Another Mineral King Report

It was a smoky several days in Mineral King.

I stopped by a friend’s cabin for a quick visit and was struck by this timeless cabin scene.

The smoke did not prevent or hamper the 39th annual Mineral King Preservation Society’s Picnic in the Park, featuring our own Trail Guy.

He told of his three winters spent in Mineral King in the early 1980s, a story that held people’s attention for an entire hour.

Even little ones didn’t get restless, which is mighty amazing in this age of devices.

This one had a companion with her, besides me, her current MK BFF.

These are some of the very few artifacts remaining from the end of Trail Guy’s third winter (although the photos weren’t in the cabin when it went the way of all flesh.)

When the ordeal of public speaking was behind Trail Guy, we gathered with our neighbors in the evening.

The next day we went for a walk with some of our neighbors, in spite of the smoke.

Trail Guy loves to show people his favorite flower, the tiger lily (more accurately known as a leopard lily because it has spots, not stripes, but we have discussed this previously. . .) How thoughtful of those ranger buttons to disguise the face of his hiking friend.

The flowers were excellent, something I was almost resigned to missing in this hikeless summer. But some of the wildflowers are accessible even if one is only in walking mode.

Glacial daisy

This is Soda Springs, where water bubbles out of the ground with a hint of carbonation. Some people like to mix it with powdered lemonade, but I’ve never thought that was better than plain water. The water bubbling up tastes metallic. Some of these places are called “iron springs”, some “soda springs”, although I’ve never learned the difference, if there is such a difference.

The air cleared out in the evening when the winds shifted direction.

Thus we conclude another report on a series of days spent in Mineral King. Thanks for tuning in!

Continuing to Paint in Summer’s Heat

Summer lasts a little bit too long for my liking. In early July, I was tired of it. That is an unpopular view, and I accept my status as a weirdo in this regard. However, I soldier onward in the heat, thankful for the inadequate swamp cooler in the painting workshop, and the inadequate wall unit in the studio. When I am finished painting for the day, I stagger into the house and cool off in the most totally excellent central air conditioning.

Sometimes I go walking in the mornings with my good friend. Occasionally we see a garbage bear.

Then I come home and paint.

I added wildflowers to the 8×8″ oil painting of Franklin Falls in Mineral King. They are mountain pride, arnica, and Indian paintbrush. Although they were not in either reference photo, I’ve seen them all at Franklin Falls. Being the boss of my painting, I took artistic license. Here it is, drying on the wood pile stack.

Having finished the smaller paintings destined for the Silver City Store, I returned to building up a body of work for the October-December show at CACHE.

Like most of what I have chosen to paint lately, this isn’t easy. Look at my reference photo, taken from inside the car. Traffic stopped briefly so at least it is focused.

The working title is Keep Right. Although that is very good instruction to drivers heading to Giant Forest in Sequoia as they approach the Four Guardsmen, I am doubting my ability to make the sign look good. Besides, we live in times when people tend to be highly sensitive, spring-loaded in the offended position, so out of deference to those folks, I will think of another title.

Or you can think of another title. . . I’m not easily offended, and love to hear good ideas from my tens of readers, most of whom are friends in real life.

I wasn’t kidding when I said it was hot. Look what happened while I was painting.

Wow. What a sensitive little snowflake. It was only 103° that day.

Quick Trip

In my ongoing attempts to understand why my feet are numb, I went to see a Big Deal neurologist. She was informative, thorough, and honest about the fact that 50% of people with peripheral neuropathy never learn the cause or make it go away. Lots of blood was drawn for many tests; more will be revealed in the fullness of time.

The weather was perfect. Everything was beautiful. Everything was expensive.

I mitigated the medical nature of the trip with a little sightseeing to something that I have enjoyed since fourth grade. It took the edge off of the assault of freeways, a city, and all the accompanying stressors.

In fourth grade I built a version of the Santa Barbara mission using milk cartons covered in inside-out paper grocery bags, complete with little bells borrowed from my mom’s Christmas decorations. It was totally boss.

Some of these photos might be fun for my drawing students to work from. They are often on my mind, particularly during our 2 month summer break. And some of these might make nice paintings, but I tend to focus on local subjects, since my customers are primarily local.

I don’t mind. Freeways and cities are for other people. They can stay there, and I will occasionally visit, and probably stop at Trader Joe’s, because we will never get one in Tulare County.

Painting in the Summer Heat

Last year when sales were almost non-existent, I forgot what it is like to arrange a painting schedule around the heat and the limitations of a swamp cooler. Now I remember. Everything has a downside and an upside. Last year up—no painting in the heat. This year up—good sales.

All set up, ready to begin, early in the morning.

I finished the 6×18 bridge and took it out to the woodpile for drying.

Then I got sidetracked polishing the door handle. Good thing I’m not on anyone’s time clock.

Next: Franklin Falls. This is 2 miles up the left/east side of the Mineral King valley, a pleasant walk with only a little bit of uphill, followed by a cold wade across the creek, unless you are inclined to rock hop, which I am not. I have 2 photos, neither of which is ideal, and neither of which is square.

That’s okay. . . I know the place pretty well, and I know what people expect to see.

When something is full of fiddly detail that can’t be exactly duplicated, because of ridiculousness and cramming 2 rectangles into a square, I just find the things that matter most. The rest can be fudged.

If you’ve been to Franklin Falls, I think you’d see that this is becoming recognizable and believable.

In discussing this painting with Hiking Buddy, I told her that it is sort of colorless, all greens and browns and grays. She wisely said (reading my mind), “That’s nothing that can’t be fixed with a few wildflowers”.

