This is always a nice event – lots of interesting merchandise, plenty of raffle prizes, pleasant people, beautiful location and good weather.
I will bring the iPad and the Square. Perhaps you will bring your checkbook or cash, because so far I’m 2 for 2 in that technology not working.
The new mural in the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers History Museum took about 5 hours to paint. It is taking 2 days to tell you about it.
I was zipping right along, just slamming this Mineral King mural of Sawtooth out of my brushes like nobody’s business. (Now that’s a quaint phrase – “nobody’s business”? What does this mean?)
Louise stopped by. She is the Mineral King Guru, an accomplished and published author, and a dear friend who has helped me with several of my murals. I said, “Hey Louise, will you look at this while I hold the window in place so we can be sure that I didn’t cover the peak of Sawtooth with the wooden separator of the window?”
Ahem. Houston, we have a problem.
So, I moved the peak of Sawtooth to the left. Seeing double? Yeppers. Two Sawtooths. Wait. Should that be “Sawteeth”?
No problemo. (a little Spanish lingo for you to balance the French lesson yesterday) Let’s fix the sky, shorten the right side of Sawtooth and add some yellow so the whole world isn’t green, gray and blue. (“Let us” – “us” is the royal we. Thank you for your participation – I appreciation the help and enthusiasm.)
In fact, let’s add a tree. Trees are good. This looks green, but it really is red fir.
Museum Man Tom wedged the window into place so we could be sure of everything. I think you need to see this in person to fully appreciate its coolness. The glass makes some obnoxious reflections in the photograph. The camera’s flash washes out the colors too, but I couldn’t hold still enough without it.
In spite of the difficulties, you can see the peak of Sawtooth, and there is a sense that you are looking out of the window because of the space between the window and the mural.
Now, no plastic and no window. It was a little weird to paint with such sloppy edges, but the window frame will cover the roughness.
The apparent darkness at the top of the sky with that stalactite is the shadow from the roof and rafter tail of the “cabin”. The lighter circle in the sky is a mystery, probably related to the way Museum Man Tom moved lights so I could see what I was painting.
Now have a look at the “cabin”. You’ll have to stay tuned or stop by the museum after the window is put in place and secured. I didn’t dare put it in and risk cracking another pane of glass. (No, I didn’t crack the first pane. For once, I wasn’t the Breaker, although I continue to be a loser in the true sense of the word.)
Do you remember during the last post about the Three Rivers History Museum Mineral King mural that I advised you to stay tuned?
This week we resume our ongoing saga of Mineral King murals.
A man built a cabin facade (sorry, I don’t know how to make the little comma in the air above the “c” in “facade”. . . in case you are confused, it is a French word, and it is pronounced “fuh-SAWD”. It means fake front.)
Where was I?
In the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers History Museum at the fake cabin front.
I bought that window at a garage sale because it is my favorite color and because it is neat-o, but I had no idea of how to use it. It sat in my workshop for 2 years or more, and then it was needed in this “cabin”.
The idea is to feel as if you are inside a cabin, looking at a Mineral King scene through the window.
First, I had to draw it. Wait – first I had to decide what to paint, then I had to put plastic and tape all around so I wouldn’t splatter or spill on the “cabin”.
Can you see it? That’s okay. You don’t have to. I do. I did. See the 2 photos beneath? These were my guides. I had to be careful to place the peak of Sawtooth where it wouldn’t fall behind one of the “bars” of the window. (I can’t remember what that word is, the wooden things that separate the panes of glass.)
Woohoo! This is going fast, and I just know it will be easy.
Fall down laughing. . . I forgot an important principle about painting murals. The smaller they are, the longer they take. “Longer” in relative time. Instead of about 1/2 hour per square foot, it is closer to an hour per square foot. This is because I keep detailing and detailing. I hope I remember this the next time I bid a mural job, and I hope I remember this and PACK A LUNCH!
Trail Guy to the rescue – he has kept me from being a starving artist for 30 years now.
This is too long. I’ll continue tomorrow.
The mural at the Three Rivers History Museum is now finished!
(Yes, the light for photographing the mural is different in the morning than in the afternoon. You are observant about details like that!)
The lower background, the foreground and the trees all needed refining. Louise also noticed that someone climbing the tower would have to make a giant leap to reach the top, so I painted in another step. I added a bit more texture in the shaded parts of Empire Mt. along with 3 wild blue flax. These things are only apparent in person.
Best viewed from a bit of distance, perhaps down the hall as you enter the building. This is easier than viewing it from the back of a fast horse, or perhaps from a speeding car. However, you will miss the 3 wild blue flax if viewing it from down the hall.
Life is a series of decisions, choices and consequences.
There will be more. . . stay tuned.
The Mineral King mural in Three Rivers is in this building.
This is how the mural looked when I arrived on Day #2. Tower is in place, background sort of finished, trees located.
