Category: Sources of inspiration

The Oak Grove Bridge Saga Begins

Or perhaps it continues. . .

Oak Grove Bridge XVII

This commissioned oil painting of the Oak Grove Bridge is signed, sealed and delivered.

On Monday, February 8 at 6 p.m., there will be a public meeting at the Three Rivers Memorial Building concerning the future of this bridge. A hearing? Something about the planning commission? Not sure exactly of all the bureaucratic wording, but whatever it is, I will be there. (Lord willing, the Creek, etc.)

In addition, we are invited to send “comments” (does that mean opinions? suggestions? protests?) to a Jason Vivian by February 1. Here is a link to an explanation that includes Jason’s eddress. Click this.

Next week I”ll show you what I wrote.

Meanwhile, I have 2 more bridge paintings to finish.

Still a Central California Artist

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, CENTRAL CALIFORNIA ARTIST?

Calm yourself, Interviewer. I’ve been thinking, planning, resting, and taking care of stuff.

Stuff? What stuff?

None of your beeswax.

Fine, then tell me if you are still a Central California Artist.

I am. Want to see what I am working on?

Are you working on something?

But of course. I am a Central California Artist, and artists make art.

Let’s see some evidence! Prove it! Show us!

Keep your shirt on, Interviewer. I thought you were going to ask me about my plans, direction, and what I’ve been thinking about.

Nah, just show us some art, Central California Artist.

My Favorite Bridge

This one is 11×14 and is just because I love to paint this bridge.

This one is 8×10 and is just because I love this bridge.

This one is 8×10 and is a commission. It is further along than the other two paintings because someone is waiting for it.

These oil paintings are of the Oak Grove Bridge on the Mineral King Road. It is my favorite bridge, in case you have forgotten. I am currently on a roll of enhancing colors to make things seem a little brighter and prettier than real life. When life feels hard, look at something beautiful because it takes the edge off without any ill effects.

Merry Christmas

merry Christmas

Going silent for awhile – May you enjoy the blessings of the season, dear Readers.

2015 Cabin Calendars for Sale

There are still a few of the 2016 calendars, “The Cabins of Tulare County” for sale. This calendar is a collection of pencil drawings of cabins in Tulare County. (Captain Obvious speaks again.) It is heavy on Wilsonia, followed by Mineral King, and there is one token Camp Nelson. These drawings are gathered from the book The Cabins of Wilsonia, and various commissioned drawings I’ve done in the past year or two.

Have a look at the unidentified months. I didn’t attempt to find seasonal pictures, other than a snowy cabin in December. Cabins, for the most part, are summer homes.

2016 calendar drawings

The calendars are $15 each, including sales tax. If you send me a check in the mail or money using Paypal, AND YOU GIVE ME YOUR ADDRESS (excuse me for shouting – someone ordered via Paypal and didn’t give me her address or answer my email – how is she going to get her calendar??), then I will get your calendar to you and pay the mailing costs. (in the USA only)

cabin drawing cabin drawings California Artist commission pencil work drawing Mineral King Tulare county Wilsonia

My Favorite Bridge

I have a favorite bridge. I love to draw and paint architecture, and the bridge over the East Fork of the Kaweah River (on the Mineral King Road) is one of the most beautiful architectural structures in Tulare County.

Currently it is in jeopardy with 4 alternatives for repairing or replacing it.

I don’t want to think about it. Instead, with my fingers firmly placed in my ears while shouting “LALALALALALA”, I continue to paint it.

3 in progress

First, I drew it on the canvas. Can you see it on the white canvas here?

new ogb @1

Next, I put a light wash on many of the areas. I ran out of time (November is my busiest month and I squoze in as much painting in little sessions as possible) so not everything is covered.

new ogb #2

Next, I began painting with strong colors and thick paint. Why strong colors and thick paint? Because I feel strongly about the bridge and think those who want to replace it are thick.

So there.

Around here, we call it The Oak Grove Bridge. I don’t know what those who want to replace it call it. I call those people “them”. Or “Them”.

This is an 11×14 oil painting on wrapped canvas. The edges will be painted so it won’t need a frame.

Sigh. Trying to be brave here.

Thankful

Here is a short list of things for which I am thankful today.

Rain that is turning the hillsides to green!

A strong healthy husband who can replace our roof.

A group of women friends who packed 84 Operation Christmas Shoebox boxes to share with children around the world.

Snow on Alta Peak.

A friend to help on the roof, and a new roof!

Fantastic fall color, suddenly and everywhere.

Picking up Walnuts

One of the great benefits of living in the Central Valley of California is the availability of food. (Is that why we are so dang fat in Tulare County??)

Almost everyone has a friend with an orange tree or grove, a walnut tree or grove, fruit trees, access to packing houses. . . makes me wonder how grocery stores are able to make money around here.

