I’ve spent many nights away from home in the past month. The drive between home and away is so beautiful this time of year that I want to show you a few photos. I hold the camera up to the window while driving and not looking at the camera screen, so any photo that is sort of okay is lucky. Then I edit the lucky shots.
Someone has graffitied my initials in my favorite color on this road sign.
Would any of these photos make good paintings? Or am I just blinded by green love? If I paint these, can I write off my mileage? Or can I write off my mileage because I am considering these to be paintable?
I can’t stand tax season. But I love this time of year. Life is full of contradictions, dilemmas, incongruities, paradoxes, always at the same time. Thank goodness there are goods happening at the same time as bads.
For the first time in my life, I have purposely not gotten a cat “fixed”. We have so much trouble keeping cats that I want to generate a few back-up kitties. Besides, it costs so much and then some coyote just comes along, and poof, gone, bye-bye cat and bye-bye dollars.
So, our little Scout has become a boy-scoutin’ kitty. She has a couple of boyfriends who are yowling at one another down by the road. We are a little worried that Scout will go scouting too far away, but even if she was “fixed” there would be no guarantee of safety.
Meanwhile, I haven’t been working much and went scouting around (for scenery and exercise, not like Scout!!) with a couple of friends. It is early spring in Three Rivers, up on the BLM land along Salt Creek.
We saw a total of 4 young ‘uns! I told you it is spring around here.
First bush lupine of the year in bloom – more evidence of spring.
This waterfall along Salt Creek doesn’t photograph well for me, but I always try.
Whoa. This is so beautiful. Sometimes I can’t believe I get to live here.
Does this look like January to you? It was January 30 when I was here, honest! See? Tulare County isn’t all about unemployment, obesity and smog. (But don’t tell anyone else, okay?)
This map is where we were. Salt Creek BLM land. Some people call it Case Mountain, but it is one very long walk to Case Mountain, involving a tremendous amount of trespassing. Since it follows the Salt Creek drainage, that is the name I prefer.
I learned some hard things in January, but will only share a few because many are too personal for the World Wide Web.
Unexpected death creates a ton of work.
The more animals you own, the more you will spend in time, feed, and vet bills.
It is horrible to lose a close friend. Horrible horrible horrible, like losing a family member.
Cow poo is very slippery. (I hope those jeans will come clean. . .)
Cowgirls don’t wear leggings, pointy-toed boots, or cowboy hats.
When you feel an urgency to clear your schedule and complete tasks, follow that prompting, because it is probably God helping you be ready for an emergency.
If you bake bread and undercook a batch, there is no need to put it back in the oven later. It won’t fix the raw center, even after another hour at the original temperature.
When we have big bad sad occurrences, sometimes little things can help. They distract us, remind us what remains, help us be thankful for so many good things in life. Here are a few that have helped me recently.
A walk with Trail Guy in a seldom visited place of beauty. Kind of makes you say, “Whoa”.
Might be Mt. Stewart, and perhaps Triple Divide Peak in the distance on the left. And the ubiquitous spot on the lens. . . sigh.
In my normally slow month of December, I finally had the chance to work on my upcoming book Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names.
It seems to be cooking along just fine, and then something goes wackadoodle with InDesign or the template ceases to do its templatish magic or it takes hours and hours to resize all the photos to the same effective PPI (you’d really rather not know) or some of the photos get corrupted and I have to keep moving the flashdrive back and forth between the 2 laptops or I realize the title page simply says “MK Wildflowers” instead of Mineral King Wildflowers . . .
You get the idea.
One morning I worked about 10 minutes on it and suddenly it was lunchtime. Then I put in about another 1/2 hour and it was dark out. Then another 10 minutes and it was 9 p.m. So, you see this is an engrossing and enjoyable project.
The worst part will be writing the blurb on the back. Have you ever tried writing about yourself? Don’t, if you are able to avoid it.
The plan is to have it in hand in April so I can do a book signing in the Mineral King Room at the Three Rivers Historical Museum before the Redbud Festival when people are in a wildflower state of mind. (Have you ever been in a wildflower state of mind? It might just be an idiosyncratic trait of this Central California artist.)
A view from a home in Three Rivers that I will be drawing soon.
The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day has always felt like a freebie to me. I don’t work much, but spend time thinking about the previous year (did I actually do anything noteworthy?) and about the upcoming year (do I look as if I have a plan?).
Last week I thought about blogging, marketing, what to paint, what to draw, the 2020 calendar, and mostly about the upcoming book, Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names. I wondered how I got selected as the Best Artist in Three Rivers in 2018 and didn’t know it.
I made lists, calculated a year’s worth of mileage on my car, vacuumed the studio, called Huge & Rude (the telephone company) because the internet isn’t working very well (what’s new about that?), rehung paintings in the studio from Anne Lang’s Emporium (now closed), updated lists of available paintings, delivered paintings to the Mural Gallery in Exeter, put new art on the website, and generally wondered about my art business.
