Almost finished with 4 new ones. The swamp cooler was okay, and am I very VERY thankful for generous neighbors with a swimming pool.
As always, they look WAY BETTER in person. But by the time you are reading this post, the paintings might be already sold!
It was an exceptionally busy weekend in Mineral King. Instead of attending a couple of meetings, Trail Guy and I took a hike to Eagle Meadow. The hike gave us a temporary respite from the effects of living in a fishbowl. I was expecting a friend to stop by so I hung the scarf that I knitted for her on the door in case I missed her visit – I WANTED to see her but didn’t know when to expect her. (I don’t really expect you to care about the scarf but I was enamored with the colors.)
In spite of the wildfires in California, it was a fairly clear day.
Spring Creek is low but Trail Guy reassures me that it has never run dry.
This is the Eagle sinkhole. There is water, but it disappears into the ground before it reaches the normal disappearance spot.
Eagle Lake is the most popular hike, and although it wasn’t our destination, we were on the same trail as those headed to the lake. We encountered a doe with a pair of fawns, and when I heard this noisy group catching up to us, I went back to tell them that if they were quiet, Trail Guy would show them the deer. They were quite excited (and probably wondered who these 2 old know-it-alls thought they were).
We also encountered a man with a dog; I told him there are no dogs allowed on the trail (I AM SO TIRED OF DOGS ON THE TRAILS!) and he explained that it is a service dog who can tell him when his blood sugar is low. Really?? That is an extraordinary canine. I told him to hang on to that leash very tightly, because we were just feet from a doe and two fawns. I don’t know if service dogs are really allowed on trails.
There were several trees down – nothing impassable.
This is where we finished with the trail. Going to Eagle Lake is popular, but Trail Guy and I are not interested in dealing with all the ankle-breaking boulders. Besides, the lake is low this year. 
Eagle Meadow was our destination. It is usually excessively buggy – biting flies and mosquitoes love this area. Some years it is full of Shooting Stars and Knotweed. Not this year.
There was an eensy little creek flowing through, so of course I kicked off my Crocs and put my feet in. (Yes, Crocs. My feet hurt otherwise.) I sat there and contemplated the dried up Yampah, Yarrow, and Yunions. (Onions, but it fits better here with a Y).
Here are some Onions still in bloom.
This particular view is one I started painting last winter, or maybe the one before. I want to make it the absolute best I can, better than “good enough to sell”. So with my new camera (I’ll tell you a bit more about that next week) , I took many more photos. (I haven’t shown you the painting in progress so if this feels like new information, that’s because it is.) The stump isn’t important other than being recognizable as near the junction to Mosquito Lake.
There are a couple of miniature people on the trail ahead. I wanted to show you how steep it is because I am sore from this hike and it is highly disappointing. How sore would I be if I didn’t regularly walk hills? It doesn’t bear thinking about.
The next day I walked down and back up the Nature Trail in order to prevent rigor mortis from setting in. Actually, I walked down to a friend’s cabin to meet another friend for lunch, and then we walked back up together. (See? A busy weekend).
For flower names, I recommend this book: Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names.
Since this is primarily my business blog, I can offer my own book without sounding too sellsy. Not actually actively forcefully selling the book, just reminding and making it easy for you.
No time to post – gotta paint!
MORE!
GO GO GO!
STOP SHOUTING, JUST PAINT.
Sorry. Summer is more than half over and I have to strike while the iron is hot on these Mineral King oil paintings. Last summer started late because of the plague and ended prematurely because of the fires. This summer there is no time to waste.
Painting on spheres the size of a tennis ball definitely qualifies as an odd job. Painting five of them means the odd job provides lots of opportunities to practice.
I photographed each ornament after putting the next segments on them. This has to be done in parts, because wet paint on a complete sphere is a messy situation. After seeing these photos, it is clear to me that I need to be doing this in better light rather than at the end of the day when the light is low.
This time I had the foresight to attach a wire, dig out the clothespins, open the ladder, and clip each ornament to the clothesline/pulley arrangement above the easels and painting tables. (Trail Guy assembled this so our friend who grows lavender would have a place to dry her bunches a few years ago). 
There was paint left on the palette, and it is a shame to waste paint. It will keep overnight, and it does okay in the freezer for awhile, but I was heading up the hill and wouldn’t have a chance to use the paint before it got too tacky. So, I got out a photo of Mineral King and a 6×18″ canvas, figuring I could stretch the scene into a panoramic format. 
Upside down forces me to evaluate the shapes correctly, not that it matters when I am distorting a scene to this degree. You can see that the colors are wrong. However, those are the colors that were left on the palette, and it really doesn’t matter for the first layer.
I can make this work. But first I need to finish the Large Important Oil Painting and make better progress on those five ornaments. Unless, of course, one of the four places that sells my work calls for more Mineral King paintings.
That’s a title change from the story of a large and important commissioned oil painting, but the saga continues as I build up the layers of paint and try to figure out how to make this worthy of “large and important” as a description..
