Another Bridge Day

This represents a typical day at the easels for me, working on a few paintings, hanging out with my cats, taking a break to go see the river from the Dinely Bridge which crosses the middle fork of the Kaweah River here in Three Rivers.

I tightened up some details and began working on the Oak Grove bridge on the 6×18″ painting.
Then I switched to the other Oak Grove bridge painting.
Scout may be contemplating impending motherhood. Look at the pretty orange stripe that runs down from her eye. It will be fun to see what her babies look like.
Upstream view of the Kaweah River during a string of storms.
Downstream view. I love this kind of lighting – dark sky, bright sun, clarity.
This is a memorial bouquet which gets changed regularly on the Dinely Bridge: flowering quince, daffodils and rosemary approximate the three primary colors.

Bridge Day

My favorite thing to draw and paint is the Oak Grove Bridge, 6.5 miles up the Mineral King Road. I think a bridge is the most perfect blend of architecture and scenery. It is sort of a cliche, but so what?

This is 10×10″. The color is weird because I photographed it after dark.
This is closer to the truth, although I do tend to exaggerate colors in my oil paintings.
This is as far as I went on the bridge painting day. Maybe the phone rang, or it was time for lunch.
Scout and Tucker weren’t too interested in the details but liked hanging out on the window sill shelf behind me. Samson would have been chasing my paintbrushes or biting my ankles. This pair came from the same place, but have entirely different approaches to life than their cousin/brother/uncle/who knows.
This 6×18″ painting is an entirely new approach to painting the bridge.
The background shrubbery was the obvious next step since all the colors were ready to go on the palette from the previous bridge painting.
That long green “fairway” on the left is probably the bank leading down to the road.
This is as far as I can go until everything dries. Then, the bridge itself will get painted.

I made up the rocks beneath, which one might think I would have memorized by now. Closies count on this. Ditto with the growies (since I am talking in weird abbreviated words). It will prolly take a week or so for these to be dry enough to continue.

Memorial service for The Cowboy
Bert Raymond Weldon, May 21, 1956 — January 8, 2019
CELEBRATION OF LIFE AND RECEPTION Friday, March 15, 2019, 11:00 a.m. CrossCity Christian Church, 2777 E. Nees Avenue, Fresno, California 93720

Painting a Half Day

Isn’t that an odd title? One day last week my walking buddy and I decided to drive to a new place and walk a trail instead of heading out at dark-thirty with flashlights and walking a road. This meant that I only had a half day to paint. So, hubba hubba hubba, let’s git ‘er dun. The plan was to get the last 9 paintings covered with the basics in colors and shapes, not to detail anything. In other words, to do a job, not a good job.

2 alike, an 8×8″ and a 6×6″. This is the most popular Mineral King oil painting subject.
Another pair of look-alikes.
Five more makes nine. Now what shall I work on?
I climbed up on a ladder to get a view of a table full of paintings in progress. There are 20 here. You’re welcome (I know you were wondering whether or not to take the time to count these.)
While on the ladder, I looked out the door at my irises in bloom.
Before deciding what to work on next, I took another census. With these, I’m up to 28 paintings.
But wait! There are 5 more, for a total of 33. When I said there are 32 in progress, I was ignoring the citrus.
This one! I’ll do this one next. I might be a teensie bit bored with painting greens.
After photographing a painting, I can see the things that aren’t quite right. Why are those things more visible on a computer screen than in person? What is more important than matching the photo is deciding if the painting can stand alone.
And as a reward for being so productive, I chose to work on my favorite bridge. The colors are weird in the painting because it was actually dark outside when I took the photo, so the camera was confused.

Phew. That was a sprint. And after walking 6 miles in the morning. . . I’ll show you our walk tomorrow.

P.S. The promised update on a memorial service for The Cowboy
Bert Raymond Weldon, May 21, 1956 — January 8, 2019
CELEBRATION OF LIFE AND RECEPTION Friday, March 15, 2019, 11:00 a.m. CrossCity Christian Church, 2777 E. Nees Avenue, Fresno, California 93720

Cabins and Flowers

My assembly line method of painting the Honeymoon Cabin in Mineral King was a challenge in several ways. Breaks to look at flowers helped. Maybe March is my favorite month.

This was fun because of the pink and purple, two rare colors in my landscapes of Mineral King.

Can you see the changes from the previous photo?
Flower break!
These now need to wait to dry so I can put in the flags and some wildflowers.
Time to work on these three little ones again.
Another flower break!
All five oil paintings of the Honeymoon Cabin in Mineral King are now drying so they’ll be ready for flags and wildflowers.
Final flower break! All day I wondered what smelled a little different, and when I crouched down to photograph these flowers just outside the door, I had my answer.

Painting Animals

No motivational quotes today, just some paintings in progress.

A little more detailing, a signature, and BaddaBing, BaddaBoom. (Cowboy Bert used to say that when he meant a thing was finished.)
Maybe these roosters could be named BaddaBing and Badda Boom.
Tucker had a few days of being under the weather and off his feed. (Any more cliches to describe this?) He’s back to normal except a bit more tired than usual.
Scout’s ready for anything.
Meanwhile, just outside the door. . .

