Everything is Hard

Brace yourself for a long post with thoughts about life and how it has changed in my 61 years.

Ever noticed how anything you might want to accomplish is hard? All the possible places for things to get hung up, snagged, delayed, misunderstood, broken, unavailable are endless. It is a wonder any of us get anywhere on time, keep ourselves together, keep moving forward. Look at these examples:

A. We need a new water heater and want to switch from electric to propane. My current favorite contractor said that he could do the job. That was in August. The number of obstacles he has encountered since then would just flatten anyone. I kept calling. When we finally connected and set a date, it didn’t happen. I learned that he was waiting on the plumber, whose truck broke down. And who knows how many obstacles that poor guy encountered? Plumber #2 couldn’t get the right brand of water heater, so on and on it goes.

B. Two years ago we switched from Huge & Rude Telephone Company to Spectrum. It took many weeks, many hours on the phone with both companies, and no business telephone for 6 weeks. (In case you are wondering, the internet is great, the teevee selection not as good but the quality of the picture much improved, and the landline okay but it cannot call the cell phone.)

C. A customer requested that I buy Microsoft Word to be better able to help him (I am editing his book). Microsoft’s chat feature didn’t work, and the phone number didn’t reach a real person. I just bought it anyway without getting my concerns addressed, and then I learned that my Mac operating system wouldn’t run it. I had to upgrade my operating system but couldn’t because my computer didn’t have enough available memory. Many calls to Apple (all were quite helpful) eventually said that I had to erase my computer in order to install the new OS. I hoped that the external hard drive where I back up my laptop actually contained the information and wasn’t just a dummy. (Yep, I prayed over that mess.) Now that my system is up to date, neither my scanner nor my printer will work with my computer any more. 

These are just a few examples of how complicated our world has gotten. You probably have many examples of your own.

In the olden days these things were true: checks were free from the bank; grocery bags were free at the markets; places that sent a bill would provide an envelope (even stamped, in some cases!); the newspaper kept their opinions to the Opinion Page; everyone was allowed to have a fireplace and a lawn; someone else would put gas in your tank and even wash your windshield; you could walk into an airport, pay for a flight, and board, all within an hour’s time; real people answered the telephone at work and at home; you could actually see people’s faces when out in public.

I am so thankful to be able to just head out to the painting studio, and begin. The only obstacles to getting work done are finding the right reference photos (a large obstacle when doing custom art for people with vague ideas of what they want), the sun too bright or too weak to mix colors correctly, the inability to see my own errors, or Jackson biting my leg because he feels deprived of food. (The neighbor’s barking dog isn’t an obstacle, only a nuisance.)

Let’s just look at a calm photo and try to be thankful for the moments of ease and peace that remain (NO! DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT LISTING ALL THAT THE VIRUS HAS STOLEN!!)

11 Things I Learned in December and some jibber-jabber

Happy 2021!

Yeah, yeah, I know about 2020. No complaining here, and no unprecedented overusage of the word “unprecedented”. Just keeping on keeping on. Steady, sort of predictable, finding the good things in life about being a full time artist in Central California, AKA “flyover country” in the Golden State. (We feed the world, and don’t let anyone forget it.) 

