General | Cabin Art

Mural, Day Three

On Day One, it was hot out. I wore shorts and painted in the shade. On Day Three, I wrapped it up early because of the icy wind that was whipping around, flapping the drop cloth, making my hand shake from the shivers. Weather Whiplash.

The pipe is annoying, so I decided to get that area finished first.

Pipe area is still not quite finished, but I am done with the annoyance of it for now.

By the end of the shivery painting session, I had scooted across to the big tree on the right. At the end of the day, I prefer to work standing or kneeling on the ground instead of on the ladder.

From a distance with a building blocking off the undone parts, you could get the false idea that the mural is finished.

Who is Bob? Some people say, “. . . and Bob’s your uncle” to mean that something has been accomplished.

I don’t know who this Bob is, but today Kurt the Mailman stopped by to see the mural. Why does Kurt the Mailman care? He is a fabulous photographer and gave me a disk of his photos a number of years ago, along with his permission and blessing to use any for painting references. This mural is from one of Kurt the Mailman’s photographs! (I’m using quite a bit of artistic license, along with other photos for different details).

Bringing the Tartar Sauce

There used to be a popular gift book called Life’s Little Instruction Book”. One of its nuggets of wisdom was, “When you are going after Moby Dick, take the tartar sauce”.

I recently submitted an application, or “exhibition proposal” in ArtSpeak to an area non-profit gallery. That’s the only kind of galleries we have in Tulare County, and I’ve shown in all except this one.

With that tartar sauce mindset as I go after our local Moby Dick gallery, I am continuing to work on larger paintings, specifically Tulare County subject matter.

This one is 10×30″, which is biggish for me, although nothing like that 3 foot diameter circle. I started it upside down, my usual method (unless I am working on a mural.)

I think it is pretty just like this. But, I paint in oil, not water color, so this will receive several more layers. At every stage, it is certainly prettier than tartar sauce.

End of Summer

Why is Labor Day the end of summer? Because school used to start the day after Labor Day, that’s why.

Now, it is just the bookend to Memorial Day. Doesn’t seem to warrant a flag or a grateful patriotic message.

But you all deserve something because I feel grateful to all of you who read my blog and appreciate my labors.

How about a few views from the Farewell Gap trail minus the sore feet and huffy-puffiness?

May your labors not be too laborious.

Thank you for reading my blog!

Not Scared

Did I scare you with that rough painting of a rough cabin on a rough shutter?

These deer weren’t scared.

Let’s soothe your fears with some giant Sequoia trees.

Well, oops, it might have scared you to see them lying sideways. Let’s try it again while they are hanging up to dry.

I’m feeling so proud of this that my head might pop. That’s a scary thought.

Pippin’s not scared. He feels very safe behind the chimney next to the window near my chair. He scared Tucker away from that spot so his selfish little self could have it.

How to Subscribe to my E-newsletter

Yesterday you learned (or skipped) instructions on subscribing to my blog.

Today we will discuss the e-newsletter. This means a newsletter that is sent electronically rather than on paper through the mail. E = Electronic.

How to subscribe to the enewsletter

There is a subscription dealie (what is this thing? a form? some boxes? a gizmo?) on the main page of my blog. You won’t see it if you are on a specific blog post, only if you are the main page. You won’t see it if you are on a phone or a tablet – only if you are using a desktop or a laptop. This is how it looks:

See the circled stuff? Fill it out. You might get a confirmation email. If you do, follow the instructions there.

Why don’t I know? Because I cannot subscribe to my own enewsletter. It won’t work that way.

What is my “enewsletter”?

Whenever I have extra information* for those who care about my art, I send a newsletter. There is no schedule. I work hard to stay on point and not bloviate at you. Just the facts. Sometimes a picture because too many words are boring. (I am an artist!)

It gets sent out by a website called MailChimp and lands in your email inbox (or maybe your Junk mail folder)

My last enewsletter had the subject line of “4 Quick Things” and was mailed on Friday, May 29. If you got that email, then you are subscribed.

If you need help subscribing, email me at cabinart at cabinart dot net and I will help you.

