I have a wise friend who is both diplomatic and honest. She told me that a few of my paintings didn’t reflect my usual care, or perhaps she said they weren’t up to my usual standards— “lacking in detail and clarity”. (There were a couple of paragraphs so I’m summarizing here.)
I blamed the old scanner, but then decided to retouch the paintings after studying them in person. I can always add more detail to a painting! The difficulty is in knowing when to stop. Most painters say that they don’t stop soon enough; I say most painters need to keep going.
Sawtooth #68
Here are the old scanner and new scanner versions, both before retouching.
The scan was poor, and the painting could use more detail. Some people paint blurry, but I’m not in that club. Not on purpose, anyway.
Here is the do-over and the scan on the new scanner. Still doesn’t look as good as it does in person. You’ll have to trust me on this.
Maybe it’s more evident if I put old and new side-by-side.
The color and detail still aren’t accurate, but it is better.
Sawtooth #69
It was definitely time to replace the old scanner.
Three progress photos for you.
Let’s do a side-by-side before-and-after of this one. And again, the color isn’t coming through very well, so trust on your part is required here.
Thank you, my honest, diplomatic, and wise friend!
With my new-to-me iPhone 14 in hand, I walked down the Mineral King Road to Cold Springs Campground (STILL CLOSED—CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN OR SOMETHING!) and back up the Nature Trail. This is about 2-1/2 miles total.
Let’s look at the flowers I found along the road. I actually did this route on two consecutive days and was very surprised by how many flowers vanished and new ones appeared in just 24 hours.
From left to right: mariposa lily—a ruffled variety I’ve never seen before; angelica (not to be confused with cow parsnip because angelica has lacy leaves); buckthorn
This view at the top of Endurance Grade always grabs me. Endurance Hill. Coral Hill. Whatevs. It photographs much better with the phone than it ever did with the camera, as much as it pains me to admit.
Most people prefer the view of Sawtooth. Sawtooth isn’t my favorite, but I paint it over and over because most people like it—they haven’t been medivacked off it*.
I love penstemon, particularly this variety. The color just slays me. Maybe I should learn the actual variety name.
A little past the ranger station, we cross the neglected bridge into the closed (WHY?) Cold Springs Campground. (It’s kind of fun to flick off the flaking paint. No, I am NOT telling you to do that! Why would I tell you to do that? Do you think I’m immature or something?)
Here are some yellow flowers on the other side of the bridge: seepspring monkey flower and false lily of the valley.
At the upper end of the closed (WHY?) Cold Springs campground is where the trail begins. It used to have lots of interesting and helpful signs along the trail. The Park removed them all with the plan of upgrading them, but it has been about 10 years so I don’t think it is a priority. (The Park will say, “Hiring freezes! Understaffed!” to which I have many opinions which I will keep to myself in order to keep the tone of my blog elevated.)
At least the beginning of the trail has a nice sign.
This is a Jeffrey pine, which used to have a sign explaining how to tell the difference between Jeffrey and Ponderosa pines and inviting you to sniff the tree, because Jeffreys smell a tad like vanilla.
Aspens are thick along the trail.
Can you see the trail? It’s definitely overgrown. Last week we saw a trail crew guy and I asked if I could prune it for them. He actually said, “If you want to!”
Blog Reader and Top Commenter Sharon calls this “Iron Falls”.
I finally remembered to put a dime in my pocket so that you can see the scale of wildflowers. I didn’t take into account how: A. difficult it is to photograph the 2 side-by-side with only 2 hands; B. to keep my hideous thumbnail out of the photo (yea for cropping); C. to make the phone focus on the blossom instead of the leaves; D. to actually see the screen. Maybe you are supposed to tap the bloom on the screen, but already being shorthanded, this is beyond my capability.
The little footbridge got rebuilt last summer, or maybe the one before. It all runs together.
More Sawtooth
And just in case you are into Sawtooth (Hi, Kathy Wolfe!), here it is one more time, peeking around the ridge, before the phone battery died**.
OIL PAINTINGS OF SAWTOOTH
WAIT! THIS IS A BUSINESS WEBSITE! Here are some oil paintings of Sawtooth available this summer at the Silver City Store (unless they have sold already.)
Sawtooth #67, 8×10”, oil on wrapped canvas, $165
Sawtooth # 68, 6×6”, oil on wrapped canvas, $75
Sawtooth #69, 8×8”, oil on wrapped canvas, $145
*It was 50 years last week so you’d think I’d be over it. I am, but it still isn’t my favorite. So there.
**This is the biggest disadvantage of using a phone instead of a camera. I also bought a charger, but it only works when it feels like it. The frustrations of tech are endless.
This painting had the tightest deadline of all the paintings in progress. After a day of doing many non-painting projects, I got a day to paint uninterrupted (except for Jackson).
The edges are painted. It needed to dry, be signed, get photographed, varnished and get rewired from its previous iteration as a horizontal painting.
This is Sawtooth #66, 12×24”, oil on wrapped canvas, $650, located at the Silver City Resort, 4 miles below Mineral King.
For those of you who subscribe and read the blog post on your phone: if you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog.
July is very hot in Tulare County, unless you are at elevation. One hot afternoon, I was not at elevation; however, I painted elevation. This did not help the temperature. Neither did the swamp cooler, but it was more comfortable after I blasted my head and face with a hose. (Yep, got hosed.)
