Lazy Listicle One

Since I am not making art that translates well into blog posts, here is a list of random topics, unrelated to anything in particular. Lists are the lazy way to write.

  1. Three new stepping stones: they look so much better with grout than without. You can see that I acquired some yellow tiles. Want any? I have a box that is almost too heavy to lift, full of these 4×4″ pieces of ceramic sunshine.
  2. The narcissus (mini daffodils?) and/or paperwhites bloom in January around here. (I don’t know what they are officially called.)
  3. We have the sittingest yard!
  4. This will be a sweater. The yarn matches a skirt I found, which was a big thrill to this color junkie, especially since I took a chance by ordering them off the internet. They are the color of sequoia trees, which is a thrill to this simple-minded Central California artist.Tomorrow: Listicle Two.

Ten Things I Learned (and Relearned) in January

  1. Feather-leaf lavender now grows in my herb garden. I had never heard of it or seen it before. Yep, planted it in January and yeppers, I used a gopher cage in the ground.
  2. Life without sugar – ugh. I relearned that this is hard, unpleasant, and without benefits. After 3 weeks, I decided why bother. (“Does dark chocolate count? 72% is barely sweet,” she whined.) 
  3. In order to do my Wilsonia book, I bought inDesign. It would not work with my new laptop, so I continued to use it on my old one. Now it won’t work on my old laptop either. You can’t buy InDesign anymore—you have to subscribe for $21/month, which is $252/year!!! Enough to make a preacher cuss, I say.
  4. Labor isn’t taxed in California UNLESS it is working on gold. What?? Yeppers. Got my wedding ring resized, and paid tax on the labor. Yes, I quizzed them about that. (Sure is shiny now!)
  5. I’m not as smart as I need to be. Every time I format a book (that means putting all the information into a computer program so that it is perfect-looking, so that it can become a real book), it feels as if I have never seen the program before. Adobe InDesign is designed for people who spend all day, every day, tapping on a keyboard and staring at a screen. It is not designed for people who format about one book per year.
  6. I learned that if I delete photos on my phone, they disappear off my computer. This is highly inconvenient. I don’t want 30,000 pictures on my phone – that is a nuisance. Because I didn’t understand the connection, I have lost records of completed paintings – only 1 of those many Sawtooths remain in my photo files, and who knows how many others are vamoosed. 
  7. I learned that on my phone, I can go to Albums, Recently Deleted, and then select and recover photos. The hard part about this is that some of my paintings look like photos and it is difficult to tell what I am seeking when it is the size of a postage stamp.
  8. I FOUND A NEW WEB DESIGNER! She is right here in Three Rivers! I have worked with and enjoyed her for years but didn’t know that she could do the techie things that I need done. 
  9. For my subscribers who aren’t getting photos in the email notifications of my blog posts, you need to unsubscribe and then resubscribe using this link.   When you get the email confirmation, click on it, and then you should start seeing the photos again. 
  10. Finally, I learned that it is actually possible for me to run out of things to post to my blog. First time since April 15, 2008. I wonder what caused my brain to empty?

You can see that this month was dominated by tech. The month wasn’t all bad—my friend and I recently resumed walking together after a severe collapse of discipline, beginning with the fire in September.

Irrelevant

“Irrelevant“?

Yeppers, irrelevant.

What is irrelevant?

The things currently occupying the Central California artist’s days are irrelevant to the topics of this blog.

Why does this matter?

You probably don’t care about the things occupying her days right now, so the blog is going to be quiet for a short time.

How short?

Until your Central California artist is able to return to her easels.

When will that be?

She isn’t sure, but if she thinks of something that might interest you, she will post again whether or not she has returned to her easels or drawing table. (Nothing is wrong—fret not!)

But we will miss her!

It is her hope that absence will make your heart grow fonder, rather than out of sight, out of mind.

Can we have a photograph as a little temporary good-bye gift?

Sure.

We saw that one just last week!

Don’t you think it is so very cute?

But we want something else. . .

Okay, how about this one.

I will be back soon—thank you for your patience!

Nothing to See Here

Because  I have been hard at work editing 2 books, and also formatting one of them, there isn’t much to show you.

Here, have a look inside my studio where I am parked with my laptop for hours at a time. It is nice to be surrounded by art that I like.

Jackson stopped by for a visit, but he would not stay still. He just pretends to like me in case I might feed him.

Sometimes I get distracted by light and shadow.

The mug says, “. . . and thou shalt have dominion over all the beasts, except, of course, for CATS.”

 

Elephants in Three Rivers

Yesterday, Blog Reader Sharon commented, “The Alta Elephant has a verrrrry long trunk today”. Another friend told me at “Images of Home” that he has never quite figured out what “the elephant” is. I didn’t want to take a Sharpie pen to my painting but tried to ‘splain it pointing with my finger.

