Field Trip

Trail Guy and I took another field trip. If I call it that, then it sounds as if I am working. I am always working if I hand out a business card or take a photo that might be worth painting.

View upcanyon from Slick Rock area at Kaweah Lake.
Alta Peak is the highest one; Moro Rock is the granite monolith just above the green hills on the left; the spots in the sky are my signature photo look.
Mustard is usually the first wildflower in the foothills, blooming in early February like clockwork (if we’ve had rain).
Walking in the lake bottom means getting cockleburrs in ones shoelaces.
With the recent rains, the lake is filling up, so we walked up to the Horse Creek Bridge, since our normal route is underwater now.
The pillars are huge up close and would be fun to paint, maybe like the trunks of redwood trees. I wonder how mural paint holds up underwater. . .
On the other side of the bridge is the abutment of a small old bridge. No dates visible, and only a vague idea of its purpose (besides the obvious one of crossing Horse Creek).
Looking back at the bridge. I’ve never seen it from this side before.
What a peculiar sight and strange find –an oyster shell! Were the squirrels planning on using it as a trap door? Did if fall from someone’s boat?

‘splorin’

Three Rivers is a very spread out community with the Middle Fork, South Fork, North Fork and East Forks of the Kaweah River flowing down long canyons. (Yes, I know this is four rivers; I don’t think the town namers were paying full attention).

Trail Guy and I went exploring; we wanted to find a road and see if it connected to another road. (Vague enough for you? Gotta protect privacy. . .) We found the road, but our key didn’t fit the locks, so we kept driving up South Fork. There is a campground that is part of Sequoia National Park at the end, and we hadn’t been there in many years.

The road is terrible. Truly terrible. Rough, rutted, rocky. Unmaintained.

This isn’t the rocky rutted part; it was too messed up to pull over, get out and photograph in those places.
There’s a view of Homer’s Nose that makes it look deceptively accessible.

In the campground is the trail to Garfield Grove, Giant Sequoias 2.9 miles away. And a footbridge, across which is the trail to Ladybug and to Clough’s Cave (with a gate across the opening).

The footbridge was icy. Trail Guy crawled underneath to see if it was the same one he helped build back when the Earth was young.
Brrr, I’m heading to the sunshine.
Good thing I went walking this morning already, because I only want to sit on the tailgate and contemplate things in the sunsine.

We ran into someone we knew from Three Rivers, just home from a yearlong assignment in Macedonia. As we were catching up with him, some people came off the trail, overheard us, and came over to say that one of them got home from Macedonia yesterday. What?? This sort of thing just gobsmacks me. Ever been gobsmacked? It is sort of fun.

Another Fun Day at the Easels

I took three photos of these paintings so you could see the improvement, or was it so I could have something to say on the blog today?

The former. I always have something to say. (Have you noticed this?)

There was a problem on the far left. Sometimes this happens when I just blindly copy my photos. See how those 2 oranges merge into a somewhat visually confusing lump? After studying it for a weekend while it dried above the wood stove, I figured out how to repair it.

Decision made – change this into one large orange. And while repairing things, I straightened the line of the table. Used a yardstick – is it cheating to use tools in the Art World? Not in my little art world.

Almost finished. needs a couple more layers on some of the do-over parts, a signature, and a much better photograph.

I thought this would take much longer, but these colors are fun and there is a real freedom in painting what I choose instead of what might sell. Not complaining about the business of art, just enjoying some yippee-skippee time at the easels with these happy colors.

The colors are truer when I photograph it outside.

This might be finished. It is now signed, but while it is drying, I might find aspects that could be improved.

And since I am outside, let us enjoy the yellow leaves. I am so thankful we didn’t follow through on our first impulse when we moved here 20 years ago to get rid of the mulberry tree with its ugly knobby over-pruned knuckles. Instead, on the advice of the very experienced Gene Castro’s Tree Service of Three Rivers, (not a paid ad, just a statement of fact) we allowed the tree to gradually grow a large enough trunk to support its limbs through some judicious pruning.

It is the purview of the middle-aged to think that walks and leaves are great. (Don’t worry Little Grasshopper, one day you too will be able to enjoy these lovely and healthful freebies in life and be able to correctly use words like “purview”.)

A Walk in Three Rivers (or Forgive Us our Trespasses)

Trail Guy and I go for walks from our house in Three Rivers. I’d say its just what old people do, but we’ve been doing this for 20 years, and we still go steep places that may or may not be considered trespassing.

Here is how things looked yesterday afternoon.

The decorations on the Dinely Bridge might be considered a Peculiar Sight, but we are used to them and look for them.

The star gets placed and lit by Southern Calif. Edison each December. It might be considered a Peculiar Sight to a newcomer. (I consider the dark spots in the sky to be a peculiar and annoying sight; it might be time for a new camera.)

Some retired guys wear short pants almost all year around. At least this retired guy has nice legs. . .

Sycamores along the river below have more color this year than in a long time.

Edison is releasing water instead of sending it down to the power plant. I don’t know why.

The clean air is such a relief after the rains, which we are so very grateful for.

Then we walked home, and our mulberry tree was just lit up with yellow. This is a fruitless mulberry, the type that gets hacked back to knobs by most folks. Not us – we need the shade and love the yellow (never mind what it has done to the grass beneath or is doing the ferns by the front porch).

Tucker and Scout were happy we returned. We have to sneak off so they don’t notice and follow us.

Scout is always ready for action (which is why she is slightly blurry in this photo.)

Yellow eyes, yellow leaves, 2 black cats.

