A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I decided to ride bikes in Lemon Cove, because there are flat roads down there. We parked at the Lemon Cove Woman’s Club (I think that is the odd way the name is spelled), and we were just slayed by the orange blossom scent and the incredible Lady Banks rose at the clubhouse.
As wonderful as it all was, it was still a workday, so we headed back up the hill (in a car with a bike rack—remember, we were seeking flat roads to ride.)
Kaweah Arts sold a painting on their opening weekend, and I needed to replace it.
Sequoia Siblings, 6×18″
No, really, it will be good!
It was a bit of an overcast and chilly day, so I moved into the studio to begin a commissioned pencil drawing. (I’ll tell you more about this one later, as the details unfold.)
After studying 5 not-so-great photos, I made 3 sketches for the customer to determine if I could capture the Minnesota cabin for her parents’ anniversary gift. Then, I lost the sketches. Good thing I scanned them —HEY! I BET THEY ARE IN MY SCANNER!!
YIPPEE SKIPPEE, SURE ENOUGH THEY WERE!
Alrighty then, let’s just calm down. I worked off the laptop to start the drawing (because I couldn’t find the sketches).
About an hour later of checking angles, drawing, measuring, erasing, and repeating the dance several times, I ended up with this mighty impressive foundational drawing.
Gotta draw the dog before you draw the fleas. . . and this dog has many challenges. Never fear—I am up to the task.
For some reasons, I couldn’t scrape up appropriate photos for this month’s Learned List. So, let’s enjoy a few photos that Trail Guy took on a recent walk.
John Bray Estates is a website for luxury coastal property in Cornwall, England. If you like to look at homes, both inside and outside, this site is like See’s Candy to a sugar addict.
Skills Millennials Won’t Use is quite entertaining. There are things I’ve thought about for awhile, such as the ability to drive a three pedal car, reading a face clock, dialing a telephone, reading a map. There are other things that I agree with—not liking meatloaf or jello, not using paper napkins. There are things that surprised me—not wearing Crocs was the largest. Enjoythis list! It is very long—almost 200 items!
I read this quote in the memoir Driving Hungry by Layne Mosler: “A rich man isn’t the one who has the most; he is the one who needs the least”. By that definition, I am very wealthy!
The two most common reasons for neuropathy are unmanaged diabetes and back trouble. I have neither, so the mystery and saga of my feet continues. . . (what I learned is that my back is fine).
Surgery is very stressful; I had the privilege of sitting with a dear friend while waiting for a delicate surgery on her husband. We simply chatted about this and that, nothing too heavy or scary or formal. She hadn’t asked me to be with her, but I insisted, because I knew in my gut that this was scarier than they made it out to be. We both learned that the presence of a friend is a valuable comfort even when it wasn’t requested. I also learned how much I truly care about these friends.
A thymoma is a tumor on the thymus gland; it is better than thymic carcinoma. I would like to not know this, but a dear friend is now experiencing it, so here we are, learning about unwelcome health troubles.
Have you ever had rutabaga? We got a couple and didn’t know what they were. A friend enlightened us, and I cooked them without any idea of how they would be, figuring anything is good if you add enough butter. Turns out they are actually quite good for you, sort of a mashed potato substitute with fewer carbohydrates and lots of good nutrients.
There is a website which summarizes non-fiction books in 5 bullet points. It is free, because they make their money by people ordering off Amazon through their site. It has the weird name of BookPecker.My hope is that it will speed up my journey through my To-Be-Read towers of book.
Goodbye, March! You are the Most Beautiful Month, and we will miss your weather and your colors.
One day I had a bunch of things to juggle, beginning with a “telehealth” appointment. I stared at the landline off and on for 2 hours before giving up.* Rural clinics run by large corporations are bastions of bureaucratic inefficiency and incompetence.
I called a friend who knows people and how to get stuff done. Within an hour, I was at another doctor’s office, and within another hour, I had the promise of a referral that I was seeking. (my feet. . . sigh.) It was a quaint old building with interesting details.
Then I raced to a place where I could get cuttings of myoporum, an easy-to-transplant groundcover. Next, I met the piano tuner at church, and planted some greenery while I waited for Mr. Tuner to do his magic. The two redbud trees that Trail Guy and I planted last fall are in bloom now!
I also fielded a few phone calls and texts. FOUR close friends are dealing with difficult situations right now, and it is good to check in with them (a newly deceased parent, a husband with delicate surgery, a friend with a disruptive cancer diagnosis, a husband with a substance problem). I didn’t talk to all of them, but was alert for any incoming requests for a listening ear or a praying heart. At the same time, I was coordinating with Kaweah Arts Nancy, to deliver merchandise for her opening at the new location. PLUS, I was helping her connect with the piano tuner, because she is also responsible for the Remorial** Building here in town and has an event coming soon that requires a tuned instrument.
The piano got tuned, the calls made, the paintings delivered, and I came home. There was time to admire this dragon arum calla lily. (It seems early this year.)
