More New Mineral King Paintings

But wait! There’s More!

Why does that always elicit a smile or a chuckle?

Because it is obnoxiously obnoxious.

Here are the other paintings I finished last week. It was very hot in Three Rivers, so they dried quickly outdoors, and I was able to scan them without getting paint on the scanner.

It is horrible to get paint on a scanner. It’s even more horrible to scratch the glass trying to remove the paint. Best to not ask me how I know this.

Five new little oil paintings of Mineral King, all for sale at the Silver City Resort (unless they already sold!)

1622 FG XX 1623 MK 1624 FG XXI 1625 FG XXII 1626 FG XXIII

This week I had some special visitors to my studio. These are folks I’ve known since the 1980s, plus some extended family members. One of my old friends said, “I think your painting is improving.”

I hope so! I’ve been oil painting for 10 years, and if there has been no improvement, I need to quit.

Nope, not quitting.

New Mineral King Paintings

Last week I was a ninja-crazy painting factory, cranking out oil paintings of Mineral King. This is high season in the high country, and it is busy. Gotta get ’em done, visible, and selling.

Sounds a bit like a mercenary, an artist of fortune.

Nah. No fortunes are being made here. Just painting Mineral King.

 

1627 Sawtooth XVI
Sawtooth XVI, oil on wrapped canvas, 8×8″, $100
1628 Sawtooth XVII
Sawtooth XVII, oil on wrapped canvas, 8×8″, $100

I Took No Photos But Trail Guy Did

Today’s posting about Mineral King will be in list form. This is a trick that frequent bloggers use when their subject matter is a little disorganized or random or willy-nilly.

  1. The annual Picnic in the Park by the Mineral King Preservation Society took place last Saturday. I didn’t take any photos. The highlight was when Trail Guy was called upon to tell about his 3 winters in Mineral King. He spoke like a polished professional, telling his story briefly with no umms and uhhs, relating the events in sequential order without backtracking, and including both emotion and humor. This might make a good book. I’ll keep practicing with other people.
  2. We met some young adults from France who are interning in computer science at UNLV. We took them to Franklin Falls, and then they decided that they really wanted to go to Franklin Lake. It was 2:30 in the afternoon, and they were driving back to Las Vegas that night! Youth. I didn’t take any photos, but they did, and if they email any to me, I’ll show you.
  3. The biting flies were ferocious. I didn’t take any photos. I am scratching like a stray dog.
  4. The flowers were excellent. I didn’t take any photos.
  5. Trail Guy has been taking photos. He has saved this blog post from having no photos. If you’ve made it this far, here is your reward in flowers.
IMG_6553
Blazing Star
IMG_6542
Jeffrey Shooting Star
IMG_6550
Pride of the Mountains (yellow are unknown to me)
IMG_6554
Penstemmon (don’t know the variety)
IMG_6566
Rockfringe
IMG_6571
Lupine
IMG_6575
More Pride of the Mountains
IMG_6587
Wish I knew. . .!
IMG_6588
Sky Pilot
IMG_6568
One of the many yellow flowers that I don’t know.

IMG_6564

Painting Mineral King

Yesterday I took a chill-pill to recover from the emotional see-saw of selling, not selling, selling, not selling, sold, not sold, it must only be my friends and relatives who feel sorry for me, OH MY GOODNESS A STRANGER BOUGHT MY ART.

Don’t you just feel exhausted reading that last paragraphical sentence? (Anyone know a good editor??)

4 mineral king paintings

These paintings have been languishing, waiting and curing while I work on coloring books. This week I am returning to my oil paints, because customers await Mineral King paintings at the Silver City Store.

Save

Perilously Emotional See-Saw

For the past several summers, I have sold oil paintings of Mineral King scenes at the Silver City Store.

1563 FG XX

This summer I took up 3 6×6″ and 3 8×10″. Each time I go to Mineral King, I stop by the store (we think of it as “The Store”) to see how the paintings are selling. I missed a weekend, and then stopped by again.

Oak Grove Bridge XVIII

THEY WERE ALL SOLD!

1542 Kaw Hdwtrs

The reason I stopped by was that I met some great folks who wanted to talk about Israel. Then the woman asked my last name (weird, I know, but someone introduced us by first name and mentioned I had been to Israel) and was all excited to meet me.

Hunh?

1527 Saw XV

Turns out she buys a painting by me each year when she comes to her Mineral King cabin.

1528 Saw XIV

It is quite a thrill to meet a stranger who buys my art, because often I wonder if it is just my friends and relatives who feel sorry for me that buy my work.

1529 FG XVIII

The business of art is a perilously emotional see-saw.

Please excuse me while I go find a chill-pill and then start painting again.

