Fridays are about Mineral King on this California artist’s blog. Just reminding you, in case you are wondering where’s the art. . . or perhaps you only tune in on Fridays. Welcome! (and Mineral King is a HUGE source of inspiration to this California artist, so it isn’t really off topic.)
Michael, aka Trail Guy, likes to go off trail, which is the only way to get up Empire. There is a great deal of interesting history up there.
Office? What office? I thought you had a studio!
I stole that line from Lily Kreitinger, an online friend with a wonderful blog. It means that I have a guest post today on another wonderful blog (not Lily’s – yet!) Today you can find my writing at my friend Cheryl Barker’s blog. We are also online buddies.
Why are you reading and talking about all these blogs? I thought you were a California artist!
As a self-employed artist, I work in silence and solitude. Instead of feeling isolated, I listen to podcasts while I paint. They inspire and motivate me to try new things with art, life and business.
I also read other people’s blogs because they broaden my world, and give me a chance to interact with people outside of Tulare County. When I really like someone’s thoughts and writing, and if I have something to say or a question (I ALWAYS have questions!) then I comment. There is a sense of community among the regular commenters and interaction with the blogger himself or herself.
Sometimes I follow the links to those commenters’ blogs, and it is like an interwoven web. (Hmmm, could that be the internet? or perhaps the world wide web?) I think I found Cheryl through Stuff Christians Like, a very goofy and fun blog.
So who is this Cheryl Barker?
Cheryl posts about:
Faith. Family. Friends. Serving God. All of these things are important to me. Being a writer is one of the ways I live out my faith and serve the One who first loved me. My prayer is that you will be refreshed as you join me on my journey. Be blessed!
In the summer she adds some light-hearted things that she calls “Summer Photo Fun”. I’m into photos, and I love to have fun, so lucky me, she asked me to participate!
Head on over there to see what sort of buffoonery I’m engaging in today – share the link with your friends that might enjoy Cheryl’s blog, comment if you are so inclined.
Hint – the post is about wildflowers
Notice I didn’t say I love these companies. (We’re supposed to love people and use things.) In spite of holding back emotionally, these are businesses I would be in a world of hurt without, and I cheerfully pass on the links to you, my readers and friends!
Dick Blick is where I get my art supplies. (I beg you, why would any parent name their child Richard when the last name is Blick??) This company is fantastic in their inventory offerings, deals and customer service. Fantastic, I say!
Vistaprint is my new best friend. They are sooo very generous, so very tempting with all their offers of freebies. I’ve been having a blast designing products to sell and to give as promotional items.
I was despondent when Kodak announced their departure. I have tried to be brave. They have promised to send all my 90-something albums to Shutterfly. The albums have not arrived, but the tempting offers from Shutterfly have. Being a weak and gullible Regional Artist From Quaintsville, I succumbed.
(Trumpet fanfare. . .) There is a new book coming to my studio, primarily to be used for showing my work to potential customers. I have creatively and uniquely titled the book “The Drawings of Jana Botkin”. It should appear here:
Click here to view this photo book on another website. Shutterfly, to be precise. (It will cause you to leave my blog, but you can come back.) Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.
Alrighty then. It didn’t work out exactly as I had hoped. . . As I was saying, I am beginning to really like Shutterfly. I hope they like me back.
Remember I said that Fridays are for Mineral King? If you don’t care about this place in the Southern Sierra, in Sequoia National Park, you can skip Fridays on my blog. If you only care about Mineral King and don’t give a rodent’s hiney about my art, you can skip Monday through Thursday on my blog. Okay, now everyone knows what is what, so let’s get to Timber Gap. (And welcome to my blog, you 2 hearty hikers from NY – hope you made your plane!)
It looks like this from the Mineral King valley:
A “gap” is a low spot in a ridge of mountains, a place that is the most sensible for crossing over. Sometimes it is called a “pass”.
To get there, you must endure a very steep 1/2 mile of trail with steps (“trail checks”) sized for giraffey people. It is hot, dusty, difficult. Suck it up, no whining, put one foot in front of the other, remember to breathe (if you can), and just get it over with.
There are fine views of the valley if you can focus through your huffy-puffiness:
The trail flattens out and then you are faced with a choice.
You may recall the last time I was on this trail was back in January.
There is more climbing through the groups of trees below and to the right of Timber Gap. This is where a tram used to run, bringing ore down to the stamp mill from the mines on Empire. Here is the remains of the tram tender’s cabin near the top of that second group of trees.
Shortly after breaking out of the trees, you cross a very small stream. If you look up, you can see where the mines were. They are still there, but didn’t produce so are simply interesting historical sites if you feel like scrambling up to see them. I didn’t.
Then you are on a wide open slope that can have great flowers. Probably won’t be great this year. In fact, this year is looking a bit weird. There was a swatch of wild blue flax that usually doesn’t appear until August!
After you’ve finished skipping and singing “The Hills Are Alive”, there is more climbing to do. The top of Timber Gap is about 9600′ (or is it 9700′ or 9800′?) and you must earn it. Here is the view over to the other side.
All the landmarks I might recognize from living in Three Rivers are too far to the left to see. Just saying, in case you were curious like I am about where Moro Rock and Alta Peak are!
