Waiting. . . and Making Lists

Today is a peek into the life of a professional artist. A working artist. A self-employed artist. A rogue, solo, maverick artist. Something.

So many jobs on hold. Time for a listicle:

  1. Finished a commissioned drawing but the customer isn’t ready for it.
  2. Framed a drawing requested by a business to use in a display, but the proprietor hasn’t told me when she’ll be there to receive it.*
  3. Been chosen to supply art for a new office building but the Committee hasn’t made its decisions yet.
  4. Been asked to paint a mural but the Asker hasn’t returned my calls.
  5. Sketched a few ideas for that mural but since the Asker hasn’t told me the budget, I don’t know how big to make the mural.
  6. Designed and bid 3 murals for a large project and waiting to hear if my ideas and prices are acceptable.
  7. Ready to paint a replacement in anticipation of selling something from Falling into Winter at Exeter’s Art Gallery and Museum (formerly known as The Courthouse Gallery). I’m certain this one will sell. (6×12″, Unspiced, $125)

*UPDATE: THE DRAWING OF THE GATEWAY BRIDGE IS NOW ON DISPLAY AT THE THREE RIVERS HISTORICAL MUSEUM.

Eight Things I Learned in September

Started with six and then two new learnings arrived. It was a month of great thankfulness for no fires and for a little bit of rain without lightning.

  1. King Arthur Flour is supposed to be superior for baking. I have always just bought the cheapest unbleached white and whole wheat flours from the bulk bins at Winco, so this will be a giant leap forward. My tastebuds are not very discerning, so I may decide it isn’t worth the extra moola. However, I have been told it is worth the higher price. I looked it up and the shipping is high (of course!) and the website sent me around in circles, so I am not providing the link. Found the flour at SaveMart. Expensive, so it had better be good*.
  2. Simon Beck is a snow artist. Say what? He creates 2-8 acre “murals” in the snow, geometric designs, by walking in a pattern with snow shoes in new snowfalls. Here is an article about him with more photos than words.
  3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a wonderful book, one I read many years ago, again in 2003, and just finished. Why does it seem as if I have never read it before?
  4. Fiestaware is the last pottery factory in the United States. I had no idea. Dishes are overwhelming thrift shops because people rarely buy sets anymore and definitely don’t choose “fine china” along with “everyday dishes”. Guess I was way ahead of my time when I decided against “fine china” back in the early ’80s. But oh my, I do love those bright colorful dishes. (I learned this while listening to Mike Rowe interview Salena Zito – Episode 268).
  5. Also on Mike Rowe’s podcast (episode 260), I learned about a dairy called Fair Oaks Farms in Indiana that is entirely self-sustaining. They found a way to feed their cows so that the milk is lactose free, has 1/2 the sugar and 1/3 more protein than regular milk, and Coca Cola bought the brand, naming it Fairlife. I bought some—super expensive, and good, but not sure it is worth the extra money. But I felt so hyper-nourished and righteous about it).
  6. Painting on a south-facing wall is an activity best done in December, January, or February. I learned this years ago when I painted my first giant mural in Exeter. However, when the work appears, it doesn’t often come with ideal options. (Begun in January, completed in May.
  7. Asphalt driveways DON’T need to be resealed every year. In fact, about every four years is right, according to ASR, an excellent asphalt seal and repair company. We’ve been thinking we were neglecting the driveway by skipping a year or two, and in fact that was the right thing. If you keep resealing it, it traps moisture and starts flaking. Who knew?? Obviously not the guys driving around resealing driveways every single year!!
  8. There was indeed a carousel at Mooney Grove Park. It has been restored and now is in front of Hanford’s Fox Theater, according to old friend/blog reader David Stevens, who also provided this photo (THANK YOU, Dave!)

*Good, but not awesome.