Too jeezled up to paint any serious details, I sat with lists, canvases, hanging hardware, tools, and stacks of photos, making decisions about what to paint for the Silver City Store in the summer. This is how that process looks. (The jar contains those little moisture absorbing packets that come with each canvas, saved because someone told me they are handy if a cell phone gets wet—may I never need to know this experientially.)
I had made a list of subjects and sizes and ordered canvases for the missing sizes. I pulled out the canvases that were available, and began choosing the right photos, adding hardware and inventory numbers. It was a rough-ish day, so I didn’t trust myself with titles other than the obvious, such as “Sawtooth #49”. I had no idea if that is the right number of times I’ve painted Sawtooth, so I made it up; later I went through my list of Sawtooth paintings and learned there have been 57 other paintings of this iconic Mineral King landmark. (Yes, I changed this one to “Sawtooth #58”.)
I thought the decisions were good ones, but then started doubting some of the sizes and some of the subjects. How many people actually hike to White Chief and then patronize the Silver City Store? Not as many as those who walk on the Nature Trail! So why was I planning two paintings of White Chief and none of the Nature Trail? Recalculating. . .
The next day without time wasted staring at the phone waiting for a phone call that never comes, racing down the hill to a clinic, meeting a piano tuner, transplanting, or coordinating merchandise drop off (but not a day where I don’t check in with dear friends who are on the struggle bus), I hope to finish the details on 3 paintings for the fall show at CACHE, and then begin the first layer on nine new paintings of Mineral King.
Lord willing, the creek, etc. (Read James 4:13-15, if you are so inclined. . .)
*The doc NEVER CALLED, and then the clinic had the audacity to send me a reprimanding letter titled “Missed Appointment Letter”. Believe me, they will be receiving a reply, and I had better not receive a bill!!
**The way our neighbor taught us to say “Memorial” when she was about 9 years old.
In the middle of a day of painting, I took a short walk.
Last year at this time, we were preparing for a wedding. I spent a fair amount of time preparing the yard where the wedding was to take place. This year I revisited the site, and the cows remembered me. When they saw I was weeding a little bit, they came to the fence to ask for treats.
These are some of the weeds I pulled to feed the beeves. They could also be considered wildflowers
This one was the most assertive.
Since it was a workday, I didn’t linger, but I did enjoy more wildflowers on the stroll back to the easels.
Redbud is actually pink, or magenta, or purplish pink, not red.
This is a bonus post, because I got up too early this morning and have many non-work-related thoughts. No reason, no point, just sharing a mental ramble…
Reading Rabbit, AKA Salt & Light
I just read a memoir (currently my favorite genre) titled “Holy Ghost Girl“. Holy cow, holy guacamole. I believe in the God’s healing power but am very appalled over the mess that these so-called healers make of their lives.
I just listened to a three-part series of sermons by Jack Hibbs on UFOs. Again, all I can say is holy cow and holy guacamole.
These aren’t holy cows. I don’t know what a holy cow actually factually is, other than perhaps the ones that wander the streets of cities in India.
It is raining today, which I hope will prolong the greenery and wildflowers that make March such a fabulously beautiful month in Three Rivers.
The annual studio tour is this weekend. It used to be exclusively a Three Rivers event, happening every 2 years. After it went county-wide, things changed in a manner that caused me to opt out. I hope it is successful for those who are participating, in spite of the rain. I am NOT participating.
This is a fairly outdated image of The Dome, taken as a screenshot from Google Maps.
Kaweah Arts has reopened in the building known as The Dome, 42249 Sierra Drive. I delivered a load of new paintings, along with previously shown paintings, notecards, coloring books, and The Cabins of Wilsoniabooks, but haven’t been inside the premises yet.
Some dear friends have been through a difficult time recently, so when they said they were bringing lunch over yesterday, we just put everything else aside to enjoy a few hours together on a perfect spring afternoon.
My neuropathy is not from diabetes, chemotherapy, or a back problem. It is time to see a neurologist, not in the Central Valley, and I continue to await the arrival of a referral so I can move onward with this unsolved mystery.
A dear friend has a weird cancer. I hate this. Undoubtedly, she hates it more.
The redbud trees are in bloom in Three Rivers. They look like Chinese tallow, but they are either Western redbud (native), or Eastern redbud (native somewhere else.) Western redbud are shrub-like with many branches originating at ground level; Eastern grow like a tree from a single trunk. Or perhaps Eastern are just pruned that way; maybe Western could be forced into a single trunk tree-like formation. (These are speculations from a sleep-deprived mind.)
It’s kind of hard to focus on painting when this is outside the door.
Apparently, I’m not the only creature to appreciate spring in Three Rivers.
This little herd is just one body short of a baseball team. It looks as if this is a deer park, rather than my lawn. Actually, it isn’t even a lawn; we stopped watering it a decade or more ago. Water costs too much here. I love it green, but I’d have to work more and sell more instead of staring at the deer if I wanted to keep it like this through the summer.
Besides, lawn mowers will be outlawed in California in 2025. . . we don’t want to wear ours out if there can be no replacing it. (California is a special kind of stupid.)
