Today’s post is a peek into what passes for fall in the foothills of Central California.
Yes, this is a redbud in bloom. Go figure!
My Wild Life
Living in a small rural community in a small rural county gets a little exciting at times. It isn’t as though I battle wildfires (please, God, spare us that), and there have been no rattlesnakes this season.
But, sometimes it rains very very hard. This was about 2 weeks ago:
My wipers were on the highest speed, the defroster fan was on the highest speed, and I finally gave up trying to see and pulled over for a bit.
Then, there is the wildlife. This was on the way down the hill to teach drawing lessons:
There are about 2 dozen in this herd. Herd? Flock? Flock! Wild turkeys are funny, unless they are sitting on one’s car inside the garage or flapping at you as you try to walk past. Gobbling sometimes gets them a little worked up. (It’s not something you want to try if there are normal people within earshot.)
And the deer are plentiful. Cute, but not when they eat my geraniums (technically pelargoniums) and I don’t really like them hanging out on my front porch eating catfood either! But, it is very neat-o to see them in the yard. (Yes, I said “neat-o”!)
Superlatives!
Tulare County is a place of superlatives. Sadly, we rank highest in the nation in being fat, uneducated, diabetic, poor; we make more teenage moms, have terrible unemployment and the dirtiest air. Ready to run away screaming yet? I don’t know all the specific statistics, only that we are either the “best” at those terrible things or close to it.
That’s the bad news. Perhaps it isn’t all that bad if it prevents our population from booming like that of Orange County, but that is a stretch of “glass half full” thinking.
The good news is that we have the largest trees (Sequoia Gigantea), the oldest trees (valley oaks), highest point (Mt. Whitney), smallest operating Post Office (don’t worry, we have normal sized ones too!), produce more dairy than Wisconsin, we produce prodigious amounts of citrus and we feed the world. No kidding! Tulare County, my home.
Sunny Sequoias IXX, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $75
Worth It!, oil, sold
Sold (yes, I know this isn’t a Valley Oak, but I haven’t painted one of those yet!)
Kaweah Post Office, sold, another one on the easel, stay tuned!
Daily Painting 13
Hidden Gardens 2, 8×8″, $75
Historic adobe house, lavender farm, fabulous garden, and a view of the fake Comb Rocks. The real Comb Rocks is out the the frame to the left. (It’s a Three Rivers thing, with apologies to those of you who are wondering what I’m going on about.) The number of available views to paint from that one location would seriously cut into my gardening time if I lived there! I do a great deal of gawking while I walk past that particular location.
Daily Painting 12
Hidden Gardens 5, 10×8″, $90
Well, why not? We were on the subject of flowers this week and I haven’t shown you all the Hidden Gardens Tour paintings yet. This is one of the 3 remaining in my possession. I’m thinking about putting them for auction on eBay, seeing if I can raise a little cash for Three Rivers Union School. Just thinking about it. The Hidden Gardens Tour was very successful in raising cash for our little one school school district. It is a rare community that has a K-8th grade school, and ours is very important to the entire town. Hmmm, might be talking myself into it. More will be revealed. . .
Images of Home
The show continues at the Tulare Historical Museum. The address is 444 W. Tulare Street and the phone # is 559-686-2074. When the curator and I were discussing titles, one of my suggestions was “It Ain’t All Smog and Welfare”. She-Of-Good-Sense laughed out loud and then rejected that idea. Glad she has a sense of humor along with common sense! Here are more visions of Tulare County’s better parts in case you haven’t made it to the show (this is for you, Cousin Maggie!)
Mosquito Lake Trail, 16×20″, oil on wrapped canvas, $350
This trail is in Mineral King. In case you are wondering, it is the same trail as Eagle Lake Trail, just a little different view. The trail splits to two different destinations about 2 miles from the trail head.
North Fork of the Kaweah, oil on wrapped canvas, 11×14″, $175
This is in Three Rivers at the Sequoia RV Ranch Campground.
