Three Rivers | Cabin Art

Another Walk in Three Rivers

As this Thing continues, so many people are seeking respite from “shelter in place” by going to parks that most of those parks are now closed. I feel sorry for city folks during this weird time. They may have Trader Joe’s, lots of movie theaters, fancy stores, access to sporting events and plays and concerts, grocery delivery, big libraries, fast internet, mega-churches, and who knows what else, but they don’t have beautiful places to walk during this Thing.

Those of us in rural places don’t have any of the cities’ advantages, but that is just fine. Life isn’t fair – I am not tall, blonde, thin, athletic, or young, and that’s not fair either. That’s okay – I have beautiful places to walk.

North Fork again, looking downstream with Blossom Peak just barely visible.

Can you see the Gateway Bridge in the distance?

And back home again.

Weird. Is it a calla lily? Where did it come from? I don’t remember planting this.

It is Sunday and I am breaking my rules about not posting on Sunday,. Now I will break another rule and post a Bible verse.

“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and power and a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

Fear not, friends! (But wash your hands a lot, okay?)

P.S. It came to pass; it didn’t come to stay.

It’s Still Spring and Still Beautiful

If you aren’t quarantined or under voluntary house arrest, I recommend taking a walk. You might have to be confined to your own neighborhood, but it is Spring, and much is in bloom.

Here are some photos for you to enjoy, without unnecessary chatter.

A friend sent me this:

One final thought to cheer you up: As soon as The Thing appeared in our lives, all robo-calls disappeared! Is there a correlation? Don’t know, just thankful and relieved.

Three Rivers

8 Benefits to “Sheltering in Place” or Chin up, Readers

“Chin up” is a weird little saying, but it reminds me of my Very Wise Dad telling his “little ewe lambs” to be “brave little soldiers”.

Please forgive me for interrupting you on Sunday. I hope to not do this again, but will if I think of something encouraging to share again.

There is lots of common sense to staying home, obsessive hand-washing, and “social distancing” for awhile. Here are eight potential benefits (besides the obvious one of slowing this Thing):

Fewer colds and flu will be passed around.
Time at home is always good.
You will use less gas and not put many miles on your car.
We will learn what everyone’s true hair color is.
We are all thinking a bit more about people we care about and checking in with them more often. (Maybe not “all”, but more than normal.)
We are getting the chance to be more resourceful and creative with our time and supplies.
We get to learn new technology in order to “attend” our regular meetings.
Take a walk, people, this is MARCH!! (I know, not everyone gets to live in Three Rivers, but Spring is beautiful everywhere.)

P.S. We bought ice cream.

A Day of Variety

Sometimes it is a little hard to work from home. There are many other things requesting attention, opportunities to be productive in other ways, chances to just lollygag around or find other occupations. Last week I had such a day.

It began with wandering outside while drinking coffee and seeing a bit of pruning, and then finding Tucker in my herb garden.

See why I want to be outside this time of year?

Notice that these flowers are in the primary colors.

Next, I made plans with a friend for a walk at the lake early in the afternoon, and that made me willing to dive back into work, knowing my time was limited to paint. Sometimes deadlines help me to focus.

This was dry enough to begin detailing until it was time to gather up my friend and head to Kaweah Lake. (Oh-oh, I can’t remember if it is Kaweah Lake or Lake Kaweah again; what’s with the mental block on this subject? This may be why we’ve always called it “The Lake”.) We just walked in the lake bottom, not close to the lake except where it covered the pretty bridge.

The lake level is rising slowly. We walked to beneath the Horse Creek Bridge, and the mustard was striking.

After our walk, I was able to paint a bit longer on the Mineral King cabin oil painting commission. I think I can get even more detailed on this, but it needs to dry a bit more.

And thus we conclude a day of work combined with distractions.

Finished Oak Tree Mural

Here are the better photos of the finished Oak Tree Mural, which I am renaming in my mind as Three Birds.

Oak Tree Mural, Day Five

Day Five was a looking and thinking day, figuring out the final finessing of the Oak Tree Mural at St. Anthony’s Retreat in Three Rivers.

