Tag: Sequoia National park

Images of Home or The Bridges of Tulare County

There are about 2 weeks remaining for the show, Images of Home, at the Tulare Historical Museum. Here are 2 more pieces that I painted specifically for the show.

Buckeye Bridge, 16×12″, oil on wrapped canvas, $250. (just sayin’)

Michael said this is really the Paradise Bridge. I believe him, because he helped to build it. Since it is located just beyond the Buckeye Campground in Sequoia National Park, I think of it as the Buckeye Bridge. Hence, the name. My painting, my name. However, if you wish to buy it and the name is somehow a hindrance to the process, it can be changed very simply! (again, just sayin’)

Oak Grove Bridge IV, 18×24″, oil on wrapped canvas, $500

This is my favorite bridge. Did you know that?

The Real California

This week you’ve seen some beautiful green and flowered photos of Three Rivers. These are the sights that inspire this California artist, and I love sharing them with you.

While I am working in the green hills, my other half is at a higher elevation with an entirely different climate and color. Every work day, he puts on green pants, drives an hour up a gnarly road (or more, depending on conditions and an endless construction project) and climbs into a yellow machine to fight the white snow. (See how I think in colors?)

He doesn’t always work alone. And in case you are wondering, the square thingie on the back of the Big Yellow Machine on the right is called the doghouse.

That’s our friend John up on the snow bank. He is the co- owner/publisher/reporter/photographer of the local paper. He went along to photograph the snow removal operation.

California Artist Sequoia National park Three Rivers

South Fork

Maybe March is my favorite month instead of February. It is so green and the redbud are in bloom, along with lupine, poppies and a great variety of other wildflowers. Michael and I drove up South Fork Road, which follows the South Fork of the Kaweah River (hence, the name). Something that always just twists my sense of geography is the clear view of Homer’s Nose from the upper end of that road.

We stopped 4 miles from the end of the road and unloaded our bicycles. It was a long slow pull to the campground, but oh so very pretty.

There were lots of choices.

We stashed our bikes and headed toward the water.

Clough’s Cave is on the other side of the river and used to be open to the public. I had never seen it, and Michael had described its location to me at some time in the past. We followed our noses (and a trail of litter), which led to getting sort of bluffed-up and no cave. We slid back down, thought it out, and found the abandoned trail to the cave. It is slippery with oak leaves and acorns, and several places made me question the wisdom of following it to a closed-off cave. A few cave-wreckers have caused the Park to seal the cave off from the public.

If you climb some rocks and then lie on the ground, this is what is visible. If you turn around, this is what you see:

Lots of textures, snow on the peaks, the canyon winding its way upward, and even a belt of black oaks still without leaves. Tulare County is so large in acreage, so vast in its variety of terrains, with far more to explore than I have days off!

Clough's Cave hiking Sequoia Sequoia National park South Fork Campground Three Rivers Tulare county

Working from Photos

It isn’t popular in the artworld to admit that one works from photos. In fact, the closest you’ll get to reading that someone works from photos is “I use them for reference”. Brings to mind something Jack White, my painting inspiration/guru/mentor said – “All realistic painters either work from photos or they lie about it”. Me? I TOTALLY work from photos – if I just use them for reference, it is because the scene was so complicated that I just started making things up!

The other JB and I visited the Buckeye campground in Sequoia National Park over the weekend. There is a mellow little trail that leads to a picturesque footbridge over the main fork of the Kaweah River. (You can read about it in the January 17 blog post.) When JB saw the view, she burst forth with the declaration, “If you paint that, I will buy it!” Being a hard-nosed business tycoon (snort, guffaw), I said, “Okay, I will show you some sketches first so you can see if you like it and after I paint it, I won’t hold you to buying it.” (Jack White would not be pleased with me for that!)

Here is the main view that JB was so taken with; you can barely see the bridge in the photo! This is why I will have to sketch things in advance of painting – how large can I make the bridge without distorting reality? How much rock, if any, in the foreground is actually necessary? Can I “grow” the river, because in our memories, it is The Main Event?