P.S. Here is the promised info on the memorial service for The Cowboy.
Bert Raymond Weldon, May 21, 1956 — January 8, 2019
CELEBRATION OF LIFE AND RECEPTION Friday, March 15, 2019, 11:00 a.m. CrossCity Christian Church, 2777 E. Nees Avenue, Fresno, California 93720

Determined, Persistent, Responsible

“Determination gives you the resolve to keep going, in spite of the roadblocks that are before you.”—Denis Waitley

“I will persist until I succeed.”—Og Mandino

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”—President Abraham Lincoln

Assembly line of Honeymoon Cabin paintings.

Listening to podcasts pulls me through painting days that feel as if I will NEVER finish ANYTHING. (This feeling may simply be a result of starting 32 paintings at the same time.)

Baby steps, back to front, the usual process.

As I worked on these paintings, I was entertained by the slightly raunchy podcast “By The Book”, where 2 women read self-help books and then live by them. I got tired of their cussing, so I switched to the fabulous motivational speaker Brian Buffini, where I heard the quotes above.

The photos have simply become guides for me as I revisit familiar subjects. This does make the process of painting easier.

In spite of not finishing any paintings, it was a productive day. I WILL get to the fun parts of drawing with my paintbrush, putting in the details that make me like to paint, and then signing the paintings. Why? Because I am determined, persistent, and responsible and because I have podcasts to listen to while I push ahead.

These are not finished, but finishing them will be the fun part.

Thanks, Brian Buffini.

A Metaphor Free Post

Today will be less metaphorical than yesterday’s post. It was a cold and dark day when I painted this, so the photos of paintings aren’t as thorough.

The day began with a touch of sun on my pot of irises.
Storm coming – very dramatic light on the front yard. And that is mowed weeds; we had to abandon the lawn, so it is simply a springtime luxury to pretend we have one.

Get to work, Central California artist who is distracted by the beauty of her favorite month. Today’s painting subject is the Honeymoon Cabin in Mineral King, the only cabin left from Disney’s era.

This is another Squish-the-Subject-While-Making-It-Believable painting. This one is 8×8″.
I kept it loose because it got too dark to see well. Just got those shapes in place with the general colors.
This one is 6×6″. It was sort of too dark to see, so I quit for the day.

More on Juniper Paintings

Yesterday we looked at several juniper paintings. I like to paint this subject, because it is fairly forgiving. Who is going to say with confident knowledge, “Hey, you added a branch!”? No one, I hope. It is the overall shape of the tree that people remember, unless they were actually climbing the tree, but most people who climb the trail to White Chief need all their lung power simply for the elevation gain.

The sky looked pretty decent on the first pass; when I started the second layer of blue, it became apparent that the first blue wasn’t adequate.

Much better! And you will like it more when it is completely dry, because then I can scan it, which is a superior way to record a painting.
This juniper is along the Franklin-Farewell Trail, at the Clough cut-off. I tried this scene on my studio door and lost interest. Still, I think it is a lovely picture. It just didn’t float my boat for the studio door mural.
The unfinished studio door mural before I covered it with Sawtooth and wildflowers.
Background first. Do you get tired of hearing me say that?
One more layer of tighter details ought to do it for this painting.
Three in progress on the table in the juniper section. The fourth is hanging on the wall and also only wants one more layer of tighter detail. They all need signatures too.

I like painting junipers.

Painting Junipers

There is a juniper tree on the trail to White Chief (Mineral King, of course) that is striking and memorable. Several people have called it their favorite tree, among them Trail Guy.

I painted it twice last summer.

Juniper I
Juniper II

Now I am painting it two more times.

First the sky, then the background, and next the tree. So rough the first couple of times over the canvas. This is 8×10″.
Better, but not finished yet.
A smaller version, 6×6″.
More work to be done here too.
This juniper tree is along the same trail and memorable in a different way. It might be other people’s favorite tree, but they are probably just trudging along, gasping for breath, wondering who built such a steep trail and if it will ever end. This painting is also 6×6″.

32 At Once

The beginning stages of 32 paintings at the same time is a rather lengthy undertaking. Why would anyone begin 32 paintings at the same time?? This Central California artist chooses to do it this way for multiple reasons, none of which are very interesting. It is more fun to see the process than to read about the reasons behind it. (This is a high-falutin’ way of saying, “I don’t know why and don’t want to figure it out right now”.)

The Oak Grove Bridge in a new size and shape from a more distant viewpoint than my usual paintings of this, my favorite subject to draw and paint.
The view from my living room, titled “Alpenglow on Alta”. Clever, eh? I left out the telephone lines that cross the scene in real life. That was wise, don’t you think?
Look at all these loosey-goosey scribbled first-pass paintings.

But wait! There’s more.

The rooster comes in 2 poses, and here is a little painting of The Lake, as we refer to Lake Kaweah around here (or is it Kaweah Lake? No one really knows.)
This is Trail Guy’s favorite tree. It is a juniper on the trail to White Chief. I wonder how deep the snow is on it right now.

That is not all 32 paintings. They are spread out all over the painting workshop, so I am only showing you the latest ones in each post. I don’t work on all 32 every day.

Now I know the likely reason for 32 at once. When I was a kid, my mom read Cheaper by the Dozen to us, and the idea of being the most efficient possible really captured my imagination. So, an assembly line approach appeals to me for 32 paintings.