Fall in Three Rivers is often late, subtle, or hidden in smoke. Most of the trees are evergreens, whether a variety of oaks or even some conifers. Some of the deciduous trees are also oaks, and they simply have green leaves that fall off without any hooplah. That doesn’t stop me from hunting fall color. In fact, the few places of color really stand out against all the brown, green, and gray.
After a number of years living here, I know where to look for the prettiest colors. Here are a few of the autumn leaf displays that I anticipate each year.
Virginia Creeper
Flowering pear with a small glimpse of a brilliant Chinese pistache in the distance
Crape myrtle (some special unnamed variety)
Chinese pistache
Redbuds make yellowleaves. (Yes, I know, “yellow leaves”, not one word, but it goes with “redbud” as one word.)
Chinese pistache are the champions of fall color in Three Rivers.
By the time this post goes live, many of these leaves will be gone.
I went to Sequoia National Park twice in October because this place attracts people from all over the world, and it is ONLY ONE HOUR FROM THREE RIVERS!! I don’t go very often because we go to Mineral King, another fabulous part of Sequoia. But when Mineral King isn’t accessible, why not go to the main part of “The Park”, as we refer to it here in Three Rivers?
On Saturday, October 28, I was supposed to go to the Native Voices exhibit unveiling at the Three Rivers History Museum, but this lovely opportunity presented itself. (Besides I thought there would be too many people at the museum.)
Trail Guy and I headed up the Generals Highway with The Farmer and Hiking Buddy. Because we were with other people, I didn’t keep calling for a pullover to take photos even though the dogwood were really getting their fall colors. I have enough photos. (Maybe.)
Climbing Moro Rock is unmatchable in its awesomeness. There is this little nagging thing in the back of my mind that says one day either my feet won’t let this happen any more or The Park will decide that it isn’t safe and just shut it down. That would be tragic.
This time I didn’t take any pictures on the way up. (There were too many people.) What I find surprising is that each time I go, it feels unfamiliar, as in, “I don’t remember this stretch of steps”.
The smoke from the fires in Redwood Canyon was much stronger than 2 weeks previous.
Sawtooth is visible from the top of Moro Rock but none of the signs on the route up Moro Rock naming the peaks go that far south.
A week or so earlier, I learned about the Marble Fork bridge, just beyond Lodgepole. I’d seen it many times, but never paid attention because the Clover Creek bridge is bigger and more noticeable. The Marble Fork bridge has lots of parking, picnic tables, and easy access to the water, but not too many people. Why don’t more people stop here? Because it isn’t highly publicized or signed. Look at this fabulous piece of rock construction:
Look at this little fire tipi; there were several, because the Park has been doing mechanical thinning.
We drove to Wuksachi, with the intent to explore some of the trails around the large area. This was developed in the early ’90s to take pressure off Giant Forest; there are still at least as many people in Giant Forest. It has the museum, big parking lot, the Moro Rock/Crescent Road and all are the first area you come to that feels as if you have arrived.
Wuksachi had tremendous plans for expansion. More lodging, perhaps some little cabins were planned, but nothing has come to fruition. It has three sort of Motel-6-ish units, and a giant lodge (why “lodge” when there are no places to stay in that building?) with a gift shop, lounge area, bar, and restaurant with giant windows and a fireplace.
Wuksachi doesn’t have any redwood trees, and a lot of the area around has been burned. It has many meandering trails, lots of rustic bridges, and it connects to a trail that leads to Lodgepole or Twin Lakes. I’d never been on those trails, and didn’t know Clover Creek ran nearby, nor that you can walk to Lodgepole from Wuksachi. (We didn’t.) This bridge caught my eye because it looks as if it has been there for awhile, rather than the new (from the 1990s) ones throughout Wuksachi’s grounds.
Looking downstream from the bridge, I saw berries that were new to me.
They looked like pyracantha berries and tasted incredibly foul. (No, I didn’t eat one—just put my teeth in one briefly to see what it was like.)
Instead of eating at Wuksachi’s Pizza Deck as planned (too many people), we ate our backup picnic lunch on some abandoned and mostly broken picnic tables off in a sunny place. There are lots of large outdoor storage areas, probably intended for parking lots or more lodging, and they definitely didn’t have too many people.
