Category: Sources of inspiration

Back at the Easels

Did you think all I do is run away to Mineral King? Close, but I finally had time to paint again.

This time I decided to risk the messy business of oil painting in the air-conditioned studio, instead of the swamp-cooler “cooled” workshop.

They got moved out to the workshop for quicker drying.

Of course I painted Mineral King – isn’t it my main source of inspiration?

Have a closer look. They need more detailing and a signature, but this is a good solid start to good solid subjects.

And what was that picture at the top?

It is the Generals Highway, the road that leads into Sequoia National Park. When it is drier, I’ll add yucca in bloom. It wants more detail and a signature. I almost always think paintings need more detail. I am a pencil artist who is prone to drawing with my paintbrushes. So what? I ~~like~~ love to draw!

A New Art-making Experience in Mineral King

I have a very dear friend who is in college. She is a “Resident Assistant” this year, which is sort of like a camp counselor for a dorm full of freshmen girls. “Freshgirls”? “Freshwomen”? Hmmm. . .

One of her duties is to make some sort of name plates for each dorm room door. When the girls arrive, they will know immediately which room is theirs and feel welcomed when they see their names.

My friend isn’t too inclined toward artistic activities. She told me of her assignment, and I was immediately excited to be able to help her.

We found some scraps of watercolor paper and she bought some watercolor paints. We discussed ideas, I showed her a bit about how watercolor (mis)behaves, and she went to work.

It was so much fun to think about color combinations and make suggestions, then just sit back and see her go to town. (That’s a euphemism for “commence work” – you can see we were nowhere near a town.) We looked for inspiration all over Mineral King.

I think she liked it too. She discovered the splatter technique and really got serious!

Abstract art doesn’t do much for me, but color is so much fun! Here are a few of the 30 or so that she created.

Can you think of a better combination than a dear friend, color and Mineral King? (Okay, throw in a little dark chocolate and maybe some yarn. . . )

abstract art

A Color Junkie Goes on About Primary Colors

I am a color junkie. It jumps out at me everywhere, and I think about it without meaning too. Primary colors are the basis for all colors, and when I began oil painting, I became even more aware of colors, particularly the primaries.

Red, yellow, and blue make up all the colors in the world. I have to add white for painting. I’ve heard it described as the absence of color, the sum of all colors, the coldest color and some people refuse to call it a color. Doesn’t matter – it is impossible to mix colors without it.

The primaries keep appearing in my life. Early in my painting career, I was given the assignment to copy one of the old masters. I chose Vermeer, and later realized the primaries figured in large in the painting.

I liked the painting so much that I did another one. Red, yellow and blue are all over the place in this one too. (Of course they are all over – I did the entire painting using nothing but the primaries and white.)

See my palette? White, yellow, a mixed orange, 2 reds, 2 blues, a mixed purple and then the other colors that I mixed for whatever I was supposed to be painting when I was procrastinating by photographing the palette.

Every spring I look for blue flowers to put in my blue pots, completed by reds and yellows. No pinks, no purples, an occasional white, but mostly the primaries.

Last summer we were walking through a village on an island in Alaska and I saw these cans.

Only a color junkie would get excited about a scene like this.

color junkie

Is Mineral King the Most Beautiful Place in Tulare County?

Mineral King is probably the most beautiful place in Tulare County that is accessible by car. “One of the most” is probably more accurate than “the most”.

Make up your own mind. Of course, I’m only going to show you my side of the story!

Trail Guy takes this photo every summer, several times. Each time we are convinced the the rock outcropping on Empire Mt. is the best it has ever looked in the last sun of the day.

Timber Gap remains green far into the summer.

Vandever Peak, the right side of Farewell Gap, shows up in most of my Mineral King paintings.

This mule string is National Park animals getting ready to head out over Timber Gap.

Thimbleberry blooms in June and might be an edible berry in August. You’d have to ask a bear, but they don’t have calendars.

The bright flower is “Pride of the Mountains”, which is a penstemmon. Most of what I know about wildflowers comes from Stephen Stocking and Jack Rockwell’s book, Wildflowers of Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks now in its 4th edition from SNHA. I wore out my copy from 30 years ago, and Stephen brought me one in Wilsonia 2 weeks ago! What a thrill! He said there are about 10 new flowers in this version.

Mineral King Mineral King photography

A Walk in Mineral King

Last week we took a wildflower walk in Mineral King. This week we continue up the trail.

It was just a walk – no pack, no water, no food. It was hot out in the sun chasing down those wildflowers, so I was looking forward to stopping by the Ranger Station for a drink of water.

First, Trail Guy found a dead bird. Normally this would be no big deal, but this was a special bird, one that he had seen a few weeks ago. He told me about it because of the color, and he looked it up in a bird book because he has a good bird book and is curious that way. It is one of the things I really appreciate in him.

This is a dead lazuli bunting. I had never seen one or heard of it before. What a color! Sorry, Little Bunting. And Trail Guy, I’m sorry you have a boo-boo on your thumb.

HEY! Here is a live lazuli bunting! That is so fun – never seen one before, and then BOOM! A dead one and a live one all close together!

Trail Guy suggested a short cut, heading back across the stream on a log. I told him I was wanting a drink of water, and he said he thought that could be arranged.

It was a little unusual, a little over our heads, a little splashy, but Trail Guy is resourceful and knew what he knew. I said, “How many other women would put up with this?” He said, “That’s why I married you instead of those other women.” So, we got our splashy drinks and then ventured across the log.

I’m not much good at rock hopping due to a depth perception problem but I can do log crossings.

