Three Rivers | Cabin Art

Compiling and Amalgamating

Sometimes I see a beautiful scene that just can’t be captured with a single photograph. The light is wrong so the colors come out weird, or there are branches obstructing important views. So, I take as many photos as possible and then put them together in a rough manner using Photoshop Junior. (Photoshop Elements is the “easy version”, in case you are wondering what Photoshop Junior is.)

One spring morning last year, my neighbor and I were walking on a trail above our houses in Three Rivers. I knew it had the makings of a nice painting, but I only had the inferior camera on my phone, and the light was quite low.

I took all these photos anyway. Each one had something going for it, and I hoped that I could patch them together to capture the moment in a believable manner.

After putzing around on Photoshop Junior, I decided that a square format looked best. Using Photoshop is the modern version of doing a “thumbnail sketch”, something art teachers always insisted on but never explained properly (like much of what was required in art classes, heavy sigh.) It is a way to see if all the elements look good together, are the right sizes and in the right places.

This is more of how I want it to look, but the trail is going the wrong direction.

I made the distant hills larger, emphasized the colors, made sure the hills included the landmark Comb Rocks, placed the trail where I wanted, and filled the foreground with wildflowers.

I finally got the photos to fit together in the best possible way. Here is the final painting, still untitled.

Now that’s what I’m talking about! I wonder why it took me so many years to learn to use my computer this way. Must be slow on the uptake. . . certainly not an early adopter of tech. . . plodding. . .the way I’ve always done it.

The Way I Remember It

There is a place near me here in Tulare County that is fantastical for spring-time hiking, particularly in a wet year. The views, green, trees, flowing water, and wildflowers are utter perfection, unless you try to get a good photo. Then, all the beautiful things that you remember end up in different pictures.

What’s an artist to do? Why, use Photoshop Junior, of course! (My attempt is a mess, so I am not going to show you. . . something about watching sausage being made comes to mind here. . .)

I started with the sky, of course, and then began on the most distant hills.

Because the photos are on my laptop, I can make specific areas as large as necessary to pick out the various textures and colors.

I moved across from left to right on those distant hills, and then I decided that the lupine were calling my name.

The final step at the end of the painting session used up various greens on the palette.

I love walking up there. Nope, I’m not giving the location. It really frosts me when people publicize nice quiet local places all over the interwebs and then there is traffic, a parking problem, and too many people. Tell your friends if you want, but WHY do you have to tell the WHOLE WORLD??

The painting isn’t any one exact location up there. This is the way I want to remember the place.

I might want to keep this painting. That has been happening lately; I’ll take it as a good sign.

Spring is Short so Enjoy it Now!

Spring is exceedingly short, a beautiful season that could be cut off by a quick few days of heat. Last week in one of my regular posts of watching paint go slowly onto a canvas, I ended the post with a photo of my yard (“the yard”, “our yard”, the place outside of my home, oops, our home and my studio, etc.) and that photo received the comments. I think I can figure out what you, O Blog Reader, wants to see more than watching wet oil paint land on canvas.

Today we will have a spring fling thing.

These tiny blue flowers have the odd name of Speedwell, or Bird’s Eye Speedwell.

Baby-blue-eyes might be my favorite. You have to know where to look for them, and I do. Every year. They are earlier this year than usual.

These tiny bright spots should be called Magenta Maids, but the real name is Red Maids.

Looks like popcorn, but these are actually the bloom on Miner’s Lettuce.

Miner’s Lettuce and Fiddleneck are the earliest wildflowers in Three Rivers.

Last week Blog Reader Anne asked if I ever sit in the white chairs. Indeed I do, and Tucker often joins me.

But then Pippin butts in.

He’s kind of irresistible.

(Jackson isn’t very social nor is he loving or even friendly. He’s fine—Thanks for your concern.)

The flowers behind the white chairs have the unlovely name of “freeway daisies”. When the nursery owner showed them to me about 25 years ago, I said, “Those leaves are hideous so I bet they’ll do well in my yard.” The leaves without the flowers look sort of spiky, but the prolific flowers and easy propagation have overcome any objections on my part, although they do clash in color with the flowering quince. Since the deer don’t eat either of them and they bloom, I can handle a bit of color clashiness.

A few days ago, a dear friend tiptoed up to the front porch and left this incredible pot of tulips. They don’t grow well around here, so they are a HUGE floral treat.

They look electrified in the morning sun!

Just hanging around the tulips caused me to look for other things to photograph in the yard.

This guy is early too. It is profuse in the pots by my studio all summer long.

Finally, I saw this freesia in my not-quite-awakened lawn (the one I let grow tall in the summer so Tucker and I can play hide-and-seek in the grass). How did it get there??

I love spring. LOVE IT!! Especially in Three Rivers.

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February Flowers in Three Rivers

February in Three Rivers is the beginning of springtime. Look at all the daffodils (and narcissus? Or are they all narcissus?) in my yard in these photos taken on February 14.

I love February. Wish it was longer.