Then we continued exploring on foot, and I was attracted to other bridges. This one was a driving bridge; the light didn’t seem right for good photos on those other footbridges. (I might need to go back again.)
There is still some road construction on the Generals Highway. On the way down we hit a red light beneath some black oaks with a few leaves beginning to turn their golden fall color.
We were hoping to look across the canyon to Admiration Point and then use binoculars to see if the Colony Mill Ranger Station is still standing.
I didn’t take a turn with the binoculars because I saw penstemon in bloom. Penstemon in late October?!
Admiration Point is across the canyon. I haven’t circled it on the photo; just know it is there.
Thus we conclude another day of not painting or drawing. Next week perhaps I will be more productive, artwise. But sometimes an artist needs a few field trips to refill the well.
Sales of my art have declined. Is it the economy? I assume so, since sales are an economic transaction. The specific reasons are: one of my regular vendors was not open this past summer; another one relied on a now-closed adjoining restaurant for foot traffic; the third place relied on traffic to Sequoia National Park, which was closed until July 1.
What’s an artist to do?
Look for a new place to sell, of course.
St. Anthony’s Retreat asked for some of my paintings for their gift shop. This is close to home, a place where I have painted several murals, staffed by many friends, and is an active place in Three Rivers. It brings in people from all over the valley for various purposes, many of which are not actually Catholic. It is a beautiful place, very bucolic, and they have very good food too.
I worked with two friends there to decide what to put in the gift shop. This is what we chose:
Craig Ranch (on BLM land above St. Anthony’s)Kaweah River (St. Anthony’s is visible on the hillside.)
Alta, Kaweah Lake, Lupine (visible to anyone traveling to St. Anthony’s)
Winding Kaweah, almost visible from St. Anthony’s
Redwoods, painted from the same reference photo used on a mural at Santa Teresita, St. Anthony’s youth center
Yarn! Because there was a knitter’s retreat setting up when I delivered the paintings. (Mama didn’t raise no fool. . .)
Fall is supposed to be a relief from the heat. Last week we hit the 90s, AGAIN. Although my mind has the facts of seasonal changes, doubt holds me hostage.
So, I was seeking signs of fall, anything for encouragement that summer wouldn’t last forever.
The redbud trees in our yard are getting some yellow leaves.
Two red branches are appearing at the top of my flowering pear by the studio.
See? Weird, eh?
The pyracantha berries are getting good color, and the mulberry is getting a touch of yellow in the leaves.
These new oil paintings may look familiar to you from seeing them in progress.
Inventory was low; with the Holiday Bazaar in the near future (November 18 at the Three Rivers Veterans Memorial Building) and seeking a new vendor, it was time to start producing.
Salt Creek Trail, 8×8″, $100
Alta, Kaweah Lake, Lupine, 6×12″, $125
Sunny Sequoias II, 6×12″, $125
Cattle Crossing, 6×6″, $60
P.S. They all look better in person, but I think you might know that by now.
So far I have only told you about the steps toward painting the display on a wall in the Three Rivers Historical Museum. I finally began applying color to the wall.
It took two coats for the colors to be strong enough to cover. My plan was to freehand the “shadows”, and afterward, use the soft white base coat paint to cover the wobbles, hairs, drips, and smudges.
The bottom center photo shows what was behind me in the Mineral King room. Those are my murals on the walls. It was a real privilege to get to paint in this peaceful place, working for accommodating people, just 1-1/2 mile from home.
The exhibit is on the north interior wall of the Mineral King Room in the Three Rivers Historical Museum. (Really, shouldn’t this be called a “history” museum rather than a “historical” museum? This bothers me. The museum isn’t historical; however, I didn’t name it and can read their sign and website and then call them what they call themselves.)
The exhibit is called Native Voices.
The designer chose the colors.
The designs are from Yokuts baskets.
I will freehand the design rather than tape.
It will take a lot of time to paint out the drips, wobbles, and graphite smudges, but less time than taping and then hoping everything stays in place when it dries and the tape is removed.
I only traced the main designs and will have to figure out how to do the “shadows”.
I would dearly love to know how the designer thought I’d get the designs onto the wall.
