Category: Three Rivers

The third Mineral King Mural in the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers History Museum is almost finished. I estimated 3-4 painting days, and that’s about right.

First I worked on the mountains on the upper right. They were still rough, but it wasn’t apparent until I had detailed the other mountains. The contrast was strong between finished and unfinished mountains, but I didn’t take a close-up photo because I was DETERMINED to finish that day. (In spite of being a conscientious blogger, I do try to live in the moment rather than live to document life.)

I added details to the mountains to the left of the valley, detailed the foreground a bit more, added a foreground tree on the left and one on the right, added texture, snow, contrast, details, details, details. The pencil artist in me wants to take this thing to the nth degree.

Here is the list of what remains to be done on day 4, which hardly counts as a painting day:

1. Review all the details and the accuracy with Louise Jackson, author of Trail of Promises, dear friend, coordinator of the Mineral King Room and all-around Mineral King expert.
2. Remove blue tape.
3. Wash off blue chalk.
4. Touch up wall paint where the mural paint bled under the tape.
5. SIGN IT!!
6. Ride off into the sunset.

Day #2 on the third Mineral King mural in the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers Museum might be easier to paint than to spell out.

I began on the left, working down and forward in space. 

Then, I realized that the farthest mountains were quite unfinished. This meant starting at the top (farthest distance) and painting down.

Sort of. Maybe it would be good to add some more detail in the middle ground. Or a few trees up close.

Or fill up all that white space on the far right. I think it is all forested over there.

What do you mean by “It’s time to close”??? I’m not done, and I thought this was going to be quick and easy.

One of the best ways I know to stay self-employed as a full time artist in Tulare County is to never lose my optimism.

To be continued. . .

The new mural in the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers History Museum took about 5 hours to paint. It is taking 2 days to tell you about it.

I was zipping right along, just slamming this Mineral King mural of Sawtooth out of my brushes like nobody’s business. (Now that’s a quaint phrase – “nobody’s business”? What does this mean?)

Louise stopped by. She is the Mineral King Guru, an accomplished and published author, and a dear friend who has helped me with several of my murals. I said, “Hey Louise, will you look at this while I hold the window in place so we can be sure that I didn’t cover the peak of Sawtooth with the wooden separator of the window?”

Ahem. Houston, we have a problem.

So, I moved the peak of Sawtooth to the left. Seeing double? Yeppers. Two Sawtooths. Wait. Should that be “Sawteeth”?

No problemo. (a little Spanish lingo for you to balance the French lesson yesterday) Let’s fix the sky, shorten the right side of Sawtooth and add some yellow so the whole world isn’t green, gray and blue. (“Let us” – “us” is the royal we. Thank you for your participation – I appreciation the help and enthusiasm.)

In fact, let’s add a tree. Trees are good. This looks green, but it really is red fir.

Museum Man Tom wedged the window into place so we could be sure of everything. I think you need to see this in person to fully appreciate its coolness. The glass makes some obnoxious reflections in the photograph. The camera’s flash washes out the colors too, but I couldn’t hold still enough without it.

In spite of the difficulties, you can see the peak of Sawtooth, and there is a sense that you are looking out of the window because of the space between the window and the mural.

Now, no plastic and no window. It was a little weird to paint with such sloppy edges, but the window frame will cover the roughness.

The apparent darkness at the top of the sky with that stalactite is the shadow from the roof and rafter tail of the “cabin”. The lighter circle in the sky is a mystery, probably related to the way Museum Man Tom moved lights so I could see what I was painting.

Now have a look at the “cabin”. You’ll have to stay tuned or stop by the museum after the window is put in place and secured. I didn’t dare put it in and risk cracking another pane of glass. (No, I didn’t crack the first pane. For once, I wasn’t the Breaker, although I continue to be a loser in the true sense of the word.)

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Do you remember during the last post about the Three Rivers History Museum Mineral King mural that I advised you to stay tuned?

This week we resume our ongoing saga of Mineral King murals.

A man built a cabin facade (sorry, I don’t know how to make the little comma in the air above the “c” in “facade”. . . in case you are confused, it is a French word, and it is pronounced “fuh-SAWD”. It means fake front.)

Where was I?

In the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers History Museum at the fake cabin front.

I bought that window at a garage sale because it is my favorite color and because it is neat-o, but I had no idea of how to use it. It sat in my workshop for 2 years or more, and then it was needed in this “cabin”.

The idea is to feel as if you are inside a cabin, looking at a Mineral King scene through the window.

First, I had to draw it. Wait – first I had to decide what to paint, then I had to put plastic and tape all around so I wouldn’t splatter or spill on the “cabin”.

Can you see it? That’s okay. You don’t have to. I do. I did. See the 2 photos beneath? These were my guides. I had to be careful to place the peak of Sawtooth where it wouldn’t fall behind one of the “bars” of the window. (I can’t remember what that word is, the wooden things that separate the panes of glass.)

Woohoo! This is going fast, and I just know it will be easy.

Fall down laughing. . . I forgot an important principle about painting murals. The smaller they are, the longer they take. “Longer” in relative time. Instead of about 1/2 hour per square foot, it is closer to an hour per square foot. This is because I keep detailing and detailing. I hope I remember this the next time I bid a mural job, and I hope I remember this and PACK A LUNCH!

Trail Guy to the rescue – he has kept me from being a starving artist for 30 years now.

This is too long. I’ll continue tomorrow.