Gardener's Gathering

Well today Cindy and I are off to the Master Gardeners gathering at the Blue Goose Fruit Sheds in Loomis. Since we are on the tour next month, they compted two tickets for us. It should be an interesting day. I'll let you know later. Have a good one.

Gee what was I thinking?

When the Placer County Master Gardeners showed up at my home and asked if I would like to put our garden on the tour, I willingly said yes. A week later I looked at the garden and saw all the mess from the afterbloom of thousands of daffodils, I wondered what I could do to make it look better and make sure I had color in the garden. The daffodil leaves cannot be cut off until they turn yellow, because they require the sun and nutrients to replenish the bulb for next season.

Since that time I have been working feverishly to clean up ever inch of our property to make sure it looks well cared for, neat and pretty. Weeds seem to know this and I whenever I clear a flowerbed and move on to another area, during the night they send up new shoots to make me think I didn't weed the bed. I know some of it is due to the frequent rain showers that are helping the weed seeds in the soil to germinate, but wow, there must be centuries of accumulation!  Either that or the neigbors trolls are spreading new seeds in the dark of night.

I have been systematically cleaning out leaves, weeds, dead branches, old growth in all the flower beds and rearranging and planting new flower varieties that should be in bloom in May. Unfortunately, whenever I distrurb the soil, new weeds sprout because I gave their seeds the right conditions to germinate. I should mulch the beds when I finish, and that would slow down the weeds and also capture the moisture for my new plantings.

One of the biggest jobs was finishing a 130 foot drainage line from the front of the house to the back, inorder to divert all the water that pours into our property from the street. This project took a week, but it did work well when everything was put back and the pipe was in. A good torrential rain was a good test for it. Another  huge job was digging out the stumps of an 18 year old Oleander and a Lelandia Cypress that I had to cut down. Relandscaping and cleaning everything up took several days. The new look is a lot more pleasing, but I was sore for several days after.

I still have to finish taking all the bark out of the rose garden and reusing it in other parts of the garden, and then putting out new redwood mulch that is finer and more appropriate to dress it all back up. Fortunately I stopped the spread of Blackspot, and hopefully I can keep the aphids at bay until they begin to bloom in a few weeks.  Lets hope the weather holds and I can stay on track to assure that the garden is pristine for Mother's Day.  Oh well, so much for the break, time to get back to work!

When is a Painting Finished?

Sometimes I struggle with when to stop adding to my paintings. It is a question of when is enough detail or color enough? I have learned so much about the values of colors and how important it is to have differences and graduations between the darks and the lights in a painting.  But I still struggle at times with areas in a painting to make them look believeably real. I am a realist in my style of painting, and so am a stickler for detail and accuracy. My mentor however, does not waste a lot of time on detail, he paints beautifully and lets the viewer fill in the details he has not bothered to paint.

My instructor,  Reif Erickson, of Auburn is a master pastelist. He has written four books on the subject of painting and he has been a very successful pastel artist for many years. He is amazing to watch as he uses an photo as our object lesson of the day. He begins his sketch and then begins to apply the darker undertonesof color in various areas of the painting.

It is a treat to watch him start a painting from its early sketch with a darker pastel to its completion. He studies the photo and decides what he will include, and what he will leave out. Sometimes he will take a portion of a landscape photo and turn it into a portrait style of painting.  He takes time to sketch the details and scale of the painting. He can complete a 9" X 13" landscape pastel painting in about 30 minutes. He takes a drab photo, with washed out colors and within a short time creates a beautiful painting that has all of the undertones and colors lacking in the photo. What had been and unremarkable photo, becomes a painting that stimulates our eyes because the scene is so alive. He is a master in the use of color. When one stands six feet away, the painting looks so complete and beautiful, however, when one gets close, it is amazing how little detail is really there. Our eyes fill any voids, and blend colors to complete the painting.

I paint detail because I want to be able to show my viewer the beauty of something I see. I want them to experience every nuance and color that I found so interesting. I love to look paintings done by fellow artists who are as obsessed with detail as I am. I enjoy seeing their ability to show the grain of wood on a barn, the detail they have recreated in the bark of a tree, or the sheen of a horses coat from the sunlight. I marvel at their ability to paint life truly as they see it.  Looking at their paintings is like looking at a window of life for me. Perhaps that is why I am mired in detail, and not able to just splash color on a canvas and stop when I have a likeness. My goal is to recreate what I have seen so I can share what drove me to replicate it, not have you the viewer, fill in what I didn't paint and try and interpret what I was trying to communicate. I know my art may fascinate and please some who are wired like me. I also know that for those who think in the abstract, it will have no interest at all. That is okay too for there are other artists out there to please them. I on the other hand will continue to paint until it has reached my personal standard.  