Use symbols in my eddress instead of words. For example, where I wrote “at”, substitute @. “Dot” means period. “Net” means . . . never mind. I think you can figure it out.

You made it to the end so you deserve a treat. This bud’s for you.

*Extra info – news about shows/bazaars/boutiques, announcements about upcoming murals or events you might want to know about, reminders that I accept commissions, reminders that I teach drawing lessons, requests for your opinions, feeble attempts to be clever, etc.

How To Subscribe to This Blog

Does this topic make you want to hide under this quilt and nap?

Good morning, Blog Readers.

My blog has 2 different items that you may subscribe to. This confuses many people, so today I will tackle item #1.

How to subscribe to THE BLOG:

You may subscribe to my blog. This means that each time I post a new entry, you will get an email. The email will contain the whole post, or you can click (or tap) on it and go to the blog on my website.

It is not necessary to subscribe to be able to read it. Subscribing means you will get an email; not everyone wants 5 emails from me per week. No offense taken. Do what works for you.

If you are looking at the main blog page instead of the individual blog post, you should see the thing circled in the picture above. If you are reading the individual blog post, the subscribe dealie doesn’t show.

If you fill out the subscribe dealie, you will get a confirmation email. Follow the instructions there, and you will start receiving an email each time I post.

Yeppers, a little bit boring today. Tomorrow will also be a little bit boring. It will explain how to subscribe to the newsletter.

Thank you for reading.

Email me if you want help! Oh no, do I need to do a whole tutorial on that?? Say it ain’t so! My eddress (in words instead of regular email format so that the Bad Boys of the World Wide Web won’t bother me) is cabinart at cabinart dot net.

P.S. “Blog” comes from “web log”. Take away the “we” and the space, and you get “blog”. The “log” part is the word meaning “journal”. It is a journal on the world wide web.

Odd Job, Day 3

After making all our design decisions about my friend’s coat of arms, I started painting.

But first, I had to draw and trace it onto the canvas. This is too precise a design to be just sloppy-slapping it down.

This needs to dry for a day or two before I continue. It needs a more vivid green, a golden type color instead of the yellow, and new layers on everything.

oil painting oil painting commission

Sunday Bonus

Our friend in Lemon Cove graciously lets us glean in his orchard.

I am the daughter and granddaughter of citrus growers and love to be in an orange grove. Gleaning oranges is what passes for a great outing and rippin’ good time for Trail Guy and I these days. (Sharing our loot is a bonus.)

The full-on blossom time is almost here; orange blossoms are my favorite scent in the world.

Who needs lunch? Not me, because I just ate three oranges.

“Let not your hearts be troubled; neither let them be afraid.” We have a choice here, dear Blog Readers.

May you find bright spots and good things to share with those in your circles.

And here is one more bright spot for you: TenTwoSix Singers, a group of 31 Nashville studio singers using technology to do a most beautiful a capella version of “It is Well” all from their separate sheltering in place locations. The link takes you to Facebook, but you don’t have to have an account to listen. (If beautiful music stirs you, you might cry.)

Mooney Grove Tour VI

Today’s tour will consist of views – oak trees, the pond, the arbors, and finally, the views from the 2 hills on the north east corner of Tulare County’s Mooney Grove Park.

I felt sad to not be going to the park when my murals were finished, and this tour was my way of lingering. Now that our extended tour of Mooney Grove has concluded, we will return to the actual business of art next week.

mooney grove mooney grove park Tulare county

More Oil Interludishness

Yeppers, I made up another word. It simply means that I was able to paint a few more days than expected and have more progress to show you on Mineral King oil paintings.More detail on the painting on the left, but more contemplation is needed before signing this.

What does Pippin think?Since Pippin didn’t offer any help, I added wildflowers to these two.That was fun, so I did the same to the painting on the left.Now let’s tackle this unusual arrangement of a usual subject matter, the Honeymoon Cabin in Mineral King, now a little museum. Well, actually right now it is boarded up for the winter. And let’s just paint it, not tackle it, hmmm?This turned out really well, so when it is dry, I’ll photograph it minus the poor afternoon sunlight and sheen of wet paint so you can fully appreciate its specialness.