An Artist’s Aimless and Arbitrary Random Roundup

How is that for a fancy name of a lazy listicle? Sometimes there are various and sundry things taking place in my life  and sometimes, I think you all might be interested. Let’s have a look:

  1. Remember the commissioned flowing water drawing that I was redrawing because the the original had sold? IT DIDN’T SELL! IT WAS HANGING ON THE WALL IN MY STUDIO THE ENTIRE TIME!! Good grief Charlie Brown. This is the new version.And the old:I found it impossible to duplicate the old one exactly, but it doesn’t matter, because water motion doesn’t duplicate itself exactly either.
  2. We have a bad bear in the neighborhood. This was our first attempt to thwart him after his first attempt to tear into the door.
  3. This is the second way “we” (Trail Guy, but I watched a little bit) secured the door against Mr. Bad Bear.
  4. I mailed the sweater to my friend that I began for her back in August, and this is how she reimbursed me for postage. (Now should I reimburse her for $4 it cost to send this plus a very appreciated turquoise necklace?)
  5. The lawn was still a meadow until recently, I allowed Trail Guy to mow it. This year I am clipping and saving the seeds to see if I can fill in the bare spots, which don’t show under the long blades of grass (or under Tucker, who doesn’t show among the long blades either). Once mowed, I realized the lush lawn was actually the botanical version of a comb-over.
  6. Oh, Fernando, you have been so faithful. I’m so sorry about your ignition switch. If you live in Tulare County and drive Honda, Toyota, Lexus, or Acura, you NEED Foreign Auto Works, 210 N. Cain, Visalia. Mark’s number is 559-734-8285. You are welcome. (I wouldn’t dream of driving something he doesn’t work on!)
  7. The ignition switch is now repaired; now the windshield wipers don’t work. When does the owner of a much beloved old car say “enough”? Sigh. (If I didn’t have AAA and Foreign Auto Works, I’d probably be more inclined to update my ride.)

Tomorrow’s post will be our monthly Learned List. 

Many New Things Learned in August

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. It was a month of lots of new information.

 

  1. Victor Davis Hanson interviewed Dr. Steven Quay who explained the 5 different types of gain of function research, three of which are considered acceptable and two which are considered bio weapons. I had to listen over and over, taking notes, slowing down the podcast to half-speed in order to understand. Interview with VDH on August 5.
  2. Dresser couplings (may you never need to know this): a brilliant simple device for repairing broken water pipes, available in plastic or metal.  A dresser coupling also has “teeth” in the center, and this is why: it gives a pipe wrench something to grab onto while you use a second pipe wrench to tighten up the twirly ends.
  3. Blueberry facts: A. farmers plant grass between the rows; B. they can be harvested mechanically; C. the plants benefit from sawdust.
  4. Oregon facts (many of which I already knew, but maybe you didn’t): A. No sales tax; B. Everything I bought was less expensive than in California; C. Trucks (big rigs) can haul three trailers; D. The roads are lined with Wild Carrot, AKA Queen Anne’s Lace, in August; E. Many of their town names are copycats—Portland, Salem, Glendale, Albany, Dallas, Harrisburg, Jacksonville, for example; F. Although most of the state is small towns and rural areas, the 2 largest cities decide the politics.
  5. Something very peculiar is happening with a book, Dawn at Mineral King Valley, by Dan Selmi. Trail Guy and I met Dan and his wife a number of years ago (5? 8?) when he was researching for a book about the lawsuit that prevented Disney from building a ski resort in Mineral King. I recently discovered that the book was published in June of this year, and I ordered a copy on eBay. I received an old paperback titled A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. What? I returned it, and ordered a copy on Amazon. This time I received a message that the book was out of stock. I ordered a third time from another seller and received the same message. I ordered from a third Amazon seller and received the message again. I ordered a fifth time (4th attempt on Amazon), and this time I received another copy of A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. This is truly baffling! When I worked out how to return the book, underneath the description of the book was this:In case you can’t read it, it says “There is a newer edition of this book” and it lists A Manual for Writers of Research Papers. . .” HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. Next, I need to compare the ISBNs on the 2 books. The Manual for Writers has ISBN 0-226-81619-2 Selmi’s book has ISBN 978-0226816197 (the 13 number version) AND 0226816192 (the 10 number version) Aha! Does the assigner of ISBNs have a problem? Looks as if Daniel Selmi has a problem. I certainly do, if I want to get the right book!**
  6. Perler Beads are tiny plastic macaroni that comes in multiple colors with little molds. You arrange the colors on a mold, melt them into place with an iron, and get these items. I made the blue one which is sort of a coaster.
  7. Do you know how much a gallon of propane weighs? 5.25 lbs., compared to 8 lbs. for a gallon of water. You’re welcome.
  8. This is more opinion than fact, but I believe it is better to drive through the Central Valley on Interstate 5 than on 99. Other people believe 99 to be superior; they are allowed to be wrong, because it will keep more traffic off 5.
  9. There are ice packs made from a gel that when thawed, can be put on your plants as fertilizer! They are called Enviro-Ice. My plants haven’t shot up as a result, but time will tell.
  10. If you want to package things securely in a ziplock bag, close the seal until the last inch, squish out all the air you can, insert a drinking straw, and inhale like crazy to suck out the air. Then, while still inhaling, pull the straw and speedy-quick-like-lightning, seal the bag. (I KNOW you are dying to try this!)
  11. The President and the Freedom Fighter by Brian Kilmeade was a wealth of new information about Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. I learned so much about both of these remarkable men and the War Between the States. (“Civil War” sounds to me as if there was a plot to overthrow the USA, when in reality, it was an effort to secede from the United States, not take it over.) My conclusion is that if everyone at the time simply acknowledged that slavery is sin, plain and simple, it would have ended and there would have been no war. (Can I get an “AMEN”?)

