Mrs. Texas is at the edge of a pumpkin patch, a big “patch”. Okay, a pumpkin field. We mistakenly thought it was summer squash, that yellow crookneck stuff that prompted a friend of mine to say, “‘Squash’ is the past tense of ‘squish’, and ‘squish’ is not a food.” (Right on, Ben!) But pumpkins? Yes!
I took many photos, trying to see what was most pleasing. Some I took in the morning, some in the evening, some with the inferior phone camera, some with the little Canon Elph camera.
I took many more photos, and will show those next post. Meanwhile, let’s continue with the plein air process.
First, some sketches. Super scribbly, but good enough to make a decision.
Good enough for now. This took about 1-1/2 hour, and definitely needs more layers and detail. I might work on it in the painting workshop when/if the commissions get finished.
Wait, they WILL get finished. I mean if there is a gap before more commissions arrive.
Mrs. Texas was in California for another handful of weeks, and I felt compelled to go back to see her one more time. So, I did. (There is a lot to be said about driving a car that isn’t potentially on its last gasp.)
We did a number of wonderful things, and I even did some plein air painting! (See? a business trip!)
Since I have nothing to show you about Mineral King today, I will start with the beach.
The day I arrived, we returned to Rio Del Mar, the beach with that ruined cement party boat which used to be attached to a pier. Mrs. Texas’s mom had told her sister that she remembers dancing on that boat!
There is a weird metal rectangle in the sand.
I think there is a pier in Capitola in the very far distance, but we didn’t go to a beach there. We did go to Capitola to get groceries at Trader Joe’s because it was a good alternative to sitting in traffic on the way home.
The next day we walked by a reservoir named Uvas, which means grapes in Español. (We didn’t see any, in case you are wondering.) My inferior phone camera did a nice job there. Several of these photos could make a nice painting, but I don’t think my tens of readers/followers/collectors are into obscure reservoirs in distant counties (although I would fill the lake to the brim for better aesthetics).
Some of the oak trees had Spanish moss, the slightly creepy hanging grayish green stuff that is prevalent in the southern states.
The plaque at the entrance to the lake walk had a list of names of people who were instrumental in building the dam that created the lake. Although they were just names to me, I’m sure they matter to their descendants. I was more interested in the pertinent facts, which they so thoughtfully included with all those names.
In all honesty (because that is how I roll), I’d rather be at the beach. However, the reservoir was closer, and we had other plans that day. (Not bloggable, just friendship things, errands, blah blah blah. . .)
But I did paint that evening, and I’ll show you in the next post.
QUICKETY CORRECTION: Yesterday’s flowers were NOT zinnias; they were dahlias. I couldn’t remember the name so made a substitution. Thank you, Jane, for setting me straight!
After finding lunch on our beach day (easy drive from Gilroy to the beach), we thought about heading back to Gilroy, but there was way too much traffic heading that direction. We made the very prudent decision to do our waiting in Santa Cruz rather than on a freeway. I’d never been there before. Wow, so much noise and color and crowds and distraction from the ocean.
Why do people want to pay for all that fake stuff when the ocean is right there??
Those rides actually compete with the beach?? Incomprehensible to my simple, easily-satisfied, easily entertained rural self.
The carousel was too loud for me but the displays were really well done and interesting. So much history! We watched riders try to grab a ring on each round and toss it into the clown’s mouth. If I had grabbed a ring, I might have been tempted to keep it. I wonder how many they lose that way.
It was very well maintained, quite impressive. I love beautiful architecture, so I was very fascinated by how it looked, rather than the whole arcade/carnival/entertainment aspect.
We laughed ourselves silly with the funhouse mirrors. My mental image of myself is like the one on the left; the way I want to look is like the other images.
Someday I might finally find some sort of self-acceptance. Meanwhile, I’m heading to the beach.
A lighthouse!! Too far to walk, particularly with the tide rising, and the parking meter might run out of those quarters. I am NEVER too tired to keep going on the beach. It’s a sickness. A weird deficit or disorder or syndrome.
LOOK AT THESE WAVES!!
Since this is supposed to be a blog for my business, we interrupt this program for a commercial break. AROUND HERE, my show in Tulare at the museum/gallery, is open Thursday-Sunday, 10-4, through August 30 at 444 Tulare Avenue. Besides Tulare County scenery, there are beach paintings so this is an appropriate interruption. These paintings are each 5×7”, $100, on panels that sit on tiny wooden easels. (Take three—they’re small!)
