The map is too large to put here, so just show up on Saturday at either Anne Lang’s Emporium (open at 9:00? 10:00?) or the Art Co-op (open at 11 a.m.) and get a copy. This month there is a special incentive to visit all the participating places. Each place is worth a certain number of points and there is a wonderful prize!
Today wasn’t “my” day at the Art Co-op, but Ms. Saturday was sick so I worked. The river was roaring and muddy!
It is fun to watch the seasonal changes at that prime little spot. The brilliant yellow trees out front have been a treat, and I have been waiting for someone to come in and tell me their name.
Today a lady named Martha (no, not my mom but another lady) told me they are Acacia trees without even being asked, just what I was waiting for! Have a closer look:
This is one of the most dreaded, misunderstood and boring aspects of being an artist. We artists, in general, dislike writing about our work. Obviously this doesn’t apply to me! But while I love to write, the artist statement gets me bowed up. I don’t do well with Artspeak, and I hate pretentiousness. This a.m. I read an article in the business/art magazine Art Calendar about writing an artist statement and realized it was time to update mine (yet again!) I’m still not sure if it is supposed to be a personal history, a personal philosophy of art, or an explanation. Regardless, here is my current one:
Art has been my fulltime profession for 17 years. Pencil used to be all I’d consider – it was the best way I knew to get every single detail in excruciating perfection. As my drawing students and customers asked for color, I reluctantly entered the world of colored pencil to record life around me. It didn’t resonate with me the way graphite did (and still does!), so 4 years ago I began to oil paint. As my proficiency increases, I’m able to focus more on light and color, and less on minutia. Although my medium is different, my favorite subjects remain: giant Sequoias, Mineral King, citrus, and Three Rivers. Tulare County is my home and recording its beauty is my goal.
It will probably be rewritten many more times as I learn what this is supposed to be and do. Mostly it is a requirement for gallery entries or group shows. Since I tend to be a maverick (as my college photography teacher told me back in the late ’70s), I can usually avoid this part of an art career. Yea! So, have a look at what is almost finished for the Zonta show (and they invited me WITHOUT asking for an “artist statement”):
A few months ago, I painted the famous Kaweah Post Office. This is up the north fork of the Kaweah River, and is the smallest operating post office in the United States! Really! The folks who live near it and use it insist that they don’t live in Three Rivers but in Kaweah, and since they do have their own zip code, I suppose it is true. However, the town of Three Rivers claims the Kaweah Post Office as its landmark. Regardless, it is cute as can be and always sells when I paint or draw it. It sold as an 11×14 in November; someone stopped me in the Three Rivers Post Office (Where else for such a request??) last week and asked me to paint it again.
Here it is in its beginning stages.
Here it is a little later. Incidentally, all realistic artists either work from photos or they lie about it. (This is a quote from Jack White, my painting guru)
If you are reading this in Chicago or Alexandria or somewhere else that is having a real winter, please don’t do anything rash but just try to enjoy this posting. February is spring in Three Rivers. Down the hill in Visalia those poor folks have to contend with fog and gray days, but up here there are fiddlenecks in bloom, along with something white, an occasional plum tree, and narcissus. The daffodils are about to pop in my yard, as is the flowering quince. The green kind of looks fake because it is so very intensely green. This is how things looked on a recent walk:
My husband sometimes rides his bike along with me on my long walks. It helps pass the time, and he brings water. 😎 On days like this I have my little camera; someday you may see paintings that look oddly familiar!
This is how it looked outside The Art Co-op on Thursday:
This is California in winter – rainy, cold. and the daffodils are in bloom! Take a look at the raging and muddy river – wow! Want to know the Number One Sin of Retail (according to my somewhat informal retail training)? It is closing early. Thursday at The Art Co-op, I sinned. Why? Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink (or flush, either).
Ever been to Marble Falls? Until one week ago, I hadn’t. It is in the foothills of Sequoia National Park, and I’ve heard it is steep and hot; it isn’t that steep, and in January, it was pleasantly warm (low 70s) and very green. To get there, go into the Potwisha campground and drive to the far end where there is parking for a few cars at the trailhead. Walk along an interesting old flume for 1/4 mile, and then, don’t get so interested in the flume that you fail to notice the small “TRAIL” sign to the right.
This flume borrows water temporarily from the Marble Fork of the Kaweah, uses it to make electricity near Ash Mountain for Southern California Edison, and sends it right back into the river. Clean, established, historic, good!
Here is a photo of looking down while hiking – if you are prone to tripping or stumbling, sometimes it is wise to watch your feet. However, there is something else in this photo. Look at it here:
This is a tick. (Weird word in English – tick-tock, that ticks me off, this tick will bite you if given a chance, the worry of getting bitten is giving me a tic under my left eye, etc.) These little critters sit on the ends of grasses and branches just waiting to hop aboard an unsuspecting body as it passes by. The hike to Marble Falls needs to include stopping to do Tick Checks from time to time!
On the photo above, see the white near the bottom right that looks like a falls? It isn’t. Really! It is marble, but it isn’t water!
(photo above) These are falls along the Marble Fork, but they aren’t Marble Falls either.
This is Marble Falls, 3.9 miles up the trail. Couldn’t find a place to take a decent photo! The falls are most impressive if you are sitting on the marble at the top and seeing the water fall off into space.
The falls are below Eleven Range Lookout on the Generals Highway on the east, and at the base of Admiration Point on the west. This is off the Colony Mill Road (that you can no longer drive on), which connects the Crystal Cave Road to North Fork Drive.
And finally, here is a view of the trail on the way back and one more of the river back near Potwisha.
I’ve been derelict on my notification duties. As part of the Art Co-op and as a participant in First Saturdays, I am supposed to notify my email lists each month. I don’t like receiving routine group emails, and as a result, I am reluctant to send them. So, my chosen alternative is to post info on my blog, and for some undefined reason, I messed up there too. Please accept this photo of The Art Co-op on January 2 for “Winter White” First Saturday as an apology and an invitation to the next First Saturday, February 6. (Just so you know that I am consistent in my pursuit of authenticity: all 14 snowflakes I cut had 6 points, but none appear in this photo! ) The snowflakes are still in The Art Co-op; alas, the real snowman out in the courtyard is but a memory.
If you click on this little thing, it will get large. Very large indeed. I’m sorry that I don’t know how to make it a normal size for you.
