural (sign? what is this thing?) needed a few touch-ups.

 

In case you are wondering, yes, I can name all the flowers. They are all foothill flowers, not in my wildflower book Wildflowers of Mineral King: Common Names.

 

Other than getting the quail as close to reality as possible, this side was just lots of scribbling in brownish yellows and yellowish browns. 

Now what am I going to work on??

Side Two

I  was concentrating so intently on this side that I forgot to take photos until this stage. All that remains is studying it for awhile to see what needs to be refined.

Unacceptable Ugliness

While walking in my Three Rivers neighborhood one morning, I saw this bit of ugliness and got an idea. The neighbor, who has graciously allowed the water board to put this booster pump on his property, agreed with my idea.

What is this ugly thing in my neighborhood? Entirely unacceptable. However, it is fixable with the help of a very capable neighbor.
The very capable neighbor built and delivered this.

Side one.

It is fun to use all these colors. 

Side two and the final touch-up are ahead.