See you in September, maybe in about one week…

**I made a sixth attempt to order the book, this time from eBay. Instead of receiving the book, eBay sent an email saying the book was damaged in transit so it got returned to the seller, who, OF COURSE has no more copies!! 

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Chapter One

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. Do you remember those terrible assignments on the first day of class in the fall (always the day after Labor Day—none of this ridiculous school attendance in August!)? I couldn’t think of a thing. Until age 11, we went to the beach for 2 weeks, but I never ever considered those other weeks to be a “vacation”. It was hang around the house time, and there was nothing to say about that uneventful sort of life. (I must have been so dull to not have told about days in the pool, trips to the library, or bikerides, and somewhat thick-headed as to have considered such unencumbered free time to be unremarkable.) 

On my recent trip to Oregon, I took photos, and I have plenty to say about it, so this will be a series. I don’t know if it was a vacation or not; I certainly had a good time, but is it a vacation if one spends 4 days driving? Is it a vacation if one spends three days working on a garage sale and one day doing farm labor?

The sale was enormous – the garage, driveway, front lawn, front walkway, all covered with merchandise from about 5 different households. We were very organized, dividing things into appropriate categories, helping customers as if it were a department store, making friends, seeing old friends. Everything was priced and labeled by owner’s initials. Day One of the sale. We continually rearranged the merchandise for better attention attraction. (Note I said “merchandise” rather than “stuff” or “junk”. Stuff is the junk you keep; junk is the stuff you throw away.)

Day Two of the sale was significantly smaller, but just as tightly arranged. If you hadn’t been aware of Day One, you might think this was the only day.We had an enormous amount of jewelry, which was enormously popular.

The most commonly heard comments were: 1. You two must be sisters! and 2. Everything is in such good condition!

This precious child fell in love with this doll, and her dad made her offer a lower price than the marked price. I told her yes but on the condition that she name the doll “Martha”.

This bumper sticker cracked me up, and the customer gave permission to photograph it.

That was two days of work, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Day Two of First Road Trip Since the Plague

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. Does anyone else find it hard to sleep in a motel? I was dying to open the window, but it opened onto a walkway where other occupants passed by, and who knows it someone would crawl in?? So, that, along with the road buzz, made sleeping a bit of a challenge after my 500 mile driving day. “Road buzz” is my description of that inner vibration from being so alert for all those hours. Even my long walk around Weed didn’t completely obliterate the inner hum.

