3rd Mineral King Mural, Day #3

The third Mineral King Mural in the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers History Museum is almost finished. I estimated 3-4 painting days, and that’s about right.

First I worked on the mountains on the upper right. They were still rough, but it wasn’t apparent until I had detailed the other mountains. The contrast was strong between finished and unfinished mountains, but I didn’t take a close-up photo because I was DETERMINED to finish that day. (In spite of being a conscientious blogger, I do try to live in the moment rather than live to document life.)

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Now the upper mountains are tighter, and it shows the unfinished forested areas and everything else below the upper ridge.
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Can you see the improvement now? Louise helped me decipher the miniature details of the actual Mineral King valley, because that is the most important part.
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I added detail to the foreground – texture, rather than specific rocks.
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There might be no difference here, except that I remembered to move the photo taped to the mural.

I added details to the mountains to the left of the valley, detailed the foreground a bit more, added a foreground tree on the left and one on the right, added texture, snow, contrast, details, details, details. The pencil artist in me wants to take this thing to the nth degree.

Couldn’t stand it – I was compelled to remove the tape to get a cleaner view.
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This is how it looked at the end of the day. I left the photos up so that visitors to the incomplete Mineral King Room can see that it is real, not just a figment of some demented artist’s over-active imagination.

Here is the list of what remains to be done on day 4, which hardly counts as a painting day:

  1. Review all the details and the accuracy with Louise Jackson, author of Trail of Promises, dear friend, coordinator of the Mineral King Room and all-around Mineral King expert.
  2. Remove blue tape.
  3. Wash off blue chalk.
  4. Touch up wall paint where the mural paint bled under the tape.
  5. SIGN IT!!
  6. Ride off into the sunset.
This is how it looked when I stepped outside after painting 7-1/2 hours without stopping.
This is how it looked when I stepped outside after painting 7-1/2 hours without stopping.

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6 Comments

  1. I want that painting for my home!!!! MK is my favorite God Given place in the world!!! Thanks Jana for showing us how.

    • Sally, that is a good idea – I could get a really long canvas and do an oil painting of that scene!

  2. Wow. The mural – and the sunset 🙂 – are gorgeous! Leah

    • Leah, thank you! I hope you and Peter will be able to make it to the Big Deal of the MK Room on January 22. And that sunset was such a gift when Tom and I stepped outside at the end of the day on Saturday.

  3. … you are amazing –

    • Couldn’t have done it without Louise! SHE is amazing!

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