Weird Winter Walk, part 2

Yesterday I left you with the information that I am married to an animal. He went to within view of Monarch Lake, and then returned to me for the camera, which I gladly handed over, then resumed my semi-comatose state of gathering strength in the sunshine for the “walk” down.

Can you see the lake? It is beneath the peak sometimes referred to as “Sawtooth’s Shadow”. I think the real name is Mineral Peak. Anyone know for sure what this guy is called?

Here is the left side zoomed in.

And the right side.

And the view out to the Coast Range.

Did you know there is a sorry excuse for an outhouse at Monarch Lake?

See the 2 foxtail pines? They were just “right there”, but might as well have been in Rome for all my ability to reach them. You can see the shelf where the lake is just behind them. I didn’t care.

To be continued. . .

Weird Winter Walk

On January 2, Michael and I drove to Mineral King. That is weird for this far into the snow season. The drive up was seasonless – is this late October? early May? Then we walked to Monarch Lake on a mostly dry trail. That is immensely weird.

Okay, I lied a little bit. Michael went to Monarch Lake. I climbed and struggled and finally say “I’m done”.

You can see the lack of snow, but what was there was glistening on Farewell Gap at 9 a.m.

We chose the old trail beneath the spires of Empire. It isn’t maintained, sometimes isn’t visible, is overgrown, disappears under rockslides, splits into multiple choice, but eventually gets you to the destination.

Can you pick out the new trail over there in the ice, snow and shade? That is why we chose the south-facing old trail.

Monarch lake is beneath Sawtooth. Nice “trail”, eh?

As I struggled along, I entertained myself by devising a numerical system to rate walking. #1 is going out to my garage. #10 is “I’m done”. This walk began at a 6-7, which is “this is sort of hard but I can do it and it is even sort of fun”. It became a #8 after about 2-1/2 miles when we were on the non-maintained trail for about a mile. This number is “this is hard and it isn’t fun anymore”. I decided #9 was “this is almost too hard but I can do mind over matter” and that when I hit #10, I’d quit. Gotta save some juice in my legs to get back to the parking lot!

I hit #10 just below the lake. When I emerged from my semi-comatose state, I was able to enjoy the sunshine and this view. I am married to an animal, and he proceeded on toward the lake. He said it was “only 5 more minutes” and I said, “not for me!”

To be continued. . .

Big Fat Announcement

For a few months I’ve been dancing around the subject of a Very Large Project on the horizon. Today is the day to tell you all what it is. It isn’t a very well kept secret, just a non-published-on-this-blog secret.

If you know me, you know I love to draw in pencil and that I love to draw cabins. Little cabins, big cabins, they inspire me to draw. So, The Cabins of Wilsonia, a book of drawings of (duh) the cabins of Wilsonia is underway! It will be similar to The Cabins of Mineral King.

There are differences.

1. It will contain very little history  because I’m an artist, not a historian, and the history has already been written in several forms.

2. I will be doing this one solo instead of with Jane Coughran, the very qualified former picture editor from Time-Life Books who was my partner on the Mineral King book.

3. It may not contain any photographs, because there are more than 3 times as many cabins in Wilsonia as in Mineral King.

4. It will take longer than a year to produce because it is a bigger book (226 drawings, at least 128 pages and probably more) and I have to learn how to do the designing on my computer all by myself. (deep breaths, deep calming breaths. . .) I’m aiming for Memorial Day of 2013.

5. The cabins won’t all be represented – there are just too many!

6. The cabins won’t be identified by name. They will be in chapters by street names.

There are similarities.

1. It will contain pencil drawings.

2. It will contain quotes from cabin folks.

3. It wil be hardcover (yes Brad, I listened to you!), horizontal in format.

4. It will contain some history and explanation of Wilsonia.

5. It will be self-published. This is the way Janey and I did our book in 1998, except technology has changed DRASTICALLY. There are plenty of assisted self-publishing sites out there like Lulu and Blurb and West Bow Press, but I won’t be using them.