Finally, we cut back to the boardwalk, walking along the spit that separated the river from the beach. We didn’t find out the name of this river (the Santa Cruz River, perhaps? San Lorenzo River), but hustled back (that parking meter).
Maybe tomorrow I will get back to the business of art on my blog. I’m supposed to be. . .:
…using 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.
Yesterday we were at Rio Del Mar beach with my Texas friends who were staying in Gilroy (hence the title of this series of posts).
Mrs. Texas carries a bag at the beach to collect pieces of driftwood for making mobiles, one of which hangs at my kitchen window.
The sun came out in the afternoon at Rio Del Mar beach. Glorious!
These are very dear friends of 39 years, and we thoroughly enjoy one another’s company, whether being serious or silly.
Jee-um in earrings?Mrs. Texas with a LONNNGGG ponytail.Don’t poop on my head, you birds!
A friend texted while we were at the beach to ask for some help on a painting, and I responded with this.
She said I look like a tourist. Indeed, I was a tourist!
Finally, we headed out to find a place for lunch. The first and closest place was out of clam chowder (to be expected at 3 p.m.), and Mrs. Texas asked for a recommendation of somewhere else that might still have some. I said, “Don’t ask him to send us to his competition!”
She said, “We came all the way from Texas for some clam chowder!”
The guy was great and gave us a recommendation, so off we went, this time in the Texas truck rather than on foot.
We found the place, but this ain’t Instagram and I am not going to waste your time with pictures of food. Instead, look at this zinnia garden next to the deli. It was most totally excellent, as delis tend to be, particularly after walking miles on the beach.
Tomorrow I’ll show and tell you what we did next. Thanks for reading along!
My Texas friends are in Gilroy, California (yeppers, the garlic capital of the state or maybe the country or even the world), and since that is only 3-1/2 hours from me, I went to see them.
To get there, I went over Pacheco Pass, the same way I went to Monterey last fall. However, while last year I blew past the beautiful hills, this year there was road construction, which provided opportunities to take some photos. These are awful photographically, but very paintable. That’s why artists say they are using “reference photos”. Well, that, and because of the snobbery against painting from photos as opposed to creating the scene oneself or painting plein air. But that’s another topic for another day.
Mrs. Texas provided a list of places to go and things to see and do while there; all I cared about was being with her and going to the beach. (Big surprise, eh?) So, we hung out, played a fun simple game called Shut The Box and a more complicated one called Assassin Code Names while catching up and laughing, went thrift shopping (the thrill of the hunt overcomes my aversion to accumulating possessions), and of course, went to Trader Joe’s.
There were a few walks, because they are on the edge of town, surrounded by agriculture and golden hills. It is so beautiful there, not hot compared to the Central Valley. But it is a very desirable place to live for folks who work in the Silicon Valley, so traffic can be a problem.
Gilroy’s old courthouse is now a restaurant. It rivals the fancy courthouses I discovered when I was in Texas. (scroll to the bottom of the posted link)
Rio Del Mar was Mrs. Texas’s beach of choice, based on many years of living in Gilroy.
Like many California beaches, it was foggy in the a.m.
“Rio” is Español for river, and sure enough, a river flows into the ocean right there in Aptos. “Rio del Mar” means “river of the sea”.
We found some interesting items: a fisherman caught this skate, and there were a few jellyfish, including this weird little rectangular one with a blue border.
Mrs. Texas gathers little shells and pieces of driftwood to make mobiles with, one of which hangs outside my kitchen window in Three Rivers.
Rio Del Mar Beach has a “shipwreck”, which is the SS Palo Alto, an oil tanker built of cement when steel supplies were low during WWI, not needed after all so converted to an amusement ship and parked by the pier in Aptos in 1929, and currently just serving as a bird place and a diving destination since the pier went bye-bye in 2023. You can read about it here.
What are Mr. and Mrs. Texas looking at??
WEIRD!!
A buried bird, with a blue foot and one blue toe sticking out of the sand. Mr. Texas offered to exhume it, but we more delicate women declined the offer. (We may have even squealed a little while running away.)
This is too long. See you tomorrow for Chapter Two!
