Sidetracked and Distracted

Since we are nearing the end of my favorite time of year, I thought I’d give you a break from watching painted flowers develop and show you a bit of the rest of my world at the time I was painting that bouquet. 

There are many distractions when one works at home. 

First, my neighbor has this incredible plant, and I don’t know the name, but the deer haven’t eaten it yet, so I NEED the name, because I NEED this color.

The mail came, and it contained a package of 2 new yarns. I haven’t talked about knitting for awhile; didn’t want to lose any more readers than I’ve already lost because the emailed subscriptions don’t show photos on people’s phones. (Still unsolved; my web designer is still too busy.)

The pinkish red yarn might exactly match the few remaining flowering quince. As a self-proclaimed color junkie, I had to check, and yeppers, it matches. (Destined to be a baby blanket).

I also needed to know if the lavender matched my blooming lilacs.. Nope, not quite. This one is destined to become another sweater that I don’t need; my knitting is a continual triumph of hope over experience, just like my gardening efforts. Sometimes I get lucky and all the parts work out. Usually the sleeves are too tight or too loose, the buttons keep falling off, the ends don’t stay woven in, I find a dropped stitch after wearing it several times, the collar won’t lie down, it is too short and fat, it is too long and tight. . . you get the idea. (Baby blankets always fit their recipients.)

I really did have some work to do that day. When one is an artist in a small town (the sign for Three Rivers says 2600 but I don’t know if all those people really live here) where one’s life overlaps with friends on many levels, one is often privileged to help out. This was fun, but definitely best viewed from the back of a fast horse. (Would take too long to explain and I’ve already stretched your attention span by going on and on about color and knitting.).

On one of my trips back to the house (a 30 second trip on the Zapato Express*), the light was beautiful on the hillside.

The green and the wildflowers are so fleeting; my daffodils no longer look like this.

So, even though all this distraction and sidetraction (that’s a good word, don’t you agree?) is taking me from my real work, I believe that it is an artist’s obligation to absorb as much beauty as possible whenever it is available. That’s part of the business of art.

*Zapato Express means I walked.

Summer Puttering

Borrowing a friend’s river view. The river is still high and loud, particularly unusual for early August.

In the months of July and August, I don’t give weekly drawing lessons. This gives me an out-of-proportion sense of being on vacation. My schedule is freer, so I putter at multiple things, some work, some personal.

  • A former drawing student (from about 2000-2004) will be having a baby in September, so I am knitting like a crazed machine.
  • It is time to begin designing the 2020 calendar.
  • An odd job appeared: someone has a torn painting and asked me to repair it. Maybe I can, maybe I can’t, but a mediocre patch job might be better than a ragged hole. The customer doesn’t want the original artist to know that it got torn, so you only get to see a corner. I’ll show you Wednesday.
  • My neighbors are relandscaping their yard and asked me to help. It is very absorbing work, and we keep coming up with ideas. I really enjoy figuring out what might grow, and digging extras from my yard, along with starting new ones from cuttings. (We think of ourselves as “The Frugal Gardeners”.)
  • I’ve been reading a lot, and my Want-To-Read list on GoodReads is down to about 160 now. (If you want to follow me on GoodReads, try it – I don’t know how to instruct you other than to say I am under my real name, nothing cute or clever). 1. “The Blue Shoe” is a meandering novel of very little plot about people you could imagine knowing by Anne Lamott whose writing captures my attention whether fiction or non-fiction. 2. “An Innocent, a Broad” by Ann Leary is a memoir by a writer I’ve discovered recently. 3. I loved “The Good House”, also by Leary, a first person novel about an alcoholic in total denial. 4. “House Rules” is my 2nd Jodi Picoult novel and it was a page turner written in multiple voices; the main one was an autistic teenager.

Since I’m not ready to show you the calendar, and the torn painting is a slow process, have a look at the baby blanket in progress, our old friend Reading Rabbit, and some of the yardening.

100% cotton, machine washable, recommended for baby blankets, ordered from Webs online, stitch pattern from a book called The Stitchionary.
Salt & Light, or Reading Rabbit, oil on board, 11×14″, not for sale
There will be flagstone on the path, and we are trying to find something to plant around the stones. Moss? Grass that doesn’t require mowing? Low-growing thyme that can live in relentless summer heat?
I’m particularly enamored with the blue wheelbarrow.
Having a picnic on the friends’ deck by the river adds to the sense of being on vacation.

Sit, Knit and Split in Mineral King

When I didn’t have a cabin in Mineral King, I said I’d kill for one. My new boyfriend said, “There is an easier way.”

That was about 30 years ago.

I learned that there are multiple parts to cabin life. There’s the social aspect, the having 2 homes challenge, the trails, and just hanging around.

Hanging around suits me just fine these days. Seems that life down the hill, life in the studio, life on the computer, life in a drought while on the local water board, life in the book publishing world and life in general is wearing me out. Retail Therapy isn’t going to cut it. Instead, I go to Mineral King to just sit, knit or split.

Sit

 

Knit

Split

More sit

More knit

More split

Sit and knit, and now I’ve split

Friends in Mineral King

There is something very unique and special about cabin communities. The friendships go on for life and through generations. Instead of yammering on and on, have a look at a very special Mineral King friendship.

