The poppies and other wildflowers were at at their peak on March 11. Three friends and I took the afternoon off to go fill our eyes.
First, we had to empty our wallets to fill the gas tank. Welcome to Three Rivers.
Then we headed down around the lake, and up Dry Creek Road, all within eastern Tulare County.
This last photo shows Terminus Dam in the distance, which creates Kaweah Lake. The flowers weren’t fabulous right there at the Dry Creek Preserve, but it was clear and green, which is pretty fabulous on its own.
We never did get out amidst the flowers but stayed on the shoulder of the road, and actually did no trespassing whatsoever.
After thinking over the title Heart of Rural Tulare County, I wasn’t satisfied.
I looked at the original coloring book, Heart of the Hills, and realized that this one needed to be Heart of the County.
That’s the ticket! My Shadow Consultant agreed, after suggesting a couple of tiny adjustments.
The idea to do this came quickly, and the retail places that sell my work want it in time for Christmas. That’s why most of the drawings are gleaned from the previous coloring books, compiling them into a broad portrait of the county’s rural places. I thought you might need to know that. It is sort of like buying a “Best of” album from your favorite music group, and then you either say, “Oh I love this song” or “Wait, I already have this”.
Like all the previous coloring books, each page has a tiny hidden heart.
Three Rivers has one river, the Kaweah, pronounced “kuh-WEE-uh”. Four forks come together into the Middle Fork, but apparently only three mattered when it was time to name the town. (No, I don’t know which three.) Middle, Marble, East, South, and North are the names of the various branches.
A week or two ago, I learned that the brother of two of my former drawing students took on something called a “bridge project”. He was commissioned to create four 2×2′ tile mosaics to decorate a new bridge somewhere in the county. I asked around and concluded it must be the bailey bridge at the upper end of South Fork Road. So, Trail Guy and I went exploring.
You can see evidence of the SQF Complex fire that burned a lot of South Fork, threatened Three Rivers, Case Mt. and Mineral King
Here is the bridge, going in just upstream of the old bailey bridge, and still just one lane wide:
You can watch Nate Norman talk about making these tiles on this YouTube video. (You might want to fast forward past the first few minutes of someone talking about Arts Consortium business and get right to Nate’s presentation.)
I did a screen shot from the video to show you one of his truly beautiful mosaics. As someone who has experimented with tile mosaic in the past, I can assure you that this was no small undertaking.
We drove up near the bridge, but it was being worked on so I just took a couple of photos. I am guessing the tiles will go on each of 4 main pillars, one of which I have circled the spot in red for you.
The bridge is about 11 miles up South Fork Road, and I think the campground is one mile farther. We didn’t cross the bridge, but headed back down. It was such a beautiful day that I almost forgot about August. And heat. And smoke. And smog.
There were poppies, but they were closed up due to the overcast day. However, I did get this poor photo of a few wildflowers by kneeling in the mud on the side of the road.
You are welcome.
I do what I can to find the beauty in Tulare County, but not so much that people will flock here. Remember, we are uneducated, poor, unemployed, fat, and diabetic. Oh, and there is that bad air filtering down through the Altamont Pass from the Bay Area for which we get penalized. Further, there is no Trader Joe’s and never will be.
Today’s tour will consist of views – oak trees, the pond, the arbors, and finally, the views from the 2 hills on the north east corner of Tulare County’s Mooney Grove Park.
I felt sad to not be going to the park when my murals were finished, and this tour was my way of lingering. Now that our extended tour of Mooney Grove has concluded, we will return to the actual business of art next week.
Today we’ll look at trees in Tulare County’s Mooney Grove. Just trees, no talk.
Tomorrow we’ll visit some oddities and unusual pieces and points of interest in Tulare County’s Mooney Grove Park. Many things can fit in a 100 acre park.
More photos of Mooney Grove Park, where I took a walk each day after I finished working on the murals on the Tulare County Museum.
Speaking of the museum, let’s focus on that treasure today. I’ve included pictures of the Pioneer Village behind the museum (entered through the museum) and 3 photos inside the museum.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at a bridge, not my favorite bridge (Oak Grove), but a simpler bridge in a true oak grove.
This is a virtual tour. Enjoy it from the comfort of your easy chair. No viruses to be spread this way.
Mooney Grove Park is 100 acres of about 50 types of trees. The Valley Oaks (quercus lobata) make up about half of the tree population. The land was sold to Tulare County in 1909, with the agreement that only dead or dying Valley Oaks could be removed. Meanwhile, many new trees have been planted, a few of which I recognized, some that I learned about, some that surprised me, and all of which contributed to the specialness of this interesting and beautiful place.
It helped that I was working there during March, my second most favorite month. The grounds were green and many trees were in bloom.
Stop talking, Central Calif. artist, because we want to see some photos.
Okay. Photos. No more talk. Just pictures of a beautiful park in spring.
First, the name of the museum is Tulare County Museum, and it is in Mooney Grove. This is a county park. Just wanted to clarify, because the title of my blog posts about this mural make it sound as if the museum is called the “Mooney Museum”. I just like alliteration.
This is how the mural looked when I arrived on Day #3.
The brighter orange is poppies, the lighter orange is fiddleneck, and the lightest yellow is mustard. (You’re welcome – I know you were wondering.)
There were a few details left to add to finish this one.Better.Best.
There is too much to show you on today’s post, so Day 3B will appear tomorrow.
If you grew up around here, you are probably accustomed to hearing about the county park on the south side of Visalia as “Mooney’s Grove”. When I painted a mural to go inside the Tulare County Historical Museum at Mooney Grove about 10 years ago, I learned that I had been saying the name wrong my entire life.
I began my 4 part mural there this week on this building, listening to yacking Canada geese all day long. (They aren’t as bad as barking dogs in spite of being louder.)
First, the masking tape to protect the borders.
Getting the sky painted quiets the rude Voice of Incompetence and Insecurity in my head.
Next, I located the mountains, following my photos. (Of course I included Alta Peak with the elephant.)
Then, I got confused. Too many photos, too many viewpoints, too many options. So, I took a break to enjoy my surroundings at Mooney Grove, a park set aside for its Valley Oak trees.
The clock chimes every hour. It is pleasant, a nice alternative to the fire whistle in Exeter which almost knocked me off a scaffolding at noon until I learned to climb down and cover my ears at 11:59 each day while painting there.
The hills continued to confound me, so I just started covering things with paint to sort out later.
Standing back helps me to see what needs to be adjusted. Eventually I was able to find some hills and figure out the right colors. The wide band of green on the bottom will become an orange grove.
Not bad for one day’s work! So, I went for a walk around the park. When the mural is finished, I’ll show you a collection of photos of this lovely piece of somewhat cultivated nature on the outskirts of Visalia.
Tomorrow we’ll look at trees.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at a bridge, not my favorite bridge (Oak Grove), but a simpler bridge in a true oak grove. 
Better.
Best.
Eventually I was able to find some hills and figure out the right colors. The wide band of green on the bottom will become an orange grove.