And this scene? I think it is exactly the place that I painted for my friend a few weeks ago! I actually recognized the exact aspen trees. (Hi, L!)

Mineral King Mineral King photography

A Wildflower Walk in Mineral King

Happy Independence Day Eve!

Normally I post about Mineral King on Fridays, but this week I will be silent on Friday because you will be busy and so will I. So, you get to read about Mineral King on Thursday. Hope you are feeling flexible.

Trail Guy and I took a break from our labors around the cabin (Is knitting a labor??) for a walk. No packs, no water, no snacks – just a walk. He wanted to visit his favorite flower, which has popped into bloom a little early this year since spring came early to the mountains.

This is not his favorite flower – this is Crimson Columbine.

This is not his favorite flower either. I don’t remember seeing it before. I don’t know what it is.

This is not Trail Guy’s favorite flower either. The color is washed out here, but it is Wild Blue Flax. I took this photo because this was taken in June, and normally this flower doesn’t appear until August.

This Mariposa Lily might be Trail Guy’s second favorite flower. It is one of the few white flowers that I’ve bothered to learn, because usually I think white flowers are boring.

This is one of my favorite views, but it rarely photographs well and has never looked good enough to paint.

This is an almost invisible little bitty purplish blue flower that our friend Sue got all excited about. She called it an “Alpine something-or-other”. I’ve never seen it before and don’t think Sue had either.

LEOPARD LILY AKA TIGER LILY is Trail Guy’s favorite wild flower.

They smell very very fragrant. Trail Guy thinks if it could be bottled, the bottler would be a zillionaire.

Indian Paintbrush grows at most elevations. This is one of the best ones I’ve ever seen.

I love penstemmon, particularly this purply-blue version. I don’t know its real name.

This blog post got long. I’ll tell you about the rest of our walk next Friday.

Mineral King Mineral King photography wildflowers

More Spring in Three Rivers

A glorious time of year in a beautiful place – that’s spring in Three Rivers, and it brings me inspiration.

In Three Rivers, this is called “Karl’s Tree”. It is a group of 8 dogwoods, a variety called “Carolinus Florida”. It blooms around the first of April, give or take, based on the weather.

Did you know that locust trees come in pink? These are also in Karl’s yard. They are more purple in real life than in this photo.

Fiesta flower is common in my driveway in early April. Mid April too.

Here is a pink dogwood and a white one too, both in bloom at the same time.

But what is there to DO in Three Rivers? Oh, trespass along the flume, look at the flowers, see the views, you know, just boring stuff like that.

The poppies look yellow in this photo. Colors don’t always work out to be accurate in digital photography or on the computer. But, it is still beautiful!

Three Rivers

Spring in Three Rivers

February is my favorite month. No wait, it’s March! Hold on a minute – I think it might be April!

Salt Creek ought to be raging about now. Instead, we are pathetically grateful for a tiny amount of flow.

My cousin loves to watch birds. I learned a ton from him and his sister in just a few days.

Green doesn’t last long around here so I soak in as much as I can.

More bird watching cousins. I am a cousin watching my bird watching cousins.

Way too much inspiration around here – this will have to be continued next week.

Three Rivers

Drawing Sequoia

Sequoia Natural History Association has sold my work for many years. Great organization – they stock and man the visitor centers and ranger stations throughout Sequoia. They do a lot more, but this post isn’t about them. It is about a drawing I am working on in hopes that they will add it to their inventory in the near future.

This is how the bridge over the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River looked during my recent visit to Sequoia National Park. This bridge is in the Lodgepole Campground.

This is the pencil drawing and the photos I’m working from. The white spaces in the photo are unfinished or sunshine, not snow.

Just in case you were wondering. . .

And I think bridges are remarkable pieces of architecture. They are simple spans over space, but they can be so elegant. Stone work, rustic wood, flowing water – what’s not to like?

drawing pencil drawing Sequoia National park

Visiting Sequoia

When I was a kid and there were guests from out of the area, my folks would take them up to visit Sequoia National Park. I remember thinking, “Do we have to go to the mountains again?”

What a punk. A punk in the Park. A Park Punk?

Two very dear cousins of mine were here recently. We had family business to attend to, and then, we went to Sequoia! I wanted to go, and I really wanted to go with them. They had spent much of their childhood summers in Sequoia, and many of our memories were from times there together.

It had snowed several days before and the previous night. Our first stop was Beetle Rock, which involved some fun stories and binoculars for bird watching.

It was overcast and cold. Doesn’t matter. We were in the Park, and surrounded by Sequoia trees. I love this fence, even when there is no sun on it, even when the snow is tracked.

Cousin Joel seems tall to me, but not compared to a Sequoia tree. He has binoculars, because he sees a bird. Or maybe he hears a bird and is looking for it.

We walked up toward Tokopah Falls, stepping in the tracks of some previous hikers. Doesn’t this look cold? It was 34 degrees.

This is the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River. It flows through Lodgepole. Brrrrr.

It got so foggy we descended to enjoy the foothill part of Sequoia. This is the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River as seen from a suspension bridge out of the Potwisha campground.

Isn’t this a cool bridge? When I bounced on it, it was hard for my cousins to hold the binoculars still and identify their birds. I tried to not be a punk and mostly succeeded.

Isn’t this cool?

This is an old flume and provides water for hydroelectric power. Very clean energy, and nothing gets wasted. There were no birds in the flume, so the binoculars weren’t necessary.

For the record, this former punk really enjoys Sequoia Park. I am now a California artist who loves the special places of Tulare County, and that’s the truth! (Raspberry sound, but I can’t spell that)

California Artist Sequoia Sequoia National park Three Rivers Tulare county