This is a view of my friend Barbara’s French Lavender in Three Rivers. Livingston Lavender Farms, named after her grandmother who built the home, will be open soon for you to come harvest lavender. June 15? More will be revealed.
A Lavender Painting
More about lavender
My amazing friend Barbara grows lavender. She opens her lavender gardens (or is it a farm?) to the public each June when the lavender is at its peak. People can harvest bunches of lavender.
The dates of this event are a little squishy, because the bloom is dependent on the weather.
This year, it is possibly Saturday June 15. This happens here in Three Rivers, and you just sort of have to pay attention to the paper and to people who might know.
Barbara and I like to collaborate on art projects. She had me paint lavenders on saltillo tiles for her garden and to sell during the Hidden Gardens Tour. These sold well, so I have painted more for her Lavender Harvest Event.
In addition, I have finished 2 new paintings based on her beautiful lavender. The hope was to have them printed into blank books to be useful as journals. More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .
I know I said 2 paintings. Guess you’ll have to come back tomorrow.
Hidden Object, Contest, Prizes
Remember this mural?
Now, there will be a hidden object painted in this mural, visible Saturday, May 11, 2013.
No clues. You are on your own to find it.
It does not appear in this photograph. You need to go there in person.
I apologize to those of you who do not live near by. However, you can have a little fun any time you are in Three Rivers, checking the mural to find what is hidden and where it is.
The first three people who find the hidden object and go into Sequoia Outdoor Sports to tell Carolyn what and where it is will receive a prize!
- First finder: day pack with water bottle, hat, mug, beverage coolies, frisbee, map handkerchief and notecards featuring the mural
- Second finder: water bottle, hat or visor, mural notecards
- Third finder: water bottle, hat or visor, mural notecards
These are good prizes, so we are making you work a little. You have to get yourself to Three Rivers and LOOK and go into the store. 41891 Sierra Drive, 561-1190, open 9-4:30.
Have fun! 😎
A Friend’s First Art Show
One of my drawing students is so good that I asked The Courthouse Gallery in Exeter ( where I teach drawing lessons) to feature her in an upcoming show.
I’m defining “so good” based on several things:
- Her work is technically excellent.
- She composes her drawings from her own photos (and occasionally from mine), carefully choosing, scooting, cropping, editing, giving great thought to composition (which is the arrangement of the elements in the drawing) as opposed to automatically copying what is in the photo.
- She does the work – studies drawing on her own outside of class, draws on her own outside of class, sketches regularly and takes practice very seriously.
- She produces one good drawing after another after another – the big word for this is “prolific”.
The Courthouse Gallery selection committee asked her to show there in July through September!
We thought they were booked further ahead, but suddenly, we both felt some time pressure. We realized we would have to work together to get her work titled, framed and priced. We decided a postcard would be a good thing. We decided that scanning her work would be prudent. We realized that this could get expensive. We remembered that I have lots of mats and frames.
We had a lovely 1/2 day together, along with her daughter Jenna, digging through my mats and frames, deciding if any of them complement her drawings. We found several that worked. We scanned, we scrutinized, we did the work.
You will be seeing more about Wendy Miller and her work in this blog as her show approaches. Without giving away too much of her work, here is a teaser. (I want you to come to her show!)
“Hey Mom”
11×14, pencil on paper, by Wendy Miller, private collection
An Oil Painting Workshop, Beta Version
Oh Great. Now she is speaking Computer. Isn’t it enough that we have to endure occasional Artspeak without this too?
What is “beta version”? I looked it up and found the best definition on Michael Hyatt’s blog:
” The premise is this: ‘we know it’s not perfect, but it’s far enough along that we need your input to get it right.'”
Based on this idea, I gave an oil painting workshop for a handful of my drawing students. They know me and my teaching methods and limitations, I know them and their skills and their kindness and encouragement. I didn’t publicize the thing because I didn’t want to expose my ignorance to strangers who were expecting a highly experienced painter and workshop leader.
We painted from photos. I provided 5 versions of a pomegranate and lots of leeway for interpretation of background, cropping, compositional variation, and whatever made the participant happy and comfortable with the project. It is okay to paint from photos. That’s what studio artists do. (We had real pomegranates available to look at, feel, examine and make us believe we weren’t “cheating”.)
We had a great time! Here is the results of the workshop (minus Nicholas’s work because he had to leave early).
Tomorrow I will tell why I think it was a success for everyone!
First Saturday December
It only rained a little bit, off and on, no umbrellas required. The rain didn’t deter Linda, Maggie, Beth, Gail, Ron, Judy, Jeannie, Bonnie, Sara, Gary, Vanessa, Tom, Becky, Sonya or Rachelle!
(I was just practicing my memory skills.)
I saw this on my way over to the studio this morning. A grey day really shows off the yellow leaves (and the orange cone in the distance!)
