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<\/a><\/p>\nThey were gracious to offer it as a place to stay while we planned to venture into nearby Yosemite. Then we thought, “Why not take our work things and make it into an art-making venture, even if it is only three days.” So that’s what we did. We can always do Yosemite another time; this is what we really like to do.<\/p>\n
Imagine, if you can, full days with no sound but wind in the trees, the only neighbors a few horses, large rabbits of the ‘jack’ kind, sunset-scurrying ground birds, occasional deer, buzzing bees in the flowers, and the profusion of clear-sky stars you almost forgot were there.<\/p>\n We’d take the occasional walk, saw no one, just hills of pines and live oak and the likes of this manzanita.<\/p>\n Along with the living was the dead, one as intriguing as the other.<\/p>\n It’s no wonder the bees would be drawn to such pollen bloom explosions as these. They, like us, stayed busy.<\/p>\n Manzanita everywhere. We’ve never seen it grow to such height as seems to be common here.<\/p>\n It’s like endless variations on a theme, the bramble and twists and colors. What Artist has been here before us?<\/p>\n But we do ours and try our best to make it good. Here’s some of Anne’s printmaking materials drying on the deck after a day of use.<\/p>\n We found the Girard cabin (actually a house) very functional for rearranging into two studio areas. Here Anne works on details of a print. She brought smaller pieces this time, what with the shortness of time.<\/p>\n Here’s a partial array of her production, all of which she’d begun before, now hoping to bring them to completion. As I said to her, “Who’d have thought you’d become a printmaker, and then such a superb printmaker?!”<\/p>\n Meanwhile, on my side, I worked on large pieces.\u00a0 As a point of information, and I might as well say it here, as of now I’m no longer in the Sandstone Gallery in Laguna, where I have been for years and Anne will continue to be. The leaving was on good terms, but I decided the time had come. These works are intended for another gallery which wants large pieces, unstretched.<\/p>\n I worked in acrylic, paint that dries fast enough that I can roll up and transport the large works easily. I always say I’m really an oil painter that uses acrylic sometimes.\u00a0 And sometimes it really is best. This one’s called Taking a Break<\/em> and is 50×40 inches with a three-inch border for stretching. (Click on it, and again, to appreciate all the texture.)<\/p>\n I’d brought along a sheet of 3\/4 inch plywood to pin and tape the canvas on, as well as some drop cloth. That, and a bit of improvising, worked fine for a “studio.” Here I’ve got the background color in, the rudiments of a charcoal sketch to give me an idea of where I was going, after that it was all trial and error. (See prayer<\/em> below.)<\/p>\n It was Anne who helped me on this one; she recognized it as “done” when I would have kept on going. It was a case of two people being required to make a painting, one to hold the brush and the other to take it away before it’s ruined. I’ve named her Gown Girl<\/em>, also 50×40 inches. (Click to enlarge.)<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n