This is the chapel from the outside. It is one of the most visible buildings when one views St. Anthony’s from other places in Three Rivers.

It was a clear day out the window near the mural.

More outside views, because I am thinking, procrastinating, and letting ideas percolate.

Out the window there’s a woodpecker, probably an Acorn Woodpecker, which is the most common around here.

Get to work, Central California Artist because you have a mural to finish.

This is how it looked when I arrived in the morning. Finish the leaves, fix the awkward spots, add the fun things, a simple list.

Why do we humans always organize things, make things parallel, line things up? This clump of leaves needs to be messed up.

Hey, what is that up there in the corner of the sunshine?

Not what, but who?

That was so fun I’ll add another, this time a Scrub Jay.

All-righty-then, gotta have a California Quail.

And I hid something in this mural, but you might need to see it in person to find it.

And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

Tomorrow I’ll take a photo of the completed project. It doesn’t photograph well in the afternoon light.

st. anthony's retreat

Oak Tree Mural, Day Four

Life’s full of surprises. I went to paint on Day Four and found the parking lot full of cars. Hmmm, I wonder if something is happening in my painting area.

Yeppers. Good thing I’m only one mile from St. Anthony’s Retreat Center in Three Rivers, because I went back home and did other things that day.

Day Four finally arrived, and here is a series of progressive shots of the oak tree mural.

Here is a list of thoughts and decisions throughout the day:

That’s the wrong color of green on those first leaves – better fix that.
Extension ladder? Nah, I can do this.
Will I ever finish these twigs and does it matter of they’ll be covered with leaves?
Maybe I can finish in 5 days.
A group of guys came into the chapel to set up for the weekend, and it took hours, nay, HOURS, to get their sound system working. They stopped and prayed for wisdom, and right after that a guy said, “This cable isn’t plugged in here!”
The sound system made a terrible surprising and deafening noise, as sound systems do; I yelled from around the corner, “You aren’t allowed to do that when I am on the top of a ladder!”
Maybe I can finish it on Day Five. Maybe it will be quiet in there.
Even if I finish on Day Five, I’ll have to return to photograph it in the morning because the afternoon light coming through that window erases the entire left edge.
Maybe I can time Day Six of photography to be there for lunch.
I love lunch at St. Anthony’s.

oak tree mural Three Rivers mural

Oak Tree Mural, Day Three

On Day Three of painting the oak tree mural at St. Anthony’s Retreat Center in Three Rivers, I showed up and stared at the mural for awhile.

Which ladder? Keep spreading around the corner? Go as high as possible with the taller ladder? Ask for the extension ladder? Stand on the floor and add leaves from the bottom up?

I decided to keep building up, adding to, and detailing the branches to the left of and over the door as high as the taller ladder would allow.

Because I was doing the same thing I did on Day Two, it didn’t seem as if I was making any progress. Lots of ladder climbing, and then later, a decision to change the color of green for the leaves.

I thought this would be a 3 day project and now I know it will be 5-6 days.

That’s fine. St. Anthony’s Retreat is one of the best places I have ever worked: 1 mile from home, all the staff are friends, perfect conditions, quiet, WiFi, and LUNCH!! (coffee too).

At the end of Day Three, visible progress has been made. Incremental, but still visible. In order to make a believable tree, much staring, evaluating and thinking is required.

You can see how much fuller it is above the door compared to the first photo in this post. You can also see that an extension ladder will be necessary.

Weird. Afternoon sunlight has erased some of the left side branches in this photo.

mural oak tree mural Three Rivers mural

Oak Tree Mural, Day Two

Oak Tree Mural at St. Anthony’s Retreat in Three Rivers, Day Two.

After studying my photos on the laptop, I saw things to correct from Day One. Why didn’t they show up in person??

Most of Day Two was spent on bulking up Day One’s branches and adding twigs. I also put in some trial leaves at the bottom and learned they should be larger, which I fixed and liked. And, I turned the corner.