Friends at Franklin Falls

Friends knitting in Mineral King

Mineral King Deer

I’m not close friends with these guys, but they might be close friends with one another. At least they aren’t eating my geraniums in Three Rivers.

friends in Mineral King

I knit, my friend helps me weave in the ends, and she models for me: a perfect blend of skill between Mineral King friends.

A Bazaar With Knitting, Calendars, Tees, and a Mineral King Box

That is a bizarre title; please be impressed with the way I incorporated Mineral King into a Friday post. (Tahoe is postponed until next week.)

Would you like to see some of the things I will have at tomorrow’s bazaar?

Great, glad you asked.

The lavender purse is spoken for – please forgive me for taunting you with it. See the bright stripes at the very bottom of the photo? Those are socks,  which are too big for me, dang it. I think a women’s size 7-11 foot would work in them. See those red felted slippers? They are too small for me, dang it. I think a women’s size 5 would work in those.

But what is this box? Yes, I hear you wondering about it.

 

Trail Guy and I are not above scrounging in places where people have disposed of items. I INSISTED that we rescue this box. He said it was junky. I agreed but asked him to shore it up anyway, because storage boxes are functional and cool and it would be great to paint on. He complied with my request. and then added wheels too. The lid doesn’t quite shut, it isn’t completely smooth or totally square but it is clean, has wheels, and will hold lots of knitting or whatever floats your boat.

A functional all-purpose Mineral King painting on wheels! 

And this is the final selection of calendar photos. We did it!! Thanks to you, Tulare County photo calendars are now available!

See you at the Senior League Bazaar

Saturday, November 16, 9-4

Three Rivers Memorial Building

Drawing and Knitting??

The annual Senior League Bazaar will be on Saturday, November 16, 2013, at the Three Rivers Memorial Building, from 9 – 4.

What does this have to do with drawing and knitting, you ask. (Yes, I can hear your thoughts from time to time – keep them sweet!)

Because this year is dedicated to finishing all the drawings for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia, the only paintings I’m doing are commissions. This means I don’t have any new paintings to sell at the Senior League Bazaar.

However, I have knitting to sell! Yeppers, knitted wooly cuddly cute handmade colorful useful items.

Why do I have time to knit but not time to paint?

Great question – glad you asked. (Remember, all interviewees respond to questions with either or both of those phrases and I don’t want to be left out of the current culture completely so this is my token way of faking as if I am “normal”.)

I can knit in the car, at home in the evenings, when I am in a meeting, if I am waiting somewhere. Bringing an easel and oil paints is somewhat frowned upon in a doctor’s office or at an airport.

That green purse is spoken for – forgive me for taunting you with it this way.

There will also be calendars! And Mineral King tee shirts! And a very cool wooden box which I will show you tomorrow! And some cards, because I have lots of those.

A Random List

While away over the weekend, I learned many new things. Here they are as they pop into my head:

  1. Google Maps can be used to see photos of the road and Carol showed me how!
  2. Single plied yarn knits up visibly different from multiple plied yarn (I always thought I was doing something wrong but it was the yarn – thank you Mendocino Yarn Shop!)
  3. Acrylic painting has many additives available to layer and mold and make relief type paintings. (How could I have never known this before? Because I am an OIL painter!)
  4. Seaglass is much more abundant after a storm. I read this; now I know it experientially.
  5. Finished seaglass is rounder and translucent; the differences are subtle but they matter to the collector.
  6. Most hot tubs are set at 104 degrees but 100 is still comfortable.
  7. My cell phone is capable of texting but it isn’t necessary nor convenient in my life.
  8. There is a new kind of dimmer on light switches that is so tiny one can (and did) miss it!
  9. A song I love, Gabriel’s Oboe, is from a movie called The Mission.
  10. The center of California is delineated on Hwy. 99 (already knew this but now know how to find it!)
  11. ALWAYS have a map with you when you are on a road trip because there might be a traffic problem that will negate your Google directions. I knew this but was ever so grateful to have followed this wisdom.
  12. ALWAYS have simple knitting in the car with you, even when you are driving alone, because you never know when the freeway will transform itself into a parking lot.
  13. NEVER drink too much coffee. (see #12) (I sure felt badly for the woman in the white sedan.)
  14. There is a specific (and odd) way of walking to increase one’s speed; Carol and I got a great laugh out of experimenting with this (easier to do when in a place where no one knows you.)
  15. Abstract art causes me to think of yarn. (Many things do this for me.)

Mendocino, Mineral King and Yarn

9116-hm5.jpg

 

This was a gift to a generous person who lent her home in Mendocino to me and my friend Carol over the weekend. Mendocino is So Very Far away, and yet this lady loves Mineral King. So, this is for her! It was especially lovely to have a home instead of a motel room when it rained like the dickens on Sunday. We spent the heart of the day walking around town, poking into art galleries and the Mendocino Yarn Shop http://www.mendocinoyarnshop.com/ (You didn’t expect me to just walk past it, did you?) I learned the strangest thing: every piece of abstract art we saw reminded me of yarn!