Daily Painting, 2

6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $50

This is Sawtooth, 12, 343′ in elevation, reached by foot out of Mineral King. It shows up from the valley floor, particularly in Tulare County where it is located. I’ve painted and drawn it many times.  I’ve also been over Sawtooth Pass, below Sawtooth at Monarch Lake and at Columbine Lake, partway up Sawtooth, flown off its side in a helicopter, climbed it once, and looked at it more times that can be counted. When you are near its top, it looks too small to be visible from Visalia. This painting is for sale at the Silver City Store, or you can buy it on my website.

More Inspiration

Here are the other paintings that are for sale in the Silver City Store so far this summer. 6×6″ square to fit in suitcases, $50 to fit budgets. Can be purchased by emailing me at cabinart@cabinart.net. Still just sayin’. (Still feels weird to talk that way. Can someone please tell me where that came from and what normal people say before that phrase inserted itself into the common vernacular?)

Mineral King – Vandever

(not an original title, but it is straightforward and accurate)

Redwood Canyon

(Some have called them Aunt Tillie and Uncle Pete)

Trail

Anyone want to name the exact place on the exact trail? No, this painting won’t be free to the one who gets it first  but you can have the thrill of being A Winner!

Farewell Gap

Oh-oh, we could get confused here! This is the view where I always say “Farewell, Farewell”.  (Phoebe says “You always say that” whenever I say it.)

Sawtooth

See? Inspiration!

About 4 miles below Mineral King is a place called Silver City. There is a resort there, along with an enclave of private cabins. At the resort is a store, called, of course, The Silver City Store. It is there that I was employed when I met my husband 26 years ago. (dang!) Now, they sell some little paintings for me. Here are a few for you to see.  Of course you can buy them by contacting me, but I didn’t want to look pushy by putting a Paypal button beneath them. They are all 6×6″ to fit into travelers’ suitcases and $50 to fit into travelers’ budgets. Just sayin’. (Are you impressed by my use of popular lingo? Feels weird to talk that way.)

Farewell Gap

Spring Creek Bridge

Bridge Below Atwell

Honeymoon Cabin (yes, that again! You know you love it!)

Timber Gap

(should have titled it Betsy’s Tree or Lone Red Fir!)

Back to the Land of No Electricity

2010-2011 winter was a big one, 210% of normal for the Kaweah River drainage. Mineral King, AKA The Land of No Electricity is at the headwaters of the East Fork of the Kaweah. The elevation on the floor of the Mineral King Valley is 7800′, the road is 25 miles long to reach the place and it should take about 1-1/2 hours if you drive conservatively (recommended!)

And that concludes our geography/natural science/history lesson. Now, for the visual aids. (If you are wondering what this has to do with being a California artist, the answer is that much of my inspiration comes from Mineral King.)

Farewell Gap, the very full stream, the cabin – this is the classic and probably most photographed scene in Mineral King.

Lots of snow up in Timber Gap, the grasses are low and the willows and currants are not yet leafed out. Summer is a bit late-ish this year.

A tree across the stream took a hit – it was a Red Fir, and they seem prone to snapping off unexpectedly.

When we pried open the back door, all swollen with moisture, this was how the back porch and yard looked!

The front was quite inviting (that is my knitting on the ground – it is about time for another slightly weird sweater)

This is a mountain quail, a cousin to the California state bird.

Thus we commence the summer season of 2011 in the Land of No Electricty!

Images of Home

The show continues at the Tulare Historical Museum. The address is 444 W. Tulare Street and the phone # is 559-686-2074. When the curator and I were discussing titles, one of my suggestions was “It Ain’t All Smog and Welfare”. She-Of-Good-Sense laughed out loud and then rejected that idea. Glad she has a sense of humor along with common sense! Here are more visions of Tulare County’s better parts in case you haven’t made it to the show (this is for you, Cousin Maggie!)

Mosquito Lake Trail, 16×20″, oil on wrapped canvas, $350

This trail is in Mineral King. In case you are wondering, it is the same trail as Eagle Lake Trail, just a little different view. The trail splits to two different destinations about 2 miles from the trail head.

North Fork of the Kaweah, oil on wrapped canvas, 11×14″, $175

This is in Three Rivers at the Sequoia RV Ranch Campground.

More Images of Home

This is the traditional opening weekend for many people in Mineral King. While the gates will be unlocked, the road is still blocked by snow from about Highbridge on up. If you are up for a walk, you can go into the valley. Here are a few more pictures from my show at the Tulare Historical Museum, this time of Mineral King in the summer to just whet your appetite. If you are planning a visit to the area, stop by the show!

