Exeter’s Mural Gallery

Mural Gallery & Gift Shop, 121 South E Street

In the olden days when my studio was in Exeter and I was the president of the Mural Team, we opened a little store called the Mural Gallery. The idea was to have a place for visitors to learn about the mural project, take home mementoes of the murals, and for the Mural Team to have some income. Only mural artists were invited to show and sell their work.

This past summer, the store closed for refurbishing. Many of Exeter’s muralists are far away, don’t make lower priced art for sale, are retired, or have assumed room temperature. So, upon reopening, the Mural Gallery invited many local artists (whether or not they have murals in Exeter) to participate. A new option is for the artists to work one day a month in order to lessen the bite that the Mural Team takes from the sales (still much less than a commercial gallery, which starts at 50% and is rumored to be as high as 90% in some cities, no thank you).

I worked one day in October, met some new people, had some customers, caught up with some old friends, enjoyed being surrounded by pretty things while spending time in the town where my studio was located for 9 years, PLUS I finished one of the paintings from Monterey.

When we started the gallery, we didn’t have very many murals or artists to participate, so I did this drawing of Yokuts baskets and had prints made for the Mural Team to sell. I wasn’t a muralist, but we needed merchandise, and when we started the project, I told my teammates that I would do whatever it took to make the project succeed. Those first years were tough—the equivalent of having a second job without a second paycheck, a second job which shoved my business onto a back shelf—but the project made a HUGE difference in Exeter.

Since then, the Mural Gallery has sold many paintings and cards for me. I appreciate them enormously!

Today is my November shift. Want to come say hi?

SIMPLY HOME

Big Oak, oil on wrapped canvas, 11×14″, $300

Gallery Hours are Friday, Saturday, Sunday, different each day, in the middle of the day. Might want to call first!

How To Draw

How To Draw is the title of my upcoming talk/demonstration at CACHE, Center for Art, Culture, History—Exeter!

So many people have an interest in drawing, but it is often assumed that it is a talent which either you have or you don’t.

Is typing a talent? Is driving a talent?

Nope. All these things can be taught, and they can be learned. Sure, some people will type 25 wpm and others will type 90, because people have different interests and aptitudes. Some people will become bus drivers and others shouldn’t be given licenses, but all are driving.

These tools are helpful, but they won’t teach you the basics of drawing.

Some people have had awful experiences with artists posing as teachers. (I had one of those who told me, using these exact words, “Just because you can draw doesn’t make you an artist.” Well, just because you can use words doesn’t meant you can communicate well either, so there.) I want to help those folks.

Jackson wouldn’t put up with that sort of rudeness from anyone.

Some people are learning to paint but aren’t happy with the results. If you don’t know how to get your shapes correct, don’t know anything about perspective, can’t see proportions, and don’t understand values, of course you won’t be happy with the results. I want to help those people.

On top of all those basics, painting requires learning about color.

Some people just love to learn new skills. I want to help those people too.

This antique store is across Rocky Hill Drive from CACHE, and the late afternoon light is often just perfect on this picturesque store.

Do any of these descriptions fit you? Want to come to How To Draw?

Nope, you won’t be able to draw like this for quite a few years.

THE THING: Tuesday, November 12, 6:30-7:30 How To Draw at CACHE. Contact me if you are interested, because seating is limited.

P.S. It is free.

SIMPLY HOME

“Blue Bowl, Yellow Lemons”, 10×10″, $200

Another of Tulare County’s Prettiest Places

Maybe “Tulare County’s Prettiest Places” would be the right name for my show at CACHE.

But what if I want to paint other places too?

Who will want other places? My fan club (fall down laughing) is based here in Tulare County.

Enough already with the speculation and analysis—let’s paint.

This is Rocky Hill Drive, probably the most popular outdoor place to run, walk, and bikeride in Tulare County.

WAIT—”Popular Pretty Places”?

Stop it and just get on with the painting, will ya?

You can’t go up on Rocky Hill itself, only up between Rocky Hill and Badger Hill. But in the very flat land of the flatlands, this is the only place for walking uphill or downhill.

This 6×18″ oil painting needs better detail on the orange trees, the shoulders of the road, and maybe even some work on the center line once all this paint dries a bit.

A Pleasant Walk Through Exeter

A week or two ago, I had some time to kill in Exeter. (That is an unpleasant metaphor—forgive me!)

So, I went for a walk. We think we know a place because we drive through it, but walking is the best way to really take in our surroundings. It’s also a good way to find new ideas for drawing or painting. These aren’t necessarily subjects that will sell, but they will be useful to my drawing students who are learning to accurately see shapes, proportions, perspective, values (darks and lights), and textures.

First, I passed a park that someone once told me was called “Spit & Whittle”. However, there were no benches for old guys to sit on, so maybe I had the wrong park. However, I saw this curious structure, imminently drawable in my view.