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Walking in Three Rivers in February

One bright February afternoon, I took a walk in Three Rivers with my friend in Texas. We were on the phone together for the entire 3.5 miles, catching up on many topics, and sending photos back and forth. These are the pictures I sent to her (and a few extras).

I love February.

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Another Winter Walk in Three Rivers

I love February in Three Rivers, so I walked a route that I haven’t walked in a long time, wanting to test my foot and my ability to endure discomfort. There were plenty of things to distract me, such as stealing a tangerine, dodging traffic, and taking photos.

This is an area where I hope to bring a couple of artist friends so we can paint (and maybe swat bugs) together.

A friend said she cannot see the elephant on Alta Peak, so I took this photo and outlined its image in hopes that the elephant shows for her.

I take the same photos over and over, always hoping that I will discover a familiar subject in better light or find another angle in order to make an irresistible painting someday.

P.S. In case you were wondering, 3.5 miles, foot discomfort tolerable, and I figured I could have gone another 1-2 miles without actively looking for a hatchet.

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Winter Walk in Three Rivers

What passes for winter in Three Rivers is probably what many parts of the country regard as springtime. When we get rain, we get green.

This is greenery when I am walking, but probably just weeds to the property owner.

We get flowers too.

And, we get lichen. Well, we already had that, but I’m on a roll here, taking photos while walking.

An old friend told me she was envious that I get to live in Three Rivers. In order to help her feel better, I told her this:

“There are elements of 3R that aren’t so great, such as frequent power outages (more frequent than towns down the hill), smoke in the fall, evacuations during wildfires, unreliable and spotty cell service, phone and internet outages, occasional water outages, no dentist, no drug store, expensive groceries, only 3 churches to choose from, shrinking population, Park closures that adversely affect commerce, limited commercial choices (is this a bad thing?).”

She felt better.

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More Thought Required

This painting is So Difficult. I continue to engage in mental and artist gymnastics in hopes of making it good enough to sign.

This is where I last left you, in the saga of Can I Actually Finish This?

I found a painting by Bierstadt that had light and clouds and mountains in the distance; briefly I deluded myself by thinking I could copy his technique. Then I saw a poster with rays of light coming through redwood trees, advertising Kings Canyon National Park, and briefly deluded myself into thinking rays of sunlight would look good here.

Using either of those ideas would be the art version of “duplicitous language”. It is inspirational to look at other people’s brilliant art, but copying would look contrived, pieced together, and derivative (meaning obviously stolen). There must be a way to be influenced by others without actually copying.

Next I spent time looking through the 30,000+ photos on my laptop, hoping that if I found the original photos that a solution would come.

I FOUND THE PHOTOS! These were taken up North Fork Drive in Three Rivers back in 2010, I think, but now I can’t remember the exact month or the year. (Gimme a break here—33, 224 photos!)

These aren’t really very much help. Look at the overhead canopy of leaves, the somewhat disconnected branches, the skinny trunks. It is the light and shadow that make this a nice photo, but I cannot duplicate what is here convincingly.

I kept studying the painting, wondering what was wrong with the trees. I’ve thickened the trunks and begun adding bark, so what’s wrong here? Maybe it is that one curving from the left over the road that looks phony-baloney. You can get away with weird stuff in photos, but if you copy it in your art, you will look ignorant.

I added more bark texture while contemplating the next move.

It was time to study some real trees, so I took photos of different oak trees while out walking.

This will require more thought, more experimentation.

A Winter Walk in Three Rivers

What passes for winter in Three Rivers usually involves sunshine and green hills. Do those folks down the hill know that the fog and gray usually ends at Terminus Dam (Lake Kaweah)?

I walked a new route yesterday. It’s been awhile since I went that way, back before peripheral neuropathy when I could actually walk that far. Now I have to drive there, which feels somewhat counterintuitive when one is seeking exercise. It is busier than my normal routes, there is more litter, and sometimes I have to cross over to the wrong side of the road in order to have a shoulder to walk on. Sometimes it is worth extra effort to experience something new.

My friend used to live here. She died in 2015. I still miss her.

Nice-looking farm stand; I’ve never seen it open.

The fountain (hard to see here) is dolphins. With those palm trees, I wonder if these folks moved here from Malibu or Florida or even Pismo.

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Five Steps Closer on this One

If you receive this in your email and want to see the photos, click on the title.

This painting was waiting patiently for some attention. I gave it an entire afternoon, photographing it at 5 stages.

First, I put in some sky patches in the upper left.

Next, I strengthened the trees. They are all sort of skinny in the photo, so I will probably choose a few to fatten up. Later.

I mixed several greens and just danced around all over the canvas without a real plan.

Then I worked on the road, along with a bit more specificity in the greens.

Finally, I paid attention to the details in the closer things off the shoulders of the road.

In conclusion, the photo is mostly a suggestion of shapes and light. The details are murky, so I am just winging it, pantsing it, trying this and that with an occasional peek at the photo. Photos. I have several, and yet have no memory of taking these pictures.

Two titles are under consideration: “Take Me Home. . .” and “Somewhere in Three Rivers”.

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Category: Three Rivers