A Repair and an Agreeable Customer

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog.

Repair

This returned painting now has a cleaned up sky, new snow on Bearskin and new whitewater in the creek. I photographed it wet, which is why the color looks patchy. It is not actually inserted in the frame, which is why it looks unframed. Duh. I just propped it in the frame so I could photograph it.

Redo for an Agreeable Customer

 This sign was well used and loved for 10 years.

The customer asked for a larger one this time, so I ordered a 20″ round instead of the 12″ version. After applying 3 coats of exterior paint to both sides, I decide that the back of the round would make a more interesting sign than the flat front. The customer is very agreeable, so that’s what I will do.

I used oil paint on the first sign because I was unable to achieve a satisfactory level of detail with mural (acrylic) paints. Because this one is bigger, I am going to try it in the mural paints, and then if the detail needs to be tightened up, I will finish it off with oil paints.

I love these custom jobs for agreeable customers with no deadlines.

 

 

Hiking Nowhere in Mineral King

August is a busy month for cabin folks in Mineral King. The first weekend of the month is full of meetings and reunions. 

We also got rain, lots of wonderful soaking rain. Look how green it is!!

Since all the willows were pruned for fire prevention, I noticed new rocks that had escaped me for many years. This is Big Rock, so I guess that smaller one must be Little Rock. Or Small Rock.

The asters were thick along the road as I walked down to attend a meeting.

I saw a butterfly I’ve never noticed before.

I love this view at the top of Endurance Grade but either the water or the distant peaks are overexposed in every photo. This time I chose to let the water look all white so that you can see the peaks. Farewell Gap is out of the photo, to the right.

We listened to the superintendent of Sequoia National Park at the meeting. There were many many questions about fires. There were more people behind me and also to my right, but I like to protect people’s identities here on the World Wide Web. Some of these people we only see every handful of years, which makes it difficult to recognize faces and remember names. Good thing that Trail Guy and I never change, eh?

I rode up the hill with my friend Sharon, who drives fast, and down the hill with my friend Karen, who drives slow. Driving fast meant we got there sooner; driving slow meant we spotted scarlet monkey flower, something I’ve only seen once in memory. Both trips were fun, a time to visit with dear friends, friendships based in Mineral King which have grown closer through many years of occasional visits, layer upon layer.

Next Friday I will tell you a little bit about life as part of the community of Mineral King. 

Many Happy Returns (and some not quite as happy)

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. 

Three Returns

One advantage (and disadvantage) of being in the art business in the same county year after year after year, is that sometimes your art gets returned to you. Some are happy returns, some are hassley returns.

The circle is a sign, painted by me about 10 years ago. The customer was happy and now the disintegrating sign needs to be replaced, larger this time.

The citrus art was for sale at Farmer Bob’s World, and nothing sold. The customer wasn’t happy, apparently. (Who was the customer? No one.) I am happy that I can sell it in a place with greater visitation.

Many years ago when I began oil painting, a friend (because almost everyone in Tulare County is a friend, unless he is a friend of a friend) bought this painting. That friend has moved on to his reward, and the painting was given to the Mineral King Preservation Society. The MKPS brought it to me because it needed a little attention after all these years. This is not a happy return because my friend is gone, but it is a happy return because I can spruce it up.

Interruption: What is Pippin Doing?

If This Ever Gets Returned…

The customers presented this painting to the happy recipient, who got a little teary-eyed. He and I have many things in common, and we just chattered away about various aspects of this painting, such as how the idea was conceived, what exactly is in it, why I left some things out, and how much we love this view. He is sort of like anutter brutter from our utter mutter. (And if this painting gets returned, I’m hanging it in my house!)

No More Return

I returned to this colored pencil drawing. The original concept was to only use the 24 Prismacolor colored pencils in their limited set. Those stupid pencils kept breaking, so I started using lots of other colors too. It reminded me of one of the many reasons I quit using colored pencils.

I doubt if I will be returning to colored pencils any time soon.

Not Returning This Either

About a year ago after a whole lot of trouble, I finally bought a mini fridge for the painting workshop. The freezer is where I store my oil painting palette, a convenient luxury. The big box store was TERRIBLE to deal with. A few weeks ago when I retrieved my palette, it was HOT inside the fridge. Sigh. I unplugged it, pulled it off its pedestal, propped the door open, and now I have to figure out how to get rid of it. I am NOT going back to the extremely inept, incompetent, undertrained, understocked, understaffed, and apathetic big box store. Instead, I will consider it one year of luxury, now both a memory and a hassle. (Learned in June 2021, #10)

A Porch Kind of Weekend in Mineral King

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. When the weather isn’t favorable, we watch people trudge up the trails and think, “Nope, not us”. Instead, we stay close to the cabin, spending much time on the deck (sort of a porch, but without a roof).

There were plenty of things to do. First, we cleared out some unnecessary items from the upstairs.

I spent a little time by the creek, watching some little friends play, chatting with their dad, and photographing red clover.