Art, flowers, cookies, music – people enjoyed visiting my studio (or maybe they were just being polite).
Guest/friend/customer Judy thought the remaining leaves on the flowering pear tree would be a good subject for photography. She was right – thank you, Judy!
First Saturday Three Rivers December 1
First Saturday Three Rivers for December is coming quickly – December 1, to be exact. My studio will be open. Go to Anne Lang’s Emporium for a map. Come see me between 11 and 5. It might be raining. I have a roof and a little heater. It will be fine!
You can ask me stuff about my art and buy Christmas gifts. I don’t accept credit cards but I do accept cash and (good) checks. There is an ATM in town at the Bank of the Sierra.
Did I forget anything?? Email me or comment if you want to know more!
The Exclusive Perfect Gift Boutique in Review
The Perfect Gift Boutique happened over the weekend. It has become a tradition for the Kaweah Artisans to hold this exclusive event on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving at the Three Rivers Arts Center.
Exclusive? Well, the Arts Center is small, so we have to exclude any exhibitor who doesn’t say “Yes” soon enough to procure a space.
Exclusive? We are all folks who make what no one else makes. That could be more accurately defined as “unique”, but that is such an overused term.
Exclusive? We are from Tulare County, primarily foothill towns, primarily Three Rivers. If an artist from another town with a product that no one else was showing and selling asked, we would consider her. We are all California artists.
Exclusive? We aren’t a bunch of man-haters. We have included men in the past. Just turns out that we are all women.
Artisans? We all make our own products. That includes weaving, soy candles, soaps and lotions and perfumes, jewelry, photography, gourd art including ornaments, wood turned bowls and vases and platters, oil paintings on canvas, ornaments, journals and cards (that would be my work).
Care to join us next year, either as an exhibitor or as a shopper?
Perfect Gift Boutique
The Perfect Gift Boutique is an annual event put on by The Kaweah Artisans.
Can you see the Arts Center? It is over there!!
It is low-key. There are 7 of us showing and selling our work in an old converted house across the river from the main part of Three Rivers on North Fork Drive. I put all my Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music on, and we just hang out and wait for people to come. We talk to the guests, help them choose gifts or just catch up with them and enjoy one another’s company.
The participants this year are: Tina St. John – jewelry, Anne Birkholz – wood turning, Sam McKinney – gourd art/ornaments, Ginny Wilson – Blue Ridge Photography, Nikki Crain – handweaving/soy candles, Janene Laswell – Ja Nene Natural Body Products. and me.
Friday, November 23 and Saturday, November 24. Three Rivers Arts Center, North Fork Drive (just across the bridge, first building on the left), 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Bazaar, not Bizarre
The annual Three Rivers Senior League Holiday Bazaar happened on a rainy day. This might be the third year in a row, which isn’t really bizarre. I am not complaining – the rain is always welcomed in this part of the world. Central California feeds the world, and it requires irrigation to grow all that food, which requires snow in the mountains.
This is what I saw when I pulled up in the morning. I never did make it outside to see what was under those tents. Hardy folks, those artists!
Since I set up the night before, I was greeted by this sight. Well spaced, missing a banner that says “cabinart” because the pole was sort of falling apart. Lots of space for people to enter and not get trapped by a hungry pushy saleswoman/artist. That wouldn’t be me. I am not hungry, pushy, or a saleswoman. Sigh. Perhaps I should learn how to be. Never mind. I’d rather paint. (I was a little hungry – forgot to eat breakfast that morning!)
Because I was set up, it gave me time to admire the view out the windows.
I was so pleased to have Creekside Yarns as my booth neighbor. They were pleased also, because I offered them the backside of my screens, hooks for hanging, and help hanging their merchandise. If I wasn’t such a disciplined artist, I would spend most of my daylight hours at Creekside Yarns. That is my favorite form of procrastination. They are my favorite shop. Knitting is my favorite thing to do outside of work. Happy sigh.
This is my friend and former drawing student, Nikki Crain. She is a weaver of awesome ability, an artisan extraordinaire, a first-class fiberist. (I just made that word up because I was on an alliterative role, sort of) Look at those trees!! She has the best booth space.
There was steady traffic, but the booths were seldom crowded. This gave lots of opportunities to really converse with the folks who stopped by. The Three Rivers Holiday Bazaar is one of the easiest shows that I do – close to home, set up the night before, one day only, not very expensive, well attended by people sincerely interested in Christmas shopping who are friendly and intelligent. This seems like it should be a common thing, but the more shows I do, the more I appreciate this little event, here in Central California in the rainy autumn foothills. Happy sigh.
p.s. All the calendars sold. I ordered 8 more, and they are now all spoken for. (Yes, Jon and Ralph, you are on that list!)