Mineral King is a source of much inspiration to me. That is why Fridays are devoted to the subject on a blog that is supposed to be about a California artist.
As promised, Fridays are for Mineral King.
The largest patch of snow is called “Bearskin”. It is on the side of Vandever Mt. and probably won’t make it until the snow falls in Autumn this year. Some years it does, and other years it does but binoculars are required to prove it.
There are about 5 of these in the White Chief canyon. In person, they are quite interesting (maybe it is the lack of oxygen there that makes me think so). They photograph poorly, as you can see. If Trail Guy was down in the hole, you’d get a better idea of the scale, but you can see in the photo above that he was busy with lunch.
These are boring flowers that seldom show up against the dirt and gravel. The Artspeak explanation is that they are the same value as the dirt, so there is no contrast. This particular patch was unusually bright.
This photo took forever. The flutterby was a bit too fast for my shutter-finger, and I was thankful to not be wasting film!
When I went to Washington (state) in April, the tulips were in bloom. That is the reason I chose April for my visit. They were stunning.
While at the Redbud Festival in Three Rivers, I saw a lady wearing a skirt with a tulip print. The tulips were progressively larger as they got closer to the hem.
It gave me the idea to paint the tulip fields as a triptych. Triptych is Artspeak for three paintings that are meant to be seen as one scene. I have no earthly idea why this looks so cool, but it does. (It is pronounced “trip-tick”)
Turn your head sideways, squint a bit, and imagine these as a triptych. The top piece has more layers than the other two, but you probably figured that out all by yourself. And pay no attention to the gingko leaf in the upper left.
Occasionally this California artist has to take a trip. On this one she got a tych. But not a tick.
Ever seen an entire field of the same flower in bloom at once time? You can share it here.
Summer has arrived in Mineral King. For those of you who are new to the blog or not from the area, Mineral King is a section in the southern end of Sequoia National Park, California. It is reached by a long and winding road, 25 miles, sometimes unpaved, somewhat cliff-hanging, often one or perhaps one and a half lane wide, with a recommended driving time of one and a half hours. (It doesn’t take me that long. Just sayin’. And stay on your side, please!)
There is no electricity in Mineral King. The elevation is 7800′. Our cabin has running water (from a stream), hot water (propane), a very old propane refrigerator, a wood stove for cooking and heating, and a fireplace for heating in extreme conditions such as Memorial Day weekend. (We even have a telephone, no answering machine, and when 10 people have the number and use it regularly, we change the number.)
Mineral King is a source of great inspiration to me. I often refer to it as The Land of No Electricity, and I spend as much time as I can there in the summer.
I’ve decided to do my “reporting” on Mineral King on Fridays on this blog. That way, if you only tune in for Mineral King, you will know which day to check in. Conversely, if you don’t give a rodent’s hiney about this place in Sequoia, you will know which day to tune out.
Where do you get your inspiration?
This list of comments was started just after Mother’s Day weekend, when I was recovering from the Redbud Festival. Now that I read them after a snowy Memorial Day weekend, I’m slightly climatically confused. Just sayin’ (which is the popular vernacular that means “I talk to hear the sound of my own opinions”)
Little Brown Church© 2012, oil on board, 4×6″, private collection
Any comments (not complaints) you’d like to add?
Wow. Mineral King on Memorial Day weekend has a reputation for being cold. It was 27 degrees much of the time. I’m not making this up. Here, see eleven photos with an occasional comment. (What? you expected me not to have an opinion??)
Loved the backpacks collecting sunshine beneath the flag. We always fly the flag when we are at the cabin. It is a Mineral King tradition, and we are just following suit, because, well, lots of reasons.
The sunshine was short lived. It turned to rain. Very cold rain.
The next morning I looked out the window at this view. “Hey Honey, you going riding?”
“Uh, no, gotta find some firewood so we can keep warm and make coffee.”
“Okay, I’ll just stay inside and look out the window and load up the wood stove and the fireplace and take photos out of the window and dream of summer.”
I did take a brief walk. Very brief.
That’s Retired Road Guy and Cowboy Bert
Then the sun came out and it was still cold!
Sunshine on my flag!
Did you spend Memorial Day weekend in a memorable manner with a flag?
There is a small waterfall on a trail not far from my house in Three Rivers. If I want to go far on that trail, I drive the first mile. If I don’t want to go further than 4 or 5 miles, I walk up to the trailhead.
The stream that makes the falls is seasonal. It scares me to go there after the weather turns warm because there are Snakes. Rattlesnakes is what is meant in Three Rivers when one hears “The Snakes are out” or “I saw a Snake yesterday” or “We had a Snake in our yard”.
Notice the capital S on the word. In German, nouns are capitalized. Snake isn’t German, but it needs to get your attention. I don’t like Snakes. A Snake caused me to break my camera a few years ago.
I digress.
The waterfall is beautiful. It doesn’t photograph that well. If the sun is on it, it is all washed out brightness and deep black shadows. I mess with the photo on iPhoto, and it gets okay. But okay isn’t great, and I need great to make great paintings. Maybe one day I will be skilled enough to make great paintings from okay photos. This is not that day.
See what I mean?
Maybe I should add redbud. Ignore that sandy “beach” with the weed-covered well thingie.
What is your opinion of this scene? of this scene as an oil painting?