Then, it rained. It rained hard without thunder and lightning. We used to enjoy thunderstorms, but now lightning makes us worry about fires. We got a little over 1/2″, always welcome.

I knit a lot. Just another green sweater that I don’t need, but I am 62 and get to do (mostly) what I want, and what I want is to knit, preferably in shades of green and blue, with natural fibers, using patterns that teach me new methods of design or construction.

A tree fell in the night. It sounded close. First I heard all sorts of debris (needles) hitting the roof, and then the crack, followed by a boom. As if I don’t have enough to be afraid of with lightning. . . now falling trees?? Off-Trail Guy went up the hillside behind the cabins and saw this newly fallen tree. It was a couple of cabins away, kind of far up the slope, and way skinnier than I expected. Why was it so loud? Why did I hear debris on our roof?

We also spent time with neighbors, read, and listened to the radio. A porch kind of weekend is fun once in awhile.

 

Hiking to Mineral King’s White Chief Canyon

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. White Chief Canyon is the favorite hiking destination for both Trail Guy and me. This summer has been full of disruption, so I hadn’t made it there yet, while Trail Guy had gone several times. First point of interest is the Spring Creek bridge, with fireweed in bloom now.

That trail is STEEP, but you reach your destination in about 2 or 2-1/2 miles. (It is about 1 mile to this sign, and no one knows exactly which point is 1.8 miles from the sign.) In order to distract myself from the difficulty, I counted wildflower varieties. Before reaching the junction sign, I counted 29 different wildflowers.

After the junction, Trail Guy insists that there are only three steep grades. I insisted that he show me where each one begins and ends. That kept our minds off the difficulty, and although I believe there are actually four steep grades, now I understand what he is referring to. However, the lack of oxygen to my brain may preclude my ability to retain or pass on that information. 


See the cones at the top of those two red firs? We both hope that it portends a heavy winter.

Hello, White Chief canyon!

Hello, little pond!

Hello, weird ugly lichen!

Almost to our destination, but no plans to cross the creek and go see the mining tunnel. (Can you spot it on the white wall?)

Hello, Seep Spring Monkey flowers!I continued counting wildflowers and found 14 more varieties after the junction.  

My feet don’t hurt in my new “hiking boots” (Crocs All Terrain model) but it always feels wonderful to put them in icy water. (my feet, not my shoes)

That jagged-top peak is Vandever, the one on the right side of Farewell Gap. It appears much rougher from this viewpoint than from the Mineral King valley floor.

A marmot was quite interested in sneaking up on Trail Guy and inspecting his lunch.

Someone has made quite a pile along the trail to indicate where to head down to the creek crossing and head up to the mining tunnel. Can you spot the tunnel in this photo?

Obviously, there is a drainage of some sort here for the Bigelow Sneezeweed to run up the hillside. People are often discussing drought, but the truth is that we had twice as much rainfall last winter as the previous one.

Farewell, White Chief.

This is “everyone’s” favorite juniper. I have painted it quite a few times.

I painted it once from this angle, which isn’t quite as impressive.

We made it home, dusty, tired, and happy to have visited our favorite Mineral King destination once again.

Do you have a favorite Mineral King destination?

Still Painting Mineral King in the Heat

For those of you who subscribe and read the blog post on your phone: if you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog.

Again, I say that painting elevation while down in the heat has no benefits, other than in one’s imagination. Sawtooth, visible from Mineral King in this painting, is 12,343′ in elevation; Three Rivers (where I live) is 1000′. They say (“they”? who is this?) that the temperature drops 3 degrees for every 1000′ gained in elevation. You can do the math if you’d like; I’m too overheated.

This isn’t quite finished. When it is dry, I will do some nitpicking, careful evaluating, and then will make corrections and plant wildflowers. Of course I will plant wildflowers—do not doubt me on this! 

P.S. The color looks washed out here – does heat affect photography too??

Links to other posts about painting Sawtooth:

  1. Department of Redundancy Dept.
  2. Lots of Sawtooths (Sawteeth? Nah)
  3. Almost finished with the Sawtooth paintings
  4. You just won’t believe this one
  5. Back to Sawtooth
  6. Really Painting Sawtooth Again

Painting Sawtooth on a Very Hot Day

For those of you who subscribe and read the blog post on your phone: if you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog.

July is very hot in Tulare County, unless you are at elevation. One hot afternoon, I was not at elevation; however, I painted elevation. This did not help the temperature. Neither did the swamp cooler, but it was more comfortable after I blasted my head and face with a hose. (Yep, got hosed.)

Remember this mess? Probably not, because I haven’t shown you yet. This is yet another oil painting of Sawtooth, this year’s winner of Most Popular Mineral King Subject Matter. (for the whole year, but not yet for the Silver City Store, which is selling steadily for me this summer, yet again, thank you Silver City Resort!)

