Back to Sawtooth

Remember all those oil paintings of Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint? Sunnypoint was a Forest Service campground in Mineral King closed in the 1970s (or was it the 1960s? I wasn’t there then.)

The view that has been so popular is a bit made up. When you are standing where I have stood to take so many photos, year after year, of the same scene, your eyes tell you that the barest tip of Sawtooth shows. When you leave the exact spot, you remember it as a place where Sawtooth, Black Wolf Falls, the stream, and wildflowers are all coexisting in beautiful harmony.

It is my job to gather up all those pieces of reality and combine them into a believable fantasy for you. This beautiful fantasy, which matches up with peoples’ memories, has brought me back to the easel once again.

After a week of messing around, taking walks, editing 2 books, and staying away from the painting workshop, I finally went back to work.

The work that remains after this dries:

  1. Add the wildflowers
  2. Fix whatever is wrong that I have noticed during the drying process
  3. Sign
  4. Let dry again
  5. Scan
  6. Varnish
  7. DELIVER!

There is more to the story of multiple iterations of the Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint paintings. Mañana. . .

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7 Comments

  1. Been there, done that, don’t need to do it again! Love the painting!

    Jim

    • Thank you, Jim, and ditto your comment about Sawtooth!

  2. Sometimes fantasy can be fun, too! Now I’ll have to check out just how much of Sawtooth’s tip shows from that spot. But that must wait for at least 4 months. How many commissions of this scene did you end up getting?

    I think Sunnypoint was closed in the (maybe late) 1960s. I barely remember it being open. I bet Tweed knows!

    And the Central California Artist is bilingual!

    • Sharon, I got 4 commissions in addition to the original sale plus a bonus 6×12″ that sold the same day I delivered it to the Mural Gallery for a total of 6 paintings of the same scene. And now Kaweah Arts has requested one.

      Puzzling over your “bilingual” comment. . .

      • I’ll explain . . . “Mañana!”

        • How funny – that didn’t even feel like another language!

          • Well, in California, it really isn’t. And will become more not.

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