A Walk With a Mission

Why am I showing you this? Because I am not working on any art projects at the moment. (Pictures of two book editing projects wouldn’t hold your interest—you’re welcome.)

Further, I won’t be revealing the location of this walk, because we were trespassing. Forgive us our trespasses. . .

I was on a mission. The last time we took this walk, I spied a classic cabin—stone chimney, board and batten siding, very simple.

Who cares? Your Central California artist.

Why? My business is called “Cabin Art”. And I have been walking in this neighborhood for 23 years, so it is quite thrilling (and puzzling) to see something for the first time, something clearly old that has escaped my notice.

I talked to a couple of people who know the area and received a couple of possible explanations for this intriguing structure. It is down there somewhere. (Trail Guy brought binoculars).

THERE! See it? It is so far down a driveway that it is not at all visible from the road that I walk.

Mystery solved. After that, we had a shouted conversation with our friends on a lower section of road.

Alta Peak was crispy clear.

There it is again! Why haven’t those people asked me to draw it? Don’t they know who I am??

It might make a nice painting, if I include the backdrop. I’ve heard the people are quite reclusive, but the strangest coincidences regularly occur when I am curious about a building. I learned the names of the owner, and next week, someone by the same name who I know is related started drawing lessons. More will be revealed. . . or not.Looking down canyon, you can see the air quality deteriorates. But oh my, the GREEN!

This is not the river. Just sayin’. (That is a handy little cliché).

A POPPY ON JANUARY 9!! Excuse me for shouting. This is Very Very Early. But wait! There’s more!

BUSH LUPINE TOO! Guess I was too excited to focus the camera, not that one has the option on a PHD* type of camera.

*Press Here, Dummy

Avoiding the Mess in the Studio

Since finishing the indoor murals, I haven’t been working on any art projects worthy of posting. Instead. . .

. . . Trail Guy and I dismantled the show “Images of Home” at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery. It seemed as if we were taking home as much as we delivered back in November. That is because we were. Whenever someone retrieved a sold piece, I replaced it with something else.

I have a remarkable friend, since kindergarten, who possesses many decorative items and the ability to arrange them beautifully. She did this all around “Images of Home”, so when I dismantled the show, I took a few photos of her things (without any understanding of what many actually were). My friend took the stark edges off the show, and I am very very appreciative. It is said that “opposites attract”, and while I was appreciating her enormous quantity of pretty possessions, I recently culled my own decorations down to one box. Look at this stuff! (I piled much of it on this table; the other three photos were things left in the gallery after I moved all of this).

I spent a bit of time weeding my baby poppies, which started appearing in November this year (last year it was January – all based on rainfall). Pretend you don’t see Pippin because he thinks he is hidden. Can you identify the poppies among all the other plants? I finally stopped trying to weed, because the tangled roots were causing me to wreck the poppies too. It was really just an excuse to be outside in the sun with the cats.

Trail Guy and I took a walk. I didn’t take my camera but did take the phone because I wanted to clock our distance (4.3 miles, thank you for your interest). Who actually cares? I am simply making excuses for the poor quality of these photos, but of course, if you are reading this on your own phone, they are probably all too small to see the quality anyway.

This is a neighbor’s front of house view.

We saw the first wildflowers of the year. Tiny and unnamed, but still quite heartening.

There were little fuzzy clumps of green moss.

The clouds cleared briefly off the top of Case Mountain in the distance.

All great slide shows end with a sunset. So, I climbed up on the bench around our chimney for this photo later that afternoon. It is alpenglowish, something I have painted multiple times. (And as long as it continues to sell, I will continue to repaint it.)

Thus we conclude the tour of a show dismantling and a little walk in Three Rivers. May your days be merry and bright. 

Oops. That was last month.

And you are welcome for not having to see the mess my studio was after all the art and merchandise was returned.

Remarkable Drawing Students

I have said many true things about my drawing students, mostly about how they are so kind and encouraging to one another. 

Here is another truth: most of my students are remarkable. They are eager to learn, highly creative, and have many interests. Most take drawing lessons because they have another line of art in their lives and want to be more accurate. They pick up the basics quickly, and then they keep coming because it is so fun to have people to draw with, a time set aside, and of course, help from me.

Look at what two of my students have done on their own.

C (not the “C” of email drawing lessons) loves to watercolor, and she has gotten quite proficient at urban sketching. She also has made a highly original Christmas card for several years, which her kids turned into, I kid you not, COCKTAIL NAPKINS!