Wildflower Quest and Thoughts on Naming Flowers

Every summer in Mineral King, Trail Guy goes on a quest for Leopard Lilies. They have a fabulous fragrance, and often we smell them before we see them.

Mineral King wildflowers are usually at their peak during the first couple of weeks in July. This year they are particularly profuse.

IMG_4099
Groundsel is common. It is a little boring, except when there are great masses of it together. It always looks slightly worn out.
IMG_4107
Penstemmon comes in many colors and styles. This might be called “golden beard”. I wasn’t asked, but if I had been, I would call this one “lipstick”.
IMG_4108
No flowers here, but I can’t pass over this bridge without photographing the classic scene.
IMG_4110
“Wild geranium” makes no sense as a name, unless you know that what we call “geranium” at home is actually pelargonium, and true geraniums look more like this. Someone is jerking us around in this naming busines.
IMG_4111
Wild asters usually don’t appear until late August. They are more lavender than they appear in this photo.
IMG_4113
The larkspur were thick and bright, but my little PHD (press here, Dummy) camera wouldn’t focus on them. Where else will you see purple and yellow together and not think it is a little obnoxious?
IMG_4114
We (ahem – Trail Guy) always find artifacts in Mineral King, a place very rich in cultural history. This is part of an old stove. Apparently, people in the olden days thought nothing of walking away from their stuff. Don’t know about you, but I’ve never removed a stove part, much less left it lying around. Maybe these folks would have been Lawn Parkers if they were in a more modern era.
IMG_4116
Rein orchis is a weird weird name. “Orchis” not “orchid”. “Rein” not “rain”. You just can’t make this stuff up, unless you are an Official Flower Namer. They get to do whatever they want. I used to think grown-ups got to do whatever they wanted, but maybe not, unless they are Flower Namers.
IMG_4117
Somewhere in there is a Leopard Lily. We spotted it!
IMG_4121
“We”? Nope, Trail Guy spotted it!
IMG_4123
Then he stuck his nose in it.
IMG_4127
This is a boring photo. In real life it was sparkly white flowers and a few bright purplish-pink wild onions.
IMG_4128
More sparkly white “knot weed”, which looks like a Nothing Burger in this photo. Guess you had to be there.
IMG_4131
This unnamed and unknown (to me) flower is thick along the Mineral King Road, maybe around 5000′. This was one of the first times I found it near a turnout, when no one else was around so I could really appreciate it. Besides, it wasn’t 100 degrees out, so I didn’t mind stopping.
IMG_4133
Look how thick this is here! Anyone know the name of this? How about “roadside blue”? I want to be a Flower Namer!

Listen to Mineral King

Sometimes when I am in Mineral King, I make a point to experience as many senses as possible.

I feel the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the shade.I hear the birds and the wind and the water. After the rain I smell mugwort and currant bushes. I see wonderful scenes, which are the easiest to share with you on this blog. I try not to put stuff in my mouth, but sometimes in late fall I do taste the currants. (They are sort of more trouble than they are worth.)

Late last night, I got back from 12 days in Israel. (Yes, I posted ahead to my blog for the time I was away. Please forgive me for not responding to comments or emails during that time. I will be sending out coloring books to those of you who ordered soon. Thank you for your patience.)

So, because today is Friday and Fridays are for Mineral King, see if this movie will play for you so you can hear a little bit of Mineral King in addition to seeing it.

Spring Creek

Mineral King (Click on the words Mineral King, and a movie might open for you in a separate window. Key word here: “might”. I’ve never tried this before. Never gone to Israel before either.)

Wherein I Join Trail Guy on a Mineral King Hike

White Chief as it appears in the coloring book "Hear t of Mineral King"
White Chief as it appears in the coloring book “Heart of Mineral King”

Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait. Thank you for your patience.

