When the mural was happening, each day was predictable to some degree. There was no confusion as to the day’s task – paint from left to right, top to bottom, back to front. Now that I am back in my studio, each day there are a multitude of tasks to be prioritized. Draw or paint? Paint this or that? Finish a painting or get started on a new one so it has time to dry? Return phone calls or update the website? Then someone comes along and says “Let’s have lunch!” Or “looks like you need to sweep your front step!” And each time I return to the house to use the facilities or to check for an incoming email, either the studio phone rings as I am leaving, or I get caught up in chores inside the house and forget I am supposed to be working! It is no mystery to me why people rent studio space apart from their homes. And although the commute got old fast, it was simpler to just be gone each day with one task to be completed. My Oh-so-wise Dad used to say, “Life is a series of decisions and choices”.
You can see that I am continuing on this trail painting – I love trail scenes.
This is the beginning of a new painting for a show focused on Yokohl Valley. THANK YOU to all my students who helped me choose which scene to paint!
Painting small
After spending a fair amount of time just spinning around, making lists, losing the lists, running errands, and visiting with people instead of moving to the next errand, I finally found my way into the painting workshop. I remember this – it is fun to paint with oil paints! 16×20″ isn’t all that big any more, and 8×10″ is really really miniature! Here are some pieces in progress or nearly finished:
This 16 x 20 is Vandever (the right half of Farewell Gap) as seen from the trail to Franklin Lakes and Farewell Gap. There are 2 layers on the sky and mts. and only one on everything else.
The 11 x 14″ is aspens on the Nature Trail heading into the Mineral King Valley from Cold Springs Campground. It might be finished but needs a signature. The oranges will be sold through The Downtown Gallery in Exeter; it only has 2 layers and needs a third with much more detail. Citrus sells well in that town. . . hmmm, wonder why?
These only have the bottom layers. There are more oranges for The Downtown Gallery, and Crescent Meadow is for Sequoia Gifts and Souvenirs. Pictures of Sequoia National Park and sequoia gigantea (the redwood trees) sell well in that lovely little Three Rivers shop. (Deanne, I let the shelves show a bit so you could snoop – not much has changed except that the mural paints aren’t yet put back on the top shelves.)
Book update
I am an idiot. I sent you all to Amazon.com for Ron Hughart’s book when what I really meant to say is that you should go to The Book Garden in Exeter! This is a wonderful little independent bookstore that stocks all sorts of books, including a fine collection of books of local interest. Mea culpa, please forgive me, Cousin Chris. Ron Hughart’s book is “A Place Beyond The Dust Bowl”. Buy it, read it, love it! Buy it from The Book Garden in Exeter.
Mural, Day Thirty-four
A picture is worth 1000 words – here, see 2000 words worth! 
Mural, Day Nineteen
First, before showing you the day’s progress, I want to tell you about an esteemed visitor today, Mr. Ron Hughart. He has published a wonderful autobiography called The Place Beyond the Dust Bowl and is about to embark upon a book tour. I am very proud of Ron, and have to confess that he is the victim of the second portrait I ever drew, way back when. You can find his book here: http://www.amazon.com/Place-Beyond-Dust-Bowl/dp/1892622173
Today I crossed into the 2nd third of the mural. I photographed it this way because is appears further! I even pulled the truck forward. . . wasn’t sure about driving an automatic and had to call Keith to inquire about the parking brake. It was the first time I have ever driven to Sawtooth – had to go there first to make some subtle changes, which LJ coached me on yesterday. Here is the day’s work without all the porkadelia in the way. 
The sky looks pretty good in this! These photos help me understand that progress has been made, because today I was just sure that I painted the same snow patch over and over and over again.
Blog Behavior
No pictures today just yet – this is about posting to the blog. I don’t know what the deal is with this WordPress thing, but quite a few of you tell me you have trouble with it. Sometimes you try to post for the first time and it kicks you off. Funny thing is, some of those posts actually show up waiting for me to approve or delete them! Sometimes you think your post got rejected so you post again, and those show up too! I’m looking into it, trying to get those with trouble to describe the trouble to me so I can pass it to my web designer, Maren. She is wonderful, by the way! www.mvwebdesign.com
Mural, Day Seven
Has it really only been seven days of painting??? Today was a very very very clear day, and the mountains were showing off (the real ones, not the ones in the mural). Check out my view from the top of the forklift. Sawtooth is the last one visible on the right.