There are challenges.

1. 226 drawings to complete and scan.

2. 40-something quotes to gather and verify.

3. Adobe InDesign to learn to use.

4. Writing the text.

5. Finding a printer.

6. Finding a binder.

7. Selling them all!!

Happy New Year!

This California artist blog will resume the blog’s regular posting schedule of Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on January 3, 2012.

Dry December, continued

On the trail, the snow was doing this cantilevered melting thing around the edges.

This chick wouldn’t have been eligible for Gideon’s army! (see Judges 7: 4-8 in the Bible)

A little decorating project using found objects.

Is that a hand knit scarf?? How festive! (and is this really December in Mineral King??)

Snow in the shade and on the north facing slopes below Sawtooth.

Is this an ad for Dodge?

Farewell, Farewell. It is time to pray for rain and snow.

Dry December

Because December has had no precipitation, we were able to drive to Mineral King this week. I’ll share the photos today and tomorrow.

The same and yet not the same. Sigh. (See this)

My request for pruning the dead branches on the cottonwoods that stab into my photos was ignored.

A Cabela’s model and a representative for Terratrack were on the bridge.

We walked up to Crystal Creek.

If you’ve crossed it in the summer, you may or may not recognize this view. It was flowing under the snow, but that curly looking part is frozen.

This man bravely tested the snow bridge over the creek, following the tracks of animals.

More tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel!

Mineral King Bridge Painting, Done!

(Happy Birthday, Deb! Or was it yesterday??)

When I was a child, my sisters and I had to say “May I be excused?” before leaving the dinner table. This was to signal many things:  we were finished eating; to give our parents an opportunity to review our plates; to teach us how to be civilized;  to consider other people;  to become accustomed to decent manners.

So, now I say to my customer, “Please may I be excused?” This is because I believe the oil painting is finished, because I am civilized, and because I am never finished until the customer is happy!

Mineral King Bridge Painting, 3rd Layer

Branches and leaves on the cottonwoods, a pine in the right foreground, and some branches added to the red firs back by the cabins.

Sounds like a lesson in native trees of Mineral King. Might be, if I knew what sort of pine that is. Bet it isn’t a pine but is another red fir.

There is more to be done. There is always more to be done.

Sounds like a life lesson.

(Hey Mr. Google, this post is about a Mineral King oil painting, a commissioned oil painting, and I am a California Artist. Just sayin’.)

Mineral King Bridge Painting, 2nd Layer

Getting better all the time (wasn’t that a song by Chicago?)! Certainly isn’t a Bridge Over Troubled Waters. Long Way There is certainly correct for the road, and Long and Winding Road  is even better. Wait – it was called Getting Stronger Every Day by Chicago!!

Clearly I digress. This is about visual art, not auditory art.  Here, have a look at the painting after round 2:

It will take at least one more layer to get the colors, textures and shapes right, and then I can start the leaves on the cottonwoods. (Those are the trees on the left).

Mineral King Bridge In Paint

We all know that procrastination is not a virtue. However, I’d like to present a few benefits to procrastination:

1. Sometimes the problem fixes itself.

2. Sometimes new knowledge or skill is acquired so the difficulty diminishes.

3. Sometimes the problem becomes a moot point.

4. Sometimes someone else takes care of it.

I’ve been contemplating an oil painting of the Mineral King bridge for several weeks. In the meantime, I’ve made progress on my Huge (yet unrevealed) Project, finished a pencil commission, assembled a new spinning card rack, finished some other pencil drawings, prepared for the upcoming student art show, decided on and ordered covers for my display screens, completed the application for the next Studio Tour, and many other things that might bore you right off this page.

Finally, I’ve run out of excuses. The real reason for procrastination in this case is a little embarrassing: when I’ve gone several weeks without painting, I get a little fearful that I won’t be able to remember how to paint.

Then, when I begin a new painting, my fears appear to be confirmed. Sigh.

p.s. Don’t worry, CL, it WILL get better. They always do!