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!
Farewell Gap, a pencil drawing, will be available as a framed original for $400 and in card sets.
After 7-8 months of painting toward a show about Mineral King and (almost) in Mineral King, it is tomorrow!
Is it considered shouting to use bold type? Or is that only for capital letters? I’ve always always always considered italics to be whispering, so maybe this paragraph will be more soothing to your ears.
Four artists with cabins in the Mineral King area will be showing and selling our work on the deck of the Silver City Store tomorrow, June 30, 10 AM until 3 PM.
The Silver City Store is 21 miles up the Mineral King Road. It is a long way there, a long and winding road, and it is well worth the effort it takes to get there. The store is at about 6700′ in elevation, and it is no longer called “The Store” but now is “The Silver City Resort”. The store itself has been remodeled into a new rustic elegant interior; the artists will be on the spacious outdoor deck.
Linda Hengst, Joan Keesey, John Keesey and I will be there. Linda paints in acrylic (or is it oil? Hard for me to tell the difference), Joan does tight realistic botanicals in watercolors, and John does whimsical playful watercolors of somewhat stylized scenery of the area. Linda’s work makes you say “Ahhhh”, Joan’s work makes you say, “Ooooh”, and John’s work makes you smile. My work? Um, let’s see. . . “How much for this one?”
I am taking 23 oil paintings (some of which I have shown you on this blog), 5 pencil drawings (all of which you have seen on this blog), Mineral King cards (old and new designs), a few reproductions of pencil drawings (also of Mineral King, duh) and some copies of my book The Cabins of Wilsonia. (The Cabins of Where? Yes, they have been requested.)
Let’s roll! See you tomorrow??
Art: Inspired byMineral King
Show and Sale
FOUR ARTISTS: Jana Botkin, Linda Hengst, Joan and John Keesey
SILVER CITY RESORT, 21 miles up the Mineral King Road
Saturday, June 30, 2018
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Honeymoon Cabin #33, 6×18″, $160 inc. tax. (I like this one so much that if I saw it in a gallery, I’d probably buy it.)
All those paintings of Mineral King over the past several months erased the subject of Three Rivers from my mind. When I got reminded that I hadn’t yet reserved my booth for the Redbud Festival, I also remembered that people might want to see some Three Rivers subjects during that little show.
This popular shape and size is perfect for Moro Rock and Alta Peak and good practice for a possible mural of the same scene (still only in the conversation stage). This painting clearly needs many more layers.Not sure how it will be to paint all this grass. I will put a bunch of wildflowers in it instead of the few that appear in the photo. The green time of year here is almost wonderful enough to balance out the seemingly endless dry brown hot months.
Today there are many topics to address, so we will have a long list.
I went away with my sisters and our Mom for a family funeral. Supposed to be a sad time, but it was surprisingly fun.
Me and four of the most important women in my life feeling happy to be together
Tomorrow and Sunday is the South Valley ARTists’ Studio Tour. Will I see you there? You can buy tickets the day of the event at the places listed on their website.
I hope the studio tour has more attendance than First Saturday Three Rivers. There were 4 people covering for me at my studio while I was with my chicky-babes (see #1) and 11 visitors. ELEVEN?? Bless you, those eleven who came out in the rain. I hope you enjoyed your wildflower freebie!
What a week of learning! I actually designed a website for my friend who manages vacation rentals here in Three Rivers. She got tired of waiting for the guy who said he’d do it for her, and I jumped in with both feet but perhaps only half my brain. We will do a lot of polishing, but the site is ready to be seen. Sequoiavacationrentals.NET It was thrilling to be able to help her, to have some experience, to have all sorts of photos to supplement hers, to FIGURE THIS OUT!! It was hard. I did it anyway.
Why am I designing a site for someone and paying someone else to design a site for me? Because mine is very very complicated. There is much work ahead for me. Good thing I practiced on my friend.
It was so beautiful in Three Rivers this week that instead of working in the studio (drawings to be done for the 2019 calendar and a few more paintings, including a Sawtooth commission), I pulled weeds. It was a nice break from figuring out how to build a website.
Lots and lots of weeds.
Piper is doing well. There may be kittens soon; I hope the little guy adjusts and is polite.
Trail Guy took a day trip to Mineral King. The road has a gnarly slide across it above the ranger station.
See why I had to make a list?? And, in case you were wondering, I am not superstitious about today’s day and date combination.
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!
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!
It is a little bit hard to leave home on a sunny fall morning.
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).
“But why must you leave, large Human?” “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. . .”)
My little piece of real estate for 2 days at the Perfect Gift BoutiqueSam McKinney’s gorgeous gourds with afternoon light coming through the window.Looking out over the room filled with Kaweah Artisans.
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!
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.
Another upcoming event for this Central California Artist. November is my busiest month of the year! Who would have guessed this?
The Senior League Holiday Bazaar has been happening for many years at the local Veterans Memorial Building. It used to seem podunk to me, and now I appreciate it as a great low-key event in which there is time to really visit with the visitors. (Department of Redundancy Dept. here)
There is a great variety of vendors, although it tends to be heavy in the jewelry department. Each year there are different folks showing and selling their wares, and others who return faithfully.
Oh wait. This is supposed to be about shopping! Hope to see you there. . .
Hidden in the Leaves is the title of a show sponsored by the Arts Alliance of Three Rivers. At last count there were 17 Three Rivers artists participating. The show hangs in the dining room of Sierra Subs, along the highway in Three Rivers just before you see the Shell gas sign. (Easier to spot than an address!)
First Saturday Three Rivers: Its opening reception is Saturday, November 7 and I will be there, set up in the courtyard, showing, and selling from 11:00 until 2:30 . (That’s tomorrow if you are reading this on Friday, November 6.)
Three of my oil paintings are in the show, and one is two are already sold!
Stop by, say hi, order a FABULOUS lunch, sit near the river, look at the paintings, introduce yourself to me, browse through my stuff, hang loose and be cool. Or, buy something. Just have a good time!
Someone said this is our 
