Nature Trail aka Wildflower Walk in Mineral King

In Mineral King, you can walk from Cold Springs Campground up to the actual Mineral King valley on a trail, called “the Nature Trail”. That name bugs me. My faithful blog reading and commenting friend (Hi Mel!) suggested “the Wildflower Trail”. I prefer aliteration, and because I never take a pack or food when I use that trail, it is a walk. Thus, “Wildflower Walk”.

Every year, it seems there are new or interesting things to see. In the photo below, there are lots of white dots. This is Sierra Star Tulip, the most prolific I’ve ever seen it.

Look at this little thing! It actually comes in different sizes, but I didn’t have a quarter in my pocket to show you the differences.

This year there are clusters, something I don’t recall seeing in the past.

What is this? An unfamiliar flowering shrub. How can something be unfamiliar when I’ve been walking this trail since 1985?

Mr. Unfamiliar Shrub has these flowers. I didn’t stick my nose in them to see if there was a scent – I only just met them and didn’t want to overstep the bounds of politeness.

aspens in Mineral King

The Wildflower Walk has the best and most accessible aspens. I went nutso over them last fall. You can see those posts here and here and here and here. Here too. Go ahead. Each link will open in a new tab or window. I’ll wait.

There is a little footbridge. I’ll tell you more about that in another post. (Sophie, got some news for you!!)

Languid Ladies or Sierra Bluebells are one of the first flowers to bloom each year. I love blue.

I have no idea what these are. They are sort of boring. I usually don’t like white flowers because they are a little boring.

Sierra Forget Me Nots – sometimes they are called Sierra Stickseed. Sometimes they come in pink. I love blue.

Larkspur are sort of a bluish purple. I love blue and bluish purple.

 

Little white boring flowers.

These have the appropriate name of “Elephant Heads”. I can forgive them for not being blue.

A Lavender Painting

Barbara’s French Lavender, 8×10, oil on wrapped canvas, private collection

This is a view of my friend Barbara’s French Lavender in Three Rivers. Livingston Lavender Farms, named after her grandmother who built the home, will be open soon for you to come harvest lavender. June 15? More will be revealed.

Imagine a blank journal with lines inside and this painting on the cover for around $15. Aren’t you just itching to own and use one?

More about lavender

My amazing friend Barbara grows lavender. She opens her lavender gardens (or is it a farm?) to the public each June when the lavender is at its peak. People can harvest bunches of lavender.

English lavender in bloom

The dates of this event are a little squishy, because the bloom is dependent on the weather.

This year, it is possibly Saturday June 15. This happens here in Three Rivers, and you just sort of have to pay attention to the paper and to people who might know.

Barbara and I like to collaborate on art projects. She had me paint lavenders on saltillo tiles for her garden and to sell during the Hidden Gardens Tour. These sold well, so I have painted more for her Lavender Harvest Event.

In addition, I have finished 2 new paintings based on her beautiful lavender. The hope was to have them printed into blank books to be useful as journals. More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .

Livingston Lavender, oil painting, 8×10″, private collection

I know I said 2 paintings. Guess you’ll have to come back tomorrow.

Color Lesson: About Lavender

First, a confession. I thought “lavender” was spelled “lavendar”. Really! Me, the Typo-Psycho! I was getting it mixed up with “calendar”. This is a prime example of the Middle-Aged-Mush-Brain I am currently experiencing.

Barbara’s Lavender

Now that I know how to spell it properly, let’s talk about it.

Lavender is light purple. I used to hate that color. This was the result of a trauma that happened when I was in about the 3rd grade.

My older sister had a bee-yoo-tee-full lavender dress that I COULD NOT WAIT for her to outgrow. Finally, finally, it came to me. I tried it on, looked in the mirror and was HORRIFIED. My skin looked YELLOW!! I ran to find Mom and told her, “This dress makes my skin look yellow!” She was astonished that yes indeed, it did make my skin look yellow and probably even more astonished that her 8 year old daughter noticed such a thing.

It was a life-defining moment, although I didn’t know it at the time.

In the 1980s, my Mom took my older sister and me to a color consultant to “have our colors done”. (My younger sister was and is too smart to need this and too cute to care.) Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

It was. Turns out that everyone can wear almost every color. The problems occur when you choose the wrong shade. That lavender did not have enough blue in it to suit me. I still have my color swatches from that session, and they have helped me tremendously through the years.

You can learn about it from a book called “Color Me Beautiful” by Carole Jackson.

Penstemmon

I also learned that as we age, our eyes become more aware of the color purple. Sure enough, in the last 5 years or so, I have come to be almost obsessed with the purple color that has a ton of blue in it. There is a version called periwinkle, and a darker version that is the color of my favorite dutch iris and some lupine and definitely a penstemmon and for sure my favorite Mineral King wildflower called “Explorer’s Gentian.


Explorer’s Gentian

So, I’ve grown from “I hate lavender” to “Oh wow, check out that color!”

What else would you expect from a color junkie?

 

Lupine

Mineral King Will Open This Week

NEWS FLASH – just received an email stating the gates are unlocked TODAY!

This week, probably on Friday, but maybe on Thursday (this is the government we are talking about here), the gates to Mineral King will open. A major source of inspiration for this California artist, that’s Mineral King!

Welcome back, people. Did you bring any new car parts for us?

I was there on May 20, and this is how it looked. Not much snow, not much water. Lots of green.

