Three Rivers | Cabin Art

This, That and The Other Thing (and my job description)

Natalie, please tell “Jee-um” Happy Birthday from me today – thank you!

This rain is wonderful. I went driving around, not just for the sake of burning fuel, but to see some stuff. Artists have to see stuff.

What’s my job description? I see stuff and then decide if it is worth showing to other people.

I saw lots and lots of water, here in January in Tulare County. This is the St. John’s River. I crossed it several times, and also crossed the Kaweah, drove along several irrigation ditches, and crossed the Friant-Kern canal several times.

If the bridge above looks familiar, it is because you may have seen it on the 2017 calendar. This also gives you a chance to admire my ability to clean up real life, which tends to be messy and cluttered.

What’s my job description? I fix visual messes.

St. Johns bridge

That was “This“.

Now for “That“.

That oil painting of the P fruits is coming along. If you are wondering, the dimensions are 6×18″.

The Other Thing is how beautiful it is in Three Rivers this time of year, especially when it is a wet season. Please excuse the lines across the photo. They are actually what enable me to post on this blog, but unfortunately they connect me to Huge & Rude. (the phone co.)

Can you see the elephant on Alta Peak? Here is a little visual aid as to how it is posed:

elephant

The trunk on my elephant is going the wrong direction and his head is bit outsized; you’ll have to use your imagination a bit.

What’s my job description? I help people understand what they are seeing.

Thus we conclude the post “This, That and The Other Thing”. Thanks for stopping by.

Rain in Three Rivers

Three Rivers got 9″ of rain in 10 days. This is phenomenal! We walked to the Dinely Bridge several times to check out the river.

I can’t remember how many storms – one big one? a wave of storms? The early ones were warm and the river was very exciting.

See that white stick on the lower left? It shows the depth of the river. I’m not sure the water even reached the stick last winter. In these storms, the stick washed away.

Looking downstream, Kaweah River middle fork, from the Dinely bridge.

Looking upstream. St. Anthony Retreat Center is the group of white buildings with red roofs in the distance.

Looking downstream again. Either the stick is buried or it is washed away. See the little rocks sticking up on the distant ridge? Stay tuned.

Looking upstream on the Dinely Road side of the river.

Looking upstream on the highway side of the river.

Okay, now for those rocks in the distance. They are called “Comb Rocks”, either because they look like a rooster’s comb or because someone named Mr. Comb (or Combs?) owned them. I don’t know.

What I do know is that my walking buddy said to me one morning, “Turn your head sideways and look at those rocks. Whose profile does that resemble?”

That’s what I’d call a peculiar sight.

Three Rivers

Gotta See it in Person

The old Kaweah Colony blacksmith shop went away in a flood in 1997. I remember that flood because we were house hunting in Three Rivers during that time. It was interesting to drive around and see washouts and high water marks, but I wasn’t aware of the Kaweah Colony blacksmith shop.

I’ve been painting from this old photo.

kaw_col_blacksmith_shop

The background is invisible in the photo, but that’s no excuse for leaving part of a painting blank. This necessitated a field trip.

These photos look like a mess but show me how to fill in the missing parts. Sort of. Real life is so messy. Scenery often involves tangled gray, green and brown matter.

These photos weren’t enough. For one thing, I was in the wrong location. When I went back to the right place, my camera battery was dead, so I did a sketch. It wasn’t complete enough, because the tree to the right of the building remained a mystery. I can see the trunk and main branches, but what are the leaves doing??

It was raining the afternoon I needed to know. I went anyway. This time I took 2 cameras and an extra battery and a parka.

Here is the tree, missing a few branches. Can’t see the leaves because there aren’t any, but I can tell it is an oak, and I get an idea of the tangled gray, green and brown shapes behind it.

These are the 2 sycamores to the left of the shop. These photos helped immensely with detail. All the photos taken in the rain helped.

Finally, I think I may be finished with this commissioned oil painting. I sent this photo to the commissioner (doesn’t that sound official? The man actually owns a tire shop or 2. . . I wonder if he’d like being referred to as “Commissioner”.)

Kaweah Colony Blacksmith Shop

I hope The Commissioner thinks I am finished. If not, I’ll make the adjustments that he requests. That’s how commissioned oil painting works. But, maybe he’s gotta see it in person too. (I KNOW “gotta” isn’t a word, just like “prolly” isn’t, but sometimes a writer’s gotta say what she’s gotta say.)

commission oil painting oil paintings Three Rivers

Sometimes in Church

Sometimes in church, I draw.
lupe-helen

And sometimes I paint.

First Baptist National Forest

I gave my church snow-covered mountains for Christmas.

Things are a little different in Three Rivers than down the hill.

drawing mural Three Rivers

Two Last Non-Art Subjects

Subject #5

What is this? Inquiring minds NEED to know. . . we got a pair of insulating mugs for Christmas, and got curious as to which sort of mug will keep coffee the hottest. So, we conducted an experiment. They were all within degrees of one another, with the short Starbuck’s mug in the middle slightly ahead. Trail Guy is a little bit sad that his special old mug from Cabela’s with its hand-carved wooden handle didn’t win.

Subject #6

On Boxing Day, as December 26 is known in England, Trail Guy and I drove down to Lake Kaweah (AKA “The Lake”) to take a walk. This is an interesting place to spend time when the water level is low. There are great views of Alta Peak, lots of birds, an old road to walk on, a bridge or two to cross, cockleburrs to pick out of your socks, rocks to contemplate, the river (Kaweah) to watch, mud to slide around on, and people’s undisciplined dogs to fend off.