The attached beach scene of a northern California Beach was one that I fussed over. I wanted to make sure that the surf looked real, so that the viewer could recall the way it breaks and spreads out on the sand and then recedes leaving a streamming of water as it flows back. I hope you enjoy my painting, and it brings back a memory for you.

Walking Two Large Male Dogs

Yeesh, I just got back from a frog marched walk/run with Amber and Eric's dogs. Ceasar, where are you, I could use a little help here! With these two, it does not help to whisper though. The minute you put the leashes on them, if they will sit still long enough for you to even get them hooked up they are ready to blast off into neverland. If I do not brace myself before I open the gate, I will be dragged through the flowers and across the lawn immediately. Hence the need to be very thorough about planting ones feet solidly, and leaning back as you flip the latch to open. While I have not lost it, I have left some skid marks in the grass and some scuff marks on the cement just trying to get up to the street.

These two, Murray a Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix, and Jake a White Lab/Pitbull cross are typical male dogs.  They want to sniff every bush and tree, lampost and telephone pole, realestate sign and fence, and anything else high enough to pee on.  Several times tonight I felt like I was tied to a rack when the dogs chose different trees or bushes on either side of the sidewalk.  It is necessary to walk holding the leashed like I am about to do curls, because if I don't, I won't have the ability to stop their plunge or rush in a different direction. 

Anyone who sees me fast walking these two down the street takes on elook at Jake and recognizes the pitbull head and immediately crosses to the other side of the street. Really a shame. because if Jake had his way, he would lick them to death. He is fortunate to be heavy with Lab genes, and he just wants to be your friend.  Has his own mind, but is a loveable affectionate dog.  Murray on the other hand is schizophrenic when it comes to meeting new people along the way, unless they have a dog of their own. If they don't, he puts his head down, and bares his teeth and growls and barks. A nasty habit I am trying to gently break by quickly pulling up on his leash and saying stop, firmly. He seems to think that everyone but dog owners is going to hurt him or me. Dog owners are automatically accepted as good people because, well, in his mind they have a dog, and that makes them okay. They are safe because they are dog broke and he will sniff and let them pet him while he gets personal with their pet.

I try to be a good dog owner/care person and pick up after these two. They can crap like a 1000 pound steer without effort. One has to be ready with plastic bags to pick up their leavings quickly and carefully.  Again, one must brace oneself, make the dogs sit keeping one eye on the dogs and one eye on the hand that is trying to pick up their excrement with a doggie bag.  One does not want to be dragged over their leavings at that point. Yes I know, too much detail, but at least you were spared the smell!  Fortunately they both seem to know that they must hold their bowels until we get down to the park. They can pee to their hearts content on the way there, but they dare not lay any turds along the way. I try to keep them on a short leash until they get to the park for this very reason. 

I have to be ever on the look-out for cats or squirrels as we walk. If I am day dreaming, I will be snapped awake as they suddenly veer in the direction of some snotty taunting pussy cat who just loves to watch dog owners get dragged around. We have had several close calls, and some of these cats have no idea what they are playing with when it comes to these two died in the wool cat haters. I think they must have been teased by cats when in their back yard in Lincoln, because they just detest cats. The same goes for squirrels of course, and we have several in residence here that like to climb up a tree and scold them.

I made it down to the pond in Deer Ridge in record time tonight. The way back was just as exciting, and I certainly got my walk/run for the day. Stay tuned for more doggy tales.  

Busy Day, Workin Away

Today was another beautiful day in Auburn. We are enjoying this rain free period with bright sun and warm temperatures in the low seventies. I bought all the materials on Monday to be able to install some drains to collect the water that flows down from the improperly graded street, into our front yard and then pools by the North side of the house, and then flows under the house to exit on the South East side.  That much water under the house is too much even though I installed a drain. It makes too much dampness beneath the house and I do not want mold to take over.

Monday after coming back from Home depot and unloading 130 feet of 4 inch corex drain piping I began digging a trench along the sidewalk that goes around the front of the house to the small deck. The first twenty feet were not too bad, the ground was pretty soft and saturated with moisture. The next twenty feet were murder because I hit granite lava cap at 25 feet and so for the next 15 feet I had to use a pick to break the rock up. That really slowed me down, and I am sore tonight, and probably will take a day off of it tomorrow.

This afternoon after a shower and lunch, I thought I would try out my new (used) C&H mat cutter.  I had finished another pastel painting of "No Hands Bridge", that crosses the American River just below Auburn. The bridge was built for the Quarry Mountain Railroad line to haul gypsum from the mine further up the river. The old bridge was well built and has stood through many flood surges when newer bridges have been inundated and collapsed. 