Remember this mess? Probably not, because I haven’t shown you yet. This is yet another oil painting of Sawtooth, this year’s winner of Most Popular Mineral King Subject Matter. (for the whole year, but not yet for the Silver City Store, which is selling steadily for me this summer, yet again, thank you Silver City Resort!)
I had an unexpected block of time on a hot afternoon, and after a bit of procrastination, followed by a pep talk (“DON’T BE SUCH A WUSS! YOU USED TO DO FARM LABOR IN THE SUMMER, YOU LILY-LIVERED SQUISHY-MINDED HOT-HOUSE PLANT!”), I went to work.
This is 12×24″, because I was out of 18×36″ canvases. It is destined for the Silver City Store, where an 18×36″ painting of Giant Sequoias currently hangs, aptly and cleverly titled “Big & Tall”. My cowboy logic tells me that this painting is more likely to sell in that location.
P.S. I highly recommend blasting oneself on the head with cold water from a hose on a hot afternoon. It made it possible for me to work until the light was too poor to see, once my bangs stopped dripping in my eyes.
At the time of this writing, 2 of the Sawtooth paintings are finished, and the third just needs a small area before joining the others in their finished state. I had leftover paint on my palette, so I painted the edges. This made them a bit too wet to handle, so #3 had to be on hold for a bit.
As I show you these photos of the paintings in progress, I get more and more confused as to which painting is in what stage; I’m like the mother of triplets who lost the note telling which kid has a mole on his 2nd toe or something else to distinguish them (but I don’t have difficulty in real life because they are 2 different sizes and have an inventory number on the backs).
Sometimes when I look at photos of the finished paintings, I see more things to correct. Unless they are glaring mistakes, I will ignore them. These patient customers would like their paintings sometime, preferably sooner rather than later.
Here – you can see a few more and join me in my state of confusion. This top one is finished, but we are hard pressed to tell in the high contrast sunshine. The 16×20 is finished; the 11×14 beneath it isn’t – look at the trees on the right (middle) side. This one looks finished. I wonder if it is the 16×20 or one of the 11x14s. This one needs mid-ground trees and foreground grasses and flowers. Definitely not finished. This one appears to be finished. When there are grasses and tiny colored dots for flowers, it is finished.
What’s harder? Painting the same scene three times, or trying to sort the photos and show people? Or trying to comprehend a blog post about it? (See? I always have questions!)
The Silver City Store/Resort has gotten quite elegant. I feel honored to be able to sell there and to now be part of their decor.
Let’s take a tour.
The outside of the store is a bit different than it used to be but still recognizable (Who put her less than classy looking vehicle in front of the store and interrupted this photo opportunity??)
This is the view directly ahead when you step inside the store, although the unknown man may not be there if you stop by.
Look toward the right. . .
And a little farther right to the tables along the front wall. The photos above the tables are all the wedding photos of people who either met or married in the area.
Look to the left of the front counter when you first step inside (that square cardboard contains the saw blade.) Why yes, that is one of my paintings on the mantel. . . thank you for noticing!
Look directly left and that is the new store area where my paintings are incorporated with the other merchandise. (Nope, not a real gallery, but there are real customers with real money, and we consistently make real sales.)
Now let’s return to the front counter.
HEY! THERE IT IS!! THANK YOU, HANNAH, HANNAH, AND MICHAEL FOR CHOOSING MY ART.
Sawtooth Peak is figuring large in my work life lately. Sometime last week I spent a few days in the studio listening to the reassuring hum of the air conditioner and listening to my own thoughts, and finally, listening to podcasts. This was all to keep me from falling asleep while working on a new pencil drawing of Sawtooth.
While listening to podcasts, I jot notes, and when I take breaks from staring at teensy details through a magnifying glass, I look up things. Gretchen Rubin’s podcast “Happier” mentioned a dish pattern, and something called a “corkicle”. . . had to see those things. She mentioned a writer named May Sarton who has a memoir called Plant Dreaming Deep; of course I had to click on the link to Amazon, then read about it on GoodReads, and finally, look for it in my library’s online catalog system.
Victor Davis Hanson uses big words to convey large ideas, and occasionally I write notes or look up words online when I hear him speak. Usually I just replay his interviews a few times to see if I understand his concepts.
All this listening helps me get through the seemingly endless miniature details of the current drawing.
And in spite of all this listening, learning, and thinking, I still haven’t decided if it is a good thing or a bad thing to put links within my own blog. Perhaps you will be so kind as to let me know if that is helpful or annoying. . .
Saw/Saw, a mini mural of Sawtooth Peak on a round saw blade, was almost finished.
I fixed the camera setting, stood on the ladder to photograph it, and then realized that the trees on the bottom were crooked. Of course I only noticed this after putting the photo in an email to the customers, but immediately after sending it, I straightened them up. This is tricky business on a circle – how do I know vertical is vertical without straight edges of the canvas or wall to guide me?
That’s why I get paid the Big Bucks. (Fall down laughing.)
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)
The 16×20 is finished; the 11×14 beneath it isn’t – look at the trees on the right (middle) side.
This one looks finished. I wonder if it is the 16×20 or one of the 11x14s.
This one needs mid-ground trees and foreground grasses and flowers.
Definitely not finished.
This one appears to be finished. When there are grasses and tiny colored dots for flowers, it is finished.
