Everything is Hard

Brace yourself for a long post with thoughts about life and how it has changed in my 61 years.

Ever noticed how anything you might want to accomplish is hard? All the possible places for things to get hung up, snagged, delayed, misunderstood, broken, unavailable are endless. It is a wonder any of us get anywhere on time, keep ourselves together, keep moving forward. Look at these examples:

A. We need a new water heater and want to switch from electric to propane. My current favorite contractor said that he could do the job. That was in August. The number of obstacles he has encountered since then would just flatten anyone. I kept calling. When we finally connected and set a date, it didn’t happen. I learned that he was waiting on the plumber, whose truck broke down. And who knows how many obstacles that poor guy encountered? Plumber #2 couldn’t get the right brand of water heater, so on and on it goes.

B. Two years ago we switched from Huge & Rude Telephone Company to Spectrum. It took many weeks, many hours on the phone with both companies, and no business telephone for 6 weeks. (In case you are wondering, the internet is great, the teevee selection not as good but the quality of the picture much improved, and the landline okay but it cannot call the cell phone.)

C. A customer requested that I buy Microsoft Word to be better able to help him (I am editing his book). Microsoft’s chat feature didn’t work, and the phone number didn’t reach a real person. I just bought it anyway without getting my concerns addressed, and then I learned that my Mac operating system wouldn’t run it. I had to upgrade my operating system but couldn’t because my computer didn’t have enough available memory. Many calls to Apple (all were quite helpful) eventually said that I had to erase my computer in order to install the new OS. I hoped that the external hard drive where I back up my laptop actually contained the information and wasn’t just a dummy. (Yep, I prayed over that mess.) Now that my system is up to date, neither my scanner nor my printer will work with my computer any more. 

These are just a few examples of how complicated our world has gotten. You probably have many examples of your own.

In the olden days these things were true: checks were free from the bank; grocery bags were free at the markets; places that sent a bill would provide an envelope (even stamped, in some cases!); the newspaper kept their opinions to the Opinion Page; everyone was allowed to have a fireplace and a lawn; someone else would put gas in your tank and even wash your windshield; you could walk into an airport, pay for a flight, and board, all within an hour’s time; real people answered the telephone at work and at home; you could actually see people’s faces when out in public.

I am so thankful to be able to just head out to the painting studio, and begin. The only obstacles to getting work done are finding the right reference photos (a large obstacle when doing custom art for people with vague ideas of what they want), the sun too bright or too weak to mix colors correctly, the inability to see my own errors, or Jackson biting my leg because he feels deprived of food. (The neighbor’s barking dog isn’t an obstacle, only a nuisance.)

Let’s just look at a calm photo and try to be thankful for the moments of ease and peace that remain (NO! DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT LISTING ALL THAT THE VIRUS HAS STOLEN!!)

We Took a Walk in Three Rivers

Glory, hallelujah, I love what passes for winter here in Three Rivers.

We were not alone.

This is not a Big Foot print; it is a big foot with big toes and claws. 

Green has begun, and the sycamore leaves are still present. 

Say what?? There was another pile of brush with a less fancy sign that also said Quail Hotel. There is a No Vacancy sign lying at the base of the sign. These look like fires waiting to be lit to this wildfire-conscious Three Rivers resident.

We meandered to a point to see if my mural was visible. Yes, it was, sort of. You had to know where to look. Can you make it out?

Keep coming, rain and snow, because I love the green. (Yes, I know the hills are still brown, but if you squint real hard, you can pick out some baby grasses.)

 

11 Things I Learned in December and some jibber-jabber

Happy 2021!

Yeah, yeah, I know about 2020. No complaining here, and no unprecedented overusage of the word “unprecedented”. Just keeping on keeping on. Steady, sort of predictable, finding the good things in life about being a full time artist in Central California, AKA “flyover country” in the Golden State. (We feed the world, and don’t let anyone forget it.) 

  1. Have you heard of a “Covid fee”?? I ordered some photographic prints from Shutterfly and there was a “covid fee” added to my order. What in the world for??
  2. Drying persimmons the hoshigaki method is so bizarre but the best dried fruit I’ve ever eaten in my life. A friend is trying this method and sent me this photo. She also sent a photo of some finished ones, but they look rather alarming. I want to try this next year!
  3. Rosemary and Thyme is a lovely thriving gift/clothing/home goods store in downtown Exeter where my studio was for 4 exciting years. The owner is one of the most creative, original and innovative people I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, and her store is now becoming an online shop. If you like cool stuff, beautiful stuff, good stuff, for yourself or for others, this is the local place to support.
  4. Maeve Binchy really is my favorite novelist. I’ve loved her writing since the 1980s, and with the current difficulties of getting library books, I started rereading her books. She is the only author whose books I automatically bought and kept. (I used to buy Sue Grafton’s books but decided I wasn’t going to reread them so sent them on to unknown bookshelves; also used to buy Barbara Kingsolver’s books but hit a few I didn’t like so that was the end of that.)
  5. There is so much confusion and conflict in trying to discern truth these days. I heard from several sources that there are 21 cases of The Wuhan in our little town and one person has died of it. The truth is that there have been 21 known cases since the thing started and the person who died (a friend and former drawing student), died from heart failure after a surgery that didn’t turn out well for her.
  6. Using “www” before your web address is so last year.
  7. People aspire to riches in order to avoid ugliness.
  8. Ring picking is something I never have heard of. It is a method of picking citrus to a particular size, using a metal ring to measure each piece as you pick. How could I never have heard of this before??
  9. This isn’t anything I’ve learned but maybe something for you to learn about me. I enjoy doing yardwork and occasionally assist a friend with some of her vacation rentals. Sometimes I just can’t resist using the prunings to make a wreath.
  10. This isn’t new information either, but Pippin is just too cute to not keep taking pictures of him.

  11. And final piece of irrelevant jibber-jabber: Persimmons are so beautiful. They taste good when dried the traditional way. (No thanks, I don’t like persimmon cookies.)

Remember, I make art that you can understand of places and things you love at prices that won’t scare you.

Oops. I think I let Pippin into the house.

A Little More Christmas

The reason for some of my apparently pointless posts is simply this: beauty heals. One of my favorite writers* says it this way: “beauty contains within it the promise of restoration.”.

I thought this plant was dead, but I stuck it in the ground anyway and this week I found this blossom on it!
The fire hydrants in my neighborhood look comical to me.

P.S. Humor and unexpected good things do a great deal for us too.

*John Eldredge

Red Things

Recently, I noticed red things in my yard. Maybe that is just what artists do. That’s what this one does.

Napkin Art

A dear friend of mine and I were together a few weeks ago, eating something, and there were some really pretty napkins on the table. We both said, “Wow, that is so pretty”, or something to that effect. She is a jokester, someone with a sense of humor that makes me laugh at the dumbest things. She popped off with, “You can paint that for me!” That is an outrageous thing to say, and it made me laugh.

So, I did, knowing my equally impulsive and outrageous response would make her laugh.

Copyright law says that if the original artist can recognize her work, it doesn’t matter if you change it 10% (that used to be a common but wrong myth).

My excuses are: 1. I changed the scene some; 2. The artist’s name is not on the paper napkin; 3. I am not profiting from it.

Excuses made. I started on a rainy Sunday afternoon at the dining room table, tickled about how surprised my friend would be.

Then I had real jobs to do, custom art with deadlines to meet, so it just went into the Later Pile for awhile. After I finished those jobs with the tight deadlines, I wanted some more fun. Working with these bright colors qualifies as fun in my little world.

The fruits on the napkin are grocery store food; around here in the Land of Fruits and Nuts, California’s Flyover Country where no one knows about us and no one cares, WE FEED THE WORLD!  We have pomegranates, persimmons, stone fruit (my friend’s favorite are plums), and of course citrus. 

I worked from my own fruits, both real and photos, of which I have a huge stack from when little canvases of fruits sold steadily at those boutiques and festivals.

Here it is freshly finished, drying on the wall in the painting workshop. I like mine better than the one on the napkin.

I don’t know if I should even sign this. Is a fruit basket generic and universal enough, along with my tighter and brighter style, that this can qualify as my art?? Did I break the law? Would the original artist care? Do I care when people do this to my work? 

Too many questions.

My friend is thrilled with her new painting, and I am too.

