Oak Grove Bridge | Cabin Art

My Favorite Bridge

My favorite bridge is the Oak Grove Bridge, 6.5 miles up the Mineral King Road. It is also my favorite subject to draw and paint. There are three reasons for this (maybe even more, but we’ll go with 3 for now):

A bridge is the perfect blend of architecture with landscape.
This bridge is a fantastic surprise on a winding mountain road, one that is so rustic that it doesn’t even bother with a center line or fog lines.
This bridge is a bright spot of architectural dignity in a county sorely lacking in such landmarks.

I used to only draw in pencil. This is the first time I drew the bridge, from a view upstream of the bridge. I didn’t draw very well back then, but people were polite and encouraging.

First pencil drawing of the Oak Grove Bridge, 1990

I drew it at least once more, but was very casual about keeping records of my work.

After learning to oil paint using only the primary colors, I decided to see if it was possible to do a full-color pencil drawing using a box of only 12 colors. It sold. (I think I could do a better job now.)

Oak Grove Bridge in colored pencil, 2006

The most recent pencil drawing of the bridge also sold. This one is a popular design on notecard packages that I continue to reprint.

“Rural Dignity”, the Oak Grove Bridge in pencil, 2011

I would draw it again, but pencil drawings don’t sell very fast. People prefer oil paintings, or color, or both.

Come back tomorrow and you can see some of my paintings of this beautiful bridge in Tulare County.

Oak Grove Bridge pencil drawing

Sort of Working

In July and August, I don’t teach regular drawing lessons. My students often say “enjoy your vacation” or “have a nice summer” as they are leaving (and several cannot resist the urge to sing “See You In September”).

Although I do spend much more time in Mineral King in those 2 months, I am still working. Sort of. There was the show Art: Inspired by Mineral King on June 30. I deliver paintings to the Silver City Resort (AKA “The Store”), work on commissions (both pencil and oil), blog, keep track of what is selling, work on my new website design, work on the upcoming calendar, plan for any upcoming shows. That’s sort of working, isn’t it?

Sometimes the kittens become a tad bit distracting.

This subject matter is getting easier in its architectural parts, but I still struggle with the rocks beneath the bridge. This is because they are hidden.

This commissioned oil painting got a few licks on the canvas, but those rocks beneath the bridge really hang me up.

The smaller bridge is drying and awaits more layers. Sawtooth and the river are also both drying, and are now for sale.

Sawtooth #33, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $65 includes sales tax (welcome to California)

Leaving the Scary Scribble Stage

I worked for awhile on the oil painting commission of Homer’s Nose With The Oak Grove Bridge (WHAT shall this one be titled?? Snozz Rock? Sue’s View? The Nose And The Bridge? The Bridge and the Nose? Don’t Blow Your Nose On My Bridge?)

And thus, we have successfully covered the great desert of a scary semi-empty canvas with another layer of oil paint.

commission oil painting Oak Grove Bridge oil paintings

What Did I Decide?

Not talking audibly to myself anymore, decisions made, work begun on the oil painting commission of Homer’s Nose with the Oak Grove Bridge.

Scary Scribble State mitigated by nice sky

Madame Customer stopped by my studio to retrieve her photos and saw the scary version. She made another change to our plan, and I was eager to try it. Her suggestion was to forget about the green hills below Homer’s Nose and extend the greenery above the bridge up closer to Snozz Rock.

Some rock shape with some lower foliage, extended upward toward the snozz.

This painting might turn out well – Madame Customer, once again I salute you for your good ideas and suggestions! (and good thing I’m not a contractor who charges for those dreaded things called “change orders”)

Today’s oil painting for sale:

This is a sweet little 4×6″ oil painting of Sawtooth, on a board, sitting on an easel, $45.

commission oil painting Oak Grove Bridge

Please May I Be Excused?

Do you remember being required to say that when you were done with dinner as a kid? (We might not have had to say “please”. . . it isn’t sounding familiar to me, but with that degree of rudeness, why was permission even required? Never mind.)

The Redwood & Dogwood painting might be finished.

The Oak Grove Bridge might be finished.

Please, may I be excused?

Today’s painting for sale:

Sunny Sequoias XXX, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $60 plus California sales tax of 8% (you may do the math for us)

Do you think it is “sellsy” and push to show you a painting for sale at the end of each blog post? That’s the last thing I want to be! (or maybe being sellsy and pushy would be better than being rude and not asking politely to be excused from the table. . .)

Oak Grove Bridge oil paintings Sequoia painting

Tricky Business on the Oak Grove Bridge

The Oak Grove Bridge on the Mineral King Road is my favorite subject to draw and paint, except when it isn’t.

I’ve been inching along on this painting for months. The angle is unusual, the details are hard to see, and the colors are somewhat difficult to discern, all of it making for tricky business.

However, I’m FINALLY getting close to finishing.

This is how it appeared when I began on this, the umpteenth day.

Not sure where to begin, I charted out where the posts would go on the railing. I know there are 7 little ones between the larger ones, because I’ve done this a few (dozen) times.

But what goes between those little posts? Some places it is the posts on the opposite side of the bridge, and some places it is the space beyond.

Is this photo of the painting any more advanced than the previous one? Welcome to my world of the Treadmill Bridge Painting.

