Thus we conclude the boutiques, bazaars and shows for 2016.
Isn’t “thus” a stuffy word? I don’t think it gets used much in conversation.
Nice Day on the Farm
A Different Type of Event
Tomorrow I will be participating in a different sort of event. It is part of 1st Saturday, Three Rivers. I will be with 3 other Kaweah Artisans in a barn at a farm outside of Three Rivers.
You can learn about 1st Saturday Three Rivers by clicking (or tapping if you have a “device”) on the words “1st Saturday Three Rivers. You go to Anne Lang’s Emporium to get a map, and on it is listed all the participants. Here is the link about the part where I will be, but you still have to go to Anne Lang’s to get the map – Mosley Farm
This is how the place looked in the spring of 2015. Come see it in December of 2016!
Shows, Festivals, Bazaars and Boutiques
These are all words that mean schlepping my work and supporting structures to some place (usually with the assistance of Trail Guy), setting it up to look appealing, and standing around greeting people and selling them things.
Not “selling” selling, just helping people acquire things they want to own or give away. I don’t want you to be afraid to come to one of these events!
November is the month of these events, and it is very important for artists who want to earn a living to participate. I meet interesting people, kind people, warm people, weird people, boring people, and see many old friends (who fit into the first 3 descriptions).
“Because you eat too much, little Samson.”
It’s all part of the business of art. People with real jobs who make art for fun can skip these events; this Central California artist cannot. Not complaining, just ‘splaining. (“Splain it to me, Lucy. . .”)
On Saturday, December 3, I will participate in one last event for the season. I’ll tell about it on Friday’s blog post. This one will be different!
Perfect Gift Boutique
Someone said this is our 16th 17th annual Perfect Gift Boutique (the same someone who made the little ad above). That is difficult to fathom. Must be having fun, because time is flying!
To get to the Three Rivers Arts Center, head east on Highway 198. After you pass the first commercial part of town (Post Office, grocery store, Quality Inn, Pizza Factory, etc.) go about another 1/2 mile. Cross the river on the North Fork bridge, and the Arts Center is the first building on your left. It looks like this:
I don’t know the address and don’t know if Mr. Google will either, so you may have to find this using the old fashioned method of following directions and paying attention. Rough, I know, but sometimes that’s just part of living in rural Tulare County.
Fun Holiday Bazaar
This is always a nice event – lots of interesting merchandise, plenty of raffle prizes, pleasant people, beautiful location and good weather.
I will bring the iPad and the Square. Perhaps you will bring your checkbook or cash, because so far I’m 2 for 2 in that technology not working.
Three Rivers Museum Mural #2, part 2
The new mural in the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers History Museum took about 5 hours to paint. It is taking 2 days to tell you about it.
I was zipping right along, just slamming this Mineral King mural of Sawtooth out of my brushes like nobody’s business. (Now that’s a quaint phrase – “nobody’s business”? What does this mean?)
Louise stopped by. She is the Mineral King Guru, an accomplished and published author, and a dear friend who has helped me with several of my murals. I said, “Hey Louise, will you look at this while I hold the window in place so we can be sure that I didn’t cover the peak of Sawtooth with the wooden separator of the window?”
Ahem. Houston, we have a problem.
So, I moved the peak of Sawtooth to the left. Seeing double? Yeppers. Two Sawtooths. Wait. Should that be “Sawteeth”?
No problemo. (a little Spanish lingo for you to balance the French lesson yesterday) Let’s fix the sky, shorten the right side of Sawtooth and add some yellow so the whole world isn’t green, gray and blue. (“Let us” – “us” is the royal we. Thank you for your participation – I appreciation the help and enthusiasm.)
In fact, let’s add a tree. Trees are good. This looks green, but it really is red fir.
Museum Man Tom wedged the window into place so we could be sure of everything. I think you need to see this in person to fully appreciate its coolness. The glass makes some obnoxious reflections in the photograph. The camera’s flash washes out the colors too, but I couldn’t hold still enough without it.
In spite of the difficulties, you can see the peak of Sawtooth, and there is a sense that you are looking out of the window because of the space between the window and the mural.
Now, no plastic and no window. It was a little weird to paint with such sloppy edges, but the window frame will cover the roughness.