All these photos will be useful to create a small (“thumbnail” in Artspeak) sketch that will determine what size and where each part should be in proportion to the other parts. If I was carrying a backpack that day, a sketchbook would have been a helpful item. But I am a modern chick who uses a digital camera with tremendous gratitude for the technology.

hiking Sequoia Sequoia National park Three Rivers Three rivers oil paintings

Hospital Rock: A lesson in choosing photographs for art

In what passes for winter in Tulare County, sometimes it gets cold and gray. Count on it in the flatlands. Moan and complain about it in Three Rivers. If you’re smart, you’ll just drive up a ways and voila! Sunshine! That is what Michael and I did on Saturday. Ever been to Hospital Rock? I had, but only to the upper parts and not to the river. The interesting thing is this: I recognized the rocks because I have drawn them! As always, I was looking for light but seriously distracted by the lovely old rockwork. Under the photos, I will put my opinion of how each photo would be useful to an artist.

There was a bridge across the river (middle fork of the Kaweah) until it washed out in the ’55 flood and a wall was added for a viewing platform. This has the clear detail necessary for a pencil drawing, but probably not the best choice of subjects because it is sort of an odd structure. Those sorts of things make sense in photos but cause an art viewer to wonder what the heck it is!

There are inexplicable stairs all around. Clearly this was constructed in an earlier era before evidence of humanity was forbidden (except signs with cautions and warnings.) This has good clear detail for a pencil drawing, but not a great one because there is no visible sunlight. The person could be included or left out, depending on how much fiddly detail one wanted to do. If the face was showing, I’d say FORGET IT – NO FACES SMALLER THAN AN EGG! (ok, I might not shout, but I’d be very adamant on this point.)

I recognized this little waterfall – it had my friend’s parents standing to the left in the picture that I drew. This would make a nice pencil drawing – great contrast but not enough color for a painting.

Would the Park allow a trail to be built beneath a rock like this now?? Would they even allow the rock to remain? There are no warning signs – amazing! This photo is good for documentation only – the subject is too weird for art.

This is the kind of light I look for. It would make an excellent painting. Also good for drawing but it would be hard to render the textures unless artist is very experienced.

The Paradise Bridge was replaced in the early ’90s (Michael worked on that project) and it washed out in the ’97 flood, which was only about 1/4 of the water experienced in the flood of ’55! I wasn’t born yet. (Just had to throw that in in case you were wondering.) This would make a drawing and maybe a painting but I’d have to think about what to do with that heavy-looking tree leaning out to the right.

Hard to imagine it washing out. This photo is good for documentation only.Too much texture and the main subject is too small for a good drawing. In case you are wondering, I learned this the hard way.

Rockwork, light, this would make a nice pencil drawing. Maybe even colored pencil. Maybe a combo! I’d mess with the composition a tad to get the edge of the wall off dead-center.

What do you think?

hiking Hospital Rock Sequoia Sequoia National park Three Rivers

A Nice Walk

Ever been to Marble Falls? Until one week ago, I hadn’t. It is in the foothills of Sequoia National Park, and I’ve heard it is steep and hot; it isn’t that steep, and in January, it was pleasantly warm (low 70s) and very green. To get there, go into the Potwisha campground and drive to the far end where there is parking for a few cars at the trailhead. Walk along an interesting old flume for 1/4 mile, and then, don’t get so interested in the flume that you fail to notice the small “TRAIL” sign to the right.

This flume borrows water temporarily from the Marble Fork of the Kaweah, uses it to make electricity near Ash Mountain for Southern California Edison, and sends it right back into the river. Clean, established, historic, good!

Here is a photo of looking down while hiking – if you are prone to tripping or stumbling, sometimes it is wise to watch your feet. However, there is something else in this photo. Look at it here:

This is a tick. (Weird word in English – tick-tock, that ticks me off, this tick will bite you if given a chance, the worry of getting bitten is giving me a tic under my left eye, etc.) These little critters sit on the ends of grasses and branches just waiting to hop aboard an unsuspecting body as it passes by. The hike to Marble Falls needs to include stopping to do Tick Checks from time to time!

On the photo above, see the white near the bottom right that looks like a falls? It isn’t. Really! It is marble, but it isn’t water!

(photo above) These are falls along the Marble Fork, but they aren’t Marble Falls either.

This is Marble Falls, 3.9 miles up the trail. Couldn’t find a place to take a decent photo! The falls are most impressive if you are sitting on the marble at the top and seeing the water fall off into space.

The falls are below Eleven Range Lookout on the Generals Highway on the east, and at the base of Admiration Point on the west. This is off the Colony Mill Road (that you can no longer drive on), which connects the Crystal Cave Road to North Fork Drive.

And finally, here is a view of the trail on the way back and one more of the river back near Potwisha.

hiking in Three Rivers Marble Falls Potwisha Campground Sequoia National park Southern California Edison