Images of Home
The show continues at the Tulare Historical Museum. The address is 444 W. Tulare Street and the phone # is 559-686-2074. I’d advise calling for their days and hours because their website is looking a bit wacky at the time of this posting. Although it is a museum with an entry fee, you DO NOT have to pay if you are visiting the attached gallery. It is a little confusing, but humbly speaking of course, my work has NEVER LOOKED BETTER than it does hanging on their walls under their lights! The show is up until July 16. Now, have a look at 2 more pieces:
Kaweah Post Office IV, sold
Spring Sycamores, 11×14″, oil on wrapped canvas, $175
The Kaweah Post Office is a much loved little building 3 miles up North Fork Drive in Three Rivers. You can read more about it here. And, in case you were wondering, sycamores are native trees in Tulare County. They like to grow in drainages and to live near water.
Lovely diversion
The wage-earning husband found himself with the afternoon off. The self-employed artist wife has a hard time saying no to fun interruptions when there are no pressing deadlines. We took a bikeride.
We stopped on the bridge. Looking upstream, the eagle-eyed husband noticed a raft coming; see it?
Looks downright scary to me!
We continued uphill for about 2-1/2 miles until there was a gate. Sometimes I will climb them and go trespassing. Michael is more law-abiding than I am. Besides it is a pain to toss a bike over a gate. When it was time for us to head back down the road, Michael said he was in sight-seeing mode. Me? I hate to waste a good gravitational pull, so I flew down, stopped, went back, flew down, stopped, went back, etc. My sight-seeing-eagle-eyed husband spotted this next, probably a red-tail hawk’s. No one was home.
The man who made my throne also makes lovely granite benches. We sat on one for awhile, and this is the view:
How is a self-employed artist supposed to get any work done with all this lovely diversion? Perhaps Three Rivers isn’t such a good place to be an artist after all!
Morning walk in Three Rivers
Kind of handy to be able to combine exercise with gathering inspiration for new work, wouldn’t you say? Here are some of my usual scenes and thoughts (although I’ve been told my thoughts are rather unusual, and occasionally downright weird.)
The beautiful wooden garage doors, the arched gate and the odd coincidence of star jasmine blooming next to a star always catches my attention – one day I will see how to turn it into a painting or drawing.
Pink Lady Banks roses in the sunshine! We had yellow on our shed at our old house – it might be all that keeps the shed from collapsing. We have white in the herb garden. They grow super fast. Just telling you that in case you have a shed that is about to collapse.
Did you know that new grape leaves have brownish-red in them? Apparently some do. If I painted it this way, it would look as if I am trying to force in a color that isn’t really there. Other artists can get away with stuff like that. I am known for authenticity (or just being literal).
This one little piece of river brings to mind the beach. I miss the ocean. When I lived there, I missed the mountains. It would be WONDERFUL to find a place to sell my work on the coast. I have a place, but the work isn’t selling very well. I hate that. Time for happier thoughts.
I just love the red and white with the blue car in the background. Roses have been spectacular this year. Tomorrow’s post – roses!
There are many many more flowers in bloom besides roses. These were particularly stunning today.
Mr. Burns used to be a regular on this walking route. He had binoculars and knew all the birds. All of them. He died last week and now his gate is closed. Sniff.
Mid-May and the sycamores are only now leafing out!
Brian and Cheryl planted a new Japanese maple. Their old one seen in the background has caused great admiration, many photos and a little envy in me. Maybe I should just get the name of the variety and try NOT TO KILL ANOTHER ONE!!
The welcoming committee. And thus, we conclude our morning walk in Three Rivers. Am I inspired? More will be revealed. Back to the easel. p.s. This is a California artist’s thoughts. Just sayin’. . .
Please, Spring, Last Forever!
It seems as if Spring is the whole point of the seasons. The rest are just preparatory or resting stages. Spring is the Real Deal, the goal, the objective, the reason, the. . . I’m out of synonyms. I love spring and this has just been the Best. Thank you God for this incredible Spring and that I get to be a California artist in Three Rivers!
There is a fabulous variety of wildflowers on the bank behind my house.
This is the most famous flowering dogwood tree in Three Rivers.
Its name is cornus florida. We call it glorious, fabulous, amazing, or if you are a teenager, “a-MAYYYY-zing”.