Another student, M, found something online about painting on teabags. When she told me she was doing this, I said, “Oh dear, let me get you some paper!” Look at the Christmas card that she gave me:

She lets used tea bags dry, carefully opens them up and empties out the tea leaves, and uses watercolors and ink to create these one-of-a-kind teensy beautiful (and yes, weird) paintings. (I will get her some paper any time she asks!)

I really admire my students and feel so proud of them for taking what they’ve learned about drawing and applying it to their other forms of making art.

You can learn a bit more about drawing lessons here. Lessons

Peculiar and Annoying

My website/blog is being peculiar, and now I am being annoying by bothering you twice in the same day.

Several of my blog subscribers have let me know that the photos aren’t showing up. In addition, many spammers are slamming my email with unwanted solicitations through the contact button. Then, the “platform” that the site is built upon “migrated” everything to a new location in the stratosphere. (I have no idea what all this means). The cherry on top of this mess is that my web designer closed his business to take a regular job; an employee is taking over some of his clients (ME! PICK ME!!) but she is overwhelmed and thus somewhat nonresponsive at this time.

(I’m fine, just fine, thanks, why do you ask??)

If you are a subscriber, how about following the link in this email to the website. If it doesn’t show the photos on the blog post, go to this link and resubscribe: Jana’s Blog  

If you have trouble, please email me. I have disabled the contact form so IF my link above takes you to the correct version of my website, you will not have a form to fill out. (and neither will the Spanner Slammers). But since your Central California artist is trying to navigate this all by her lonesome, it may or may not solve the problem. As with everything, more will be revealed.

Thank you for reading through this annoying information about my peculiar website. You may resume your nap now.

P.S. Sometimes the titles of the blog posts don’t show; other times there are weird spots in the titles because the word “cabinart” is going over the top of the titles in white, which matches the background and further confuses the viewer. (I just work here. Sort of.)

 

11 Things I Learned in December

  1. Alma mater is not Latin for someone’s mama named Alma. It actually translates as”nourishing mother”, so it refers to the university (mother) at which you studied (were nourished), and more commonly, from which you graduated. Good grief, I have 4 alma maters. Wait – was I “nourished” by each one? I can’t remember specifics, but must have learned something. That was well before I started keeping these handy lists.
  2. Discipline-based art education is a way to learn about art in 4 areas: A. production, B. Criticism, C. History, and D. Aesthetics. The approach was formulated in the 1980s by the Getty Foundation and was a departure from the “creative self expressionism” that dominated when I was in school. If it had been taught this way, maybe I would have finished a 4 year degree. A friend told me about this (Thank you, DM!) but I haven’t found a site that explains it as clearly as he did.
  3. All those lines that I’ve been noticing in the sky are called “chemtrails” , the result of something called “geoengineering”, which is atmospheric experimentation and manipulation by covert aerosol distribution. Some document from NASA, written in 1966, indicates that such environmental shenanigans have been going on since the 1940s. I am beginning to think there is a conspiracy here, one to hide and pretend that this is not happening. To question it is to be dismissed as a “conspiracy theorist”. Good grief Charlie Brown. How totally creepy. Maybe you can understand more than I do if you choose to follow these links: Alachua County, Europe Reloaded, Geoengineering Watch.
  4. Almost all large companies hide behind phone trees (except L.L. Bean); they experience an “unusually high volume of calls” at all times; they now have the convenient excuses of Covid and supply chain trouble; they say that they value your business; most offer a call-back option instead of waiting on hold; none of the ones I have tried to connect with ever called back. Anyone wondering why I didn’t want to get a computer, email, a website, or a cell phone? Too bad; this is life as we now know and live it. 
  5. Related to #4, I relearned that in order to get big companies to do the right thing, IF you ever reach a human, you must be firm. If you act angry, ask to escalate the call, maybe even raise your voice and tell them what they are “offering” is completely unacceptable, they usually come to see the truth. WHY WHY WHY is this necessary? Buy local, buy used, borrow, refurbish, and avoid big box stores. Take the road less traveled.
  6. It is very hard to buy things in stores because many don’t carry items for sale, but only for display. If you want to buy something, they write it down, ask you for all sorts of personal information, put it into an iPad, have you verify the information, enter it into a computer, ask for more verification. They charge for shipping the item to their store, for delivering the item to you, for setting up the item for you, and of course for sales tax. They call to say they will deliver on a certain date, they call again to tell you what time and ask you to call back to confirm, and then you get tangled up in the branches of their phone tree. If you can’t get through to confirm, they reschedule and it starts all over again. I had no idea that this is how it “works” now. Anyone wonder why I avoid shopping, keep my things for decades, and prefer thrift shops?
  7. A friend sent a link to a wonderful song. It comes with photos that go along with the lyrics, but the music alone is enough for me. Holy Now by Peter Mayer.
  8. My wedding ring needs to be resized. I needed to take it off, which took awhile with lots of dish soap. There is a permanent dent in my finger, and now I am a little bit afraid to put it back on. Is my finger fat, muscled, or have my knuckles grown? I vote for muscled. . . all that knitting, typing, drawing, painting, weed pulling. Maybe in January I can learn about where to get this done. 
  9. This was to be the year that I made Hoshigaki persimmons. I learned 3 things: A. make SURE they are firm; B. make SURE they have stems to tie the string around; C. DON’T put a persimmon on either end of one string to counterbalance when they hang because if the string gives way on one, both will go splat. Perhaps I will have success with this peculiar, time-consuming and delicious way of drying persimmons next year.
  10. Sawtooth as viewed from the former Sunnypoint Campground in Mineral King, with rushing water in the stream and wildflowers, all exaggerated from the real view in real life is one of people’s very most favorite scenes I have ever painted. Number 6 is now on the easels.(This is #5).
  11. We have gotten more rain in the month of December this winter than in the entire previous rain year! (I think a rain year begins with July). I sure hope we are allowed to have it for irrigation, etc.