Vandever V, 8×10, $90

Mineral King Morning, 14 x 11″, $175

What you want to see

After I got over the thrill of drawing what was really in front of my eyes, I began to want to make better pictures. Real life is messy; artists get to clean it up. It takes practice to draw what isn’t really there, to make up a tree that you didn’t see, to show the edge of the porch that was previously hidden, to work from multiple photos taken from slightly different angles. It is almost impossible to work from photos taken at different times of day from different distances and at different angles. This often requires the skill of a mind reader, and I have learned to say no to some of these requests. But to a certain degree, I can create what we prefer was there.

When someone asks me to draw a house and provides a perfect photo, I have been known to ask why they want a drawing when the photo says it all. The answer is usually that pencil is so beautiful. This is a thrill to my little pencil-loving heart!

Here is the main photo of Farewell Gap again:

Here is a painting in which I scooted things ever so slightly to suit myself.

If you are standing on the bridge at the end of the road in Mineral King, you are probably just in awe of the view. Your brain knows there is a stream underfoot, a cabin sort of close, and Farewell Gap in the distance. Not very many people outside of careful photographers ever realize that there is no place to stand where all three line up for a complete photo! So, when I draw or paint this scene now, I make the necessary adjustments. Until this blog posting, I have never admitted such treachery and deception in recordable form!

And here it is in pencil from 2005 when I really started becoming bold about deceiving the world! (yes, I exaggerate to make a point – try not to get all worked up here!)

What we think we see

When we are beginning to make art, we depend on symbols more than visual information. The symbols come from our memory, from what we know. The visual information comes from what is in front of our eyes, regardless of what we know. You may know that a table has a round top, but what your eyes are telling you is that it looks like an oval. How can this be?? What do I trust? It takes a leap of faith to ignore what is in your mind and draw what is in front of your eyes. The first time someone tries this and it looks “real! it looks like a photo! I can draw!”, it is a thrill!

At the risk of annoying or offending (always a risk – why are folks so spring-loaded these days??), I want you to see a mural in downtown Visalia. I don’t know who painted it and I don’t know their instructions. I also don’t know their intentions. What I do know is it appears to sort of be Farewell Gap, sort of, maybe, kind of. This is an example of someone looking at a photo and painting from symbols in their heads. Those of you who are spring-loaded in the defensive position may be thinking that the artist(s) were being creative, not bound to the photo, and simply expressing themselves with a derivative work, using the photo for reference, et cetera. That’s fine, but I am trying to show examples here, and this fits, so just take a deep breath and try to follow along.

For comparison, here again is the photograph of Farewell Gap:

Three ways of interpreting

This will be a four parter, and thank you to Bill T. a workshop participant for the idea!

There are 3 ways of seeing when one is making 2 dimensional art. “Interpreting” might be a more accurate term here.

1. What we think we see – When we are children, or when we are untrained adults, we tend to put on paper what we think we see. For example, it is a table, we know it is a table, it has a rectangle and 4 sticks for legs, what is the problem?? The problem is the lack of realism, depth, perspective, proportion and believability. This isn’t a problem if you are 5 years old, but when you begin to understand more of life, it is highly discouraging to realize that your drawing isn’t as great as your Grandma thought.

2. What we really see – As we learn what is really in front of us visually, our work becomes more realistic. We can see distance, and things make sense. One of the tools for achieving this type of accuracy is the simple step of working upside down. No, I don’t mean standing on your head – this doesn’t work for plein air! Turn both your photo and your drawing upside down and the result will first be confusion. Then, your brain will shift into its right-seeing mode (right in both senses of the word), and your shapes will become proportioned correctly.

3. What we wish we could see – One day, we realize that real life isn’t all that grand to look at. Wouldn’t it all look better if we could just edit out the telephone lines, the power poles, the scruffy branches and the garbage cans? In fact, what if we could scoot that mountain over a bit (even without the faith of a mustard seed!) and perhaps reroute that stream? As our skills and confidence grow, we realize we can! “I’m fifty-one and I can do whatever I want! Besides, it’s MY picture!” This obviously has a few shortcomings – there are times when reality has to be recorded, but it is good to recognize the times that we as artists get to do our own arranging.

In conclusion to this introductory explanation, have a look at this photo of Farewell Gap. It will be the basis for illustrating the 3 ways of interpreting what we see.