With the loan of this forklift and the most able and willing driver, today the second coat of sky was completed. This is Jeffrey. The machine belongs to his generous dad, and there was a song written for Jeffrey back before he was born called Smooth Operator! He waited patiently in between lift repositioning, offered honest opinions when asked, asked intelligent questions, and we even had conversations about other topics besides the mural.
Check out the machine. It was completely perfect for the job with the minor exception that I had to ask to be lowered. Kept me focused on the job! And when I needed more paint, Jay stopped by just in time to airmail it up to me. LJ (remember LJ? She is my mural consultant) came by to be my ground crew for a bit – what an encourager she is! Tomorrow: more mountain tops, or perhaps I will detail the old Mineral King Store and Post Office to make up for the complete lack of detail in today’s sky. Notice how the visible corner of sky (upper right) matches the wall!
a day off
Yesterday Michael and I went exploring. This is the best photo I got before the batteries died. We followed a creek along an old road, then left the road to get over to this clearing with 2 pine trees. There were several dead apple trees, a scattered stack of fence posts, evidence of piped water, several different old roads or driveways, and many rock walls to shore up sloped edges. Couldn’t find evidence of buildings, and decided these were campers who stayed a long time. “What do you want to do today?” “How about build a road?” “Nah, we did that yesterday. How about a fence today?” Seriously, it was a curious place because it didn’t appear as if trees had been felled to make the clearing. Anyway, I love to explore, and there is a great deal of sites and sights I have yet to discover here in Tulare County!
Giant Project update
Last Sunday afternoon, Michael and I took a walk. To get to our destination, we passed through this gate. Really! It got me thinking. . . most things do that to me. The Giant Project- step 1 is almost finished! There are wet spots that need to dry so I can correct some little things before turning it in for approval. It needs approval by Party A, then it needs approval by Party B. The second approval is scheduled for January 27. After that, I am allowed to reveal to you the content of this monumental project. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that – in other words, WHOA!
Breakthrough!
This little gem is a sneak peak at the Giant Project, known hereon as GP. Why am I teasing you with this? Because I have had a victory and want to share it! I have been fighting my paint and brushes, trying like crazy to get them to do what I want. I struggle along, wondering if I will ever learn to paint properly, wondering why I can’t get anything to do what I request, wondering why no matter how many hours spent it still looks like a dog’s breakfast. On Sunday a.m. a bottle of linseed oil appeared on my front porch with a note from my 6th grade teacher. (He signed it “Tom S.” and I thought it was from someone I know here in town because I always think of my 6th grade teacher’s first name as “Mr.”, not “Tom”, for goodness sake!) Like the good girl that I try to be, I wrote him a thank you note and wondered if I would ever have a use for linseed oil in painting because my earlier attempts at using it have been crap less than satisfactory. It left random shiny spots on the painting which I tried to ignore, and then a well meaning friend said, “I like this painting but it has shiny spots on it”. Then I learned about some special recipe from the teacher at the junior college where I soldiered through half a semester of a painting class 2 years ago. (I sort of knew he and I weren’t a good teacher-student match when he said to me “The trouble is, you don’t know how to draw!” Okay, thanks for that helpful tidbit Mister, but I am about to have an opening of a solo show of my drawings so your opinion of my abilities is crap less than satisfactory.) Anyway, this special recipe also made random shiny spots and was weird to use, sort of sticky and it made the color too weak, and I could see no point to using it. Maybe if I had stayed the entire semester I would have learned how to solve this problem, but it seemed that staying home to paint was a better use of my time than driving 80 minutes round trip for each class that was mostly just easel time with bad light and bad rap “music”. Meanwhile back at the ranch, I bravely went out to the easel, determined to master this problem of misbehaving paint and WHAM! into my brain came the idea of linseed oil from Mr. S. (the good teacher who taught me how to draw but denies it saying I already knew. . . go figure! I knew how to draw in 6th grade but somehow forgot through my career of drawing?) Knowing things on the easel couldn’t possibly get any worse, I tried the linseed oil mixed with the paint and it was MAGICAL! It was fabulous! All I can say is THANK YOU GOD for sending Mr. S by with that linseed oil, even before I knew it was needed so desperately! The upper right corner of the little gem is a sample of how it all looked before the magical linseed. . . I’m sure you can see it is less than satisfactory.