 

Ten Truths of Life List

(More weird lines in the sky when no jets have flown overhead)

Lists are a regular tradition at the end of a year. People list things that happened, celebrities who died, accomplishments, goals for the next year, resolutions, words to live by, on and on. . .*

I’ve been thinking about truths of life. Writer Anne Lamott has a famous list, and you can hear her explain them on a very good TED talk. Her list made me think about my own.

Here are some truths that I know and can count on. 

  1. Life is better with a cat.
  2. Almost everything in life is a mix of good and bad—life may be better with a cat, but eventually the cat dies; social media is a sewer, but it is also a place to keep up with your modern (and often puzzling) nieces and nephews.
  3. The two best ways to spend time with friends are working on a project together or taking a walk.
  4. There are no perfect friends; no single person can meet all your needs.
  5. The more stuff you own, the more stuff breaks (and gets lost, dirty, or messed up and wastes your time in maintaining it).
  6. Gardening is war.
  7. “Upgrade” and “update” are euphemisms for “complications”. 
  8. “Educated” and “smart” are not synonyms; knowledge does not equal wisdom, and information does not guarantee discernment. In the same vein, common sense has become quite uncommon. 
  9. My approach to sweets: if it isn’t chocolate (dark), it probably isn’t worth the calories.
  10. Beauty is a need, and it is something that has no danger of an overdose.

Sincerely,

Your List Lady AKA Central California Artist

*A list from the past before I started doing those end of the month Learned Lists (because search engines like links in blog posts): 2016

 

I Always Have Questions

Do other people have questions? Why aren’t other people curious? Is it curiosity or just plain interest? Don’t answer those – just ponder these with me, and if you have answers, let ‘er rip, Tater Chip.

  1. When did people stop giving things and begin “gifting” them?
  2. Why are there so many lines criss-crossing the sky that are not from jets? This is a regular occurrence, one that another friend alerted me to.
  3. Who made up zombies and decided that they were a good subject for movies? (Someone please make it stop)
  4. Where was Tucker the other night and why did that strange black cat let me pick him up and toss him in the workshop? (How do you know in the dark of night if it is your black cat or a strange one? By the voice and the odd behavior, which I dismissed because I was tired and I wanted Tucker to be locked up safely with Pippin and Jackson for the night.)
  5. If The Frankenvirus was made up by scientists messing around in a lab, why don’t we ask those scientists what sort of people they were targeting? If we knew, then we would know who is vulnerable and who to protect! (Yeah, I know, anyone who create such a monster wouldn’t actually care about who the monster injured or killed.)
  6. Why are most dresses for older women sleeveless? Could we get a little coverage here? (And what is “older”?) 
  7. Why are the deciduous large leaf privets and euonymous in my yard losing their leaves? (Not just my yard, but the yards of several friends too)
  8. Why do so many things bloom out of season in my yard? Snowball bush blooming while the leaves are changing, lavender blooming in November, rosemary in November instead of January or February – what does this mean?

Final Question for today: have you seen my show yet? Gallery days and hours below!