So, I was back on the road by 5:15 AM.

Holy guacamole, Oregon is so very beautiful. Even though the hills are becoming golden, the dried out look is offset by all the greenery surrounding it. Maybe it seemed extra beautiful because it wasn’t hot.

Upon arrival, my people had an appointment in downtown Salem, the capitol of Oregon. So, I went along but took a walk, in search of the capitol building. There were so many pretty parks, and beautiful old homes. No photos of the homes, because I was on a quest.

The talking lady on my phone sent me around in circles, telling me for about 3/4 of a mile, “go one quarter mile and turn right”. That right turn never arrived, so finally I shut her off and just followed my instincts. 

Instincts? This was based on a vague hand wave indicating “it’s that way”, and eventually, seeing the tip of a gold idol way above the other buildings.

Idol? A statue in gold reminds me of things mentioned in the Old Testament. It also reminded me of all those Moroni angel statues on top of Mormon temples in Utah. I’m not sure who Oregon has commemorated on their capitol.

Turns out that I walked 3-1/2 miles in the middle of an August afternoon. What a thrill to be somewhere that doesn’t cause one to just cower inside the air-conditioning! (I’m sure they do plenty of cowering indoors during the winter, because everything is a trade-off of some sort.)

Look at the scenery on the drive back. I was a passenger, so the photos aren’t quite as wonky as the ones from when  I was driving.

What a beautiful state!

The next few days will be spent in family activities, probably not photoworthy, so tomorrow (Friday) we will return to a Mineral King post. 

Next week? More will be revealed in the fullness of time.

 

First Road Trip After the Plague

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. We interrupt our regular broadcasting schedule to bring you a special report. After only leaving Tulare County 5 times in 2 years*, I drove 500 miles one day this week.

I headed straight out Highway 198 to Interstate Five, also known as “The Five” (not to be confused with a group of talking heads). For about the first 100 miles, I drove in silence. Then I tried talk radio, bouncing to music and back to talk. At about 250 miles, I put in a book on CD, Condoleeza Rice’s autobiography, read beautifully by her. Thinking I’d need more breaks, I was surprised to only stop twice for gas and once for coffee.

One of my favorite sights on that long highway is Truck Village. (My photos are better when I am a passenger than when driving.)

Suddenly, I was in Weed, my first night’s destination. This is a seedy town, dominated by Mt. Shasta, capturing traffic off The Five in addition to capitalizing on its unfortunate name (named after Mr. Abner Weed, who most likely is turning over in his grave).

The Hi-Lo Cafe has good food but a bit of trouble with spelling.

Resisting the urge to correct the sign, I took a walk around town. The elevation is about 3400′ and it was a very clear and comfortable evening to hop aboard the Zapato Express** after sitting all day long.

I went under the welcome arch (the cafe’s menu said it was built in the ’20s and then rebuilt in the ’60s), heading to downtown. There is definitely an artsy vibe, discovered several places but only photographed here on these decorated steps. Looks just like something I would do.  (Ahem. Something I may have done. Trail Guy is very tolerant of my little eccentric experiments.)

Weed has one rather worn-out looking mural. Sorry to break it to you, Weed, but a mural cannot save a village.

The town is dominated by Shasta.

Such a sad downtown. Many dispensaries, a thrift shop, a tattoo parlor, a couple of bars, a big antique mall, some souvenir places taking advantage of that unfortunate town name, a closed movie theater, a closed bowling alley, many other abandoned buildings, and some attempts to spruce things up by having nice sidewalks, a nice city hall, a couple of tiny parks. The homes I passed were full of potential for cuteness, but what would bring someone to this place besides the geography? 

Bye-bye, Weed. Maybe I’ll see you on the way back home.

*Once to Kern County, 4 times to Fresno County

**Take a walk

Just Twelve Colors

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog.

