Sometimes it is a little hard to work from home. There are many other things requesting attention, opportunities to be productive in other ways, chances to just lollygag around or find other occupations. Last week I had such a day.
It began with wandering outside while drinking coffee and seeing a bit of pruning, and then finding Tucker in my herb garden.
See why I want to be outside this time of year?
Notice that these flowers are in the primary colors.
Next, I made plans with a friend for a walk at the lake early in the afternoon, and that made me willing to dive back into work, knowing my time was limited to paint. Sometimes deadlines help me to focus.
This was dry enough to begin detailing until it was time to gather up my friend and head to Kaweah Lake. (Oh-oh, I can’t remember if it is Kaweah Lake or Lake Kaweah again; what’s with the mental block on this subject? This may be why we’ve always called it “The Lake”.) We just walked in the lake bottom, not close to the lake except where it covered the pretty bridge.
The lake level is rising slowly. We walked to beneath the Horse Creek Bridge, and the mustard was striking.
After our walk, I was able to paint a bit longer on the Mineral King cabin oil painting commission. I think I can get even more detailed on this, but it needs to dry a bit more.
And thus we conclude a day of work combined with distractions.
This is how they look in the afternoon light. I’ll wait until they are completely dry, then photograph them, because they are too big for the scanner.
Lupine comes in many colors, so I just mixed up a shade of bluish purple that looked good with the painting. The photo lupine color was too pink and it wasn’t believable to me.
This is the stage where I detail it to the nth degree, the style of painting that plein air painters usually don’t bother with. (They might be too tired of swatting bugs by them.)
Oh my, I really like this one! (Yep, I am allowed to like my own work.)
More detail on the painting on the left, but more contemplation is needed before signing this.
Since Pippin didn’t offer any help, I added wildflowers to these two.
That was fun, so I did the same to the painting on the left.
Now let’s tackle this unusual arrangement of a usual subject matter, the Honeymoon Cabin in Mineral King, now a little museum. Well, actually right now it is boarded up for the winter. And let’s just paint it, not tackle it, hmmm?
This turned out really well, so when it is dry, I’ll photograph it minus the poor afternoon sunlight and sheen of wet paint so you can fully appreciate its specialness.
The 6×18″ format has done very well, either horizontal or vertical. It is unusual and fits into squishy little spaces. 
Good start to this season’s paintings. I’m cold, so I’ll go in the studio now where the heater is more effective and I can’t hear the neighbor’s dogs as loudly.