Exploring the End of North Fork Drive

Trail Guy, The Farmer, Hiking Buddy and I went on a bit of an adventure. We had all been here are various times in our lives, but never after a fire. The upper end of North Fork Drive had borate (pink fire retardant) sprayed on both sides of the road, the views were much wider than before with so much brush burned out, and it was much more apparent than before how very steep the drop-off is to the river.

After a tail-gate lunch, we headed across the creek and up a dirt road to see how things looked.

This road was widened by bulldozers to create a firebreak. The area definitely burned, but the October rains and the north-facing slopes together have allowed green to begin emerging.

Hey -what is that?

Just a couple of little underground rooms, one with a solid concrete door.

Look – we crossed a bridge to peek into the little rooms – I didn’t notice at the time.

This road is just going up and up and up and up. . . nothing looks different. Let’s go back and take the fork to the right. But what is this white stuff? Ash. A tree on the ground burned and we are looking at the branching pattern left behind.

This was probably covered in a variety of shrubs. I am loving the green here. We headed over to a big flat area, known as Grunigen’s Flat, a former homestead or cattle ranch or commune or something.

Because it all burned, this impressive rock wall shows up.

We followed the wall, which followed the creek. All this chiseled quarried stone, laid without mortar, for what end?

Ugh. Fire. I kept expecting to come to a granite slab with Indian grind-holes. Sure enough, we did, but I didn’t photograph it. I was too absorbed in the sycamores, stone wall, and the green.

The ground was weird like this all over – is this some sort of fire-heave effect?? I don’t think it was a gopher evacuation camp.

The Farmer did a bit of searching and learned that the wall was built in the ’30s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, specifically the Yucca CCC Camp. Not sure what purpose it served other than providing work. If I didn’t have other things going on, I might look it up. But sometimes, a wall is just a wall, and a stone wall this aesthetically pleasing is good enough for this Central California artist for now.

Harder than it Looks

Being on one’s own in a completely flexible profession is not always easy. There is no specific roadmap, operator’s manual, or industry standard and even if there were, it would probably not apply here in Central California’s flyover country. The only galleries in Tulare County are non-profit, run entirely by volunteers, most of whom are good-hearted individuals without training in such matters. Artists may have some training, but generally it was decades earlier, completely outdated, or just various bits gleaned from the highly diverse internet, where one can find anything, everything, and nothing.

This brings me to a boatload of questions about my upcoming show, Images of Home. Some answers have appeared since I initially wrote this post.

  1. If the gallery is normally open on Saturday, will people be able to see the show the day before the reception?  Nope, the gallery will be closed.
  2. When will my show actually end? With December 25 on a Saturday, will the gallery be closed on the Sunday of that week? How about the following week? It will end on an as of yet unspecified date in January.
  3. Will anyone actually come to the reception? Oh Crystal Ball, where art thou?
  4. Should I have kept my art in Three Rivers in the art consignment store that is open many more days and hours than the Courthouse Gallery? Shoulda, coulda, woulda, prolly not, ain’t nobody knows nothin’
  5. Is it “Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery”, “Exeter Courthouse Gallery”, “Courthouse Gallery of Exeter”? None of the above; it is Exeter Art Gallery and Museum Association
  6. Why do I have so many questions? Do other people? Why is it so hard to find answers? Does anyone beside me actually care about these details? silence. . . 
  7. How will I decide which “occasional Fridays” to be at the gallery? I will be there four consecutive Fridays from 11-3 beginning November 26.
  8. How shall I publicize those Fridays to interested parties? Good question. . . 
  9. How can anyone think with the neighbor’s dog barking incessantly? focus focus focus on the task at hand
  10. Why doesn’t the neighbor care? Or answer emails or return phone calls? If we decided to sell and move, would we have to disclose the barking dog to the buyer? Some folks just are not community minded

And you thought all I did was sit around and draw or paint all day! This self-employment as an artist is harder than it looks. Let’s just contemplate something peaceful to calm ourselves as we wait for more to be revealed in the fullness of time.

Yokohl, oil on wrapped canvas, 10×20″, $350

Images of Home

Exeter Courthouse Gallery (Is this the right name?)

125 South B Street, Exeter, California
November 14 – December 30 (Is this the actual closing date?), 2021

Opening Reception – Sunday, November 14, 1-4 p.m.

I know the title of the show is correct, as is the address and the date of the opening reception. Now, what am I going to wear? Should I get my hair cut? Why do we say “hair” when it is all of our hairs that get cut?

I need a cigarette.

WAIT! I don’t smoke! Never have, never will. 

If you see me out in front of the gallery pulling weeds, just be polite, okay?