Chasing the Big Trees and Dogwoods

We (Trail Guy, Hiking Buddy, and Mr. Hiking Buddy) joined in with the madding crowd (I don’t know what “madding” actually means, but I liked the book and the movies “Far From the Madding Crowd”) and visited the main part of Sequoia National Park.

I wanted to see the dogwoods in their autumn colors and gather more photos of the big trees, AKA Sequoia Gigantea AKA Redwoods (Redwood High School, Class of ’77, yea for us). It was a fun day, but also smoky and crowded up there.

Smoky – this mess is coming over a ridge or two from a lightning fire in the Camp Nelson area.
Dogwood is a tree that blesses us twice – flowers in spring, colored leaves in fall. This is by the Crystal Cave Road.
Crescent Meadow
A fallen giant next to a midget man.
We walked on top of it and the midget man became Trail Guy, who helped us get down off of the big tree.
Woodpeckers go after redwood trees??
Tharp’s Log as it appeared when we approached it from a different trail.
I’ve painted this fence (not itself, but oil paintings of it) several times.
This big tree fell recently and its roots landed on a boulder.
This is the brightest one we saw.
It is tricky to find colored dogwood with redwood trees nearby, good sunlight, and a turnout off the road all together.
The colors were brighter in person.
Dogwood berries?

Remember to contact me if you bought a 2019 calendar in person – if you bought it through the website, I have your info already.

Closing the Cabin in Mineral King

We usually choose a weekend in the middle of October to close our cabin for the season. The date is not weather based, but instead it is based on what fits our schedule, that of our neighbors, and how badly we just want to put away our duffle bags for the year and STAY HOME.

The weekend of Oct. 12-14 was our last weekend up the hill for the year. The road isn’t closed yet, and there may even still be water in the campgrounds. Silver City’s last day is October 27. The autumn colors were still present during our final stay, and the air was clear and nippy in the shade.

 

P.S. Remember the Harvest Festival tomorrow at the Lemon Cove Womans Club from 10-4!

More Mineral King Fun in August

August isn’t the most beautiful month in Mineral King but it might be the busiest in  terms of visitation. Who can blame folks for wanting to escape the heat of the flatlands?

There are cone flowers in my neighborhood. This is one of the yellow flowers that doesn’t look exactly like all the others (but looks close if it hasn’t yet matured into a cone-head.)
This is an iron spring, not to be confused with Soda Springs (although the water tastes just as bad.) It is just a different name for the same phenomenon.
An artifact – part of an old bedframe. . . I can hear the voice now, “Henry, I’m NOT sleeping in the woods unless you bring my bed!”
Trail Guy found another artifactual bedframe. What’s the deal? A Mineral King Motel 6?
I FOUND A NEW FLOWER!! This one is called Grass of Parnassus. Excuse me? Who is Parnassus and why is this lovely little white bowl called a “grass”?
Always looks better in person but I thought you’d enjoy a little evening light.
My neighbor told me that he loves the view from the pay phone in the parking lot in the evening. Bruce, this photo is for you.
Hi Maxine.

And in case you were wondering how my favorite bridge looks in August, here is a recent photo.

The Oak Grove Bridge on the Mineral King road.

Mineral King: 1 Hike, 2 Canyons

Last week we took in the 2 best canyons, White Chief and Farewell, with a friend on one long mostly off-trail day. The flowers were spectacular.

 

The lupine were at their peak.
Almost there – a steep climb. The fit folks would say “just a short hop over the ridge”. The sort of fit would say, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” The unfit wouldn’t even be present. (Putting it this way makes me feel better about my own personal struggles in the fight against gravity.)
The wildflowers were truly stunning on the south side of Farewell Canyon where the old route is.
The photos never do the real scene justice; however, I bet your legs aren’t sore.

Early Season in White Chief Canyon

Trail Guy’s favorite place to hike is White Chief. Mine too. I wasn’t there for this hike, but he graciously and eagerly shared his photos with me to share with you.

Oops. This is from a hike up toward Timber Gap, not White Chief. White Chief shows in the distance.
Phlox, also from the Timber Gap hike.
The square top is White Chief peak.
This is a scene I painted over the winter, but with lots more color, mostly greens.