I have an artist friend in Kansas named Carrie Lewis. I found her on the internet some years ago while looking to see what other artists were blogging about, and how their blogs were working. Carrie works in colored pencil, and because I love to draw, used to use colored pencils, and still help some of my drawing students with colored pencils,I thought I could learn from her. 

A few weeks ago she asked me to write a guest post for her. This is the link: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Colored Pencils. 

After she posted it, the ideas started coming for more posts. Along with those ideas came intense summer heat and a desire to cower in my air conditioned studio instead of painting in the swamp-(barely)-cooled workshop.

I own a tremendous number of colored pencils, and I seldom use them for anything except putting color on American flags in pencil drawings and lending them to my drawing students. (I have way way more than these, and this is after thinning them out a few years ago!)

Because I paint using the primary colors, I’ve wondered why I think I need so many colors of pencils. I don’t. I really don’t need them all. Colored pencil manufacturers sell starter sets of 12 colors, and it is a great challenge to see if I can produce pieces using only those 12 colors.

My first set of 12 came from Aunt Shirley for my birthday in 5th grade (age 10, I think). I still have 2 pencils from that set. (I can tell by the typestyle.)

By looking on the internet, I learned the 12 colors that were originally in the Prismacolor starter box. (It was clear plastic and it finally cracked. . . wahhh. It was so cool.) I also learned which 12 colors are in the Polychromos starter set. Then I went through my pencils and filled a box with those 24 pencils, along with back-ups and pencil extenders (circled in photo). The back-up pencils are for Prismacolors, because they break and break and break and. . .

I started a colored pencil drawing using just the 12 Prismacolor pencils.

Colored pencils are difficult for me to get an exact match, but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is making beautiful, plausible, believable, realistic art. Because. . .

Using pencils, oil paint and murals, I make art that people can understand, of places and things they love, for prices that won’t scare them.

Ten New Things in July

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. In the last week and a half of July, I became aware of so many new pieces of knowledge, enlightenment, and information. Enjoy!

  1. Mustang Mint appeared in my wildflower book as an unknown, or an unsure. This year I discovered it along the Mineral King Road, near Wolverton Point. It wasn’t in a good place for photos, so this is blurry. But I knew right away what it was—very fragrant.
  2. Have you read the Declaration of Independence (since the 8th grade)? I didn’t remember that it is a list of grievances against King George III. It was also interesting to see that it was signed by 56 men. For fun, look at these first names: 6 Williams, 6 Georges, 6 Johns, 5 Thomases, 3 Samuels, 3 Benjamins along with one each of these unusual monikers: Carter, Button, Elbridge, and Step. (This doesn’t add up to 56—there were other names I didn’t mention.) All of them were putting their lives on the line FOR US!! I highly recommend listening to Mike Rowe’s podcast Episode #104, The One Percenters.
  3. I learned that red, white and blue stand for valor, purity, justice.
  4. What Makes This Song Great is a wonderful YouTube site (station? channel? series?) by Rick Beato. This is another great find from Mike Rowe who interviewed him on Episode #259. Rick is a music producer (I think that is what it is called) who is musically brilliant. He breaks down songs from different eras and explains why they are so endearing and enduring. His enthusiasm will make you smile, and if you are around his age (born in 1962), you will enjoy the songs he picks by groups you probably used to love. Chicago, Boston, Kansas, and Toto (what’s with the geographical group names? and then “Toto”, appropriately listed here after Kansas?) But where is the Little River Band, hunh?? And where are the Carpenters? How about Bread? (L.Mc., he has a video on Gordon Lightfoot!)
  5. A friend told me about a daily 15 minute podcast for news, Morning Wire. So far it seems pretty straightforward, just the facts ma’am, but the reporters have that trendy youthful way of speaking. What I mean is that they talk fast, begin many sentences with “well”, “yeah”, or “so”, and when the anchor thanks them for reporting, they respond with either “my pleasure” or “anytime”. Those quirks are simply distractions, not a commentary on the quality of the reporting and at least they don’t talk through their noses with that dropped growl thing at the end.
  6. If you catch a bushy-tailed wood rat in a Hav-A-Hart trap and release it far away, it will come back. We’ll have to release it even farther next time. No photos. Ick, rodents.
  7. Sacrifice: A Gold Star Widow’s Fight for the Truth showed me that upper military personnel sometimes lie, file false reports, cover up mistakes, deny responsibility, and as a result, people die. Michelle Black wrote an engrossing book about losing her husband and uncovering the truth. Scary. What a brave and determined woman! (I met Michelle’s mom, who told me about the book.)
  8. If you are bitten by one mosquito, others find you more easily. That’s why sometimes the mosquitoes go all nutso over one person and ignore the other people in the area. I don’t know specifics, and I didn’t verify this fact, but it makes sense to me. (This tool box has nothing to do with anything other than the light caught my fancy.)
  9. Class Reunion: by the time 45 years since high school arrives, people have become comfortable in their own skin, everyone feels like a true friend, people are ready for real conversations, baldly honest and authentic. I had a wonderful time wandering around the room, reading name tags, getting reacquainted or making a new acquaintance. Out of a class of about 400, only about 80 were in attendance, there was no music (the voices alone were LOUD), and no one (that I could tell) got sloppy drunk. Initially I only signed up out of guilt, because some people travel great distances, so I should have the courtesy to drive 35 miles. I’m glad I went.
  10. Over the last several decades (I don’t know the specifics), California farmers are using 14% less water and producing 31% more food! THANK YOU, FARMERS!! (Food comes from farms, not from grocery stores. And do NOT complain about farmers if you are wearing cotton, or eating food. Go ahead and complain if you are eating a Google, driving a Facebook, sleeping in a Twitter. Comfy?? Be warmed and filled.)