The apparent darkness at the top of the sky with that stalactite is the shadow from the roof and rafter tail of the “cabin”. The lighter circle in the sky is a mystery, probably related to the way Museum Man Tom moved lights so I could see what I was painting.
Now have a look at the “cabin”. You’ll have to stay tuned or stop by the museum after the window is put in place and secured. I didn’t dare put it in and risk cracking another pane of glass. (No, I didn’t crack the first pane. For once, I wasn’t the Breaker, although I continue to be a loser in the true sense of the word.)
Three Rivers Museum Mural #2
Do you remember during the last post about the Three Rivers History Museum Mineral King mural that I advised you to stay tuned?
This week we resume our ongoing saga of Mineral King murals.
A man built a cabin facade (sorry, I don’t know how to make the little comma in the air above the “c” in “facade”. . . in case you are confused, it is a French word, and it is pronounced “fuh-SAWD”. It means fake front.)
Where was I?
In the Mineral King Room of the Three Rivers History Museum at the fake cabin front.
I bought that window at a garage sale because it is my favorite color and because it is neat-o, but I had no idea of how to use it. It sat in my workshop for 2 years or more, and then it was needed in this “cabin”.
The idea is to feel as if you are inside a cabin, looking at a Mineral King scene through the window.
First, I had to draw it. Wait – first I had to decide what to paint, then I had to put plastic and tape all around so I wouldn’t splatter or spill on the “cabin”.
Can you see it? That’s okay. You don’t have to. I do. I did. See the 2 photos beneath? These were my guides. I had to be careful to place the peak of Sawtooth where it wouldn’t fall behind one of the “bars” of the window. (I can’t remember what that word is, the wooden things that separate the panes of glass.)
Woohoo! This is going fast, and I just know it will be easy.
Fall down laughing. . . I forgot an important principle about painting murals. The smaller they are, the longer they take. “Longer” in relative time. Instead of about 1/2 hour per square foot, it is closer to an hour per square foot. This is because I keep detailing and detailing. I hope I remember this the next time I bid a mural job, and I hope I remember this and PACK A LUNCH!
Trail Guy to the rescue – he has kept me from being a starving artist for 30 years now.
This is too long. I’ll continue tomorrow.
New Mural in Three Rivers, Chapter 4
The mural at the Three Rivers History Museum is now finished!
(Yes, the light for photographing the mural is different in the morning than in the afternoon. You are observant about details like that!)
The lower background, the foreground and the trees all needed refining. Louise also noticed that someone climbing the tower would have to make a giant leap to reach the top, so I painted in another step. I added a bit more texture in the shaded parts of Empire Mt. along with 3 wild blue flax. These things are only apparent in person.
Best viewed from a bit of distance, perhaps down the hall as you enter the building. This is easier than viewing it from the back of a fast horse, or perhaps from a speeding car. However, you will miss the 3 wild blue flax if viewing it from down the hall.
Life is a series of decisions, choices and consequences.
There will be more. . . stay tuned.
New Mural in Three Rivers, Chapter 3
The Mineral King mural in Three Rivers is in this building.
This is how the mural looked when I arrived on Day #2. Tower is in place, background sort of finished, trees located.
In the last post I said it is quiet in the museum. Ahem. Not on Day #2! A cabin facade is getting built behind me, and every hammer blow or power tool is amplified in the empty room with a tile floor. It is going to look great, and on the back wall will be a window with a painted view of something Mineral King.
On to the day’s work. . .
The bright sun came in through the skylight and with my strongest magnifier glasses, I figured it out!
After putting growing things in the foreground, I painted off the bottoms of those 2 trees. On Day #3, I will figure this out and finish!
The mural started out sort of easy, but on Day #2 I was just making stuff up without photos to help. That’s not easy at all.
New Mural In Three Rivers, Chapter Two
I may have estimated my time to be longer than anticipated for the new mural at the Three Rivers Museum.. Perhaps the customer will think I am over charging. Guess I’d better moan on and on about how difficult this is.
All that moaning about difficulty was fake. This might be the easiest location I have ever painted in. Indoors, consistent temperature, consistent light, very few interruptions, no trucks roaring by, and much can be reached without even climbing on the ladders.
Let’s have another look at Samson. He’s waiting for me to get home from work.
