Bridge Building (With Paint)

Incremental Improvements

Painting #38 of Tulare County’s best bridge (according by your Central California artist) is inching forward into excellence. Can you see the incremental improvements?

We can probably consider it all finished now, EXCEPT FOR THE BRIDGE ITSELF!

Ahem. Excuse me for shouting. It just surprises me that after I put an enormous amount of concentration and effort into the painting that the most important part remains to be detailed.

Maybe it would be fun if I did a series of posts with all the different versions I’ve painted of this bridge.

But first, this one needs to be finished.

Here is a photo taken with my real camera instead of the inferior phone camera; the colors aren’t as strong, but neither is it as pixelated, which doesn’t matter here on the interwebs.

We call this the Oak Grove Bridge; people who don’t know it very well might call it the Kaweah River Bridge or the Mineral King Road Bridge or the East Fork Bridge. Those names sort of work.

Not that bridge

There are folks who, when they see my paintings or drawings of the bridge, say, “I’ve eaten at that restaurant”. They are wrong—the only eatery at the Oak Grove bridge might be the tailgate of one’s pick-em-up truck. The Pumpkin Hollow (“Gateway”) bridge is at the confluence of the East and Middle Forks of the Kaweah River. It isn’t over a deep canyon, just one lane wide, and with a single arch.

See the difference?

Maybe it is time to draw the bridge again in pencil. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve done that; there are only 2 versions in my computer, because so many drawings didn’t get scanned or reproduced or even photographed in my early days.

Moving Forward on the Two New Paintings

Eagle Lake

Such an ugly start.

Let’s git ‘er dun!

Eagle Lake (a painting formerly known as a dog’s breakfast), 7×14”, oil on wrapped canvas, $200, currently drying, destined for the Silver City Store, unless it sells first from this little spot on the interwebs.

Oak Grove Bridge

The Oak Grove Bridge is a bit more challenging. I started with the attitude of “close enough” and as usual when drawing or painting architectural subjects, I ended up measuring and redoing several things.

The width of each arch needed to be the same, and the top of the bridge was too thick.

So I measured, redrew the arches (yes, with my paintbrush—anyone here have a problem with that?), lowered the top of the bridge, and then planted some manzanita on the lower left. I also started locating various rocks.

You’d think that after painting this forty-eleven* times, I’d have all the rocks and the arch proportions memorized. You’d be wrong in that thinking. I could make it up, but I’d also be wrong.

Such a grand little bridge for our slightly down-at-the-heels Tulare County. There are plans to turn it into a pedestrian-only bridge with a stout replacement safe for driving upstream of this classic one. The county had to do the eminent domain thing to acquire the land, and I have a feeling this will be a long, disruptive, and messy construction project.

Change can be so difficult.

Thus, for now we must enjoy the bridge as it was and as it is, and not think about as it shall be.

*This is actually #38, if I kept count correctly, which is doubtful.

Starting Two New Oil Paintings

Favorite Bridge

The commissioned painting of fields and groves needed more drying time, so I began a new painting of my favorite bridge—Oak Grove, on the Mineral King Road.

It is always difficult. I make it even harder by choosing canvases of non-traditional proportions. This is 8×16”.

It sometimes helps to crop off the unnecessary parts, making the photo the same proportions as the canvas.

But sometimes I do that too late, and decide to just go with the close-enough approach. Can you see that the bridge takes up more real estate on the canvas than on the photo?

Good enough to start.

Is that a Dog’s Breakfast or a Painting?

Next, a 7×14” canvas for another new painting. It might be too ugly for you to tell what it is going to be.

Jackson doesn’t really care what I paint as long as he gets fed.

These paintings are destined for the Silver City Store this summer. Each year I think I have enough inventory, then around early August, I have to slam some out very quickly. I try to guess what subjects, sizes and quantities will sell, but there are no proven formulas.

P.S. Blog reader/author/artist/friend Louise thought I could do a better job finishing the commissioned oil painting. She always tells me the truth, something I value highly, and she was right. Here it is after I followed her suggestion. It is not in my nature to be a perfectionist; instead, I am always wanting to finish things. So, sometimes it takes an honest and wise second set of eyes to make sure a piece of my art is finished well. THANK YOU, LOUISE!

Close to Finishing the Oil Painting Commission

The distant groves and fields are probably finished.

Time to begin the embellishments. I found blueberry photos on the interwebs, AND I have my own from excursions in Oregon.

In my extensive collection of photos, I found one of avocado leaves, pre-digital. I used my inferior phone camera to take a picture so I could flip it on my laptop.

Not really adequate. . . I know where there is an enormous avocado tree, so I’ll go get some better photos to finish the leaves.

Then I’ll retouch some of the other details, paint the edges, sign it, wait for it to dry again, varnish it, and then package it up to ship to the realtor customers.

