I was concentrating so intently on this side that I forgot to take photos until this stage.
All that remains is studying it for awhile to see what needs to be refined.
Unacceptable Ugliness
While walking in my Three Rivers neighborhood one morning, I saw this bit of ugliness and got an idea. The neighbor, who has graciously allowed the water board to put this booster pump on his property, agreed with my idea.
Side one.
It is fun to use all these colors.
Side two and the final touch-up are ahead.
It’s Still Spring and Still Beautiful
If you aren’t quarantined or under voluntary house arrest, I recommend taking a walk. You might have to be confined to your own neighborhood, but it is Spring, and much is in bloom.
Here are some photos for you to enjoy, without unnecessary chatter.
A friend sent me this:
One final thought to cheer you up: As soon as The Thing appeared in our lives, all robo-calls disappeared! Is there a correlation? Don’t know, just thankful and relieved.
A Day of Variety
Sometimes it is a little hard to work from home. There are many other things requesting attention, opportunities to be productive in other ways, chances to just lollygag around or find other occupations. Last week I had such a day.
It began with wandering outside while drinking coffee and seeing a bit of pruning, and then finding Tucker in my herb garden.
See why I want to be outside this time of year?
Notice that these flowers are in the primary colors.
Next, I made plans with a friend for a walk at the lake early in the afternoon, and that made me willing to dive back into work, knowing my time was limited to paint. Sometimes deadlines help me to focus.
This was dry enough to begin detailing until it was time to gather up my friend and head to Kaweah Lake. (Oh-oh, I can’t remember if it is Kaweah Lake or Lake Kaweah again; what’s with the mental block on this subject? This may be why we’ve always called it “The Lake”.) We just walked in the lake bottom, not close to the lake except where it covered the pretty bridge.
The lake level is rising slowly. We walked to beneath the Horse Creek Bridge, and the mustard was striking.
After our walk, I was able to paint a bit longer on the Mineral King cabin oil painting commission. I think I can get even more detailed on this, but it needs to dry a bit more.
And thus we conclude a day of work combined with distractions.
Oak Tree Mural, Day Two
Oak Tree Mural at St. Anthony’s Retreat in Three Rivers, Day Two.
After studying my photos on the laptop, I saw things to correct from Day One. Why didn’t they show up in person??
Most of Day Two was spent on bulking up Day One’s branches and adding twigs. I also put in some trial leaves at the bottom and learned they should be larger, which I fixed and liked. And, I turned the corner.
Sunny in Three Rivers
The Central Valley of California is known for its heavy winter fog, often called “tule fog”. I haven’t seen it as bad as I remember growing up. My sister would be driving the family wagon, and after the intersection of the closest avenue, we’d roll down the window and count the reflector bumps on our road. Exactly at bump #17, we’d do a hard left to turn into our driveway. That was the only way to find home.
Three Rivers is usually above the fog. One day last week, it was brilliantly sunny at home, but I had to go down the hill. I pulled over to the usual overlook vista point for this one last look at the sunshine.
Then I looked down canyon to see what was ahead.
Neighborhood Beautification Project, Part 4
Day Three was a little bit cold in the shade, but cold is better than hot, especially when it comes to painting a mural. Direct sun dries out the palette and the brush, even while it is trying to do its job on a wall.
I had a mental list of what the mural needed. The lower half wasn’t detailed.
Finally, I began working on my day’s assignment of detailing the lower 1/3. Then, I rediscovered that the oak tree was too high to reach. Fortunately, Trail Guy stopped by to see if I needed anything, so I requested the stepping stool from my studio.
It got colder in the shade, and suddenly I felt ready to go home. Because there is no deadline, no commute, and no check waiting at the end, I can return to this mural any time I have a better idea.
Mural completed, building dressed up, Three Rivers neighborhood beautification project finished.
Merry Christmas, Alta Acres!
This is my final post of 2019. I’ll be back on January 6, 2020. Happy New Year, Blog Readers!
Neighborhood Beautification Project, Part 3
Because Day 1 of the neighborhood beautification project was packed so full of mural goodness, I split it into 2 posts. So Part 3 is actually only Day 2.
Here is a list of thoughts about painting this mural:
- I am quite happy about this mural. It’s been on my list to do for several years while I waited for an idea, an opportunity, and the right attitude.
- One more day ought to do the trick.
- I hid something in this mural.
- Two voices were warring in my head over all the other noises: one said, “What do you think you are doing, you faker?” and the other said, “Keep painting, chickie-babe, you’ll figure it out”.
- Why are kids so noisy? They are continually crying and yelling. (There is a day care nearby.)
- The equipment inside this building runs all day long, sounding like a dishwasher or washing machine.
- The noisiest vehicles in the neighborhood are the ones that drive back and forth, all day.
- Whole lotta barking dogs around here.
- People are very encouraging and complimentary.
- I didn’t post on Instagram or put the mural on the blog while I was working on it, because it is a gift for my neighborhood, not a publicity feat. (I don’t ever do the Facebook*.) It has been fun to just quietly do the thing and let people discover it on their own.
*”The Facebook” is said the same way I say “liberry”, “prolly”, “Mr. Google”, and “Remorial Building”. I’m not as dumb as I sound, in case you were worried. Thank you for your concern.
Neighborhood Beautification Project, Part 2
The last post of this blog showed the beginnings of a mural on the neighborhood water treatment plant doors. I put some blue in the sky and knew there was only one direction – forward.
It is time to figure out where all the other pieces and parts belong.
This is the mural at the end of Day One. On Tuesday, I’ll show you the next steps of the process to create a Christmas present for my neighborhood.
Neighborhood Beautification Project
For about 12 years, I was on our neighborhood water board. Volunteers are how things work when you live in a rural unincorporated town. I got on the board as the recording secretary because I can type fast and spell, but ended up helping to make decisions about things that I knew almost nothing about, standing in the middle of the street watching water leak away and having no idea what to do about it, taking phone calls from people who were mad about their water bills or wondered why there was no water AGAIN, reading water meters, attending way too many meetings, driving around the neighborhood knocking on doors to hand out Boil Water Notices, calculating distances between wells and the road, measuring tanks and figuring out the volume of water, helping to tear down the old treatment plant, writing articles for the newsletter that no one read, putting locks on the meters of people who wouldn’t pay their water bill, removing the locks when they decided to pay.
It was hard. I learned a lot and made friends with the other board members, 2 benefits from the experience.
Two years ago I resigned. Meanwhile, I would walk past the treatment plant and think about how nice it would be to have a mural on the doors.
Now that I have recovered from being water boarded, I want to give the gift of a mural to the current water board members and the entire neighborhood.
It took two years to decide what to paint. I used a card I drew back in 2001 of a made-up river scene, complete with Alta Peak and Moro Rock. This meant guessing the colors, and stretching things a bit.
To Be continued. . .