This poppy peeping trip was up North Fork Drive out of Three Rivers. It was with one friend in a Mustang convertible that her Mom bought on her 88th Christmas. (No, my friend isn’t 88 – it was her Mom who was 88). It was a great top-down day, and sometimes I just stood on the seat to get the right photos. Handy set up.
There were poppies, (early) redbud, lupine, the North Fork of the Kaweah, sycamores, oaks, and cows. Lovely time, truly enjoyable companionship, beautiful drive.
Did you think I was going to leave you hanging as to how the Tanzania mural looked?
Customer called to say the cape buffalo needed about 1/2 hour of work. I was relieved to hear from him, because my final day working on them was without his expertise. I’ve never seen those animals, except in photos (and there was that one stuffed head staring at the back of my head while I painted).
So, I headed back down the hill one beautiful spring morning.
He has a good eye and was very helpful.
Before: 
After: 
Yes, the differences are subtle, but my goal is customer satisfaction.
Then, Customer looked at me and said, “You left something out of the other mural.”
I said, “Shoot. I was hoping you would forget.”
He just tapped the side of his head. Then he waited for me to tell him what he wanted, so I smiled and said, “Buzzards!”
Using masking tape torn into little pieces, I stuck some buzzards shapes up in the sky. We scooted them around and discussed relative sizes and shapes. Then, I painted them.
As usual, Customer was right: 
This photo of the finished Tanzania mural isn’t the best because the morning sun comes through the window and overexposes the one side. However, this photo beats the one with the scaffolding in front, and the slightly wonky buffalo.
Can you pick out the buzzards in the Missouri mural? Tiny, but they add the right finishing touch. This mural keeps amazing me, because the photo was so meh.
On the way home, I couldn’t just blow past Dry Creek Drive, knowing it was just filthy with poppies and lupine.
When the poppies are out, there is no time to be wasted! Get out and see them, now!
2008 was a spectacular poppy year for all the foothills in Central California, and it was a source of great inspiration to this Central California artist.
2016 is looking almost as good.
A few friends and I took a drive up Dry Creek Road for some poppy peeping on February 26. Have a look:
Who can resist a ride in an open-top red Jeep toward the siren pull of those golden hills? Not these bandana-headed chicks! (“You look like you oughta be somebody’s wife somewhere”. . . a little Meryl Haggard, in case you were wondering)
This is my favorite photo of the whole day. This is one of 3 types of lupine we saw at Kaweah Lake.
This is another type – bush lupine.
Some sort of clover was very abundant and quite fragrant.
This road made me wonder how Three Rivers might be today had Terminus Dam not been built in 1963. The road would meander near the river, and perhaps the river would be more accessible to the public, at least down at that elevation. Most of the river is locked up by private land, and trashy trespassing becomes a real problem every summer.
Visalia, down the hill, would have had massive flooding for many years. It probably would not have the population that it has now, if the dam hadn’t been built.
Like Scarlett, I’ll think about it tomorrow, because today is springtime in Three Rivers and there are wildflowers to gawk at.
While I was painting a mural, Trail Guy (AKA RETIRED Road Guy!) went to Mineral King for a day. Every time he does that, he says, “This is weird. You’re going to work and I’m going to play.” I say, “It isn’t weird. It has been normal since you retired.”
Do not feel sorry for me. I LOVE what I do and will only retire when I can no longer paint or draw or teach people how to draw. (Or edit. Have I told you how much I love to edit?)
I know. Shut up and show us some Mineral King. I can read your minds – does this make you squirm?
Sometimes I go for walks.
No, lots of times I go for walks.
It is sort of assumed that when women want to hang out with friends that they go shopping and go out to lunch.
Not this woman. I call a friend and say “Want to go for a walk?”
It is one of the best things about living in Three Rivers.
A peculiar sight. . . it happens occasionally on my walks.
The olives were just so you wouldn’t think I am freakishly obsessed with The Oak Grove Bridge.
However, what other people think about me is none of my business.
On my list of artistic goals this year is to do a large, fully detailed oil painting, of The Oak Grove Bridge. I’ve been painting it 6×6, 8×8, 8×10, 10×10, and woo-woo, 11×14″ for quite awhile. When I thought about what I F E E L like painting (I try very hard to be rational and business-like in my painting decisions but sometimes I get tired), I realized that it would be very satisfying to do a large and very careful painting of my favorite bridge.
Then I realized that I can. There are no pressing deadlines, no upcoming shows, no studio tour, nothing that requires cranking out lots of small (i.e. inexpensive) paintings to sell at these events.
I’m 56, self-employed, and free to paint what I want.
So there.
“Research” is a word that used to bring to mind libraries with stacks of books and the microfiche machine. Now it means Google.
In the case of this Central California artist, it means a field trip.
I drove the 6.5 miles up the Mineral King Road and spent some time walking around the bridge, climbing into areas that I avoid in the summer because I have a healthy fear of rattlesnakes.
Lots of rain so far this winter means a decent flow beneath the bridge. I really want to see it if we get a flood-like storm!
Water or root-beer?
It’s difficult to get a photo of it from a straight-on angle. The shrubs and trees keep growing and obstructing the view.
This is the most common angle that I paint.
I’ve never taken this angle before. I think it would be a weird painting.
Sometimes the last support and the abutment visually overlap in my paintings and I get confused by all the shapes.
Might as well take a strange angle of the other side. One never knows what might be helpful.
I think the “T” is for Tulare County. I also needed to see what the detailed shape of this post is, because it is always too small to show in my other paintings. This time, in the 24×30″ painting, it just might matter.
Remember, February 8 at 6 p.m. at the Three Rivers Veterans’ Memorial Building, the Tulare Co. planning commission is holding a meeting about the bridge’s future.
In spite of obsessing about The Oak Grove Bridge, I am capable of painting other subjects.
After painting 6 little paintings (I CAN count, but thank you for your concern – here are 3 of the 6) of olives in December, I decided that olives are a pretty subject, worth another painting. This one is larger (8×8″), and I am taking the info from multiple photos.
Incidentally, although olives are grown here in Tulare County, they are not in the top 10 money producing crops. So what? I grew up in a house in an olive grove, and I like them.
I thought it would be easy-peasy to incorporate the best parts of the previous paintings into a new arrangement.
I thought wrong. As I often tell my drawing students:
It is all hard, so pick something you love, because you’ll be staring at it for a very long time.
This is what I wrote to Tulare County about The Oak Grove Bridge. Notice I am now capitalizing “The” with the name of the bridge. It is growing in importance in my little world.
The email to him may have landed in his spam file because I attached this picture:
Hi Jason,
Tulare County is a little weak on historic landmarks, but we do have the Oak Grove Bridge on the Mineral King Road. When driving that rough, narrow, winding, rural road, it is a wonderful and elegant surprise. It is one of the most beautiful structures in our entire county.
I am horrified to think that it could be replaced with something new. Please do everything you can to preserve this special bridge and remove the option of tearing it down from your list of possible solutions.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Jana Botkin
That sounds reasonable, not hysterical, right? Someone, anyone, please reassure me that everything will be okay!!
P.S. Here is the link if you want the info to send your own email: Bridge