I walked along a basic neighborhood street. The yards all had little lawns in front, some green, some unwatered, and only one lawn-parker. I wanted to relandscape, but no one requested my opinion. So, I just admired the view of Rocky Hill.

And of course there were some trains. Exeter is a little catty-wompus on a map because it was built around railroads, which follow the shortest route rather than an exact N-S-E-W grid.

From downtown, there is a view of Alta Peak. There are also American flags, Christmas decorations, fall color in some trees, and markers in the middle of the street, warning against parking on an upcoming evening because of the Christmas parade.

Then I felt compelled to visit the building where my studio used to be. I paid for that brick step, so sometimes I like to just visit it.

It was a real privilege to be located in the building of the poppy mural.

And sometimes I miss being there in the heart of such a great little town, sharing space with a terrific gift shop (Rosemary & Thyme), enjoying the patio outside.

On my way to retrieve the pick-’em-up truck with its new tires, I passed this building. The details on older buildings are so charming, and always strike me as good subjects to practice drawing or painting. Bricks aren’t easy, nor is shrubbery but when one is learning to draw, it’s all hard.

Then it was time to go to the Courthouse Gallery CACHE to teach the final drawing lessons of 2023.

I love to teach people how to draw, love my drawing students, love this location in this little town that I also love.

Aw shucks, isn’t that just sweet?

And remember tomorrow, the little holiday gift bazaar at CACHE, from 10-4.

2023 Holiday Gift Fair

This is a new event, sponsored by and located at CACHE, 125 South B Street, in Exeter.

I will only be participating on Saturday, December 9. (You may have figured that out, now that November 30 has passed.)

You will get to meet my new friend, Krista, the watercolorist, along with Nadi, Miguel, and Vicki.

I will bring 2024 calendars, notecards, Tulare County coloring books, Wilsonia books, Mineral King Wildflower books, and a variety of smaller paintings.

You will be also able to see the show “Bovine State of Mind”, along with visiting the museum with its outstanding displays.

Any questions? Any requests?

A Day on Rocky Hill

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Rocky Hill is on the edge of Exeter, California, in Tulare County, a well-known, well-loved landmark. It is the only convenient non-flat place to walk, run, or bikeride in the area, and there is a perpetual stream of foot and bicycle traffic up the road. The entire hill is private property, so all the activity takes place on the county road that goes over the saddle between Badger Hill and Rocky Hill.

Rocky Hill has many many Indian pictographs (and lest you get your knickers in a twist about “Indians”, the Native Americans I know prefer to be referred to as “Indians”). On the south side of the hill, 30 acres belong to a conservancy, and occasionally there are tours to view the pictographs. We had the privilege of participating in a tour on last Thursday.

Alas, it is forbidden to post photos of the pictographs on the interwebs. So, you get to see some scenery instead.

Rocky Hill is very rocky. It could be called Boulder Hill.

These are not pictographs; they are mortars, so I am showing you. (so there)

This is the fruit of a wild cucumber. The seeds provided the binders for the pigment used to paint on the rocks.

Lichen isn’t paintings so I photographed it.

Clover. I love wildflowers.(Did you know that?)

Boulders.

The view of Moses Mountain distracted me from the paintings.

The Farmer and Trail Guy were good listeners. Or maybe they were wondering when we could go eat lunch. We are not used to traveling in a pack or being told to stay together. Hiking Buddy was there too, along with other people we know and a few we did not.

I liked this view out from one of the caves we entered.

And then it was time for lunch, which was a private party that I’ll tell you about tomorrow.

 

Harder than it Looks

Being on one’s own in a completely flexible profession is not always easy. There is no specific roadmap, operator’s manual, or industry standard and even if there were, it would probably not apply here in Central California’s flyover country. The only galleries in Tulare County are non-profit, run entirely by volunteers, most of whom are good-hearted individuals without training in such matters. Artists may have some training, but generally it was decades earlier, completely outdated, or just various bits gleaned from the highly diverse internet, where one can find anything, everything, and nothing.

This brings me to a boatload of questions about my upcoming show, Images of Home. Some answers have appeared since I initially wrote this post.