Several friends have taught us to be on the lookout for heart shaped rocks. Trail Guy has gotten very good at spotting them.
Western Wallflower

A marmot, probably fixing to do an ear-splitting shriek of a chirp.
What’s hiding in the rocks?

Today’s painting is for sale:

White Chief III, 11×14″, oil on wrapped canvas, $275

Mineral King 2018

Opening weekend in Mineral King in 2018 was cold, drizzly, foggy and not conducive to any photos. Besides, my camera battery was dead.

The skies cleared briefly on Sunday evening. I borrowed Trail Guy’s camera for this:

Monday was glorious, sunny, bright, and warm(ish). I took this from our friend’s porch

The little cabin is actually an outhouse. It is where I found that gigantic snowball in March. Wow, 2-1/2 months later, and now the snow is only on distant peaks.

Finally, here is the classic photograph.

Would this look like camera distortion if it was painted in oil?

And thus we begin another summer season in Mineral King.

Painting Drawing of the day:

Farewell Gap #4, pencil drawing, framed to approximately 11×14, $400 including tax

Last Spring Hurrah

That title might be a little bit over the top. May always feels like the end of spring with heat coming and bringing its browns. But my yard has been so beautiful in the early morning light. . . Trail Guy and his power tools, me and my girly pruning and weeding, but mostly God and his palette. . .

I could call these photos a “source of inspiration”, but while they do lift my spirits, I don’t view them as potential painting subjects. The reality of earning a living with art in a small place is that I have to paint what sells. Florals don’t sell for me. Instead, I can study the photos and figure out what makes them special in terms of light, shadow, shapes and color, and maybe apply those things to other subjects.

Hurrah?

Procrastinating and Painting

Those 2 words together describe a work day last week. At the end of April with heat lurking around the corner, I found it difficult to stay positioned at the easels.

It was overcast, which made the flowers seem particularly bright and colorful. The 2 pinks grabbed my attention on the way to the studio.

Petunias with rock rose in the background

It seemed like a good day to experiment with some of the mysterious settings on my camera and learn the differences. 

What setting is this? There isn’t one labeled “Normal”.
This is called “toy camera”. It darkens all the edges. Why??
This looks sort of Normal to me, but there is no such setting.
Pray tell, what manner of weirdness is this setting??

Never mind for the photography lesson; get to work, Central California Artist!!

The 6×18 poppies and lupine might be finished. They need to dry.
The colors on this painting look so vivid in real life, but to mix them in paint, they all seem like dull grayed versions of real colors.
Maybe the contrast and detail will make up for the apparent dullness.
This is looking better, but still. . ..
Maybe when it is dry and then I run past quickly, it will look better. Of course I could hurt myself running past with my head turned sideways. Maybe it is best if I return to photography today.

That’s enough painting. I NEED to evaluate those peculiar camera settings. Could ask The Google, I guess, but I’d rather figure it out myself. It is procrastination, but it is helpful. There is no Boss to tell me when it is time to learn new skills instead of producing new paintings. (Whatcha gonna do? Fire me?)

Field Trip

Last Sunday afternoon, we drove down to Lake Kaweah to go walking among the cockleburs. I think the dam was built in 1962 or ’63, so I don’t remember a time when it wasn’t there. 

It is sort of ugly, but interesting at the same time. There are nicer places to walk in Three Rivers, but variety is a good thing. Keeps you and your brain from settling into a rut, something my paternal grandmother preferred to call a “groove”, which she said made for smoother travel.

There are old home sites and even a former swimming pool. A metal detector might yield some interesting results.

pool tile and cockleburs

The bridge is interesting with its styling in the concrete. It crosses Horse Creek.

We followed Horse Creek for awhile. Not much to it, but it became messy, so we went back to the road and followed it into a flock of red-wing blackbirds. Raucous critters. The mallards and snowy egrets are quieter. We encountered another bridge across Horse Creek and headed back. The flower is mustard.This was a field trip just for fun, not for work. I don’t think there is anything pretty enough down there to paint, although a view of Alta Peak and Moro Rock with the lake in the foreground might appeal to a few folks. Minus the cockleburs. . .