Making Stuff is Part of Being an Artist

If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not; it isn’t a problem I know how to solve.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

“Artist” can mean someone who makes stuff for fun and it can mean someone who makes stuff for a living. I’ve been the Stuff For Fun type of artist as long as I have been a functional human. The business end of things came later in life.

Look at this list of phases I have gone through: paint-by-number, woven potholders, lanyards, notecards with pressed flowers with wax paper and glitter, decoupage posters on grape trays, sewing, macrame, crocheting, tatting, quilts, grapevine wreaths, willow furniture, mosaic stepping stones, knitting, bread, yogurt, hummus.

It is deeply satisfying to be able to make useful and functional items, even if one quits the craft before achieving any great level of success. (Let’s not talk about those paint-by-number or potholder kits).

Nothing has changed. A week or two ago, on a day that was meant for oil painting, I had projects galore that were calling out for attention. None of my paintings have imminent deadlines, so I took advantage of a loose schedule.

Current Projects

Project #1 is to turn a discarded road sign into something attractive that reminds people to not race through our neighborhood.

Project #2 is turning a book into a hiding place. (Just a Reader’s Digest Condensed book—don’t get your knickers in a knot.)

Project #3 is PROTECTING SOME FLOWERS FROM THOSE BLASTED DEER IN THE YARD!  The shrub in the middle is a butterfly bush, chosen because the deer have ignored another one in the yard for several years. But here in the fake wishing well, one of those miserable creatures has been pruning this shrub with its teeth, and ignoring the petunias for some unknown reason. I planted more petunias, some statice, columbine, and something called “tickweed”. Then I pounded in these bamboo stakes, and later wrapped them with twine in a random, schlocky manner that I hope is very annoying to the deer. (I noticed that one of the tickweed plants had been unplanted and dropped on the ground. Those sneaky so-and-sos were sabotaging the new plantings while I was gathering supplies.)

A few days prior to these projects, Trail Guy moved a chair that was part of the herb garden fencing. It was gone for a short time before he put it back. Meanwhile, this is what happened:

We think Bambi was there all day before we noticed, so I hope he was traumatized enough to NEVER want to return.

My gardening efforts are a continual triumph of hope over experience.