I love this view. It doesn’t seem like a strong enough composition for painting, but I find it very compelling, every single year. I photograph it every single year. Doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results? Nope, just thinking that one day I will say “AHA! If I just move this tree a bit, or that log, or change the contrast or some other who knows what, then this will make a great painting”.

Nevuh, nevuh, nevuh give up.

 

 

More Refreshment

When Sophie and Louise and I went to Sequoia National Park last week, we walked around Crescent Meadow and Tharp’s Log. Want to see?

That isn’t the meadow or the log or a big tree. It is mosses on a rock. I pet them. They didn’t purr, but I did.

This is the corral by Tharp’s Log. I’ve painted this scene several times, but now the tree is busted off. Whoa. When I talk like an idiot, you know I am tired. I meant the tree was broken. 😎 I’m not showing you the paintings because they are all sold and I don’t want you to feel sad.

However, I do accept commissions.

Both Sophie and Louise remember being able to go inside and see Hale Tharp’s stuff inside. I remember being allowed to go in, but no stuff was left. Now the visitors have to stay outside.

I don’t know these people,  but I took their photo so you can get an idea of how big The Big Trees aka redwoods aka sequoia gigantea really are.

 We had lunch at Wuksachi, which is a lodge without lodging but it does have a restaurant. Okay, it has lodging, but not in the same building.

I don’t get out much. Hence, I was so thrilled with the food (sweet potato fries are the ONLY fried food I like) that I had to take a photo. BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

Check out this dessert. If that doesn’t thrill your little heart, then maybe you get out too much.

The Pause That Refreshes

Sometimes I find myself procrastinating, resisting what I know needs to be done, finding other things to do instead, stalling, and in general, wasting precious time.

Why? Tired, I think.

A cure seems to be to take a day off. Not just a day to catch up on chores, but a day to refresh. “The pause that refreshes” was an advertising slogan when I was a child, but it might have been referring to cigarettes. I got a better offer than having a smoke.

Sophie and Louise invited me to accompany them to Sequoia National Park to see the dogwood in bloom. This is one of the advantages of being a California artist in Tulare County, particularly in Three Rivers. Just sayin’ – not trying to rub it in.

They were in bloom at the lower end of the forest, and we mistakenly thought we’d find them at Crescent Meadow. When we drove back down the Generals Highway, it was raining, so no photography took place other than this shot through the windshield. It was beautiful, because the sun was shining in front of us.

It’s okay that I didn’t get any good dogwood photos. I can go back. Besides, I’m drawing this year, drawing my little fingers to the bone, drawing and drawing and drawing The Cabins of Wilsonia.

 

 

 

Still Goofing Off Instead of Working

How does a California artist goof off and get away with calling it “business”? It’s all business. Everything is a source of inspiration. Everything is inspirational when one lives in a beautiful place.

Sorry to rub it in. Forgive me?

Thanks. Glad I got that cleared up between us.

A California artist gathers her two closest friends in the entire world, who immediately love each other. They invent a game of dropping a pebble off a bridge over the Kaweah River to see who can land a hole-in-one in the rocks below. The California Artist takes photos and wonders how anyone can be so blessed to have such Ah-sum and Uh-MAY-zing friends.

It becomes a business trip when your walk takes you to the lavender garden of an amazing friend where you view your painted saltillo tiles and help place them while your friends get a preview of a breathtaking yard.

Definitely a business trip. No miles to write off. But, my hard-working conscience is eased by the fact of visiting my tiles and helping to place them.

On Sunday, I really did take a day off. I got to meet Gizmo and Gonzo, a taggenberg (maybe that is what the goat girl said) and a nubian.

After meeting these little guys, I finally understand why we call nasty bike tire-popping thorns “goatheads”. They are shaped like the heads of goats. Duh.

Isn’t Three Rivers the most interesting place to live?

Goofing Off Instead of Working

How does a California Artist goof off? Lots of ways!

She has a friend visit for several days and they go walking together. (If you take food, it’s a “hike”. If you don’t, it’s a “walk”.)

She visits the Big Trees (Sequoia National Park) with her friend who moved far away and wondered if she’d ever get to see them again.

They climb Moro Rock. These chicas have been friends since age 17. They have probably climbed Moro Rock together in the past, but they can no longer remember.

They walk (no lunch) out on the High Sierra Trail because the view is definitely a source of inspiration. Hey! That was a business trip!

Wildflowers at a California State Park

There was a great variety of flowers at Montana de Oro.

The poppies came in three colors. Don’t know if I’ve ever seen a yellow poppy before!

This two-tone was so pretty. I thought these only came from greenhouses where people mess around with seeds and test tubes and who-knows-what-all.

This one looks normal to me.

I was going to ignore these little orange flowers but they made me think of my friend Shannon, whose favorite color is orange.

The Indian Paintbrush grow everywhere, all elevations, including Mineral King and above. These were the brightest I’ve ever seen.

Sometimes Morning Glory is called “bindweed”. I don’t know if it is native or if it is an invasive pest. I do know that farmers hate it, but it is pretty. I prefer the blue kind.

These were oranger (is that a word?) in real life. They are shaped like a monkey flower.

I KNOW these are not natives! The nasturtiums from someone’s garden got away. Maybe it happened from the farmhouse at Montana de Oro that is now a visitor center.

Statice out on the bluffs? Really? This grows very well on the Central Coast of California, but is it a native?? Or, is it like the nasturtium? So many questions. . .