Category: Thoughts

Things I’m learning in Artworld.

How to be an (professional) artist in Tulare County

That is the title of the talk (“lecture”) that I gave yesterday at the Creative Center in Visalia. The three items are: 1. Love the place; 2. Be flexible and 3. Never quit. The turnout was small, (I think “intimate” is the word used for such things) and I knew all but 3 people. After we introduced, we realized we had known of each other but just hadn’t met yet. The show looks wonderful, thanks to Glen Hill who really placed the pieces artfully. It is surprising how much this matters! Three pieces sold, and the buyers graciously consented to leaving them in place until the show ends.

There was a very bright spotlight in my eyes so I couldn’t see the audience. Now that I see them in this photo, I can see that several who were present aren’t in this scene. They seemed to be enjoying themselves and were all very complimentary. The Creative Center is a great place to show art and to have presentations – thank you Theresa, Glen and Bailey!

Peculiar sights #6

And here is a cowboy to go with that roper yesterday.

Three Rivers roping

Peculiar sights #5

Say what? This is a roper! It is at the Lion’s Roping Arena, and this weekend is the annual Lion’s Roping Competition in Three Rivers.

Three Rivers roping

Peculiar sights #4

One day while walking, instead of looking out for that yappy squalling ankle-biter named Miles, I looked up. What a nice surprise!

Three Rivers

Peculiar sights #3

As I walk around in Three Rivers in preparation for April 25, this sight never fails to amuse me:

In case you can’t tell, the upper mailbox says “WHITE”. Because you now know I am a color junkie, listen to this: there are people with the last name of Gray and people with the last name of Brown and a guy with the last name of Green too! And, the people named White got together with the people named Brown and formed a company called “Beige”. (I’m not making this up!) On the subject of first names, there is a man who goes by “Red” (not all that uncommon), I had a drawing student named “Teal” AND I have a cousin named Pink (somewhere in North Carolina). As you can see, I have lots of thinking time on these training walks.

Peculiar sights #2

This is an undoctored photo of a daffodil. In my regular walking route in Three Rivers, I encounter a yard with several of these. Really! I used to think all daffodils were yellow – many different shades and combinations, but always yellow. Guess I was wrong!

Three Rivers

Peculiar sights in Three Rivers

I may have mentioned that I walk a lot. April 25 is coming, and my friend Nancy and I plan to walk 21 miles in Monterey. Nancy and I get together just once a week for our long training walks, so during the week we are walking alone. My walks are usually in Three Rivers. This provides a great deal of time to look at one’s surroundings, think, pray, mumble to oneself about how long it takes, use a borrowed iPod, plan blog posts, fret over the amount of work one isn’t doing while walking. . . a person could stay very busy while walking! Here is something that struck me this week – there are a number of peculiar items on one of my regular routes. Let’s start with Ruby:

Ruby is a boxer with a leopard spotted couch, complete with an awning for shade. This couch is parked directly along-side the road, and Ruby watches people go by. I make a point of greeting and petting her. If I happen to be wearing shorts, she will get up and lick my knees. Now, that is peculiar!

Three Rivers

confessions of a Color Junkie, part 3

Purple, or “violet”, as it is more correctly called, is a color I haven’t liked very well most of my life. A few years ago, something changed, and I began to crave periwinkle, that almost blue shade of violet. Think lupine, brodeia, dutch iris. . . Someone told me that as we age, the cones in our eyes see purple better than when we were young. Oh-oh – is that the reason? (Brings to mind that poem “When I am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple”.) While on our photo trip over Yokohl, I was knitting a sweater in that wonderful bluey purple color; I actually asked Michael to stop next to a lupine so I could hold the sweater out the window and compare the colors. I was thrilled to see they were an exact match! (You just never know what will set off a color junkie.) I have found that to be a difficult color to mix, working only with the primaries, that has been a difficult color to mix. I finally asked Diana Moses Botkin about it, and she advised me just to buy a tube of violet! Wow – if she says it is okay, it must be! Just one other thing – I’ve noticed many men refer to burgundy or maroon as “purple”! I wonder why. . . can’t get a helpful explanation other than “It looks purple to me!”

Sweater colored lupine (ok, I might have messed around with the color in this photo!)

Periwinkle, the plant (also known as the dreaded invasive vinca major)

color obsession periwinkle

Goodbye, Virginia

Virginia May Botkin, 82, of Visalia passed away Sunday, March 14, 2010. She was born in Visalia on June 18, 1927 to Dorval Wallace and Versa May Beamish. Because her parents were both deaf-mute, she grew up communicating with American Sign Language. Virginia and her sister younger Rosalie (Shiffert) loved to sing, and often performed together in the Exeter Lions Club Follies. She graduated from Visalia Union High School and married the love of her life, William “Bill” Franklin Botkin, a union that lasted 53 years until Bill’s death in 2002. Bill and Virginia reared their three children in Exeter, and she was a homemaker who particularly loved family gatherings and time in Mineral King. She enjoyed the music of Tony Bennett, Judy Garland, and more recently Michael Buble’. Virginia was preceded in death by her parents, husband and sister, and is survived by son William C. “Billy” Botkin of Visalia, son Michael (Jana) Botkin of Three Rivers, and daughter Laurie Metz of South Lake Tahoe. In addition, she is survived by a few aunts and uncles, many nieces and one nephew. At her request there will be no services. Remembrances may be made to the Mineral King Preservation Society, P.O. Box 286, Exeter CA 93221 or other charity of choice.

for Cat People only

Here are my semi-wild cats, AKA The Brown Ears (to separate them from The Boys, Perkins and Zeke).

If their tails don’t show, I still can’t tell who is Butch and who is O’Reilly.

Cashmere has missed her second appointment to be spayed at the veterinarian’s office. If she has kittens, want one?

Now that Butch has watched me try to catch his Mom and put her in a box, i.e. try to murder her before his very eyes not once but twice, I doubt that I’ll ever get to touch him.

O’Reilly continues to be an utterly delightful little feline!