Tag: Mineral King

Early Autumn in Mineral King

YEA! My blog is working again! Meanwhile, up the hill, this is how things looked October 8 or thereabouts. There isn’t much color because the early leaves that were yellow blew off in the previous week’s storm, which left a light dusting of snow on West Florence Peak. Regardless, (and that IS the word, not “irregardless”) because it is Mineral King, it is beautiful. Have a look:

These last 2 are from a hike to White Chief. If you are asking yourself, “Self, why are there always postings about Mineral King on an art blog?” – the answer is that much of my inspiration comes from Mineral King. It is not my only subject matter, but it is possibly my favorite. And, it is a favorite of many customers, readers and other Very Smart People! 😎

Mineral King

More Miles of Canvas

Early Timber Gap, painted on board (Hey painting owner, want a touch-up??)

Timber Gap as painted this summer – yes, I know all the little canvas lines show in the photo.

With these 2 Farewell Gap paintings, I can’t decide which was painted earlier. Guess I finally caught up with myself for awhile in terms of painting ability! (But the cropping in photography could use a bit more practice. . . )

Mineral King oil paintings

Hidden Objects

Men + Mules + Water + Power has multiple hidden objects. Here is the list:

pick-axe
fish
2 heart-shaped rocks
1904
a real rock
a real mule-shoe
6 varieties of wildflowers – Sierra Columbine, Indian Paintbrush, phlox, Hoope’s Sneezeweed, Golden-beard Penstemmon, Wild Blue Flax.

Here is a little piece of the mural for you to study and identify a few of the objects:

Exeter California murals Exeter murals Mineral King Mineral King mural

Five Senses of Fall

A few friends accompanied me to Mineral King over the weekend. It was a beautiful fall-ish time – clear air (could have been clearer except that there are fires within the Sierra Nevada), warm in the day, cool at night. I was struck by how fall can be experienced with all five senses.

Taste: the currants are abundant!

Hear the wind in the aspens – it sounds different in the fall!

The colors are beginning to change:

The dried grasses smell different:

The higher we climbed, the more nip we felt in the wind:

Mineral King

A Pair of Minutes

I’m trying to be in the studio/workshop for a pair of minutes instead of always being in Mineral King or at the computer. There is work to be finished, lots of work to be started, and people are waiting eagerly (and politely, thank goodness!) Just a pair of minutes ought to do it, figuratively speaking. . .

The customer brought me a 16×20 photo that he took a number of years ago. We agreed that it would look nice in the panorama format, so I “cropped” it using kraft paper. The sky color of photos is grayish in many cases; one of the benefits of being in the mountains is having an incredibly blue blue blue sky; that is how I’ve chosen to represent this scene of Sawtooth and Mineral Peaks. Have a closer look:

After it dries a bit, I’ll tighten up a few details, paint the edges, sign, and photograph it more accurately.

commissioned oil paintings Mineral King Sawtooth Peak

Day Sixteen On The Mural

This is the week I will finish, even if I have to get up at 5 a.m. for 6 days in a row. Momentum, momentum, momentum. Stay outta the way, I have a job to do!! That is not to say that you can’t stop by and say hello or ask a few questions. It just means I probably won’t stop painting while I visit with you, and please don’t take offense. The weather guessers are saying 108 degrees by Wednesday, but they also said 106 last week and it didn’t happen. If I stay in the shade and have cold water, I can do this. (I think I can I think I can I thank I can. . .) This is how the wall looked around 6:35 a.m. today:

This is how the wall looked at 2 p.m. today:

Tomorrow I will finish this old dam photo inset. The weird blurry little people have been enlarged (the better to see them!), and I’m hoping the original photo will still be taped to the wall when I arrive tomorrow. Oops. . . it might be on the ground nearby by then, but it is in a plastic holder so I’m not (very) worried.

Here is what remains:

old dam photo inset
little cabin inset
dam (as it appears today)
growies, ground and rocks below dam
entire strip of wall beneath mural to the ground. This is the way to make it appear as if a visitor is at Franklin Lake instead of at a mural of Franklin Lake (as long as one stays to the left). I can’t figure out a graceful way to end that lower strip, so it has to go the distance. Maybe. More will be revealed.
Flowers by the trail. My plan is to do this in oil paint so they will be pertinear perfect!
Hidden objects! (there is one already, but I’m not telling yet unless you visit me)

Exeter murals Mineral King

Sharing Mineral King, part 2

On day 2 in Mineral King, S’s younger daughter woke up very excited to go fishing with Michael. She is highly competitive and it is reported that the first words from her mouth that a.m. were “I’m going to smoke that old man!”

“That old man” had to get his fly rod ready for the challenge. (He wasn’t worried.)

The girls used live crickets (gross!) and worms (also gross!)

“That old man” smoked the girls!

Mineral King

Day Twelve on the Mural

This week I met several mural team members at The Wall to discuss our options in dealing with our mechanical snags. We formulated a plan, and after they do what they have to do, I’ll be back on the wall. While at the wall, I did a bit of sketching because I was there and the only thing worse than getting up at 5 a.m. is wasting it! It is a little risky, because my historical consultants and I aren’t entirely convinced that this is the original Mt. Whitney Power Co. cabin. It appears as such on the Mineral King Preservation Society website. The question is that it also looks like the type of cabin built by Windy Stevens, about whom I do not have adequate information. . . perhaps he wasn’t around when the Mt. Whitney Power Co. was. Perhaps the MWPC used his plans. More will be revealed (if I am diligent AND lucky!)

First I painted it in green. It was wrong, so I repainted it in brown. (Hard to tell the difference in color here!)

Exeter murals Mineral King Mt. Whitney Power Co.

Day Eleven on the Mural

After a very productive week in the studio, I returned to the wall today and was greeted by this sight:

This is Channel 26’s Great Day camera man and reporter Clayton Clark.

Clayton did a fake-out while I was unloading my supplies.

He wore a little thingie in his ear so the folks back in the Fresno studio could communicate with him. He did a little “teaser” every so often, and then interviewed someone every 15 minutes.