We’ll look at the oil painting aspect of my life in the next post.
On March 1, a Big Storm, nay, a Very Big Blizzard was predicted. I painted that day, of course working on more pieces of Tulare County’s prettiest places.
I just couldn’t leave this one alone. A couple of things were nagging, so in spite of thinking it was finished, I made a few more tiny improvements. Can you see what they are?
AND NOW I SEE SOMETHING ELSE TO FIX!! Sigh. Will this painting ever meet my ever-increasing standards??
The trail painting needed another layer, some corrections, and the wildflowers.
Then, it finally rained. Trail Guy raced out to tell me to come look, hurry hurry hurry. So, I did.
Tucker had diamonds in his fur. The camera didn’t quite capture the magic.
So, I went back to the easel to work on White Chief (Mineral King). First, I redid the sky, then added some refinement to the peak. (You’ll have to wait until you see it in person to appreciate the amount of detail.)
After that, I worked on rocks and grass.
Finally, I worked on the water, bigger rocks, and placed some trunks of trees, doing my best to not arrange them like an orchard. There is an automatic bent to put things the same distance apart; I do it, my drawing students do it, and we all have to remind one another to keep things looking natural and a bit more haphazard. (Of course, if we are trying to make something perfect such as stairs, we cannot make it look right.)
This one is shaping up very nicely. I love White Chief (in Mineral King), and it feels as if I am there when I am painting it (minus the gasping and sweating and tired legs). The trees, more waterworks, and the rocky thingie on the bottom left remain. Then I’ll probably keep polishing and refining, because that’s what I do.
Spring is exceedingly short, a beautiful season that could be cut off by a quick few days of heat. Last week in one of my regular posts of watching paint go slowly onto a canvas, I ended the post with a photo of my yard (“the yard”, “our yard”, the place outside of my home, oops, our home and my studio, etc.) and that photo received the comments. I think I can figure out what you, O Blog Reader, wants to see more than watching wet oil paint land on canvas.
Today we will have a spring fling thing.
These tiny blue flowers have the odd name of Speedwell, or Bird’s Eye Speedwell.
Baby-blue-eyes might be my favorite. You have to know where to look for them, and I do. Every year. They are earlier this year than usual.
These tiny bright spots should be called Magenta Maids, but the real name is Red Maids.
Looks like popcorn, but these are actually the bloom on Miner’s Lettuce.
Miner’s Lettuce and Fiddleneck are the earliest wildflowers in Three Rivers.
Last week Blog Reader Anne asked if I ever sit in the white chairs. Indeed I do, and Tucker often joins me.
But then Pippin butts in.
He’s kind of irresistible.
(Jackson isn’t very social nor is he loving or even friendly. He’s fine—Thanks for your concern.)
The flowers behind the white chairs have the unlovely name of “freeway daisies”. When the nursery owner showed them to me about 25 years ago, I said, “Those leaves are hideous so I bet they’ll do well in my yard.” The leaves without the flowers look sort of spiky, but the prolific flowers and easy propagation have overcome any objections on my part, although they do clash in color with the flowering quince. Since the deer don’t eat either of them and they bloom, I can handle a bit of color clashiness.
A few days ago, a dear friend tiptoed up to the front porch and left this incredible pot of tulips. They don’t grow well around here, so they are a HUGE floral treat.
They look electrified in the morning sun!
Just hanging around the tulips caused me to look for other things to photograph in the yard.
Yeppers, white daffodils.
This guy is early too. It is profuse in the pots by my studio all summer long.
Finally, I saw this freesia in my not-quite-awakened lawn (the one I let grow tall in the summer so Tucker and I can play hide-and-seek in the grass). How did it get there??
I love spring. LOVE IT!! Especially in Three Rivers.
I had a day that began in frustration, feeling as if I was spinning my wheels and wasting precious time. First, I made a big list of what needed to be done on paintings in progress, or what needs to be finished, or what should be started next. Then, I lost the list. So, I did my best to rewrite it from memory.
Next, I decided to see if I could sell my four broken watches on eBay. Sure enough, lots of people sell broken watches. I took photos, then began the process of listing them. I had to try four times, and it still wouldn’t take.
Some had the batteries replaced and stopped working immediately. One has a back that WILL NOT COME OFF. I love that one in front, as much as a person can “love” a thing. Sigh.
I was pretty frustrated, so I went for a walk. On the walk, I came up with a couple of good ideas for the upcoming (next fall) solo show at CACHE in Exeter. Then I encountered a friend walking the opposite direction. She reversed course and accompanied me to my destination. So, it was a good solution although I wasn’t planted in front of the easels.
Eventually, I made it to the easels where I started two new paintings.
Can’t tell here, but this is 10×20″.Can’t tell here either, but this is 12×16″.
Then, I tackled this one, an olive grove. Challenging, to be sure, but also forgiving, because who will say, “Nope, you have that limb in the wrong place!”
That’s what I did one day. It started with frustration and ended with incremental progress, both in the idea and painting departments.
P.S. The listing finally took on eBay AND I planted some tomatoes, ridiculously early.
