Stunningly mild summer weather made it a pleasure to paint this large classic Mineral King scene. Normally it is uncomfortable to paint in the summer with the swamp cooler roaring and blowing things around while doing its best to help me focus on work.

For some reason I found it easier to work from the bottom up, from front to back, the opposite of my usual path across a canvas.

Because it was so nice out, the big doors were open, and some vacationers across the street came up the driveway to see what I was doing. Wow, what a fun visit with this family from Ventura! Questions, so much interest and curiosity, lots of questions. Young Landon wanted to know the “very hardest thing in art – how do you draw a nose?” I said, “You don’t draw it, you shade it, because it doesn’t have any hard edges”. By then we were all in the studio, Landon, parents Christine and Lawrence, and granddad John. I “drew” Landon’s nose for him. (It might have been awful because I wasn’t wearing my cheater glasses, but he thought it was fantastic.) We all had an enjoyable visit, and I sent them to Mineral King for the next day’s excursion, because it is the best part of Sequoia front country. 

When one works in solitude day in and day out, it is a thrill to meet people who are both interested and interesting. If you are reading this, thank you for coming up my driveway, Ventura family!

Remember, I use pencils, oil paint, and murals to make art people understand, of places and things they love, for prices that won’t scare them.

P.S. They didn’t make it to Mineral King but will aim for that in a return visit this fall. We had further conversation and learned that we have many important things in common, which might explain our immediate comfort with one another.