While I was painting a mural, Trail Guy (AKA RETIRED Road Guy!) went to Mineral King for a day. Every time he does that, he says, “This is weird. You’re going to work and I’m going to play.” I say, “It isn’t weird. It has been normal since you retired.”
Do not feel sorry for me. I LOVE what I do and will only retire when I can no longer paint or draw or teach people how to draw. (Or edit. Have I told you how much I love to edit?)
I know. Shut up and show us some Mineral King. I can read your minds – does this make you squirm?
“Research” is a word that used to bring to mind libraries with stacks of books and the microfiche machine. Now it means Google.
In the case of this Central California artist, it means a field trip.
I drove the 6.5 miles up the Mineral King Road and spent some time walking around the bridge, climbing into areas that I avoid in the summer because I have a healthy fear of rattlesnakes.
Lots of rain so far this winter means a decent flow beneath the bridge. I really want to see it if we get a flood-like storm!
Water or root-beer?
It’s difficult to get a photo of it from a straight-on angle. The shrubs and trees keep growing and obstructing the view.
This is the most common angle that I paint.
I’ve never taken this angle before. I think it would be a weird painting.
Sometimes the last support and the abutment visually overlap in my paintings and I get confused by all the shapes.
Might as well take a strange angle of the other side. One never knows what might be helpful.
I think the “T” is for Tulare County. I also needed to see what the detailed shape of this post is, because it is always too small to show in my other paintings. This time, in the 24×30″ painting, it just might matter.
Remember, February 8 at 6 p.m. at the Three Rivers Veterans’ Memorial Building, the Tulare Co. planning commission is holding a meeting about the bridge’s future.
I believe that cabin communities are a true treasure of Tulare County, here in Central California. I love to draw cabins. Don’t believe me? My business has been called “Cabin Art” since 1987.
As a studio artist, I work from photos. There is no way to get the level of detail I like while sitting outside. Besides, I’m oldish now, and need a giant magnifying light, along with cheater magnifier glasses.
So, here are a few photos of Mineral King cabins for you to enjoy. Sometimes the light is just right, so I take the same scenes over and over and over.
Here’s a catch-all, catch-up post for you on random topics. My blog post ideas are triggered by pictures, and these were just languishing in the file without purpose.
This painting was very difficult. I worked on it from real life, and from several different photos taken at different times of year. This is the final iteration (unless someone has a suggestion for further improvement).
Three Rivers Barn, 8×10″, oil, $100
We are in year #4 of a drought. In spite of 15″ of precipitation in July, there was no snow on Bear Skin, the almost-year-around patch on the side of Vandever, which forms one side of Farewell Gap in Mineral King.
My favorite bridge was built in the 1920s and is supposed to be replaced. This fills me with dread. The current plan is to keep this one as a footbridge/landmark and push the road further up the canyon with some sort of newfangled, modern, probably-not-very-attractive contraption that will destroy the simple beauty of this scene. But I am neutral to the subject, keeping an open mind. . .
Sometimes when I drive down the Mineral King Road, I am struck by new scenes. You’d think that after 31 summers of driving it almost weekly that I wouldn’t notice a thing. You’d be wrong.
At the end of the Mineral King Road is a bridge. (It was rebuilt in Sept. and Oct. 2011 and the process was documented fully on this blog.) The abutment gets a lot of water abuse on one side, and was piled with rocks to protect it. However, kids love to use rocks to build dams in the stream, and most of those rocks got scooted away! So, the men in uniform and heavy equipment had to come redo the rocky protection underneath the bridge.
Some new friends joined us in Mineral King early in the summer. Mister New Friend was an outstanding photographer, and he took this photo of Trail Guy and me. (Thank you, MAK!)
Perkins and I thank you for joining us in the random topic round-up.
Trail Guy has really become quite the Mineral King photographer. He was back in the olden days of 35mm SLR cameras with film (remember those??). After we married, I stole his camera because I needed 2 going at all times. (black and white in one, color in the other, or prints in one and slides in the other) He didn’t mind, but I sort of wished he’d take photos too.
Now he carries a little digital camera with him on his hikes. Without my hogging all the good scenes, he is finding his own photographs of Mineral King and the surrounding trails.