Where will I sell my work? What shall I paint? Is there a way to draw more? Is there a reason to draw more? How do I tap into those thousands of people blowing through town on their way to Sequoia National Park? Should I hire someone to teach me how to reach a wider market? Are little boutiques the right place for my work? If not, where is? How do I find more customers? Do I post to my blog too often? Why do so many people not even know what a blog is? Do I have to join the dreaded Facebook? Will this be the year I have to get a cell phone? Should I get my good camera repaired? Should I buy a better small camera? Who’s on first?
I often wonder about my art business, in case you were wondering.
My wildly resourceful Christmas wrap, symbolic of my gifts of learning to you each month.
Do you like those end of the year round-up lists? Here’s one for you, almost entirely made up of links to previous posts. (Each one will open in a new tab.) We remember the things we review, so let’s go. . .
We have documentation of 84 new things learned in 2018. (and probably 1/2 of them already forgotten). Here are 3 more from December (much of what I learned this month isn’t worth sharing publicly).
You can find a doctor online and have him call a prescription into your local drug store! What? I had no idea, and don’t know how to do this, but it is good to know, and I know who to ask for more details.
Green tomato pie is not worth making unless you have no apples; if you insist on making it, 1-1/2 cups of sugar is too much.
Frost-on-the-Pumpkin pie is worth making if you don’t mind 2 sessions in the kitchen and using every bowl you possess.
Here is a mystery for you to contemplate. (This is like my nieces and nephews on Instagram, posting photos that cause nothing but questions. Aren’t I modern?)
I wish you a year of learning in 2019!
Now I will be quiet for a week. Fret not, I’ll be back.
In the world of computers, “update” is a euphemism for “complication”. (Never mind what “upgrade” means – it is a word made up in the 21st century to confound all sensible people.)
In my world, “update” means recent information on unfinished or unreported business.
The Wildflowers of Mineral King: Common Nameswill not be published by Christmas. There is no need for such a book in December; there is a need for such a book in July. My publishing date goal is May of 2019
Did you remember that I have another blog called The Cabins of Wilsonia? This is about putting together and publishing the book of that name, and although it has been out since December of 2014, I still have thoughts about it. The book is available here.
Sometimes I look at a painting in my studio and think of a way to make it better. Here is White Chief III, before and after:
A friend sent me a photo of this sketch I did in 1985. Thank you, Pam!
Another friend sent me this illustration that really explains things well. Thank you, Deanne!
If you want to commission me to draw or paint something in time for Christmas, I can do it if it is small and if you provide good photos (or choose something I have good photos and good solid information about).
I thought a painting of a Sequoia was finished and then decided the base of the tree looked like a puffball mushroom. Here is before and after:
Sunny Sequoias #34, 6×6″, SOLD
The colors are more realistic in the do-over, not because of how it was painted, but because of how it was edited on the computer.
#5 might apply to an email exchange I had with someone about some folks (unknown to me) who wanted the Christmas cards I drew and had printed in 1993. They changed their minds because it was too expensive (and I didn’t even charge them for the use of the design nor did they have to pay for the original drawing). This is the design – isn’t it quaint?
Christmas in Exeter, 1993
And that’s all for today, folks! Consider yourself updated, hopefully in an uncomplicated and entertaining manner.
P.S. Today’s oil painting at Anne Lang’s Emporium
South Fork of the Kaweah, oil on wrapped canvas, 8×8″, $100
Trail Guy and I go for walks from our house in Three Rivers. I’d say its just what old people do, but we’ve been doing this for 20 years, and we still go steep places that may or may not be considered trespassing.
Here is how things looked yesterday afternoon.
The decorations on the Dinely Bridge might be considered a Peculiar Sight, but we are used to them and look for them.
The star gets placed and lit by Southern Calif. Edison each December. It might be considered a Peculiar Sight to a newcomer. (I consider the dark spots in the sky to be a peculiar and annoying sight; it might be time for a new camera.)
Some retired guys wear short pants almost all year around. At least this retired guy has nice legs. . .
Sycamores along the river below have more color this year than in a long time.
Edison is releasing water instead of sending it down to the power plant. I don’t know why.
The clean air is such a relief after the rains, which we are so very grateful for.
Then we walked home, and our mulberry tree was just lit up with yellow. This is a fruitless mulberry, the type that gets hacked back to knobs by most folks. Not us – we need the shade and love the yellow (never mind what it has done to the grass beneath or is doing the ferns by the front porch).
Tucker and Scout were happy we returned. We have to sneak off so they don’t notice and follow us.
Scout is always ready for action (which is why she is slightly blurry in this photo.)
Yellow eyes, yellow leaves, 2 black cats.
P.S. Today’s Anne Lang Emporium featured oil painting