Here is a visual aid for you all who wonder what I am talking about. “The elephant” is circled in green. His trunk goes down. (On a clear day, this typical Three Rivers landmark is visible from both Exeter and Visalia, although at a somewhat more oblique angle.)

My elephant is facing the same way, but his trunk goes up (and his ear is a lot bigger and his two most visible legs are matched and his feet are red and he has a tag and a longish tail and . . .)

Here is another elephant for you, also with an upward trunk. The pencil is so you may appreciate the preciousness of this guy’s diminutive size. (He also has a tendency to do a faceplant when not propped against something.)

Good grief Charlie Brown. Some Central California artist needs to get productive so that she has something relevant to share with her blog readers.

P.S. There is a 2nd public elephant in Three Rivers, fashioned from a blue tarp over the top of an old pickup. NEVER MIND! IT IS A PIG! Someone made it for the Burning Man Festival a number of years ago. It is not exactly elegant or subtle or classy, but we are an eclectic burg here in the foothills of Tulare County. Nope, I don’t want to waste any film on this one. Yep, I said, “film”; it is a euphemism for time and computer space.

Still Sort of Not Working Very Much

Is your Central California artist lazy? Nope. When it is overcast and cold, it is too dark to paint well and too cold in the workshop. (There is a heater, but I have to close the doors, and it upsets Tucker, Jackson, and Pippin.) When it is sunny, she doesn’t want to be indoors. This is not a true dilemma, just life in the foothills of Tulare County when it is sunny and green out. (And there is that immature and unprofessional attitude of having earned some goof-off time due to good sales in December).

We took a walk, and my slight leaning toward a Cat Disorder caused me to take this photo.

The Catholic Church has nice stained glass windows, which I had never really looked at before. I think those are poppies but they have the foliage of calla lilies, or iris, or some other bulb.

And there is the elephant* in Alta Peak.

Suddenly, I felt as if I needed to get home. I am in the midst of a stepping stone mosaic project, using a different type of adhesive than on my previous 10 or 12 dozen (Yeppers, 120, 144, can’t remember) because it was available here in Three Rivers. I need to use it up before it gets dry and has to be tossed out. My yard eats up stepping stones—some get buried by turkeys, some are so old that the tiles fall off, and as different areas of the yard get developed, it is helpful to not step in mud.

*The elephant is in profile, facing to your right. Here is a little visual aid, except that the trunk on Alta points down.:

A Birthday Walk

On Trail Guy’s birthday, we went to Hospital Rock in Sequoia National Park, which is as far as people are allowed to go right now. It has been about 2-1/2 weeks since the last storm, but the road isn’t cleared because the equipment is broken and there aren’t enough operators or mechanics. At least that’s what they say. When Trail Guy was Road Guy, there were no excuses—the road was kept open, no matter what. Period. No time-off. Sigh.

Fretting over the present is not why we are here today. We are here because there are sights to see, such as this ugly burned area.

Moro Rock as seen from Hospital Rock; steps go up the side you cannot see from here. Advertisement: I have a pencil drawing of this, available as a reproduction. Might even still have the original buried deep in a file.

This elderberry shrub survived the fire.

Castle Rocks: if you look across the middle fork of the Kaweah River from atop Moro Rock, you will see these distinctive rocks. Or you can skip the climb and take the Moro Creek Road to see them, as we did, especially when the Park is mostly unavailable. 

California bay laurel trees make bay leaves, the kind used in cooking.

We walked up the Moro Creek Road, which takes you to the Middle Fork Trailhead.

I love me some green.

That footbridge down there is called the Buckeye bridge because you get to it through the Buckeye campground. A long time ago, Trail Guy was part of the crew who rebuilt the bridge. A big flood took it out the following winter and it had to be rebuilt yet again. (He wasn’t part of that rebuild.)

Alta Peak’s elephant is at a more oblique angle than the way we see it from Three Rivers.

The green arrow points toward Alta Peak; the blue oval is around Triple Divide Peak (separating 3 drainages: Kings to the left/north, Kaweah to the west/toward us, Kern to the right/south); the red oval is around Mt. Stewart.

Heading back, looking down toward the valley.

In addition to loving green, I love me a good stone wall.

And thus we conclude our birthday walk of 3.3 miles in the foothills of Sequoia National Park, just above the little town of Three Rivers, in Tulare County, California’s flyover country.

Sincerely,

Your Central California artist who takes walks instead of painting or drawing these days but plans on getting back to work eventually.

 

A Walk With a Mission

Why am I showing you this? Because I am not working on any art projects at the moment. (Pictures of two book editing projects wouldn’t hold your interest—you’re welcome.)

Further, I won’t be revealing the location of this walk, because we were trespassing. Forgive us our trespasses. . .