This last picture shows the design with its “shadows”, along with three of gray people-ish shapes to give an idea of how the finished wall will look. On the left is The Gathering, in the middle is Quail (but the lighter versions won’t be included), and on the right is Rattlesnake.
The quail design had to be repeated, this time higher and to the right. I was on a roll, had this thing figured out!
Trail Guy stopped by to see how things were going. His timing was excellent, and he helped me place this design higher on the wall, measuring and leveling.
It was too big for the kraft paper, so I only drew half of the design, thinking I’d just flip it over and finish it. However, I had to “scab” another piece of paper and finish the drawing, then trim it when we flipped it over. I was thankful that he was still outside, reading through the exhibit on the New England Tunnel and Smelter Company (a Mineral King exhibit).
After tracing that pattern, called “rattlesnake”, I went home for lunch. Tony’s Taverna has a food truck outside the museum, and I know the food is terrific, but I am too frugal to spend $20 for lunch when my kitchen is less than 2 miles away.
After lunch, I returned to finish the final design, which I called “little men” but learned is called “The Gathering”. This one had only one little man traced, and the plan was to keep moving the pattern over until all three were in place.
Oops. There was a mistake. I fixed it, repaired it on the wall and on the pattern, and then worked the little man across the wall. I didn’t tape the bottom of the pattern, because I had to keep lifting it up and crawling beneath it to place the graphite paper, three positions for each little man.
When I thought I was finished, I could see some problems with the little men’s feet not lining up. This is something I could fudge into place (what a weird use of the word “fudge”, but I bet you know what I mean).
Finally, here is a weird thought. As I was figuring out how to do this, I realized that I learned these skills from my mom. When?? Where?? When?? I don’t know, but I feel certain that I must have watched her create a pattern and transfer it somewhere, sometime.
I enlarged these designs onto kraft paper, ordered some very large sheets of graphite transfer paper, gathered a few tools, and drove to the Three Rivers Historical Museum. My job bosses had prepped the wall for me, and they also blocked it off in a very serious manner, along with providing a ladder and a couple of tables. (They are TERRIFIC to work for!)
I had previously tested some carbon paper to see if I could transfer through the kraft paper, but had to go searching at Blick Art Materials for some large graphite sheets. There were two to choose from, and instead of accidentally ordering the wrong one, I bought both.
We measured the wall very carefully to mark the center and then figure out where the first design was to go. Then I taped the smallest design up, trying to see through the kraft paper to place it exactly on the mark I made, adjusting it until it was level.
The design was drawn in pencil, so you can’t see it on this photo. I kept the bottom untaped so I could lift it up to place the graphite paper.
MASKING TAPE WOULDN’T STICK TO THE GRAPHITE PAPER!!
The museum came to the rescue with old-fashioned brown masking tape instead of the easy-removing blue type.
This design is called Quail, taken directly from a Yokuts basket design. I used a straight edge and traced over the pencil lines with an obsolete tool from the olden days of phototypesetting that my students and I refer to as a “spatula”. (Too hard to explain.)
Squint hard, and you can see how it landed on the wall.
Nope. Some are designs, created for museum displays, by exhibit designers. The Three Rivers History Museum hired a museum designer, an exhibit designer, whatever the title is, to create a Native American exhibit, and they (or is it the Tulare County Historical Society? Or the Mineral King Preservation Society? I should pay more attention!) to execute these designs.
Every new job I take on has an entirely new set of challenges. How does one take this little PDF and turn it into a wall design? These exhibit designers may not have completely thought through the execution phase of the display. However, maybe they do know how to do such a job and just didn’t tell the museum. Maybe it involves equipment and technology that I don’t own.
No problem. I figured it out.
The designer sent it with a ?”=1′-0″ grid over the top.
I turned it to black and white, isolated each group, and printed it. (These samples don’t show the whole designs—just wanted to give you an idea.)
Next, I got some giant kraft paper (looks like brown butcher paper on a great big roll, and if you have ever received a wrapped gift from me, you know what I’m talking about) and laid it out on my drafting table. This was quite a big jump from my normal 11×14″ pencil drawings.
And then, I started measuring and drawing.
It took an entire day.
What next? I had to figure out how to get the patterns on the wall. I’ll show you next week, after our monthly Learned List.