P.S. Today’s Anne Lang Emporium featured oil painting 

Navel, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $60

The Perfect Gift Boutique

For the past 20 years or so, I’ve been part of a group called the Kaweah Artisans. We put on a little boutique-sale-show-event each year on the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving. We’ve been at the Three Rivers Arts Center for many years, but this year we will be somewhere else in Three Rivers.

We will transform this empty building into a Christmas boutique.

THE PERFECT GIFT BOUTIQUE

41849 Sierra Drive, Three Rivers, California

Thursday, November 23-Friday, November 24

10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

If you are heading uphill/upstream and get to the Chevron station, you’ve gone too far, so turn around, head down, and this time it will be on your right. If you get to the candy store, you’ve gone another mile too far, so buy some chocolate, then turn around, head downstream, and it will be on your right, a few buildings after the Chevron.

PARTICIPANTS: Nikki Crain (weaver), Anne Brown (potter), Carole Clum (metal sculptor), Sam McKinney (gourdista), Elizabeth Mitchell (jeweler) and maybe even a few surprise guests. Oh, and me! Me too!

Teensy Forgiving Oil Painting

I find most painting subjects to be just a little bit too hard for me. Is this because I am mostly self-taught? Maybe. Is it because I have only been painting for 12 years? Maybe. Is it because I don’t know when a painting is “good”, or “finished” or “overworked” or “incomplete”? Yeppers. That’s it. 

After struggling through figuring out how to blend Snozz Rock Homer’s Nose with the Oak Grove Bridge, how to work from 2 photos with different light, how to just make stuff up, all on a GIANT 18×24″ canvas (well, it IS giant compared to my normal 6×6, 8×8, 6×18 and 11×14 sizes!), I decided to work on the “teensy” forgiving 8×8″ oil painting of the South Fork of the Kaweah (“kuh-WEE-uh”) River.

Scary Scribble Stage

Better sky, better upper foliage (painting back to front)

Slowly working my way down the canvas, or forward in the scene

Cool! I’m starting to like this!

Scout wondered if there was any reason to be alarmed

Nah, just normal human things

Tucker wondered if there would be any treats soon.

Finished painting, signed, edges painted, and drying!

And thus we conclude the teensy forgiving oil painting of a common well-loved Three Rivers Kaweah River view. (Hey Uncle Google, how did I do on all those key words??)

Starting Over Again

That is the name of a country song by Dolly Parton. Only the title applies to this post.

If my record keeping is correct (and it rarely is, but closies count here), then I am beginning oil painting #75 in 2018. 

I didn’t mean to begin another oil painting, because hot weather is here and the swamp cooler is barely adequate for the really hot days. But I was flipping through some photos, looking for something now forgotten, and I saw a photo of the South Fork of the Kaweah River (here in Three Rivers, pronounced “kuh-WEE-uh”). It has been awhile since I painted water; last year I obsessively drew water in pencil, but this year only painted it when it appeared beneath a bridge or in a Mineral King painting.

The photo is upside down. So is the canvas. Can you tell? Nope, you can’t. The way I know is by the hanging wire, which you cannot see.

Basic shapes and sort of the right colors, just smeared on, is the way I begin paintings sometimes.

Right side up, does this resemble a river scene?

Why did I begin this when I have the large commissioned oil painting of Homer’s Nose with the Oak Grove Bridge?

  1. Because I am 58 and I can do what I want. . . OR
  2. Because the 18×24″ painting was too intimidating. . . OR
  3. Because sometimes I just drift and flail and fly by the seat of my pants. . .OR
  4. I dunno; your guess is as good as mine.

Someone around here needs to parent herself a little better. Or boss herself. Or not.

Today’s oil painting for sale:

North Fork of the Kaweah IX, 10×10″, $150 plus Calif. sales tax.

Redbud Festival This Weekend

My booth at the Redbud Festival 2 years ago.

Ever heard of the Redbud Festival in Three Rivers, California?

WHAT: Annual arts/crafts fair in which 30-50 makers of beautiful things gather to sell their wares. 

WHEN: Saturday, May 12, 10-5 and Sunday, May 13, 10-4

WHERE: Three Rivers Veterans Memorial Building (on Sierra Drive, weird, roundish white building, screaming ’50s-’60s architecture)

WHO: Local and semi-local artists and crafters (both the cute and the highly skilled types of crafters – you decide which is which)

HOW: Just show up. Bring money. Bring a nice attitude. Bring a friend. Bring your Mom.

  1. EXTRA FACT: The redbud tree finished blooming in March. (I just work here.)
  2. EXTRA FACT: I will have 4 of my 5 coloring books because the one on the Parks is SOLD OUT!
  3. EXTRA FACT: There might possibly be a few packages of those new experimental Mineral King cards
  4. EXTRA FACT: I will bring a bunch of paintings not yet seen in public (unless you count this blog as public, which it probably is, since this is the WORLD WIDE WEB)

Professional makers have pop up tents in the parking lot – always great stuff to see and buy!

My booth 3 years ago – nice sunlight coming in the weirdly round building

A Bully of a Painting

The Kaweah Post Office XIV oil painting has been challenging me. By that, I mean it gets in my face each time I paint, and it says, “Whatcha gonna do about me, hunh? Hunh? Can you handle me? Betcha can’t! Besides, you don’t even know how to write 14 in Roman numerals!”

How rude. 

Guess I showed him. Still plenty of detail work remaining, but that’s the part I enjoy. It is drawing with my paintbrush, so there, Art Snobs.

Then I looked out the door and decided it was time to get away from this bully of a painting subject. Besides, I’m going to win this battle, so there.

Springtime beckons.