Here are some thoughts and explanations as I bumble along. (The numbers don’t correspond to the photos.)
Now it needs to dry awhile. Next, I will correct things that are not believable, correct colors, tighten up details, and then wait for more drying so I can add more details, wait for more drying, add even more details. . .
Are you wondering why I asked the library to pay a 1/2 deposit on the commissioned oil painting? I have learned that if a place or person doesn’t pay a deposit, sometimes they disappear. Not often, but it has happened enough that I believe in the importance of a financial commitment on the part of the customer. With a place like the library, someone could change jobs and then the newcomers have no idea what took place. (I didn’t get to year #27 as your Central California artist by making the same mistakes more than once, no twice, wait, . . . never mind.)
I asked the librarian if she wanted to see photos of the painting in progress; she politely declined. I asked if I could show them on my blog; permission was granted.
Upside down forces me to see the proportions and shapes. The first layer is very thin, loose, nay, downright sloppy.
It’s okay. I know what I am doing. (It’s about time, eh?) It has been awhile since I reminded you that:
For reasons that are irrelevant to my blog readers, this Friday is about previous Julys in Mineral King.
2010: Water was abundant, we were allowed to have bonfires, and White Chief still had snow.
2012: Bearskin was strong on the west side of Vandever (the peak on the right side of Farewell Gap), and there were some fantastic larkspur on the side of Farewell Gap’s main canyon.
2014: Rachelle’s (of new lungs) husband got a whiff of Sky Pilot on Farewell Gap, Franklin Falls was flowing strong.
2016: The flowers were fantastic at the Franklin/Farewell Gap trail junction.
2018: The classic view, and waterflow was still good in July. (2nd photo along the Nature Trail).
2020:
Thus we conclude a brief look at several previous Julys in Mineral King. “Julies”? Nope. Julys.
This commissioned oil painting is important, because it is for the library, because it is dedicated to the memory of someone loved by her family, and because all my custom art is important.
It will be 18×24″, which is large for me. Not the largest oil I’ve painted, but certainly larger than my usual small works that sell steadily to visitors passing through, larger than most of my commissions (remember, we are poor in Tulare County), and large enough to put in the many details that the customers are requesting.
In order to be sure that I understood what the librarians wanted (and I am guessing they showed the family who donated the money for the painting), I had to do a sketch. I also had to do the sketch in order to see if I could fake all these details into something believable. Believability is what I aim for, because real life is messy and there are rarely photos that tell what we remember, or what we wish was there.
THEY LIKED IT!
I had quoted them prices for their requested 24×36″, but they chose 18×24″. I told them the price for this size, they requested an invoice so they could send me a check for half, and instead of waiting for the check, I ordered the canvas and started painting.
Next week Chapter 4: the beginnings on the canvas.
You were left with a cliff hanger yesterday, probably wondering how you would be able to sleep last night. 
When I asked the librarian what was meant by “incorporating books”, she showed me this commissioned oil painting from my blog last year, scenery with backpacks, and said to put books in, the same way I put backpacks in this painting. Here is that painting in progress, and you can read the final posting on the job here. Completed Commission
It felt like a daunting request, so I drove to the property, went up the driveway as if I had been invited, and took some photos, one overheated morning, when the light was all wrong. 
The stone wall held promise. I could stack some books there.
(Remember Reading Rabbit? I used to post about books I had read. Why did I stop? Too many other topics, and besides, if people didn’t like the books I liked, they might quit reading my blog, saying I had gotten too political or too religious or some other sort of terrible offense. Can’t have that now, can we?)
This is going to take some thought. Next, I will show you the sketch that I did to show the librarians. Sketches are vitally important when doing custom art, because most people aren’t able to visualize.
Next chapter – the sketch.
This will be a long story, told in multiple chapters.
Because I have been an artist for a long time in the same county, often people think of me when they need an artist. This is a good thing, because even if I am not the right person for the job, I often know who might be.
Someone from the county library emailed me, looking for a portrait artist. Nope, not me. The library received a donation in memory of a patron and wanted to hire someone to paint or draw a portrait of the woman. Nope, not me. I could tell that the poor librarian did not even know the right questions to ask, so I called her and gave her a rather detailed set of instructions about how commissions work, what questions to ask, what to expect, and a couple of names of artists who might be available. Nope, not me.
I followed up the phone call with a summary, and included samples of my work, both pencil and oil, and of course I sign all business emails with my website address. I made it abundantly clear that I don’t accept commissions for portraits, but should they change their minds, I would be very happy to work with them on this project.
A few weeks later, they decided, yeppers, me, because scenery instead of a portrait would be just fine with everyone concerned. The instructions were vague, so I pushed for more information. They provided a few photos of the ranch owned by the family, and requested that the painting include books. Say what?
WAIT A MINUTE! I recognize that barn!
Remember this pencil drawing? Probably not. I did it in March of 2013. 
I took this photo back when I was looking for the right way to show off this area:
it is an odd-looking barn, which makes it memorable.
Okay, where were we? To be continued. . .