Three Rivers | Cabin Art

Two Job Conclusions

Thing One: the A-frame is now in place. I stopped driving by the pump like some weird stalker, and just waited. Eventually, a neighbor left a nice message on the phone saying how good the sign looked, and was it my work?

So, I walked that direction the next morning.

Hey! What’s that??

The dry season is to the front.

Spring is to the rear. I wonder, will it get rotated next year?The A-frame is in place.

Thing Two: I mailed the Coat of Arms on a Monday and was told the expected arrival was Thursday. It was received on Tuesday!

Now what’s next??

commissioned oil painting Three Rivers mural

Kaweah Lake Paintings, Part 2

These are more recent paintings of The Lake, also known as Lake Kaweah, and Kaweah Lake. In addition to not remembering the correct way to state the name, I often wonder if it is in Lemon Cove or Three Rivers.

Life is full of unanswered questions.

This painting of Kaweah Lake was done in 2014, probably on a 6×6″ canvas.

Same painting, repainted in another unknown year as my skill grew.

I also painted the lake other ways.

The Lake, oil on wrapped canvas, 4×6″, $50

This was painted in my phase of making colors brighter than they appear in real life.

That concludes our tour through paintings of Kaweah Lake. Tomorrow we’ll move on to other topics.

Kaweah Lake

As I refreshed the mural at the Tulare County South Fork fire station #14 in Three Rivers (sorry for all the words – it helps Uncle Google find my posts), I thought of all the times I have painted Kaweah Lake. This subject isn’t as popular as Mineral King, of course, but very little is that popular.

These are the first ones I painted of the lake, back in 2007 when I had only been oil painting about a year. I didn’t have a good inventory system set up yet, so I don’t know the sizes. I think they were either 4×6″ or 5×7″. Who bought them? I don’t know that either. If you own one of these, THANK YOU!

These were painted a bit later, maybe in 2009. I still didn’t record the sizes and didn’t yet have a scanner or Photoshop Junior. This is the same year that I first painted the water tank at the Tulare County South Fork fire station.

2009, when the mural was new, after I practiced the subject at least 8 times on canvases and boards.

We’ll continue our tour of Kaweah Lake on Tuesday.

Kaweah Lake kaweah lake paintings

Refreshing the Mural, Day 4

At the end of Day 3 on the South Fork fire station in Three Rivers, I left thinking “oh, them barren heels.”

Excuse me??

When I was a kid, a couple of Mom’s Alabama cousins stopped by to visit us on their first trip to California. One of them kept saying, “Them barren heels!” Translation: compared to the hills of Alabama, our hills looked bare to her.

On Day 4, I fixed them barren heels.

Let’s have a little review:

The yellow faded, leaving everything that used to be green now in varying shades of blue.

Refreshed in 2020, this time using a yellow paint that is more lightfast.

Next, I’ll need to stop by in the afternoon light to take a better photo of the mural.

Thank you for following along as I turned the faded tank mural back into one that makes drivers on South Fork Road smile.

mural Three Rivers

Refreshing the Mural, Day 3

The left side begins the day in shade, but it involves some looking into the sun while painting.

The flag flapped around, casting disturbing intermittent light and shadow on the tank.

The hills need more detailing, more texture, maybe some color changes.

I added smears of various yellows and oranges to indicate fields of poppies, fiddleneck, and mustard.

One more session and it should be finished enough for me to sign my name and sigh with relief that another mural in Three Rivers is looking good.

Three Rivers three rivers art Three Rivers mural

Mural Refresh Day 2

The weather continued to be cool, which allowed me to keep moving ahead on the water tank mural at the Tulare County fire station in Three Rivers.

On Day 1, I noticed goatheads because they came right through the bottom of my apparently worn-out Crocs.

On Day 2, I took a big sheet of cardboard to put beneath me on the ground. Good thing, because I sat and knelt to work on the flowers.

First, the right side before the sun got too intense.

You can see the tremendous degree of fading here, particularly in the poppies.

I really like the color combination of poppies against the strong periwinkle blue, which has to be painted over with green.

Lots of time on the cardboard, working green around lupine and poppies. Although the lupine are almost still a good color, they needed another layer of paint.

Time to move to the left side, which was still shady.

I was on a schedule, so I just slammed out some green. The details will have to wait until another time. You can see that the lupine are almost the right color in their faded state.

On Day 3, I hope to finish detailing the flowers and grasses on the left side, and then spend time adding detail to the ridges of hills. The lake might be just fine as is.

Three Rivers three rivers poppy mural

Refresh

in 2009 I painted a mural on the water tank at the South Fork fire station. This is Tulare County Station 14 in Three Rivers.

I mixed the colors using red, yellow and blue, plus white. About 2 years ago, the mural company stopped recommending that particular yellow for outdoor use.

See why?

The yellow faded, turning everything that used to be green into varying shades of blue.

This is lighter, but I’ll have to try more areas first to know how things need to be.

Couldn’t resist trying that brilliant spring green. It really emphasizes the fadedness. (I know that isn’t a word, but I can’t think of the right one.)

I just started slapping various greens on in a somewhat random fashion so that I could compare the darknesses.

Now there is more to work with, so I can start making adjustments.

The blue ridge behind the farthest green needs to be a bit darker, but first I’ll finish the greens.

There – see the darker blue now? Colors are supposed to fade as they recede into the distance. That is part of what helps us know what we are seeing.

When the sun shines directly on a mural, the paint dries too quickly on my palette and in my brushes and I can’t do my best work. So, this shall be continued. The grasses and flowers will take quite a bit of time, and the lake might need another coat. Then I’ll probably start drawing with my paintbrush, making up ridiculously detailed areas because that is the most fun part to me.

mural Three Rivers Three Rivers mural

Side Two

I was concentrating so intently on this side that I forgot to take photos until this stage. All that remains is studying it for awhile to see what needs to be refined.

Three Rivers three rivers art

Unacceptable Ugliness

While walking in my Three Rivers neighborhood one morning, I saw this bit of ugliness and got an idea. The neighbor, who has graciously allowed the water board to put this booster pump on his property, agreed with my idea.

What is this ugly thing in my neighborhood? Entirely unacceptable. However, it is fixable with the help of a very capable neighbor.

The very capable neighbor built and delivered this.

Side one.

It is fun to use all these colors.

Side two and the final touch-up are ahead.

mural Three Rivers three rivers art

Sunday Good Things

Today I am going to overwhelm you with good things. It takes many postives to outweigh the negatives in Normal Times. Right now we are not in Normal Times. Duh.