Here I have begun to tighten up the edges on the horizontal pieces, using a yardstick while the painting is lying flat. (How do Real Artists do this?? How do plein air painters handle these challenges??)

Time to begin the landscaping on the lower section.

Too wet to continue. . . in the next painting session I will add lots of little green speckles in various shades.

When the ~~little green speckles~~ leaves are in place, I’ll sign it, photograph it, and call the lady who expressed an interest in this painting during the Redbud Festival.

Then I’ll move back to the collage commissioned oil painting of the Oak Grove Bridge with Homer’s Nose. That bridge will be a straightforward angle, no tricky business.

Today’s painting is a pencil drawing of another bridge, also associated with Mineral King:

Mineral King Bridge, pencil, matted and framed to approx. 12×16, $400

Oak Grove Bridge oil paintings

Further Figuring Out

This is Chapter Two in the story of figuring out how to design one commissioned oil painting of two different Tulare County landmarks. As a Tulare County artist, I am pleased to have been chosen for the task.

The customer requested a different view of Homer’s Nose, and I have 5 photos from that point of view. This is the one we selected:

Homer’s Nose, from the Yokohl curve on Highway 198

She also requested a view of the Oak Grove bridge with more visible rocks (i.e. less water). If you have followed this blog or my art for very long, you know that the Oak Grove bridge is my favorite thing to draw and paint, even when it is a little bit too hard. So, I have plenty of photos to choose from for this very specific request:

Oak Grove Bridge photo by me from the same point of view, lower water so rocks more visible.

I know Spice Bush, but never heard of Mock Orange. Good thing I have friends with great photos who know far more than I do about many things.

Mock Orange, from a friend’s photo, flipped.

And a photo I have of Spice Bush, but will probably take more because it is in bloom right now and is beautiful.

With all these visual aids, I drew this:

What will my customer say in response to this second sketch? More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . . Tune in tomorrow, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel.

And here are today’s paintings, both commissioned pieces of Homer’s Nose, painted in 2014, each one 6×6″.

Homer’s Nose, oil on canvas, 6×6″, private collection

commission oil painting Oak Grove Bridge oil paintings Tulare County art Tulare County artist

Figuring Things Out

Isn’t “figuring things out” a strange grouping of words? But we all know what that means. . . puzzling over something, trial and error, plan A and plan B, lots of conversation. . .

A long time friend asked me to do an oil painting of two significant Tulare County landmarks in her life. This is not two oil paintings; it is one painting with 2 separate scenes, a true piece of Tulare County art. I am a Tulare County artist, so why not?

I’ve been doing collage type pencil drawings for many years, but have never thought about this for oil paintings. This friend has challenged me before with other unusual ideas, and I’ve learned from her. So, here we go.

This is what she sent me first:

Homer’s Nose, a granite formation, from an unidentified magazine cover

Homer’s Nose, a granite formation as viewed from another angle (from a book called *To Find the Biggest Tree* by Wendell D. Flint)

The Oak Grove Bridge with a significant pickup crossing it.

This is what I drew for her, using colored pencils so she could get an idea of how the two subjects would blend together into one painting.

Her response was that she likes the view of Homer’s Nose from another place, likes to see lots of rocks under the bridge, and would like to see some wildflowers, preferably Mock Orange or Spice Bush.

Good thing I know what she is referring to on all these subjects and have 29,000 photos on my laptop that include most of what she is wanting.

To be continued. . . meanwhile, here is today’s painting. It no longer exists, but is the first oil painting I ever did of Homer’s Nose from that other place.

Homer’s Nose from Yokohl Curve, 12×16″, oil on canvas, gone.

commission oil painting Oak Grove Bridge oil paintings Tulare County art

Fairly Goalless

Is “goalless” a word?

I do set goals – finish X number of paintings, get website redesigned, finish drawings for the next calendar, etc.

But I don’t set big sweeping overarching business goals, or as one of those motivational speakers says, “BHAGs”, which stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goals.

And many of us have heard the acronym SMART for goals, which means goals have to be Specific, Measurable, and 3 other things that I never remember.

In thinking about goals for my art business, all I could come up with is Paint Better And Sell More Paintings.

“Paint Better”? What is this? Better than what? Better than I paint now, but what constitutes better? Tighter and more photorealistic? Looser and flowier? Plein air? Brighter colors? How is this specific or measurable? How is this even attainable when I can’t define “better painting”?

And “Sell More Paintings”? I can count, and set a higher number, but am I supposed to put them in my little red wagon and pull them around the neighborhood? Must I get a smartphone and join FaceBook? (Have mercy – Please please please don’t make me get a cell phone and join FaceBook!!)

I have no earthly idea how to sell more paintings. If I did, I’d be selling more.

Goalless suits me for now.

I wonder what all those motivational speakers would have to say to me . . . probably “Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you”.

I am painting better each time I revisit this oil painting of the Oak Grove Bridge that is too hard for me. I am making up some colors for the background, just experimenting, trying to learn what “better” might look like, outside of my natural bent to just make things look as realistic as possible.

Will it sell? Maybe if I chant to myself while painting, “Paint better, sell more paintings, paint better, sell more paintings…”

Perhaps it is time to listen to music instead of motivational speakers while I paint.

Today’s painting: