Personal | Cabin Art

10 Things I Learned and Did in November

Honeymoon Cabin, 18×36″, oil on wrapped canvas, $1200 + Calif. sales tax

Did I learn anything in November? It is my busiest month. Lots happened and perhaps I learned a few things:

I joined BNI, Business Network International. The Visalia chapter isn’t official and won’t be until there are 20 members; I was #12 to join.
I taught a drawing workshop to 5 eager learners at a gallery in Visalia called Arts Visalia.
St. Anthony’s Retreat hosts a great event each year called “Festival of Trees”. I’ve been a judge of those fabulously decorated Christmas trees for all 5 years, and it is very difficult and very rewarding, especially with my fellow very thoughtful and careful judges. Who knew??
The annual Holiday Bazaar wasn’t well attended but the attendees were all committed shoppers; I see evidence of a growing economy, for which I am thankful.
The Kaweah Artisans have been together for about 20 years; we continue to be a very compatible group who put together simple and enjoyable boutiques in Three Rivers.
I can paint large; maybe 18×36″ isn’t large in the Art World but in my world it is practically a mural. It is much slower than a mural, because of the many layers and amount of detail and amount of time for each layer to dry.
I went off my fiction fast with a vengeance and slammed 9 books, all fiction. The top ones were: One of Us (audio, Tawni O’Dell), The Lightkeeper’s Daughters (Jean E. Pendziwol), Fair and Tender Ladies, (Lee Smith), Harriet Beamer Takes the Bus (Joyce Magnin), and Flatshare (Beth O’Leary). Hmmm, perhaps I was trying to escape the busyness.
In order to refresh a garden, the old stuff needs to be removed but it can be transplanted elsewhere instead of throwing it on the burn pile. I replanted the area around my studio, about 18 years after first planting anything free that would grow fast. Back then, I also spent money on real plants, and probably killed 3 times as many plants as have prospered.
One of my favorite podcasters is Don Miller; I subscribe to his daily Business Made Simple tip. One day in November he advised this: “Do not be confused about something that is not confusing. (sounds dumb, eh?) Ask yourself, “If I wasn’t confused what would be the obvious thing to do? Am I afraid of letting someone down? Do I really not want to do this thing?”
Somewhere online I read about a thing that allows an old car to play a cell phone’s podcasts (or whatever else your smartphone is playing, like the talking lady telling you how to get places) through the stereo speakers. It goes in the cigarette lighter— IT WORKS AND IS EASY TO USE!

What did you do and learn in November? Want to share in the comments?

Thankful (a short list)

• RAIN AND SNOW!

• Blog-reading friends

• Supportive husband who helps me set up boutiques/bazaars/fairs/festivals/shows, keeps the home fires burning, and fixes dinners

• Pizza for Thanksgiving dinner

• A great family (who doesn’t mind if we have pizza for Thanksgiving)

• Three kitties

• Tulare County library reservation/delivery system

• Terrific drawing students

• Fast internet

Friday Fun

Trail Guy went to Mineral King last week. This is how it looks at this time of year.

Farewell Gap with the Crowley Cabin from the bridge at the end of the Mineral King Road. November is bleak and colorless, waiting for snow.

That hardly qualifies as “Friday Fun”. What does? How about Pippin in the leaves!

Look hard. Might need to enlarge the photo to see Pippin, camouflaged in the leaves. Very very camouflaged.

Pippin didn’t want to share with Tucker.

See you tomorrow at the Three Rivers Memorial Building for the annual Holiday Bazaar, 9-4!

Three Rivers

Finally, Finally

This is a longish story about a drawing student/friend.

Gina took drawing lessons from me in Exeter before I closed my studio there in December of 2001. She began a drawing, and then left lessons to return to school and become a nurse.

In about 2016, we listed some old roofing on Craig’sList (actually Cowboy Bert did it for us because we were not versed in that particular method of selling things), and someone named Gina answered the ad. We talked on the phone, and I gave her directions to our house.

When she and her husband arrived, Trail Guy went out to take care of the roofing transaction. He came into the house and said, “You need to come out here and meet these people”.

It was a happy reunion! Gina didn’t know where I had moved my studio or if I was teaching any more. She immediately said she wanted to return to lessons, because now as a nurse, her schedule is flexible.

Imagine my shock and awe when she returned to lessons and pulled out the very drawing that she had begun way back when!

Three years later, (or is it two? four? I didn’t write it down), Gina finished her drawing. It is possible that I am even more excited about this than she is!

Title ideas: Bob’s Borrowed Bike, When Dad Was Young, My Dad

When she began this drawing, we were both in our early 40s and could still see little things. Still, the rule is “no faces smaller than an egg” (and by now, I’m thinking ostrich egg). I discouraged her from drawing a face this small, but she is independent-minded and did an excellent job of capturing a likeness. This is her dad on a Harley.

Gina spent months researching Harleys, looking at each separate part of the motorcycle to get everything as accurate as possible. She spent weeks trying to discern what model of car that was. (It is a Kaiser, something we’d never heard of.) Together we spent years inching this drawing along, figuring out how to handle the various parts and textures.

Finally, finally, almost done, and then Gina decided to put clouds in the sky. She spent weeks looking at clouds, and each week she would announce, “I really don’t know clouds at all”, and all of us of a certain age would snicker.

But wait! There’s more! As Gina and I got to know each other, we learned that we both had been on the staff of Hume Lake Christian Camps in our late teens. I was in the mountains; she was in the foothills. I tossed or lost my staff photo decades ago, but as we have learned about Gina, she carefully preserves things. Recently, she sent me this, and WE WERE ON STAFF AT THE SAME TIME!

Nope, you won’t be able to spot us in this photo, purposely shown at a small size, so there.

P.S. Michael Smith-Jenson, I got your email. Thank you. I found you in this photo. I lost your email. I’m sorry. (I’m not nearly as careful or organized as Gina!)

Learned in September

September was so full that I forgot to tell you what I learned! Better late than never, so here is the list of recent nuggets I’ve gleaned from life.

Painting with Marty Weekly – I learned so much about plein air painting by observing Marty.
Kinesthetic Sand – this is a cool toy of gritty squishiness, fun and fairly useless (but is fun supposed to be useful??)
Travertine is a new word to me: “white or light-colored calcareous rock deposited from mineral springs, used in building”. I doubt if I could use it intelligently in a sentence; it was used to describe the grass in the front yard of our cabin (hunh?) and I learned of Travertine Hot Springs on the East Side of the Sierra (but haven’t been there.)
Shopping in stores does not suit me – I’ve known this most of my life, but it was recently reinforced. It is not a recreational activity to me where I want to examine all the possibilities but more of a hunting expedition. The music is annoying, loud, and makes me want to leave immediately upon arriving; there are too many choices and too much stuff, which makes it hard to find what I am seeking. Further, I don’t even dress right to be in those settings (nope, leggings are NOT pants and I will outlast this fad).
Cities are fun! I enjoyed living in San Diego in my late teens and early 20s, but didn’t really belong and got homesick. Tulare County is a mess, but it is our mess and it is home. However, it is crazy fun to visit a city, especially with people who also enjoy being there.
There is a book called “Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now” by Gordon Livingston, and it is summarized on this website: https://sivers.org/book/30TrueThings of Derek Stivers. Wow, great information from a long time psychiatrist, gleaned from listening to patients for many years.

In the Studio

It has finally stopped being hot in Three Rivers, so I get to work in the studio with the door open. Although our cats are not allowed inside the house, I let them freely wander in and out of the studio. This won’t work if it is raining, but for now it is great fun.

I tried to convince Tucker, our shy black cat, that he could use the upholstered chair for naps. He only wanted to sit there if I held him, which doesn’t work while I am working. He ran outside, and when I turned around, there was Jackson, who needed no convincing.

Pippin jumped on the drawing table (I was working at the desk behind the drawing table), so I opened the blind for him.

While I worked at the desk, Pippin napped.

As much as I love summer in Mineral King, I also love fall at home in my studio in Three Rivers.

This picture is from spring of 2018; the plants and stepping stones are different now because almost nothing stays the same in life. Have you noticed this?

What was I doing in the studio? Bidding on a HUGE commissioned oil painting, gathering photos for some of my drawing students, helping a friend order calendars with his photographs, editing the TB book (haven’t mentioned that in quite awhile), and working on a new pencil drawing. When the drawing is finished, I’ll show you.