When I was a little kid, it was torture to have to glean for walnuts. I used to beg my mom to not put walnuts in things for a change. As an adult, I’ve actually paid Real Money for walnuts at the grocery store!

Now I have a friend with a walnut orchard. THANK YOU, GERALD! There may be a painting or two as a result of my afternoon gleaning walnuts.

canal 2

It is along the Friant-Kern Canal.

canal

Look at this little gem. And the green sprouting weeds are an indication that we have been getting good rains!!

All that bending down got tiring. After about an hour, I decided to not bend over for just one walnut. Instead, I kicked it to another one, so I could get a minimum of two at a bend.

The ground slopes up to the bank of the canal. I crawled up and this was what I saw. Alta Peak is visible, if you know what you are looking for. For some reason, I enjoy seeing the same peak that is visible from my yard when I am 25 miles down the hill. Simple pleasures. . .

Tulare county

Learning New Skills, Part Two

Yesterday I showed you the tile mosaic work of my friend The Tiling Genius here in Three Rivers.

I learned from him two ways to make stepping stones. I previously stumbled onto each of these methods on my own, but he had all the right materials, tools and techniques. It makes a difference, and I expect to start marching around the yard and tearing apart all my substandard stepping stones in the future.

He is a retired engineer and has built molds for the poured concrete type of stones. These don’t allow for much planning – pound the mud into the mold, and tap your stuff into it! Of course there is much more, but I won’t bore you with the details. The molds are removable by taking them apart – no wonder my version of this was substandard.

Here are my 3 – the large one in its mold, and edges of the other two, which were made on preformed stepping stones. That was my default method, but Mr. Tiling Genius The Retired Engineer had many improved techniques using tools I’d never heard of for making them far superior to my earlier attempts.

In addition, he had zillions of wonderful items from which to choose!

Here are my two on preformed concrete, pre-grouting.

Take a look at all the different ones from the workshop. Mr. Tiling Genius told us we didn’t need to create masterpieces for our first attempts, but I think it happened anyway.

It is sort of a given in The Art World that taking workshops is a great thing. I haven’t attended many and am not sure this is the sort of workshop that will advance my career.

But, it advanced my personal happiness, and that is worth something. I love to learn new things!

Learning New Skills

A handful of years ago I went on a tear making mosaic stepping stones. By “on a tear”, I mean ninja crazy! (In spite of not knowing what that means, it continues to crop up in my vocabulary.) I made about 12 dozen stepping stones, tile-mosaic’ed (no idea if that is actually a verb or how to turn it into past tense) a lamp post, a drinking fountain, several tables, a step, a bird bath and a bowling ball.

I guessed how to do this. Found some stuff and tried it. Tried different stuff and different methods. Sold some. Gave some away. Scattered them all over my yard. Ninja crazy!

Now, many of them have tiles that are popping loose. This is annoying, disappointing and ugly.

There is a man in Three Rivers who is a genius at tile mosaic. His wife was a ceramicist, and after she died, he continued his tiling projects. He began making his own objects in her kiln, continued a project they had begun, and now teaches an occasional workshop.

I attended the workshop in the hopes of learning the right way to do this.

Before I show you what I made, look at what the tiling genius has around his place.

This has symbols for Nancy’s potter’s wheel, her glazing color samples and her kiln.

Oops. Out of time. I’ll show you what I made tomorrow.

Fall in Mineral King

We spent our last weekend of the season in Mineral King over Columbus Day weekend. The weather was beautiful – about time, after all the smoke this summer! It really seemed weird to shutter things up for the winter when we were running around in shorts and sandals, but it certainly is better than closing in a cold storm.

There hasn’t been very good color this year. It could be due to the drought, although there were 15″ of precipitation this summer (mistakenly reported in an earlier post as happening in July – thank you, Trail Guy, for keeping me straightened out on the facts!) The leaves mostly turned brown early and then fell off. Just turned brown and fell off! Sigh.

mineral king

Hey! I painted this scene a few years ago. I sort of lost track of the painting – did it sell? Who bought it? Or is it in one of the places that sell my work and I forgot to list it? (Sounds like someone needs to pay closer attention to her business. . .)

mineral king oil pianting

This is the part of the trail that looks like a yellow tunnel in some years. These are cottonwood trees. The aspens are further up the trail, but we had work to do instead of popping around chasing colored trees. Such responsible adults.

yellow

This was in 2010.

The grasses were sort of yellowish. This coming winter will be a big one, it will end the drought, put lots of white in the mountains and water in the rivers and the lakes and the aquifers and green on the hills. (You listening, God? That is actually a request, not a demand. Amen.)

Mineral King Mineral King oil paintings Mineral King photography