  1. Have you heard of a “Covid fee”?? I ordered some photographic prints from Shutterfly and there was a “covid fee” added to my order. What in the world for??
  2. Drying persimmons the hoshigaki method is so bizarre but the best dried fruit I’ve ever eaten in my life. A friend is trying this method and sent me this photo. She also sent a photo of some finished ones, but they look rather alarming. I want to try this next year!
  3. Rosemary and Thyme is a lovely thriving gift/clothing/home goods store in downtown Exeter where my studio was for 4 exciting years. The owner is one of the most creative, original and innovative people I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, and her store is now becoming an online shop. If you like cool stuff, beautiful stuff, good stuff, for yourself or for others, this is the local place to support.
  4. Maeve Binchy really is my favorite novelist. I’ve loved her writing since the 1980s, and with the current difficulties of getting library books, I started rereading her books. She is the only author whose books I automatically bought and kept. (I used to buy Sue Grafton’s books but decided I wasn’t going to reread them so sent them on to unknown bookshelves; also used to buy Barbara Kingsolver’s books but hit a few I didn’t like so that was the end of that.)
  5. There is so much confusion and conflict in trying to discern truth these days. I heard from several sources that there are 21 cases of The Wuhan in our little town and one person has died of it. The truth is that there have been 21 known cases since the thing started and the person who died (a friend and former drawing student), died from heart failure after a surgery that didn’t turn out well for her.
  6. Using “www” before your web address is so last year.
  7. People aspire to riches in order to avoid ugliness.
  8. Ring picking is something I never have heard of. It is a method of picking citrus to a particular size, using a metal ring to measure each piece as you pick. How could I never have heard of this before??
  9. This isn’t anything I’ve learned but maybe something for you to learn about me. I enjoy doing yardwork and occasionally assist a friend with some of her vacation rentals. Sometimes I just can’t resist using the prunings to make a wreath.
  10. This isn’t new information either, but Pippin is just too cute to not keep taking pictures of him.

  11. And final piece of irrelevant jibber-jabber: Persimmons are so beautiful. They taste good when dried the traditional way. (No thanks, I don’t like persimmon cookies.)

Remember, I make art that you can understand of places and things you love at prices that won’t scare you.

Oops. I think I let Pippin into the house.

Red Things

Recently, I noticed red things in my yard. Maybe that is just what artists do. That’s what this one does.

In Case You Were Wondering.

In case you are wondering about the mural in progress at St. Anthony’s, I have set it aside (figuratively speaking) until I have finished the custom art jobs. The mural doesn’t have a deadline; the other jobs do.

In case you are wondering why I am not showing you more custom jobs, it is because they are gifts for people, and I can keep secrets.

More will be revealed in the fullness of time. Tomorrow I’ll begin showing you a few of the commissions that the recipients won’t see on my blog because they don’t read it or even know about me.

Variety of Irrelevant Items

All these topics are irrelevant to the business of art; I’m showing you anyway because they are mildly amusing and even slightly interesting. If you just came here for the art, you will leave disappointed today. If you just enjoy visiting because you can, then welcome.

We have animals in our yard in Three Rivers.

We have animals at our windows.

You may have noticed that I have a curious mind. There is a gloriously beautiful glowing tree in front of the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter, and I’ve never seen one anywhere else. A red oak of some sort is the best guess my students, Mr. Google, and I could come up with.

Do you know what this tree is?

10 Things I Learned in November

This rose is in someone else’s yard. The deer don’t eat these roses because they are too busy vacuuming up everything in my yard across the river and the highway.
  1. I found a new blog with a superb writer, Marianne Wilburn, called Small Town Gardener.
  2. She also has a great book about gardening, written in her conversational style – Big Dreams, Small Garden.  It is one of the more realistic approaches to gardening I’ve read.
    My herb garden, before all the red leaves fell off the Virginia Creeper
  3. Through Marianne’s writing, I found a fascinating YouTube channel (?) or is it a person to follow; her name is Liziqi, and it is about a young, strong, beautiful Chinese woman who lives with her grandmother and gardens and cooks. What?? Yeppers. Fascinating to watch. (I’ve seen it before but can’t remember when or why.)
  4. I learned in November how much shopping does not appeal to me. Or maybe it is stuff that does not appeal. I’ve never liked shopping, but this really drove home the point. A friend told me about Jane.com, an online shopping mall. I looked, and all the stuff almost made me twitch.  (No, I am not a Communist – thank you for your concern.)
    Leaf peeping is more interesting to me than shopping.
  5. When customers are in a hurry and my schedule is full, I learned to tell them that there is a rush charge. This is the first time I’ve done this, and I had three opportunities in November. This takes the sting out of having to work on Saturdays and Sundays to meet their deadlines. Two of three customers agreed to pay the charge.  The third customer made an adjustment in his hurried plans and said he could wait the normal 2 weeks that we discussed last summer; even two weeks feels like a squeeze right now, but I got the job finished.
  6. There is something new, an alternative to FaceBook, called Parler. I wonder. . . but, no. I have enough to do.
  7. There is something else new, an alternative to YouTube, called Rumble. 
  8. A friend told me 2 really dumb jokes that he was surprised I hadn’t heard before: A. Why does a cowboy want to die with his boots on? So it won’t hurt when he kicks the bucket. B. Why does a man want to be buried in his truck? Because it hasn’t ever failed to get him out of a hole.
  9. I ran across the term “EDM” in a couple of different places and got curious. It is Electronic Digital Music, and in my opinion, it qualifies as an audio assault rather than music. (In an elderly voice coming from inside my head: “My goodness, these young folks today!”)
  10. In-N-Out has good hamburgers. This is a weird admission from someone who didn’t eat red meat for 17 years, and still feels a bit squeamish about burger. My conclusion is that it is the sauce that makes it so good. Wait – didn’t Micky-Ds used to advertise “special sauce”? This was so out of my realm of normal that I felt compelled to share the information. (Thank you for lunch, Jon!)