I decided to double mat the picture, and used a reddish brown inside mat to compliment the painting and a antique white matting on the outside.  Before I could do that, I had to mount the pastel picture on some acid free  foam core and then take exact measurements so that my mats would look decent.  I cut the reddish brown one without any problems, but messed up the antique white one. The second try produced an acceptable mat and I was able to frame the picture in one of the 14X18 frames I purchased yesterday at Aaron Brothers art marts.  The picture is now sitting on a wall scounce shelf that I put up in my office today.

I also reframed and matted a picture Cindy had bought me of the Old Auburn Courthouse, and the color will now look a lot better when it is hung in the hallway. A busy day, but one in which I accomplished a lot.

Unusual Weather Day

Today was cool overcast and damp to start out. Such a huge change from Sunday when it felt like spring and flowers and trees were opening their blooms to the sunshine. Since it was so nice Saturday without rain, and not a cloud in the sky. I had decided to tackle felling a Lelandia Cypress tree that had been blown at a 40 degree angle into our flowering Japanes Plum tree during one of the recent storms. It looked like the plum tree was actually holding it up, since the root ball was rising and the ground was cracked open several feet back from the trunk of the cypress.

I lopped off a few large branches that were in amongst the plum tree branches so it wouldn't get too badly damaged when I dropped the cypress. I began cutting a notch in the trunk of the tree on the south side just back of the direction it was leaning. Unfortunately the wood there was very hard and my saw started smoking. I had put a new handle on my Pulaski and decided I would use it to cut the notch the rest of the way. After a few good whacks, I managed to cut a pretty decent notch in the tree and so I could begin sawing a new cut on the opposite side, just a little higher up.  It didn't take too long before the tree started to crack and begin its fall. For a minute I thought it was going to stay hung up in the plum tree, but it pulled free thanks to gravity and thumped to the ground across a sprawl of juniper bushes on the bank below right where I planned it. The plum tree branches just sprange back, I didn't lose a one.

Well needless to say, cutting up a 35 foot tree and loping all the branches took a considerable number of hours. Once I had cut everything from the top I stacked it up by the road, off my neigbors peoperty and then raked up the loose needles and small branches. I had quite a stack of firewood and several loads of slash branches to haul down to the bottom of the garden to burn.  I also cut down an Oleander and trimmed all the sucker branches out of the plum tree before I quit. I was plum tuckered out by then, and decided that I would clean the rest up the following day.

Well yesterday I managed to get my recalcitrant garden tractor going, and hitched the wagon behind it and drove it up to the front yard after cutting the backyard grass. I had loaded the wagon behind the tractor from a huge pile I'd stacked in our driveway. When it was time to go unload, I couldn't get the tractor going again. I hooked up my battery charger to the tractor battery and left it all night. I would tackle the rest tomorrow.

Well wouldn't you know, tomorrow is today and it was cool 45 degrees. My tractor still wouldn't start and it took some time to find I had a little water in the carbuerator bowl, and the battery terminals were probably too corroded to take a charge. After disasembling the connections and cleaning them, installing new bolts and tightening them up I was able to jump the battery and get the old tractor going. It took two full loads to carry all the slash to the bottom of our property. I also had a lot of firewood cut up and it made full wagon load to hall around to stack for next seasons firewood.  

I finished at 11:30 and came in the house after parking and covering up the tractor, as it seemed colder and was dark and threatening. Cindy made me a sandwich for lunch and then she looked outside and said its hailing!  The hail didn't last long, but was soon followed by rain. The rest of the day went from blustery to dark and stormy with sudden downpours. We made a Costco run down the hill to Roseville and ran into more hail just as we got to the store. After getting theessentials we needed we decided to have dinner out and had a wonderful Mexican food dinner in Lincoln at Casa Ramos. As we ate our dinner we were treated to a gloriously beuatiful sunset with pinks, mauves and orange tinges in the clouds. A nice close to a blustery day. Then it was time to go back home and unload the groceries and relax. Sorry if I bored you to death!

Pastel of Sedona

I decided to do a second pastel of Sedona Arizona, especially since my brother Michael sent me a really great shot that had an interesting view and lots of color. It seemed perfect to paint a pastel picture. I began with one of my standard 9X13" LaCarte pastel cards and sketched out a few details that would guide me, and make me stay in perspective. I went through the routine of putting in darker colors so I could overlay the lighter ones.  It was for some reason a lot more difficult than I had expected. The mountains or buttes had a lot of detail. Not only that, there were all these trees and bushes and prickly pear cactus that lined the pathway. I was not sure if I had enough different greens to show both shading and different bushes. The other element was the late afternoon suns rays that dappled the trees and bushes and left sunlight patches and shadow on the pathway.

It took some work, and a lot of detail to get the picture the way I wanted it. Once I was finished I was pleased with the end result. I posted it on my Flickr account and immediately started getting a lot of feedback from fellow artists. They sure help to give one confidence. When I took the painting to class, my teacher really liked it, as did my peer students. I hope you like it.