First day on the extension

The beginning, except it was in bright sunlight. (This photo is from yesterday afternoon.)

It was a beautiful day and the mountain view from the lift was just grand!

I saw Rocky Hill over the top of the Mineral King Publishing building,

I looked down on the big Mineral King mural.

This lift goes up 19′. I am much higher than necessary here, but probably not quite at the top.

See how high? The foreground of this photo is the roof of the building on which I am supposed to be painting instead of messing around with the lift.

Okay, the viewing tour is over. LOOK LOOK LOOK how much got finished today!!!

The third tour group of the day was from Australia!!

Mural Extension

Remember this mural? It is called Men + Mules + Water = Power and is in downtown Exeter. (Despite its descriptive and clever name, I think of it as Franklin Lake.)

Today I will begin wrapping it around the corner onto the blank wall. Funny how we know what I mean when I say “blank” because it actually has a door, a window, a mailbox, a light fixture, multiple signs and a green stripe.

What I did in the Nonweek

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is sort of an off week. People are off work, school, schedules, diets, and budgets. (Hopefully they aren’t off base or off track too.) I think of it as the Nonweek, when there really aren’t many obligations.

During the Nonweek my expectations of myself are low. Write a few thank you notes, put away the Christmas decorations, get the number off my odometer, pay a few bills. Maybe. Maybe not.

This year I set a higher goal. Murals fade. My very first one, a Mineral King scene, was looking sort of tired, so I repainted it during the Nonweek.

If I had taken a before photo, you’d be shocked at the difference. Oops. Didn’t do that. Sometimes I just do my work without thinking about all the ramifications of possible blog posts.

See? Shabby buildings, fancy murals, and a wreath on the studio door to validate the time of year.

Now the California poppies mural looks faded to me!

THANK YOU!

Betsy, for keeping me in tomatoes while I worked on the mural. She is a one-woman-campaign aganst artists starving around here!

Jack Elam, who primed the wall for me and never sent me a bill. I don’t even know him, but when I see him, I will give him this picture that I painted for him. Why a flag? Because he describes his painting company as “an American family company”, and that is a clue to me that he would like this little painting titled “Oh Say”!

In addition, I could not have done this mural without the generosity of Bill Sario of Rising Sun, a construction company. He lent that fabulous electric scissor lift and always was available for help and support. Then there was Capella, a Coffee Company. My goodness – they never complained when I hogged a parking spot daily, used their electricity for the lift, their water for cleaning brushes, their building for cooling off, and their place for displaying the model painting of the mural! And Larry Lee Photography was so generous that they gave me a key to their business so I had access to a place anytime the need might arise to go inside. There are more to thank, of course, but these are the standouts in my memory.

Mural Celebration!

It was hot, reallly really hot.

If it hadn’t been my mural, I doubt I would have braved the heat, but these folks were hardier than that!

Mickey gave a thorough history on the Mt. Whitney Power Co. and the dams in Mineral King. I hadn’t settled in yet and was hanging out in the back with my friend from the Three Rivers Post Office, so I had this nice view of the group.

When Mickey passed the mike to me, I asked the crowd if I could photograph them for the blog. I love doing that – it always makes people smile. Besides, who would have the courage to say “NO DON”T DO THAT”?

I told a few things about how the mural idea happened, a few facts about the dam at Franklin Lake, and a few stories about painting the mural. I said a pile of “Thank Yous” to the wonderful folks who helped make this mural happen. We ate some REALLY good food (that tri-tip from Exeter Meats was so tender it was easy to eat with a plastic fork!!). We even square-danced a bit – it was much cooler standing up away from the tables after dark, and Paul Pfeninger is a terrific caller! I got to catch up with lots of friends (including Ron Hughart, famous local author) and made a new friend, Matthew, who is also a painter. Despite the heat, it was a lovely evening!

Hidden Objects

Men + Mules + Water + Power has multiple hidden objects. Here is the list:

  1. pick-axe
  2. fish
  3. 2 heart-shaped rocks
  4. 1904
  5. a real rock
  6. a real mule-shoe
  7. 6 varieties of wildflowers – Sierra Columbine, Indian Paintbrush, phlox, Hoope’s Sneezeweed, Golden-beard Penstemmon, Wild Blue Flax.

Here is a little piece of the mural for you to study and identify a few of the objects:hidden.jpg

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!)

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

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Sierra Columbine

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Golden Beard Penstemmon

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

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Finally, I signed it! (lower right corner)

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:

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

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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!

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!)

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

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

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:

 

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