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Three Rivers

2 More Random Non-Art Subjects

Subject #3

This deserves no photos. On Christmas Eve it was raining and dark when we got home from our church’s Christmas Eve service. Trail Guy pressed the button on the garage door opener (my favorite luxury item) and nothing happened. He pressed it again, the door went up a little bit, then it thudded back down with an uncharacteristic loud clunk.

Say what? My car is in there! The pickup is out here! What’s the deal?

A spring broke. It was very important. It took an hour with lots of banging, grunting, and possibly some swearing although no one here is going to admit to even knowing those words, and now the garage door is neatly folded in a pile in our front yard.

Here – look at the new green chair and feel better. I wonder how long it will take to find the right lamp table. . . will we go dumpster diving? curbside shopping? garage saling?

Subject #4

On Christmas Day we had 2 very dear friends join us for lunch along with my mama. It was a perfect day for a post-lunch walk.

Nothing to say except a good time was had by all, and the Central California artist probably ought to make a New Year’s resolution to give up sweets.

Forget it.

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Three Rivers

Time Off to Take in the Views

This week I will post several different subjects, all unrelated to art work. These could be titled “Sources of Inspiration”, although I don’t know if they will result in paintings or drawings.

Subject #1

Trail Guy took the Botmobile to a secret location with a great view of the High Sierra. The mountain range is the Sierra Nevada, and it is only people from Southern California who say “the Sierras”. Those of us in Central California generally know better in spite of being uneducated, poor and fat.

I wasn’t there because I was finishing the mural, not goofing off. Yet.

Can you pick out Sawtooth?

Here – have a slightly closer look.

Subject #2

The Captain decided that this rocking chair, more of a glider, a beautiful piece made by the Amish, no longer suits her. Together we figured out how to fit it into my car, and voila! It looks just right in this corner of our living room.

There used to be plants on that table, but Samson thought it was his personal jungle. Now there is a squirt bottle handy to remind him that our hands and feet are not his chew toys.

The view out the window looked like this:

Hey, this isn’t complete. We should be seeing Moro Rock to the left of Alta Peak. Time for some yard work.

Alrighty then. Life in Three Rivers for this Central California artist and her husband, AKA Trail Guy, seems to be about views.

Three Rivers

Stick a Fork in Me, I’m Done

That’s a non-Google kind of title, but the real title is boring. “Mineral King Mural #3 is Finished in Three Rivers Museum”.

First, a little context. Here is mural #1 as it appears in the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers Museum (Redundant, I know, but I have to say all those words so this post can be found on the World Wide Web.)

Mineral King mural in Three Rivers Museum of Empire Mt. mining area. — Mineral King mural of Empire Mt. mining area in Three Rivers Museum . No miniature ore buckets hanging from the little cable yet. . . will they get made in time for the January 22 opening party of the room?? As always, more will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .

And to our left in the Mineral King Room:

2 more murals in the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers Museum

The cabinet in front of mural #3 will be sitting lower once it is removed from the dollies. Yes, those rolling platforms are called “dollies” – anyone know why?? The other sort that guys with their names on a patch on their shirts use to push around boxes of things are called “hand trucks”. (One never knows what sort of helpful tidbit one might pick up on this blog.)

And now for a little glimpse into what sort of fiddling and polishing happens at the end of a mural job – here is how the left side looked last week:

Left end of mural #3 before the final details.

Left end of mural #3 after touching up a few details

Louise said that the snow patch on the far end looked like white paint. I agreed, and saw that it had the wrong angle on the bottom. Then I added a spot of rocks in the center. She also said that the trees were too sparse, and of course she was right there too.

These are minor details, but those who know, KNOW. Louise KNOWS. I fully trust her judgement, particularly about Mineral King. She has been a tremendous help to me on every Mineral King mural I have ever painted, and I LOVE working with her on any project. (Remember the book Trail of Promises this year? It came out in July, and is available here and on Amazon.)

No blue tape! Stick a fork in me; I'm done! — No more blue tape. . . Stick a fork in me; I’m done!

Mineral King mural mural Three Rivers

3rd Mineral King Mural, Day #3

The third Mineral King Mural in the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers History Museum is almost finished. I estimated 3-4 painting days, and that’s about right.

First I worked on the mountains on the upper right. They were still rough, but it wasn’t apparent until I had detailed the other mountains. The contrast was strong between finished and unfinished mountains, but I didn’t take a close-up photo because I was DETERMINED to finish that day. (In spite of being a conscientious blogger, I do try to live in the moment rather than live to document life.)

Now the upper mountains are tighter, and it shows the unfinished forested areas and everything else below the upper ridge.

Can you see the improvement now? Louise helped me decipher the miniature details of the actual Mineral King valley, because that is the most important part.

I added detail to the foreground – texture, rather than specific rocks.

There might be no difference here, except that I remembered to move the photo taped to the mural.

I added details to the mountains to the left of the valley, detailed the foreground a bit more, added a foreground tree on the left and one on the right, added texture, snow, contrast, details, details, details. The pencil artist in me wants to take this thing to the nth degree.

Couldn’t stand it – I was compelled to remove the tape to get a cleaner view.

This is how it looked at the end of the day. I left the photos up so that visitors to the incomplete Mineral King Room can see that it is real, not just a figment of some demented artist’s over-active imagination.

Here is the list of what remains to be done on day 4, which hardly counts as a painting day:

Review all the details and the accuracy with Louise Jackson, author of Trail of Promises, dear friend, coordinator of the Mineral King Room and all-around Mineral King expert.
Remove blue tape.
Wash off blue chalk.
Touch up wall paint where the mural paint bled under the tape.
SIGN IT!!
Ride off into the sunset.