I had an unexpected block of time on a hot afternoon, and after a bit of procrastination, followed by a pep talk (“DON’T BE SUCH A WUSS! YOU USED TO DO FARM LABOR IN THE SUMMER, YOU LILY-LIVERED SQUISHY-MINDED HOT-HOUSE PLANT!”), I went to work.

This is 12×24″, because I was out of 18×36″ canvases. It is destined for the Silver City Store, where  an 18×36″ painting of Giant Sequoias currently hangs, aptly and cleverly titled “Big & Tall”. My cowboy logic tells me that this painting is more likely to sell in that location.

P.S. I highly recommend blasting oneself on the head with cold water from a hose on a hot afternoon. It made it possible for me to work until the light was too poor to see, once my bangs stopped dripping in my eyes.

Links to other posts about painting Sawtooth:

  1. Department of Redundancy Dept.
  2. Lots of Sawtooths (Sawteeth? Nah)
  3. Almost finished with the Sawtooth paintings
  4. You just won’t believe this one
  5. Back to Sawtooth
  6. Really Painting Sawtooth Again

Central California Artist Answers Questions About Mineral King

If you cannot see the photos through your email subscription, you can see them by going to the blog on the internet. cabinart.net/blog.

Lots of people have questions about Mineral King. I will address some today.

What is the road like?

Steep, winding, some dirt sections, potholes, no center line, no fog lines, no guard rails, wide enough for only one car in a few places, big drop-offs, and some ugly burned areas.

How long does it take to get there?

The recommended time to allow is 1-1/2 hours. If someone catches up to you, pull over and let them go by.

Do I need a 4×4?

Nope. But if your car has low clearance, pay attention to the deep hogwallows.

Why do people leave the hoods up on their cars?

Back when Trail Guy was living and working in Mineral King, he left the hood up on his pickup so he could see if any marmots were messing around. A ranger saw that and assumed that if Michael Botkin did this, then it must be a marmot deterrent. And thus the legend was born and continues to this day. Leaving the hood up can drain your battery if it turns on a light, and it gives the marmots easier access.

Why do some people wrap their cars in blue tarps?

Wrapping your car might protect it from marmot damage.

What is a marmot?

A marmot is a large rodent that used to be in the backcountry but now is a plague in Mineral King.

Why do they damage cars?

No one knows why, but it is known that lactating females do the bulk of the damage, chewing on hoses and wires. When they kick their offspring out of the nest, the vandalism almost ceases completely.

How do I get a cabin?

You can buy a cabin if you happen to know someone who is selling or you can do what I did—marry in.

Can I rent a cabin?

There are cabins for rent in Silver City either at the resort, or you might be able to find a VRBO online.

Can I camp?

There are two campgrounds, Atwell Mill and Cold Springs, and both require reservations.

Can I bring a trailer?

Sure, but they are terrible on the road, and forbidden in the campgrounds, so why would you?

Where can I see wildflowers?

Everywhere. Pay attention!

When is the best time?

May is great along the lower road; July is fantastic in Mineral King.

What is the easiest trail?

Mineral King is a valley, so all trails go up. The easiest is to follow along the stream toward Farewell Gap; the next easiest is the Nature Trail from Cold Springs campground to the valley.

What is the most popular trail?

EVERYONE wants to go to Eagle Lake.

Can I bring my dog?

If you want to, but DOGS ARE NOT ALLOWED ON THE TRAILS!

Big Tree, Sequoia, or Redwood?

If the photos don’t show, go here: cabinart.net/blog.

There are lots of big trees in the world, Redwood is the name of my high school, and the trees for which Sequoia National Park is named are sequoia gigantea. However, any of those names apply to the paintings in today’s blog post.

It is a little bit difficult to work at the cabin because there is no studio space, and everyone else is on vacation. Besides, when I am there, I’d rather be reading, knitting, splitting wood, or chasing wildflowers. But sometimes a grownup has to do what needs to be done. I know, this is difficult to accept, because didn’t we all think that being a grownup meant we got to do anything we wanted? It is true, but choices have consequences, and the consequence of not painting when inventory is low is that there will be nothing to sell.

That’s a good enough start. Think I’ll put down my paintbrushes and go pick up my ax.

Painting Mineral King, Chapter Nth

If you read this blog through an email subscription on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

In the summer, I paint Mineral King scenes, over and over and over. Thank you for showing up anyway.

Hi Tucker. I wasn’t talking to you, but you are always welcome anywhere I am.

Aspens grow in Mineral King. I don’t think they would survive down the hill in the heat, but they are native to Tulare County at higher elevations. Can you tell that this little square will be a picture of aspens?

Can you tell now?

Here are two more 6×6″ oil paintings, photographed with a phone rather than a camera, and too wet to scan at this point. I think people are getting cautious with spending again, so smaller paintings might sell more quickly than large ones.

There–now you can see that these are aspens.

All will retail for $65 plus that dastardly California sales tax unless you live in a less golden state. Alas, I am a Central California artist, a regionalist from California’s flyover country, and high tax is part of this place.