Category: Mineral King

Five Senses of Fall

A few friends accompanied me to Mineral King over the weekend. It was a beautiful fall-ish time – clear air (could have been clearer except that there are fires within the Sierra Nevada), warm in the day, cool at night. I was struck by how fall can be experienced with all five senses.

Taste: the currants are abundant!

Hear the wind in the aspens – it sounds different in the fall!

The colors are beginning to change:

The dried grasses smell different:

The higher we climbed, the more nip we felt in the wind:

Mineral King

A Pair of Minutes

I’m trying to be in the studio/workshop for a pair of minutes instead of always being in Mineral King or at the computer. There is work to be finished, lots of work to be started, and people are waiting eagerly (and politely, thank goodness!) Just a pair of minutes ought to do it, figuratively speaking. . .

The customer brought me a 16×20 photo that he took a number of years ago. We agreed that it would look nice in the panorama format, so I “cropped” it using kraft paper. The sky color of photos is grayish in many cases; one of the benefits of being in the mountains is having an incredibly blue blue blue sky; that is how I’ve chosen to represent this scene of Sawtooth and Mineral Peaks. Have a closer look:

After it dries a bit, I’ll tighten up a few details, paint the edges, sign, and photograph it more accurately.

Labor Day Weekend

Turns out the Park Service granted permission for the show, but didn’t convey the message until I was already off in the Land of No Electricity for the weekend. Hmmm, good or bad? A little of both, but a great weekend was had by all (even those of us who made no $$) Michael and I hiked to the Empire Mine area to return something that was borrowed. We were just finished with the very steep first 1/4 mile of the trail when I heard an exclamation of dismay from my hubby. I knew instantly that he had forgotten something, so I simply responded, “That’s okay, I’ll just wait for you here.” You may recall that with me, waiting is rarely a problem.

Notice how nicely the colors blend with the sky and the green of the landscape.

When Michael came back with the borrowed object, we proceeded onward and upward. We followed the cable and stanchions of the tram line that carried ore buckets during the mining days in Mineral King.

The borrowed object was returned, but this time wasn’t placed in full view as it had been originally found.

We visited the bull wheel at the upper end of the tramline.

Michael explained how it worked – I understood most of it, and appreciated the history lesson.

Would you believe there was a road up there?? I wouldn’t either, if I hadn’t seen and photographed it myself!

This is the remains of the tram tender’s cabin, fully visible from the trail as one heads down (if the light is right and the hiker is paying attention)

Day Twenty-One on the Mural

IT IS FINISHED! That is, it is finished if the Mural Team agrees. What a week – the hottest days and the coolest day of the entire project happened within the 6 consecutive days. Weather is not a cliche or a conversation filler – it matters immensely when working outdoors! Today was marked by the visitation of Bill DeCarteret, who was the packer in Mineral King along with his wife Marilyn for many years. He used to pack the SCE guys up to Franklin Lake to close the dam in the fall, and eventually, SCE just had him do the job himself. His visit gave me a chance to ask him about some old graffiti on the dam. Scratched into the concrete reads “BILL & MARILYN 1949”. The DeCarterets didn’t know each other in 1949; it refers to Bill and Marilyn Reynolds. That Bill worked for either the Forest Service or the Park Service (oops, didn’t retain that vital piece of info!)

Wildflowers were added, as promised, but here are only two:

Sierra Columbine

Golden Beard Penstemmon

“Dirt” was added to the gutter as the base of the mural for maximum 3D effect.

Finally, I signed it! (lower right corner)

Exeter California murals Mineral King mural

Day Twenty On The Mural

Today is only in the 90s – almost sweater weather, compared to Wednesday and Thursday! One day left in my mini marathon run of mural painting – oh yeah, I called it because I am an experienced professional! (love saying that after feeling like a poser for so long) Visited with several people (CK returned with a few more stories – but he is not CJK!) Here is what I did today:

“Planted” 2 trees (photos below)
Hid 2 more items
Finished that bottom strip – thank goodness, because it is not very comfortable to sit on asphalt while painting at worm level.
Detailed and added many rocks
Added the white border to historical dam “photo” (“How’d you git them pichers on the wall??”)
Finished the remaining dirt/rock/ground areas.

To the untrained eye (or to someone who hasn’t been reading this blog), the mural may looked finished minus the signature. BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Tomorrow the flowers will bloom in full color and detail!