Mineral King
Languid Ladies in the foreground; Chihuahua Creek in the distance. I don’t think this has flowed for the past 4 summers, and Trail Guy thinks it will last through the whole month of June this year.
Mineral King Trail
Steps on a trail look friendly and helpful to me. Trail crew builders accuse step-builders of “making monuments to themselves”. Thank you, Monument Makers.
Mineral King
Looking back toward Timber Gap, with patches of snow still on Empire to the right of Timber.
IMG_2961
This is sort of a boring photo of Indian Paintbrush, (red), Western Wallflower (yellow), and a bit of Larkspur (sort of bluish). I just got a little excited to see the 3 primary colors all together.
IMG_2967
We saw 2 of these mylar helium balloons. Partiers down in the valley (not Mineral King, but the San Joaquin Valley) don’t realize that when they let go of the strings of their balloons, they are littering.
IMG_2968
Oops. Tree failure.
IMG_2970
This tree is not a failure. It is a juniper, and it is Trail Guy’s favorite tree. It is a sign that the steepest part of the trail to White Chief is over. It is still steep, just not the steepest part.
IMG_2971
Here is an example of Phlox in all the variations of its whitish-purplish-pinkish glory.
White Chief
Hello White Chief! The peak is square topped and this is where you first see a glimpse of the canyon, which our 2 new trail friends called “enchanting”. (Hi Dean and Dave!)
White Chief
Enchanting canyon, to be sure, but where is the sunshine now?
White Chief
I tried to find the exact scene that I used in the coloring book drawing, but someone moved the logs or something. Some years they tilt the trail steeper than others, but this year they just messed with the logs. Who is this “they” and where is the sunshine??
White Chief
White Chief has many natural caves and several sinkholes.
White Chief
Love the dramatic lighting, but I think we might get wet.
IMG_2981
Not Trail Guy. He’s not getting wet with his high-tech poncho. He sort of looked like Moses, if he had pulled his arms out of the garbage bag and held his walking stick like a staff.
White Chief
Look at all this water! I’m outta here.
White Chief
See you later, White Chief.

 

 

Mineral King, Because it is Friday

After a harrowing week, most of which doesn’t not belong on a public blog on the World Wide Web, I ran away to Mineral King for a much needed respite.

It was overcast and a bit rainy. That’s fine. We have a wood stove for cooking and heat, and I always have my knitting.

In between, there were some walks around the valley floor. Strolls, really.

In gardening, it is tricky to find blue flowers. In Mineral King, that is one of the main colors of the early season flowers.

blue lips
The aptly named “Blue Lips”.
bluebellls
“Sierra Bluebells” are also called “Languid Ladies”.
forget me not
Sierra Forget Me Nots look just like the Alaskan state flower, same name minus the Sierra part. Duh. Sometimes these come in pink. So do the “Languid Ladies”. Weird, but maybe they are like hydrangeas and depend upon the make up of the soil. These are also called “Sierra Stickseed” because when they go to seed, they stick to your bootlaces (or the velcro on the straps of your Tevas, if you are like me in your hiking footwear).
honeymoon cabin
Wonderful flow of water, here in the east fork of the Kaweah River next to the Honeymoon Cabin. If you are in Mineral King, you can learn about some of the history in this little building. You might need to bring glasses and a flashlight if you are over 45.
Farewell Gap
The evening is looking hopeful for a good hiking day tomorrow. This is the alpen glow on Farewell Gap.
Mineral King
Oh yes, a bright clear day for hiking to White Chief!

To be continued next Friday. . .

Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait. Thank you for your patience.

Mineral King in Early Summer

What do I mean “early summer”? It isn’t summer until June 21!

Oh yeah? It’s been in the high 90s and low 100s for a couple of weeks around here. That qualifies as summer, despite the calendar’s report.

Trail Guy is back out on the trails in Mineral King. I’ll get there, just hang on. Meanwhile, please enjoy his photos with my photo editing and explanations.

Mineral King
Looking upstream toward Farewell Gap with the early grasses. This is a good flow of water in the east fork of the Kaweah with much more snow to melt.
Mineral King
Just after crossing the bridge (not my favorite bridge but the Mineral King bridge – don’t get confused here) heading into the parking lot. This is the end of the road, and it’s all up from here, all on foot. 
Mineral King
This is the view from the trail to Timber Gap. Or maybe it is to the west of Timber Gap. Closies count.
Mineral King
Decent patch of snow up on the ridge that Timber Gap is part of. Nice photo, Trail Guy!
These are phlox, an early flower that comes in subtle shades of lavender, pink, white, pinkish white, whitish pink, lavenderish white, whitish lavender, pinkish whitish lavender, etc.
These are phlox, an early flower that comes in subtle shades of lavender, pink, white, pinkish white, whitish pink, lavenderish white, whitish lavender, pinkish whitish lavender, etc.
Can you pick out Sawtooth Peak from this angle?
Can you pick out Sawtooth Peak from this angle?
This is the view that the Mather party had 100 years ago. There is a photo, a book and a pencil drawing commemorating that event.
This is the view that the Mather party had 100 years ago. There is a photo, a book and a pencil drawing commemorating that event.
Mather party book cover drawing
Remember this pencil drawing? When the Park wanted to reprint the book on the Mather party (group of people on an excursion, not group of people drinking and dancing–but how would I know? I wasn’t there), they commissioned me for a cover drawing redo. That mule heiny was a challenge, but Cowboy Bert took photos of his mulz (that’s how he spells it on his license plate) to help me get it right.