In the last post I said it is quiet in the museum. Ahem. Not on Day #2! A cabin facade is getting built behind me, and every hammer blow or power tool is amplified in the empty room with a tile floor. It is going to look great, and on the back wall will be a window with a painted view of something Mineral King.
On to the day’s work. . .
The bright sun came in through the skylight and with my strongest magnifier glasses, I figured it out!
After putting growing things in the foreground, I painted off the bottoms of those 2 trees. On Day #3, I will figure this out and finish!
The mural started out sort of easy, but on Day #2 I was just making stuff up without photos to help. That’s not easy at all.
I may have estimated my time to be longer than anticipated for the new mural at the Three Rivers Museum.. Perhaps the customer will think I am over charging. Guess I’d better moan on and on about how difficult this is.
All that moaning about difficulty was fake. This might be the easiest location I have ever painted in. Indoors, consistent temperature, consistent light, very few interruptions, no trucks roaring by, and much can be reached without even climbing on the ladders.
Let’s have another look at Samson. He’s waiting for me to get home from work.
Yesterday I began a new mural in the Three Rivers Museum’s new Mineral King Room. The internet was on vacation, so you get to see the beginnings today.
This is the only photo I have of the Three Rivers Museum. Paul Bunyon doesn’t belong here, except that Carroll Barnes of Three Rivers carved him from a Sequoia.
What am I painting? So glad you asked. This is the upper reaches of Empire Mountain, which contains multiple mines. There was a tram with a cable running on towers to carry buckets of ore from the mines down to the stamp mill. I will paint a tram tower in the front. You can see the beginnings of it tomorrow.
Meanwhile, would you like to say hello to Samson?
“Painting” singular, in place, is more accurate. Yesterday I showed you paintings hanging in friends’ homes, friends who collect my art specifically, or collect the art of local artists in general. Some buy it because they love my work and then they become friends, some buy it because they love me.
It’s nice to be loved, and it is nice to have my work loved.
Now, the reason for today’s post:
Before:
After: 
Beautiful room, pretty cool painting!
There was a photo of me standing on the hearth next to the painting, but I looked fat, wrinkled, and slightly overwrought. So, we’ll settle for the painting in place.
This is the commissioned oil painting of a Three Rivers home. It was privilege to be chosen to paint this. It was a little bit too hard for me, but it is good to be challenged and to push through the difficulties. The homeowners were a delight to work with.
Thank you, C & S!!
Yesterday I told you that fifty-eight coloring books, Heart of the Hills, sold during the annual Redbud Festival in Three Rivers.
Lest you think I could have just skipped the booth set up and plopped myself at a card table with a stack of coloring books, plenty of other items also sold. I even had the privilege of seeing some new friends from Fresno who came specifically for pencil drawings, which I had to race home and retrieve. So glad I live close, and that Trail Guy delivered my car to me, since I had walked to work that morning.
Cards, small oil paintings and tee shirts remain popular. But the coloring book stole the show.
My booth was busy almost the entire time, and sometimes I’d see someone sort of hovering around the edges. While I’d be talking with someone else, I’d just pick up a coloring book and pass it over the the hoverer, who invariably said, “How did you know that is what I was looking for?!”
I lied and said I had read her mind. (I hope no one got freaky about that.) It was just obvious to me, taking into account the tremendous popularity and publicity the coloring book is receiving.
Besides, I’ve been doing this show off and on since 1987, so I can read people pretty well.
Wow. It was a busy busy weekend, and I am so thankful to have had this pleasant and peaceful walk to work each morning of the show.
It is truly a blessing to live in Three Rivers.
Redbud is shorthand for The Redbud Festival, an annual arts and crafts fair in Three Rivers. It happened this past weekend. Because I live nearby, I was able to set up my booth on Friday afternoon with the help of Trail Guy and the trusty Botmobile. (That is his 1986 Toyota pickup with 300,000+ miles. If you need a fabulous mechanic, I HIGHLY recommend Foreign Autoworks in Visalia – Toyota, Honda, and their derivatives only. 559-734-8285.)
I purposely brought fewer oil paintings than usual. Just wondering and experimenting with how the booth looks to see if less is more or if less is a bore.
I knew that coloring books would be the big deal, so I hung the somewhat cheesy sign where it could be seen from each entry. And I brought the finished commissioned painting of the Three Rivers house, along with the in-progress version of the Oak Grove Bridge.
I liked the uncluttered look of the screens. Along with oil paintings and coloring books, I had Mineral King tee shirts (now sold out enough to be removed from my website), notecard packages, and Wilsonia cabin books.
It was all mostly a backdrop, a little gallery for the purpose of selling coloring books.
Heart of the Hills is available here and at Kaweah River Trading Co., Three Rivers Mercantile, and the Three Rivers History Museum, all in Three Rivers.