Learned in August

Estate sales are difficult for many reasons. They involve so many decisions that are hard enough to make without experience, and those decisions are layered over with emotions. It requires enormous organizational skills, and lots of patience and energy. I helped with an estate sale recently and was astounded by the amount of work.
There is a new frozen yogurt shop in Three Rivers, appropriately named “Three Rivers Yogurt” and it is very well put together with a great product and service. (It is next door to Sierra Subs and Salads.)
A very high-end motel complex is in the planning stages for Three Rivers. The developer came to a town meeting and described it, then opened himself up to many questions from the audience. I went with a completely open mind, and left convinced that this will be very good for our community. This will be a class act and I believe”a rising tide lifts all boats”.
Mountain lions chirp, almost like a shrill bird. A cabin friend heard it while sitting around his outdoor fire ring in Silver City (4 miles below Mineral King), looked it up online and learned that yes indeed, that is the mountain lion’s sound at times.
People, we are getting slammed and bombarded on three fronts: email, real mail, and the telephone. Most of our incoming calls these days are from unidentified sources who do not leave messages. Most of our mail is solicitations for money. It takes me a pair of minutes or more to delete the unwanted emails several times every day. Does anyone actually respond positively to these solicitations? There must be some sort of success rate, because otherwise these highly annoying interruptions to life would cease.
If you have a spot on your shirt and spray it with OxyClean, don’t let it sit there and dry for a week; it will make a hole. (Bummer! I loved that dress for about 20 years!)
Dentists are artists, sculptors, and kind care givers. My dental experiences are limited, and I was kind of shocked by how unpleasant such a common experience actually is. My dentist, Dr. Darren Rich in Three Rivers, is OUTSTANDING! (and so is his staff)
If you wait long enough, maybe your pomegranate tree will produce fruit. Twelve years is a long wait, but this year it is producing about a dozen pomegranates, very small, but very real.

Short Mineral King Walk

There is a trail in Mineral King called “The Nature Trail”, a one mile route that connects Cold Springs Campground (near the Ranger Station) to the Mineral King valley itself.

There was a meeting in the area near Cold Springs Campground, and I took the Zapato Express*, choosing to go down the trail instead of the road. We normally walk down the road and back up the trail, but I thought I’d probably be catching a ride back up and I didn’t want to miss the progression of summer along the trail.

The river is flowing steadily, a lot of water for August.

Many yellows look alike, in spite of the name of the yellow chapter in my book. I might be able to identify this, eventually.

Aster? Glacial Daisy? Something else? It was pale lavender, not the white it appears in this photo.

These are a bit different. Smaller, and a clump instead of a long stem, and growing in a dry area instead of a wet one, also lavender.

It wasn’t a requirement to wear a straw hat to the meeting, but you wouldn’t know by this photo.

Someone in her upper years of life requested a ride home in the 2-seater Botmobile, so I got to walk back up the trail, not a hardship by any stretch of the imagination.

Yarrow in the foreground; Black Wolf falls (Monarch Creek) in the fuzzy background.

Almost back to the cabin. The flowers are just endlessly fabulous this year. (Nope, not my cabin in the photo. This is the World Wide Web, and I try to maintain a teensy bit of privacy.)

100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $20 including tax.
Available here
Also available at the Three Rivers Historical Museum, Silver City Store, from me if I put them in my car, or Amazon.

*This means I walked; “zapato” means shoe in Español.

Mineral King mineral king wildflowers

Summer Puttering

Borrowing a friend’s river view. The river is still high and loud, particularly unusual for early August.

In the months of July and August, I don’t give weekly drawing lessons. This gives me an out-of-proportion sense of being on vacation. My schedule is freer, so I putter at multiple things, some work, some personal.

A former drawing student (from about 2000-2004) will be having a baby in September, so I am knitting like a crazed machine.
It is time to begin designing the 2020 calendar.
An odd job appeared: someone has a torn painting and asked me to repair it. Maybe I can, maybe I can’t, but a mediocre patch job might be better than a ragged hole. The customer doesn’t want the original artist to know that it got torn, so you only get to see a corner. I’ll show you Wednesday.
My neighbors are relandscaping their yard and asked me to help. It is very absorbing work, and we keep coming up with ideas. I really enjoy figuring out what might grow, and digging extras from my yard, along with starting new ones from cuttings. (We think of ourselves as “The Frugal Gardeners”.)
I’ve been reading a lot, and my Want-To-Read list on GoodReads is down to about 160 now. (If you want to follow me on GoodReads, try it – I don’t know how to instruct you other than to say I am under my real name, nothing cute or clever). 1. “The Blue Shoe” is a meandering novel of very little plot about people you could imagine knowing by Anne Lamott whose writing captures my attention whether fiction or non-fiction. 2. “An Innocent, a Broad” by Ann Leary is a memoir by a writer I’ve discovered recently. 3. I loved “The Good House”, also by Leary, a first person novel about an alcoholic in total denial. 4. “House Rules” is my 2nd Jodi Picoult novel and it was a page turner written in multiple voices; the main one was an autistic teenager.

Since I’m not ready to show you the calendar, and the torn painting is a slow process, have a look at the baby blanket in progress, our old friend Reading Rabbit, and some of the yardening.