“Last” is one of those many faceted English words. Here it means the most recent Farewell Gap, Mineral King oil paintings.
There are more depictions of Farewell Gap, on murals, in pencil and in 2 coloring books (drawn in ink). However, in the interest of relieving monotony, I won’t continue this theme in other media. (Did you know that “media” is the plural of “medium”? “Medium” when it means material used for making art, not the size of my clothing.)
I know, I keep saying it is the end of summer in Mineral King. The weekend after Labor Day was very warm, and it was a fun time with some friends who rented a fancy-pants cabin (a “chalet”) in Silver City.
Not really oil painting in Mineral King – oil paintings of Mineral King, painted in Three Rivers.
As a studio artist, I work from my photos. The variations are based on size and shape of painting (square, rectangular, really rectangular – and never horizontal for this scene, although that is an interesting idea). The variations also happen with time of day and time of year and type of snowfall and flow of water AND where I stood to take the photo. Plus, sometimes I juice up the colors a little more than natural. Sometimes I work at tight realism, and other times I try to loosen up. That isn’t natural to me, but is certainly faster.
These all look sort of dark, but I think it was the way I photographed them, not the paintings themselves. 2014 wasn’t a dark year. 2015 was a dark year, but we’ll have to see if that sadness was reflected in my paintings tomorrow.
One time I painted the Mineral King scene of Farewell Gap with the Crowley family cabin plein air. That was very difficult – the light and colors kept changing, people kept asking what I was doing (umm, skateboarding?), and I had to keep scooting out of the way of cars.
I don’t remember which one it was or how it turned out. I had only been painting a few months and thought that plein air painting was necessary to learning. It may have been, but mostly what I learned was how grateful I was to be a studio painter, working in a controlled and quiet environment from my photos.
That’s a new twist on an old theme.
Why do we think that Labor Day is the last weekend in summer? Doesn’t summer go until around the 21st of September? Tell the weather that – it ALWAYS is cooler on Labor day weekend in Mineral King.
It was a difficult weekend (see Tuesday’s post). It was also full of friendship and a tiny bit of getting out and about.
Not much to say, so have a look. The first 4 photos are Trail Guy’s from the days leading up to Labor Day weekend.
It is an interesting phenomenon of a seasonal community like Mineral King that friendships can be formed on the basis of a few days a year over the course of many years.
A prime example is our relationship with the Sawtooth Six, our neighbors for 4 days a year over the last 30-something years.
It took me quite a few years to learn their names. We used to find out when they were visiting and plan to be gone that weekend. Now everyone has grown up, and we anticipate the Sawtooth Six’s visit with pleasure.
Trail Guy is an introvert. However, sometimes he mingles and socializes with animals.
Hey, Spot!
Sometimes he socializes with people.
This is Craig. He is at the East Fork of the Kaweah River, below Atwell Mill. Reminds me of an oil painting, appropriately titled “Below Atwell”.
This is Blair. He is very social, and while talking to someone on the trail, that someone told Blair, “You look a lot like Robert Redford!” (He does.) Trail Guy was waiting patiently on the trail above until he got tired of waiting. Then he yelled, “Come on, Robert! Let’s Go!” (I have it from a reliable source that Redford’s friends call him “Bob”. I’ve let Trail Guy know in case he needs that info in the future.)
What? No people? Trail Guy, where are your peeps?? (Not telling where this is, nope, gotta keep the people out of some of the really special places. Except now Blair knows.)
Blair is taller than Bob.
Isn’t this fabulous? Trail Guy is developing a great sense of what makes a good photo (combined with my cropping and editing skills, of course.)
Wait – is that Blair or is that Bob??
Here is Trail Guy with Keith. They are so cute in their matching Mineral King tee shirts and straw hats.
Poor Trail Guy is just worn out from all this socializing. The hiking doesn’t wear him out. Remember, he is Trail Guy!
Mineral King has a quick summer. Gotta go, gotta experience, gotta enjoy, don’t blink, because boom, it is over. (The temperature in the early morning of the day I took these photos was 38 degrees.)
My favorite place and time in Mineral King is a flower show in the first half of July at the junction of the Farewell Gap and Franklin Lakes trails.
First, we had to get there. It is 4 miles one way on a well-graded uphill trail. Some parts are flattish, some steeper than others. There is very little shade. There are 2 creeks to cross.
All photos in this post are courtesy of Dr. Christopher Tremblay of Western Michigan University. He is a 1994 graduate of the Lee Honors College and has been fascinated by Disney since his parents took him to Disneyworld at age 5. Now he gets to share that love with other honors students at his alma mater.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Walt Disney wanted to build a ski resort in Mineral King. It was under the jurisdiction of the National Forest Service, and they were inviting people to put in bids for the project.
The ski resort didn’t happen. That’s a whole other blog post (or 2 or 12).
At Western Michigan University, there is a special summer class that participates in something called “Walt’s Pilgrimage”. One of their stops was Mineral King last year, and they liked it so much that they returned this year.