Reminder

I help people write books and get them printed. The books that I have shepherded from idea to publication but that I don’t sell can be found on this new page: OTHER PEOPLE’S BOOKS. This includes Tales of TB, Springville’s Hospital, The Crooked Cross of Diamond Lake, Only the Living, and Adventures in Boy Scouting.

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Further Development on the Commissioned Oil Painting

Five step-by-step photos today, mostly painting left to right.

So many parts in the photo were ambiguous and repetitive that I often lost my place. A way to combat this lostness is to first paint the things that are definite, then make up the stuff around them. Some of my sizes are probably definitely wrong, and some of the fields are missing. The customer said accuracy isn’t important—she is looking for conceptual interpretation of the subject. I don’t think there are any Geography Police gunning for me.

Lower left will be blueberries; upper right will be avocado leaves.

I am liking the painting, which is always a relief, especially when it starts out so loose and rough and confusing.

Beginning a 10×20” Commissioned Oil Painting

The real estate customers chose the panoramic shape.

Good thing they know I can paint. (Well, duh, that’s why they commissioned me.)

This is similar to my current favorite subject to draw and paint, but there are blueberries and avocados rather than orange trees. There is also a distinct lack of snow-covered mountains and no poppies on the distant hills, but still, it is similar.

View from Wutchumna, 12×24”, private collection

Wait, “current” favorite subject? The painting above was completed in 2022. Here’s the first one I did in 2008.

Family Farm, size forgotten, private collection

Before oil painting, I drew similar scenes in colored pencil in a year I did not record, before I had a scanner, and when I had a web designer who added watermarks.

And before that, I drew similar scenes in pencil.

Spring Citrus, pencil, sold long ago

Enough remembering and bloviating. Get back to work, Central California Artist!

Reminder

I help people write books and get them printed. The books that I have shepherded from idea to publication but that I don’t sell can be found on this new page: OTHER PEOPLE’S BOOKS. This includes Tales of TB, Springville’s Hospital, The Crooked Cross of Diamond Lake, Only the Living, and Adventures in Boy Scouting.

Finally Back to the Drawing Board | Actually a Table

After I finished formatting, photo editing and captioning, cover designing, bar code ordering and finally ordering the Springville book, I went back to the drawing board, which is actually a “drawing table”, I think.

Remember this sketch?

The upper house is mostly finished, and I was able to begin the lower one.

Jackson came into the studio, announcing his presence or perhaps expressing his dissatisfaction with life. He sat behind me in my chair so he could bite the back of my arms.

I hissed at him to make him stop, so he climbed onto the table.

That felt risky, so I was glad he decided to move on. He seemed interested in taking a nap in this basket, and as soon as I pulled out the inferior phone to take a photo, he changed his mind. Notice the wooden palette hanging on the wall. This was a gift from my thoughtful and comical Intern.

Despite the feline disruptions, I was able to make progress. As much as I enjoy editing and book design, it is never as restful as simply operating a pencil on paper. I was able to have a couple of phone calls and still be productive, something that is not possible when banging along on a keyboard, trying to make Photoshop, InDesign, or Word cooperate.

April Arrived as Always

Silly title, sacrificing sense for alliteration. My blog, my silliness.

This is the April page on my 2026 calendar. (all gone. . . whaddya expect in month #4?)

These sycamores are so picturesque. . . used to be so thick that the buildings beyond were a mystery. After I started drawing this, the trees got pruned, things got raked, and a few months later I attended a Celebration of Life at the barn hidden back there. Who knew??

Yeppers, it’s for sale. You can email me for details if you are interested.

Happy April to all y’all!

Back to Buckling Down

Here is the afternoon’s painting session after a morning of exploring around Lake Kaweah. I’m easing into the production of Mineral King paintings, with the workshop doors open to the greenery, flowers, cats, and sounds of leaf blowers, chain saws, a distant donkey, and the occasional vehicle. March is a month full of distractions and temptations to lollygag. However, summer is coming and incomplete paintings will not sell.

It is efficient to paint the same scenes at the same time since the colors are mixed on the palette. Because this is the most popular scene to sell at Silver City, I paint it in multiple sizes and shapes, and at different times of day and in different parts of the summer season.

I was pleased to be able to finish these—see the signatures? The previous painting session did not yield anything that was ready to be signed. If I can get those 3 plus 2 from an earlier session detailed and signed, then I’ll be over halfway to completing the ten paintings.

Why ten? With the ones that remain from last year, this is a total of about 15 paintings. Silver City Store sells anywhere from ten to twenty paintings for me each summer. I don’t want to have too much inventory left at the end of summer. So I keep track as paintings sell, then paint more of the popular subjects that have sold out.

It’s all a guessing game, supplemented with a little bit of intuition and experience. That’s the business of art.

In case you have forgotten:

I use pencils, oil paint, and murals to make art that you can understand of places and things you love for prices that won’t scare you.