Variety of Irrelevant Items

All these topics are irrelevant to the business of art; I’m showing you anyway because they are mildly amusing and even slightly interesting. If you just came here for the art, you will leave disappointed today. If you just enjoy visiting because you can, then welcome.

We have animals in our yard in Three Rivers.

We have animals at our windows.

You may have noticed that I have a curious mind. There is a gloriously beautiful glowing tree in front of the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter, and I’ve never seen one anywhere else. A red oak of some sort is the best guess my students, Mr. Google, and I could come up with.

Do you know what this tree is?

Forgive Us Our Trespasses

In spite of having more work at once than I can remember in years, I do take time off when I can. Trail Guy and I went trespassing last week. 

There is a tiny bit of green grass, but it is due to a leak, not to rain.

We were trespassing and I don’t want to say where, because pretty soon everyone will figure it out and flood the place and then it will get really locked down. This is what has happened to the Bureau of Land Management area above our neighborhood. It used to be so seldom used that I had to be very very careful when exploring because the trails weren’t clear. 21 years later, the place is crowded.

I photographed the grassy hillside so that when I finish the custom jobs, I can return to the painting of some cowboys on a grassy hillside. My photos of that scene have blurry grass. Yes, it matters. This isn’t something I have much experience painting, so I need to study these things and figure out how to render this stuff believably.

There isn’t much water in the flume, but there are many acorns.

We are ready for rain and snow around here. Really really ready! (My mural can wait for a few storms.)

10 Things I Learned in November

This rose is in someone else’s yard. The deer don’t eat these roses because they are too busy vacuuming up everything in my yard across the river and the highway.
  1. I found a new blog with a superb writer, Marianne Wilburn, called Small Town Gardener.
  2. She also has a great book about gardening, written in her conversational style – Big Dreams, Small Garden.  It is one of the more realistic approaches to gardening I’ve read.
    My herb garden, before all the red leaves fell off the Virginia Creeper
  3. Through Marianne’s writing, I found a fascinating YouTube channel (?) or is it a person to follow; her name is Liziqi, and it is about a young, strong, beautiful Chinese woman who lives with her grandmother and gardens and cooks. What?? Yeppers. Fascinating to watch. (I’ve seen it before but can’t remember when or why.)
  4. I learned in November how much shopping does not appeal to me. Or maybe it is stuff that does not appeal. I’ve never liked shopping, but this really drove home the point. A friend told me about Jane.com, an online shopping mall. I looked, and all the stuff almost made me twitch.  (No, I am not a Communist – thank you for your concern.)
    Leaf peeping is more interesting to me than shopping.
  5. When customers are in a hurry and my schedule is full, I learned to tell them that there is a rush charge. This is the first time I’ve done this, and I had three opportunities in November. This takes the sting out of having to work on Saturdays and Sundays to meet their deadlines. Two of three customers agreed to pay the charge.  The third customer made an adjustment in his hurried plans and said he could wait the normal 2 weeks that we discussed last summer; even two weeks feels like a squeeze right now, but I got the job finished.
  6. There is something new, an alternative to FaceBook, called Parler. I wonder. . . but, no. I have enough to do.
  7. There is something else new, an alternative to YouTube, called Rumble. 
  8. A friend told me 2 really dumb jokes that he was surprised I hadn’t heard before: A. Why does a cowboy want to die with his boots on? So it won’t hurt when he kicks the bucket. B. Why does a man want to be buried in his truck? Because it hasn’t ever failed to get him out of a hole.
  9. I ran across the term “EDM” in a couple of different places and got curious. It is Electronic Digital Music, and in my opinion, it qualifies as an audio assault rather than music. (In an elderly voice coming from inside my head: “My goodness, these young folks today!”)
  10. In-N-Out has good hamburgers. This is a weird admission from someone who didn’t eat red meat for 17 years, and still feels a bit squeamish about burger. My conclusion is that it is the sauce that makes it so good. Wait – didn’t Micky-Ds used to advertise “special sauce”? This was so out of my realm of normal that I felt compelled to share the information. (Thank you for lunch, Jon!)

And here are a few more photos from November that didn’t fit into the list. (Nope, not going to photograph my food – this is NOT Facebook and no one who reads my blog comes here to see my lunch, thank goodness.)

P.S. Can you spot Pippin?