And here are a few more photos from November that didn’t fit into the list. (Nope, not going to photograph my food – this is NOT Facebook and no one who reads my blog comes here to see my lunch, thank goodness.)

P.S. Can you spot Pippin?

12 Things Learned in October

For a couple of years I have been posting lists of things I learn at the end of each month. This year it feels particularly important to encourage you, Blog Readers, that 2020 isn’t entirely filled with difficulties and mayhem. 

Who are these children and why are they in this post?
  1. Kayaking! It was so fun, and easier than stand-up paddle boarding (well, duh).
  2. White pelicans are huge and don’t dive like brown pelicans do.
  3. Harbor seals and elephant seals are different. Did you know that? Elephant seals are playful and curious, sometimes trying to climb onto kayaks. Harbor seals are much more shy.
  4. A friend sent a Youtube link to a song called Rayburn Crane by someone named Tom Russell – it is about a guy in Mineral King!
  5. “8 million people have left California” – I heard this on a podcast, but the speaker didn’t say in what time frame. I think he must have been speaking of the past 10 years (since the last census). I looked it up, and the main states attracting California refugees are Texas, Arizona and Washington. I know people who have moved to Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado.
  6. A little mosquito has been a real nuisance this summer (I didn’t save the newspaper article with the name of the bug.) The mosquito is smaller, it is out in the daytime, you can’t feel it bite, and it itches and sometimes swells up way more than regular mosquitoes. To add insult to injury, it carries West Nile virus. Good grief, what next??
  7. Retail therapy late at night can be expensive. I ordered some clothes from a site, knowing it was probably a mistake. The sizing was wonky, the fabric was cheap, the clothing differed from the photos. In order to return things, the customer has to email and get an authorization code. The company didn’t reply in a timely manner, the 15 day return window started narrowing, and finally the company said they would offer a 15% refund so “you can buy cloth to repair clothing”. Or, if you prefer, they will give you the address in China where the order can be returned. WHAT?? Our local thrift shop just scored some brand new items. Sigh.
  8. Vanilla water – I invented this because my giant bottle of vanilla extract ran out but had some residue in the bottom that I didn’t want to waste. I filled it with water, put it in the fridge, and it was SO GOOD!
  9. Rock stacking – There are cairns or “ducks” along routes where trails aren’t visible, and this differs from rock stacking or balancing. This article goes into depth on the topic. Like almost everything, a little is interesting, copycats turn it into a problem, and then finger-waggers come along and turn it all sour.
  10. This isn’t new, but it has been several years since I showed you – this is the link to the website of an artist whose work amazes me in its brilliance, precision and subtle humor. Her name is Sandra Busby.
  11. This is new information to my blog readers: one of my drawing students had a Cooks Illustrated magazine with beautiful art on the cover. We looked up the artist, Robert Papp, and just swooned over his fruits and vegetables. Later that day, I reached for my favorite stamps to put one on an envelope, and was gobsmacked to see that they were Robert Papp’s work!
  12. I can draw from my computer screen instead of ordering prints. This is a new experience for me. Using both print and on-screen provides the best information, but sometimes there isn’t enough time to wait for professionally made prints; my tired Epson printer is a poor option because it uses too much ink, has incorrect colors, and prints with stripes in the photos.
These girls are here because someone was cleaning out her photos and mailed them to me, and it just was too good to not share. Speak up if you know them!