If you want specifics, you can ask in the comments or email me using the contact button under the About the Artist menu item.
Random is a good word for unrelated items piling up in my head.
Thank you for visiting my other blog this week. I hope you poked around and discovered things that interested and entertained you a bit while over there.
Most of my sunflowers escaped the ravages of the voracious deer in the neighborhood.
The same flower looks different at different times of day. I think there may be 2 paintings in this flower.
I looked out the living room window and saw this:
i looked more closely and saw this:
My herb garden is a source of inspiration and a place of solace:
I am in need of inspiration and solace these days while we navigate rough waters as a family. Here is a link to a video of my brother-in-law talking about his future: Neighborhood Church Facebook.
Steve made the video around August 1, but I have been taking refuge in drawing and gardening rather than talking about reality. (If you know him, you probably already saw the video.) Thank you to all who have been praying and expressing your kind concern.
White Chief is my favorite place to hike out of (in?) Mineral King. So far this summer, it has rained often, I’ve been preoccupied with family matters, and often I only want to sit, knit and/or split (wood) while in Mineral King.
We have a tradition with a friend who spends time with us at our cabin each summer. This was summer #13. Our traditional visit includes barbecued pizza, Yahtzee (I may have one once in 13 years), M&Ms, and a hike to White Chief. There are other traditions, but they aren’t quite as sacred as our White Chief hike.
White Chief can be 4 miles round trip or it can be as long as 9. No matter how far you choose to go, it is always beautiful, always interesting, and always challenging.
I’ll refrain from further chatter. If you have questions about any of the photos, ask in the comments or use the contact button under About the Artist to ask.
It has been an unusually wet summer in Mineral King (along with measurable, puddle-making rain in Three Rivers 3 times in July!)
Most of the times I have gone up the hill, it has been wet. Rain, hail, drizzle, fog, overcast. It’s all good. It’s all very good. I pray for rain every day, and I am very very thankful for water.
One long weekend, this was the only photo I took on the only walk I took on the only time I got out when it wasn’t raining!
I had to leave at 7 a.m. one morning. This is how things looked, sort of. When it is really beautiful, the camera doesn’t usually do the trick.
This is Squirrel Creek, just below the Park boundary. It hasn’t had much water in it this year, so when I saw this in the morning, I pulled over to take a picture. I “YESSED!” a couple of times, too.
Not much light on the bridge itself in the morning. It is getting so overgrown around it that there is now only one good place to get photos.
And when I got home to Three Rivers, the ground was WET and there were PUDDLES AGAIN!!!
Today I want to share photos of Three Rivers in Fall with you because in spite of the drought and the sense of endless summer, there is seasonal beauty here in this fine corner of Tulare County.
Happy Birthday, Shirley Goodness!
(Why do I say “Fall” instead of “Autumn”? Because I witnessed leaves falling from a tree today.)
The best color is in the non-native Liquid Ambar (yep, that’s the way it is spelled for the tree) and the Chinese Pistache (also not a typo!)
As a studio painter, I rely on my camera and memory. I’m continually seeking the best light, the most advantageous angle, the brightest colors, the most details and anything else that can be recorded. What is inspiration? Something that motivates me to take photos, to paint, to draw.
It was another beautiful day in Mineral King. (Not gonna call it “paradise” because of the drought.) Here is the way I take photos for painting later while in the studio.
Nice light and colors, Farewell Gap barely visible and the peaks around it completely hidden. Plus, the stream isn’t visible.
Now you can see the Gap and the stream. I wonder how much I’d have to distort the perspective to include them.
This is nice. Vandever is fully visible and there is some blue reflection in the stream. The trees don’t really look like fall, but the lack of color in the foliage and low water indicate the season. Do I really need to paint the Honeymoon Cabin? Maybe this scene is good on its own.
I want a closer look at the water and rocks. The growth around and across the scene is certainly unruly. Real life is quite messy. Have you noticed that?
This is better. More water, more peak, less tree. Or is less tree an improvement?? I have a personal bias toward vertical scenes. It is hard to be objective. Objectivity just might be impossible.