Off to the woodpile for drying; the flowers will go on nicely once it is dry. Or not nicely, but if it is dry, I can wipe them off and try again.

Fast Sequoias

What does “fast sequoias” mean?

It means that my sequoia paintings sell quickly and sometimes I have to paint more speedy-quick-like-lightning, chop-chop, andalé andalé!!

It looked like this:

Skies first, then take them outside to begin drying while I go do a few chores.

I hung one on the studio door to dry, and the other one in a less photogenic location.

While the paintings were outside in the ever-increasing July temperatures, I was in the swamp-cooled workshop, mixing browns and greens.

When I had the basic shapes covered in the base redwood colors, I began detailing one at a time

It was getting too hot to keep stopping for progress photos, so here is how things wound up at the end of the painting session.

One was shipped to Texas; the other might still be available at Kaweah Arts (in the Dome in Three Rivers, river side of 198/Sierra Drive.)

MKPS Picnic in the Park

The Mineral King Preservation Society sponsors an annual picnic each year in Mineral King in July. It is a bring-your-own-picnic, bring-your-own-chair event. There is lots of chit-chat among friends, and each year a speaker brings stories of Mineral King for learning, entertainment, and for the preservation of history.

This year the speaker will be Trail Guy, telling of his three winters in Mineral King (before I met him).

He does NOT do public speaking, so I will be interviewing him, there to “prime the pump” and to carry him over verbal speed-bumps and snags.

He knows his story well, and I have been learning it over the past 39 years. It is . . .

. . . it is. . .

You gotta come hear it for yourself.

A Pair of Long Hot Days, Part Three

On day two of my Mineral King oil painting biathalon, I started early, actually feeling kind of excited to try a new scene.

I was so into the details that I forgot to take very many photos of the progress.

Call me “Butter” cuz I’m on a roll!

Next?

These two would most likely be too wet to scan, so I had to photograph them more carefully. The wildflowers at Timber Gap painting will need some skewing on photoshop to straighten it out.

Feeling accomplished, and because I began so early on Day Two, I decided to see if I could get one more painting finished.

Nope, guess not. But 4-3/4 paintings in two very hot very long days was a good dent, and I got them to the store at Silver City in time for the hoped-for Independence Day rush.

A Pair of Long Hot Days, Part Two

After I carried the first painting outside, I just grabbed the next canvas in the lineup. It is an unusual view of the Honeymoon Cabin, which is a tiny museum for the Mineral King Preservation Society. It is either the 2nd or the 3rd best selling subject of Mineral King oil paintings.

I carried this one out to the woodpile, nay, wood stack because it is so very neat, and put it alongside the first painting. Two down, four to go, and only one more day to paint. What’s a Central California Artist to do?

Put the palette and brushes in the freezer, and go home for the evening, that’s what.

Both paintings were dry enough to take to Silver City 2 days after painting them.

The saga of a Mineral King oil painting biathalon will continue tomorrow.

A Pair of Long Hot Days, Part One

When paintings are selling quickly and the season is short, your Central California artist must work quickly. Therefore, on a pair of hot days, she soldiered through multiple paintings to restock the store at the Silver City Resort.

First, this piece needed the water to be repaired, the edges painted, and a signature. This one isn’t going to Silver City unless the current large attention-getter sells.

Before I faced the urgency of restocking Silver City, understanding that the season is short and that the show at CACHE will happen even if I interrupt the painting schedule for more immediate sales, I worked a bit on this 16×20″ painting titled “Keep Right”.

I was procrastinating the start of what felt like a biathalon (a two day marathon). Finally, I went to the shelves, pulled 6 small canvases of varying sizes, and then went to my piles of Mineral King photos. Each canvas got an inventory number, a title, hanging hardware, and a sky.

To start, I picked one that felt easy. It was going to be a long hot day, and I wanted to have a sense of success.

I carried it outside to the stack of firewood where the sun hits until early evening in the hopes that it would dry enough to scan before taking it up the hill. In case that didn’t happen, I took a photo. It’s blurry. I don’t know why. . . I just work here.

This was such a long work day, and I had another one coming. It makes me feel hot and tired just telling you, so I’ll continue this tomorrow.

More Hot Times in Mineral King

Here is the continuation from Friday’s long post about hot times in Mineral King.

Evening light

In spite of the ferocious heat down the hill and the uncommon heat in Mineral King, the evenings were very pleasant.

One evening, Trail Guy went in search of his favorite flower, the leopard lily, more commonly known as the tiger lily. This doesn’t make sense to me, since the lily has spots rather than stripes, but the flower namers didn’t ask my opinion.

I followed along with my camera, because the light is so enticing at the end of the day.

There they are! Alas, too hard to get to; keep looking.

Down in the willows, almost indiscernible in this photo.

Here are some that Trail Guy could stick his nose into.

Popular Sight

When Hiking Buddy and I were trudging up the Nature Trail, I stopped for this classic photo, which never comes out right. My camera sees Sawtooth and the sky as almost the same color and value. (I messed with the sky color on the computer so you can see Sawtooth.)

That’s why I have to paint this scene; my paints can correct many photographic shortcomings.

Popular Hangout

The bridge at the end of the road is a popular place to hang out. Without fail, someone builds a dam every year.

Well-loved Juniper

A few years ago, this juniper was in jeopardy of being chopped down. A few of us protested, (my cousin, a tree guy/certified arborist also told me it still had plenty of life) and whoever was in charge changed his mind. I don’t mean that we marched around with signs and obnoxious behavior; we wrote letters in a very civilized manner.

It occurred to me that I have never painted this juniper. I wonder. . . if I left off the cars with blue tarps, took some license with the parking lot, would anyone else know or care what tree it is?