A Year of Personal Learning

The summary lists continue as I keep working on some private commissions, a fancy Art Speak word for custom artwork.
A friend allows us to glean in his walnut orchard each year at the end of October, which means more food to share with friends. (This drawing won a prize and sold, but I can redraw it for you because I love to draw.)

Personally, not professionally, this happened in the last weird year:

  • Tried and thoroughly enjoyed kayaking
  • Tried and thoroughly enjoyed stand-up paddle boarding (even thought it made my feet hurt – a weird result)
  • Missed church on Easter Sunday for the first time in my life
  • Realized that I like not having social obligations
  • The lock-down reinforced how much I like being at home.
  • We managed to keep 3 cats alive by locking them inside the garage each night (although sometimes they still go rogue)
  • Learned what possessions matter when facing evacuation from both our main home and our cabin
  • Realized how much I depend on the library
  • Learned how thin the veneer of civilization is in our country and how easily people are controlled by fear
  • Learned how people share food with one another as a gesture of love especially in hard times – we got more food brought to us and shared more food with friends than I ever remember in the past.

What’s on your list? (Does anyone besides me do this sort of evaluating and list making?)

A Year of Professional Learning

During the last year of belonging to BNI – Business Networking International – I learned and experienced many new things. This is not necessarily because of BNI, but some of them may be a result.

  • Redesigned website
  • Gained confidence in following up leads and speaking to people about my business without feeling like a pushy salesman
  • Got invited to do a show at a gallery in Visalia in 2022 (Not kidding, it really is for 2022!)
  • Completed 7 murals (if I count the 4 at Mooney as 4, rather than as 4 parts of 1)
  • Cancelled more drawing lessons than in the previous 25 years combined
  • Did zero workshops, boutiques, fairs
  • Painted a sign in spite of not being a sign painter and feel proud and happy each time I see it
  • Painted 2 murals and an A-frame sign for free (WHAT??)
  • Proposed a great mural idea, prepared a presentation, and then got cancelled so never got to follow up
  • Learned to use Zoom
  • Became more active on Instagram, then concluded it is a waste of time (still on the thing but at a turtle pace)
  • Designed a logo for the Mineral King Preservation Society (MKPS)
  • Had my first guest post on this blog
  • Wrote guest posts for the MKPS blog
Still working on commissioned pieces that I cannot post so there will be about one more of these chit-chatty summary posts before I am able to show you any new work.

One Year in a Business Referral Group

I am working on some pieces that the customer has requested that I keep private, so I will spend the next few blog posts just chit-chatting at you.

A year ago I attended my first meeting of BNI – Business Networking International – at the urging of my cousin who said it helped his business tremendously. I parked far away in case people would judge me by my car, and expected to find stuffy people in fancy business clothing. Instead, I found a room full of authentically friendly go-getter business people, most of whom were measurably younger than me (and all drove better cars, but whatever, Fernando has been paid for for many years).

During that year I did the following because of BNI

  • Gave about 45 1-minute presentations
  • Gave 3 “Feature Presentations” using powerpoint
  • Gave 9 “Referrals”, only 1 of which turned into a “Thank You For Closed Business”
  • Received a bit of business, called “Referrals” in BNI Speak, from 2 of the members, not anywhere near enough to pay for my membership but appreciated all the same
  • Had 22 “One-To-Ones”, no where near BNI standards, but impressive for this introvert who fiercely guards her work time and solitude
  • Met over 30 interesting, varied, focused determined business people from different professions, many of whom I now consider friends
  • Invited about a dozen people, 5 who actually attended, but none who wanted to join because using Zoom isn’t personal or real enough
  • Learned to use Zoom
  • Refined my one sentence business description (“elevator pitch”) several times until it became this:

I make art that people can understand of places and things they love for prices that don’t scare them.

I view this whole venture as a marketing effort, and marketing has very slow returns. This particular way of marketing was time consuming and expensive, but the results are far superior to FaceBook or those other virtual methods because I made real friends.