2024 Calendar is Here

This year’s calendar is photographs of Mineral King from the odd and beautiful summer of 2023.

“Odd” because the damaged road limited access to only a handful of intrepid cabin folks, but not the public. (Stay safe, all y’all, but you cabin folks are on your own.)

“Beautiful” because the winter had been phenomenal, with water running in every possible drainage and going strong most of the summer, the tallest grasses in memory, abundant wildflowers, and greenery through September.

I chose to not post about Mineral King in the summer because it just seemed wrong to rub people’s noses into the fact that it was gorgeous but inaccessible.

When it was time to choose the calendar theme, I decided to share the beauty that many people missed. Good idea? Bad idea? Everything is a mixed bag.

As the back of the calendar explains, seeing Mineral King at its most beautiful reminds us all that even when we can’t get there, this beloved place endures.

The calendar is $20 (including tax), plus $3 shipping for one, $4 for two, and $7 for three (shipped in 2 separate packages). If that sounds pricey, be thankful that I am not charging for those overpriced cardboard mailers, and that I am not charging the entire mailing price. Just wanted you to know this, in case you were thinking of making do in 2024 with one of those freebie calendars that advertise a business or show you places that you will probably never see.

There are several ways to get a Mineral King 2024 calendar:

  1. From me in person (no mailing costs that way) either just around, or at the Holiday Bazaar at the Three Rivers Memorial Building on November 18
  2. Order from my website store
  3. Visit the Three Rivers Historical Museum, either in person or on their website.
  4. Put an old-fashioned check in the old-fashioned mail to old-fashioned me (P.O. Box 311, Three Rivers, CA 93271)
  5. Be related to me and wait until Christmas

An Invitation

Another Reception at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery and Museum is coming Sunday afternoon, December 11, 2-4 p.m. This show is Falling into Winter, where I have three pieces, including this one, “Unspiced”, 6×12″. (Don’t you think that name is terrific??) 

Half the gallery is pieces relating to Autumn/Fall; the other half is pieces relating to winter. There is a wide variety of media (that is the plural of “medium”, which is Art Speak for “stuff used to make art”.) All is for sale, except the pieces that already sold. Duh. Thank you Captain Obvious.

Calendars

2023, Mineral King HIKES, available here: Calendars

You’ll need to click/tap on the link above to see the back of the calendar, not shown out of respect for my Most Faithful Blog Commenter who never allows herself to see what it is in it until the appropriate month arrives.

Friday List

Here a listicle for you because I spent all day staring at the computer and feel a little dull.

  1. Mineral King cabin owners are allowed to go up and finish the process of securing their cabins for the winter. 2 teams went in last weekend, warriors in a posse to rescue cabins from various elements. Now some of the owners will get to inspect, perfect and complete their work. (“Some” because many live far away or don’t feel the need to go up before the predicted storm.)
  2. The storm is predicted to be bigger than any we’ve had for 2 years.
  3. Precipitation doesn’t always put a fire out. Things smolder for many months.
  4. There were 10 things broken on my website, several of which were repaired, and several which remain a mystery. I think there might be 2 versions of my blog – one which allows commenting and one which does not; one which shows the heading in a normal way, and another which does not. This is way out of my limited experience to explain or fix. 
  5. After spending an entire day staring at the computer screen, the new coloring book might be finished. (Will be $20 each) Here is the cover:
  6. The details of my upcoming SOLO show at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery got nailed down.

Images of Home

Opening Reception: Sunday, November 14, 2-4 p.m.
Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery, 125 So. B Street
Gallery open: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 12-4
Show will tentatively hang through Christmas Eve
I will be there on Fridays!
 

 

Old Calendars

In 2012 I made my first calendar. It was an experiment, because a calendar has a short time to sell, and when it is over, a business is stuck with unsellable inventory. The calendar sold well enough, 100 turned out to be the right number, and I have continued making calendars ever since.

When reviewing the calendars, it looks as if they are random. In fact, each calendar represents the previous year’s focus (or obsession). There are photos, paintings, and drawings.

2013 – I didn’t save a picture of either the front or the back, so I don’t know what it was about or what I named it. I ordered about 10 or 20 at a time because I didn’t know how well it would sell. (Obviously I didn’t know much that year.)

2014 Tulare County calendar
2014 – Back when I only had about 15,000 photos, I was able to go through and select 12 for this calendar without too much trouble. But what did the front look like?
2015’s calendar was my best oil paintings that were horizontal and of Tulare County subjects. I called it “Beautiful Tulare County”. Again I ask, “What did the front look like?”
2016’s calendar was pencil drawings of Tulare County (of course) cabins–Wilsonia, Mineral King, Camp Nelson. Why didn’t I save a picture of the backside??
2017 front – the calendar was a blend of drawings and paintings.
2017 calendar back “The Bridges of Tulare County”
2018 was Flowing Water, because in 2017 we had a most welcome wet winter and the flowing water was to be celebrated.
2019 – was very fun because I got to draw 11 new pictures and figure out ways to incorporate color.

2019 still has many of the original drawings available. Want any? None are framed. All are 11×14″ or 9×12″. You can make an offer. If it is too low, I will not take offense but might counter-offer. (Normally those sizes sell for $200-275 before tax).

What will the calendar for 2020 be?

Mineral King Wildflowers!

Of course it is about Mineral King wildflowers, my current obsession. It is in progress, so you will have to restrain yourselves until it is for sale.

This year it will be $15 if ordered by October 1, and $20 if ordered afterward.

2016 Calendars Available Now!

Cover of 2016 Calendar

$15 includes tax and mailing


This year’s calendar is full of pencil drawings of cabins. Some are from The Cabins of Wilsonia, some commissioned drawings of other cabins from Wilsonia, Mineral King and Camp Nelson.

I’ll have them at the Holiday Bazaar on Saturday, or you can order one using the “Buy Now” button above or you can email me or you can contact me using the contact tab beneath the “About the Artist” tab above.

2015 Calendar Reminder

The 2015 calendars titled “Beautiful Tulare County” with my current best paintings that fit the format (can you say “run on sentence”??) are available.

 



 
$15 each, including tax and mailing If you don’t use Paypal, you can mail a check to Cabinart at P.O. Box 311, Three Rivers, CA 93271. US only, with apologies to my foreign friends.
Everyone uses calendars. They used to be freebies, handed out at drug stores and hardware stores and coming unasked for in the mail. The thought of buying one was bizarre, unless you had a friend who was a nut about horses and you happened to find a horsey calendar.

Then, businesses pulled back from freebies. I refused to pay for calendars except for the custom one I made for Trail Guy each year. There were a few years when the only way I had the month on paper was to go online and print one from the internet!

Now, I print 100 a year, and hope maybe there might be just one left over for us. So far, it hasn’t happened. There was that one year that one of the calendars was upside and backwards. I kept that one. It had the days on top and the picture on the bottom.

No worries. All these calendars are done correctly on good solid cover-weight paper with my best oil paintings of beautiful Tulare County!

Ahem. This was going to be a short post. No more caffeine for you, Young Lady!