I was on a mission. The last time we took this walk, I spied a classic cabin—stone chimney, board and batten siding, very simple.

Who cares? Your Central California artist.

Why? My business is called “Cabin Art”. And I have been walking in this neighborhood for 23 years, so it is quite thrilling (and puzzling) to see something for the first time, something clearly old that has escaped my notice.

I talked to a couple of people who know the area and received a couple of possible explanations for this intriguing structure. It is down there somewhere. (Trail Guy brought binoculars).

THERE! See it? It is so far down a driveway that it is not at all visible from the road that I walk.

Mystery solved. After that, we had a shouted conversation with our friends on a lower section of road.

Alta Peak was crispy clear.

There it is again! Why haven’t those people asked me to draw it? Don’t they know who I am??

It might make a nice painting, if I include the backdrop. I’ve heard the people are quite reclusive, but the strangest coincidences regularly occur when I am curious about a building. I learned the names of the owner, and next week, someone by the same name who I know is related started drawing lessons. More will be revealed. . . or not.Looking down canyon, you can see the air quality deteriorates. But oh my, the GREEN!

This is not the river. Just sayin’. (That is a handy little cliché).

A POPPY ON JANUARY 9!! Excuse me for shouting. This is Very Very Early. But wait! There’s more!

BUSH LUPINE TOO! Guess I was too excited to focus the camera, not that one has the option on a PHD* type of camera.

*Press Here, Dummy

Avoiding the Mess in the Studio

Since finishing the indoor murals, I haven’t been working on any art projects worthy of posting. Instead. . .

. . . Trail Guy and I dismantled the show “Images of Home” at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery. It seemed as if we were taking home as much as we delivered back in November. That is because we were. Whenever someone retrieved a sold piece, I replaced it with something else.

I have a remarkable friend, since kindergarten, who possesses many decorative items and the ability to arrange them beautifully. She did this all around “Images of Home”, so when I dismantled the show, I took a few photos of her things (without any understanding of what many actually were). My friend took the stark edges off the show, and I am very very appreciative. It is said that “opposites attract”, and while I was appreciating her enormous quantity of pretty possessions, I recently culled my own decorations down to one box. Look at this stuff! (I piled much of it on this table; the other three photos were things left in the gallery after I moved all of this).

I spent a bit of time weeding my baby poppies, which started appearing in November this year (last year it was January – all based on rainfall). Pretend you don’t see Pippin because he thinks he is hidden. Can you identify the poppies among all the other plants? I finally stopped trying to weed, because the tangled roots were causing me to wreck the poppies too. It was really just an excuse to be outside in the sun with the cats.

Trail Guy and I took a walk. I didn’t take my camera but did take the phone because I wanted to clock our distance (4.3 miles, thank you for your interest). Who actually cares? I am simply making excuses for the poor quality of these photos, but of course, if you are reading this on your own phone, they are probably all too small to see the quality anyway.

This is a neighbor’s front of house view.

We saw the first wildflowers of the year. Tiny and unnamed, but still quite heartening.

There were little fuzzy clumps of green moss.

The clouds cleared briefly off the top of Case Mountain in the distance.

All great slide shows end with a sunset. So, I climbed up on the bench around our chimney for this photo later that afternoon. It is alpenglowish, something I have painted multiple times. (And as long as it continues to sell, I will continue to repaint it.)

Thus we conclude the tour of a show dismantling and a little walk in Three Rivers. May your days be merry and bright. 

Oops. That was last month.

And you are welcome for not having to see the mess my studio was after all the art and merchandise was returned.

Remarkable Drawing Students

I have said many true things about my drawing students, mostly about how they are so kind and encouraging to one another. 

Here is another truth: most of my students are remarkable. They are eager to learn, highly creative, and have many interests. Most take drawing lessons because they have another line of art in their lives and want to be more accurate. They pick up the basics quickly, and then they keep coming because it is so fun to have people to draw with, a time set aside, and of course, help from me.

Look at what two of my students have done on their own.

C (not the “C” of email drawing lessons) loves to watercolor, and she has gotten quite proficient at urban sketching. She also has made a highly original Christmas card for several years, which her kids turned into, I kid you not, COCKTAIL NAPKINS!

Another student, M, found something online about painting on teabags. When she told me she was doing this, I said, “Oh dear, let me get you some paper!” Look at the Christmas card that she gave me:

She lets used tea bags dry, carefully opens them up and empties out the tea leaves, and uses watercolors and ink to create these one-of-a-kind teensy beautiful (and yes, weird) paintings. (I will get her some paper any time she asks!)

I really admire my students and feel so proud of them for taking what they’ve learned about drawing and applying it to their other forms of making art.

You can learn a bit more about drawing lessons here. Lessons