Exeter California murals Mineral King mural

Day Nineteen on the Mural

Katie and Paul at Mineral King Publishing rescued the crying kitten today! I named it Franklin, but since I am over my quota of stray cats for the year and won’t be taking it home, I have no right to name it.
It is very very hot (111 in Three Rivers yesterday!) but should be cooler tomorrow
The Las Vegas Review-Journal is in town because 2 of Nevada’s governors grew up in Exeter – I may have been less than gracious to the photographer who appeared as I was almost ready to go and asked if I was working on a new mural. John, I’m sorry for being cranky and sarcastic.
A nice man gave me a tee shirt – guess I looked like I needed something better (cleaner) to wear! Thank you, nice man!
I hid 2 more things today.
Betsy and I came up with a plan for a mule shoe (thanks, Bert!) and a rock (thanks, Betsy!)

The names of those who helped project (plus a couple of hitch-hikers) have been painted out.

Two more days ought to do it! (Louise, I toned down the roof, but it doesn’t show in this photo)

Exeter California murals Mineral King mural

Day Eighteen On The Mural

Progress is being made despite the fact that today was unspeakably hot and I bailed early. Today was marked by three things:

the hottest day yet
the saddest day – heard a kitten crying off and on the entire time
the weirdest guy came by and told me Exeter has the most murals per capita of any town in the world. . . I questioned him as to his source and he said “that tv show”. Umm, thanks.

For comparison, here is 3 days from the same angle:

Exeter California murals Mineral King mural

Day Seventeen On The Mural

Each day on this mural my energy fades around 12:30 or 1. Sometimes it even weakens just before noon, but I think that is fear of the noon siren/whistle, which can just flatten a person standing in my alley. I’m always grateful when I happen to be standing on the ground with both hands free to slam over my ears when it goes. (Hard to predict, because today my phone said 12:04 when it went.) Today, I was getting acquainted with a man who has had a remarkable life so far, and he talked me through that low-energy time of day (with a momentary pause while we both stood with our hands over our ears.) If you are reading this, CK, thank you! In order to stay productive for the fullest amount of time, I moved to the east end of the wall and sat on the ground to work on that bottom strip under the mural. It wasn’t cool down there, but it was certainly cooler than the higher places or the west end. Good technique – if I were my boss, I’d give me a bonus for such ingenuity! Oh. I am my boss. I’ll have to look into that!

Look! Lois and Markita are at Franklin Lake, and they aren’t even tired! Wait, they haven’t ever been to Mineral King. . . hmmm, how could this be??

Would you believe that the last quarter of the dam inset took the bulk of the day?? I was disgusted with myself for an inability to paint little men correctly. Never mind that they look like miniature blobs in the photo – I am a professional! However, my business is called cabinart, not “Little Man Painter”. You should have seen my astonishing speed and accuracy in rendering the little Mt. Whitney Power Company cabin – perhaps another bonus is in order.

Exeter California murals Mineral King mural

Day Sixteen On The Mural

This is the week I will finish, even if I have to get up at 5 a.m. for 6 days in a row. Momentum, momentum, momentum. Stay outta the way, I have a job to do!! That is not to say that you can’t stop by and say hello or ask a few questions. It just means I probably won’t stop painting while I visit with you, and please don’t take offense. The weather guessers are saying 108 degrees by Wednesday, but they also said 106 last week and it didn’t happen. If I stay in the shade and have cold water, I can do this. (I think I can I think I can I thank I can. . .) This is how the wall looked around 6:35 a.m. today:

This is how the wall looked at 2 p.m. today:

Tomorrow I will finish this old dam photo inset. The weird blurry little people have been enlarged (the better to see them!), and I’m hoping the original photo will still be taped to the wall when I arrive tomorrow. Oops. . . it might be on the ground nearby by then, but it is in a plastic holder so I’m not (very) worried.

Here is what remains:

old dam photo inset
little cabin inset
dam (as it appears today)
growies, ground and rocks below dam
entire strip of wall beneath mural to the ground. This is the way to make it appear as if a visitor is at Franklin Lake instead of at a mural of Franklin Lake (as long as one stays to the left). I can’t figure out a graceful way to end that lower strip, so it has to go the distance. Maybe. More will be revealed.
Flowers by the trail. My plan is to do this in oil paint so they will be pertinear perfect!
Hidden objects! (there is one already, but I’m not telling yet unless you visit me)

Exeter murals Mineral King

Mural subject revisitation

I may have mentioned that there was a teensy bit of trouble while projecting the mural. (My design didn’t fit exactly as planned.) Since I have found myself with a bit more time than planned, it seemed wise to revisit the dam at Franklin Lake for a few more photos to fill in the extra space. (“Research” is the big word that people like to use these days, sort of like using “client” when one means plain ole’ customer.) We approached it from a different direction, and this photo is mostly useless for “research” but it sure is interesting! (see the little upper lake?)