  1. If the gallery is normally open on Saturday, will people be able to see the show the day before the reception?  Nope, the gallery will be closed.
  2. When will my show actually end? With December 25 on a Saturday, will the gallery be closed on the Sunday of that week? How about the following week? It will end on an as of yet unspecified date in January.
  3. Will anyone actually come to the reception? Oh Crystal Ball, where art thou?
  4. Should I have kept my art in Three Rivers in the art consignment store that is open many more days and hours than the Courthouse Gallery? Shoulda, coulda, woulda, prolly not, ain’t nobody knows nothin’
  5. Is it “Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery”, “Exeter Courthouse Gallery”, “Courthouse Gallery of Exeter”? None of the above; it is Exeter Art Gallery and Museum Association
  6. Why do I have so many questions? Do other people? Why is it so hard to find answers? Does anyone beside me actually care about these details? silence. . . 
  7. How will I decide which “occasional Fridays” to be at the gallery? I will be there four consecutive Fridays from 11-3 beginning November 26.
  8. How shall I publicize those Fridays to interested parties? Good question. . . 
  9. How can anyone think with the neighbor’s dog barking incessantly? focus focus focus on the task at hand
  10. Why doesn’t the neighbor care? Or answer emails or return phone calls? If we decided to sell and move, would we have to disclose the barking dog to the buyer? Some folks just are not community minded

And you thought all I did was sit around and draw or paint all day! This self-employment as an artist is harder than it looks. Let’s just contemplate something peaceful to calm ourselves as we wait for more to be revealed in the fullness of time.

Yokohl, oil on wrapped canvas, 10×20″, $350

Images of Home

Exeter Courthouse Gallery (Is this the right name?)

125 South B Street, Exeter, California
November 14 – December 30 (Is this the actual closing date?), 2021

Opening Reception – Sunday, November 14, 1-4 p.m.

I know the title of the show is correct, as is the address and the date of the opening reception. Now, what am I going to wear? Should I get my hair cut? Why do we say “hair” when it is all of our hairs that get cut?

I need a cigarette.

WAIT! I don’t smoke! Never have, never will. 

If you see me out in front of the gallery pulling weeds, just be polite, okay?

 

Fun in Exeter on Sunday Afternoon

All the information you need about fun in Exeter on Sunday afternoon is on the postcard below EXCEPT these things:

  1. This opening reception is the last event for me of the year (last chance to buy Christmas gifts unless you do it through the website or run into me at various places around Three Rivers.)
  2. I will bring 2020 calendars if there are any left.
  3. I will bring notecards, Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names, and The Cabins of Wilsonia books too.
  4. The oil painting of a poinsettia, a pencil drawing of grapes, and a pencil drawing of Farewell Gap are my pieces in the show.
  5. I love dessert – that fact alone will get me to the reception.

Exeter’s Mural Project

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In 1996 the small town of Exeter, California embarked on a journey to create an outdoor art gallery. At that time the town was slowly dying commercially. There were always parking spaces available in front of business on the main street, there were many empty spaces available for rent, there were very few shops and fewer places to eat. There was a desire to do something and many random ideas but no central theme or person with passion willing to stick his neck out and pursue an idea.

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The idea of murals was brought to me by three separate and unrelated individuals at different times. Suddenly things began happening at a rapid pace and the city council voted to hire a consultant to teach us  how to become a mural city. Through a series of odd coincidences, I was made the president of the group. I knew nothing about such things, so I surrounded myself with folks who did know how to make things happen. I had nothing to lose (except perhaps my struggling art studio), so I poured myself wholeheartedly into the task of turning Exeter into an outdoor art gallery.

img_0766.jpg We tackled the process of laying the foundation for Exeter, A Festival of Arts by writing job descriptions, by-laws, contracts with artists, contracts with wall owners, gathering photos, learning about artists, and fund-raising, always fund-raising. It was exhausting at times, but I knew that Exeter had two choices: get cute or die. Although I have never lived in Exeter, I truly love that town! Sometimes people would ask me when I was going to paint a mural, and I’d laugh and remind them that first, I didn’t know how to paint, and second, the Mural Team’s by-laws prevented any of its members from profiting from the project.

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In 2002 I closed my Exeter studio and moved into a little building at home in Three Rivers. This move meant I could no longer be on the Mural Team, but I never lost my interest in the project. Three years ago I started oil painting, last year I learned how to paint murals, and in February of this year I began painting Exeter’s 26th mural.

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Today the town is vibrant, alive, busy, interesting and full of visitors coming to see the murals, the shops and the restaurants. Buildings have been renovated, parks and street corners  and even alleys are landscaped, a gallery and museum have been added, and the town continues to thrive. Other towns in the county have tried to imitate Exeter’s success, but there is a specialness to Exeter lacking in other places. It may be the size, the history, the pride, the level of education, or the combination of all those elements, but in my opinion Exeter is the star of Tulare County.

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Meanwhile, the fund-raising continues. Murals are expensive to prepare, paint and maintain. Exeter, A Festival of Arts has never sought grants, but has generated all its own financial support.  And here is the real question: would you like to participate? Visit Exeter’s murals, and decide if you’d like to join in this worthy project. The Mural Team (I REFUSED to let us be called a “committee”) is using the opportunity of a Mineral King mural to raise more funds. (Don’t worry, I am getting paid with or without your donations.) Contributions are tax deductible. Details on how to donate and an informational letter about the current letter may be found on the Mineral King web site in the documents section: http://www.mineralking.net/documents/ExeterMural.pdf

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