Forgive Us Our Trespasses

This is 16×12″ oil on wrapped canvas. It represents 2 days of exploring Yokohl Valley last March at the height of wildflower season. I spent an inordinate amount of time on it, and almost had to break out my blow dryer to have it dry in time for the show! “Yokohl Valley Revisited” at the Tulare Historical Museum opened last night.

The title of this paintings has 2 meanings: a fair amount of trespassing was involved in gathering my photos. Number two: in the Bible “trespasses” means sin; I think it would be a sin to turn this gorgeous place into a city. I can just hear my Very Wise Dad saying in his overly calm voice meant to soothe but also a bit infuriating, “Everybody has to live somewhere.”

First Things First

Second in a series called “Thoughtful Thursdays”

Living in a beautiful place often inspires people to create art. Lots of people get the yen to paint, often when retired. (Sometimes I have to bite my tongue to keep from saying, “Oh yeah? I think I’ll try practicing law when I retire!”) Most don’t understand that drawing comes before painting, sort of like grunting and pointing comes before public speaking.

A painting without drawing skills behind it is usually a weak piece of art. By “weak”,  I mean weird shapes, bizarre perspective, and lacking in contrast. Unless one can see proportions, perspective and understand values  and composition, the resulting paintings will most likely be exercises in frustration. Throw in color, paint consistency and brush behavior, and you get a recipe for visual chaos. (Of course, if one is more process than product oriented, poor paintings may not be considered a problem.)

Drawing is a skill that can be taught, learned, and developed through repetitious practice. I have been teaching people how to draw for 17 years and always tell beginning students “drawing is a skill, not a talent”. It is like typing – everyone can learn to type. Some type 25 words per minute, and others hit 90. Those speedsters are the ones with talent, but all are typists.

Despite knowing the proper sequence of skills, I do understand the desire to just dive in! When I was learning to knit, my attitude was “Scarves? We don’t need no stinkin’ scarves!!” My first project was a sweater, and not just a simple pullover but a cardigan, complete with button bands and button holes! Needless to say, I own many weird sweaters, and, after almost 6 years of knitting, quite a few good ones too. So, it is probably possible learn to paint without first drawing, if one is learning from mistakes in the process rather than just cementing bad practices. Of course one must also be willing to have a collection of weird paintings!

Musicians, particularly pianists, have to practice like crazy. They play lots and lots of scales, repetitious exercises, picking apart songs line by line, phrase by phrase, note by note. Artists sometimes forget to practice and treat each new piece as if it were the performance of a lifetime, or thinking in athletic terms, an Olympic event. Practice, practice, practice. This is how you learn to draw and to cement those skills of proportion, perspective, value and composition.

The drawing above was done when I was competent in my drawing skills. This painting was my first attempt at the same subject  when I was brand new to oils (try to be polite!):

Here it is again after 3 years of practice with oils (and I’m sure it will look hideous to me in another 3 years!):

It is all speckled because I photographed it wet in bright sunlight and the sun reflected off the texture of the canvas. Photography is another skill that requires training and practice!

Cranking Up the Painting Machine

That would be me, the Painting Machine. I’ve spent the past several weeks evaluating my inventory, thinking about subjects that might appeal to a flatland audience, analyzing my photos and asking others to share their opinions on a pile of pictures. After making decisions about subjects and sizes, putting the hanging hardware on the backs of canvases, assigning inventory numbers and titles, and adding them into my inventory lists, today I finally picked up my paintbrushes! This is how things look right now; think of this as a sneak preview into a solo show that is coming for me in May!

A Walk of Beauty

Yesterday my husband had a birthday. I remember thinking how stodgy and middle-aged my parents were when my Dad turned 50, and now I am married to a 58-year-old man! We had to stick around the house waiting for a plumber (the more stuff you own, the more stuff breaks). After getting that situation situated, we went up to the BLM land for a little walk. (All walks are little compared to last year’s training for the 21-miler.) I share these images with you because it gives you a glimpse into the life and through the eyes of a foothills artist in residence.

This is a face screaming “OOO NOOO, not 58!”

Yokohl Valley Show

Next week I will deliver a new painting to the Tulare Historical Museum. They are having a themed exhibit entitled “Yokohl Valley Revisted”. If you are a follower of this blog, you may recall a photography trip I took through the Yokohl Valley last spring – see the April 2 and April 3 postings. (I thought I was gathering info for a show in the Bay Area, but it turned out to be for plein air painters, which I am not.) There were so many beautiful photos from which to choose – I carried the best ones around to several spring shows and also polled my students. The view with the highest number of votes is the one I chose to paint. Out of respect for the Tulare Historical Museum, I won’t post the painting here until after the show opening. The title might pique your interest – “Forgive Us Our Trespasses” popped into my mind as soon as I began the painting, and it can be interpreted in two different ways. The opening reception is Thursday, January 13, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. No admission is charged (hmmm, can we peek into the museum during the reception??) and there are refreshments. Depending on the number of paintings at the show, they might also accept this painting that I did for an earlier Yokohl Valley show. (popular subject – go here to learn more: Save Yokohl Valley)

Behind Rocky Hill, 16×12″, oil on wrapped canvas

Here is something rather astonishing that I discovered on a blog I read from time to time called “Abby Try Again” – in her January 3, 2011 posting this interesting and creative photographer with roots in Tulare County showed her favorite photographs of 2011. Look at this list, and tell me what you think about the last photo. Abby Try Again

New Year Lessons

Here is a list of what I am learning so far in 2011

1. How to use the Total Gym

2. How to update my website by adding pictures

3. What a mistake it is to not photograph every piece of art

4. What a mistake it is to not label every photograph of art

5. That plantar fasciitis takes forever to heal

6. That it takes a very long time update my website

Here is a list of what I would like to know:

1. Is 1000 miles too many in a pair of walking shoes?

2. Do people actually consistently use the Total Gym?

3. When will my website be ready?

4. What should I paint on my repaired garage door, now that I feel more confident it won’t end up in the county dump?

5. Whatever was I thinking when I didn’t bother photographing some paintings or keeping a list of which was where or checking in regularly to the stores that were selling for me???

6. Will I learn from #5???

Here, let’s try to take the edge off of the hard lessons of life:

Think of it as a “bridge over troubled waters” (and no, I don’t know the title, size, when it was painted or who has it now.)

Why Artists Choose Three Rivers

First in a series called “Thoughtful Thursdays”

When my art studio was in Exeter and I lived in Lemon Cove, people assumed I lived in Three Rivers. I’m guessing this was because of my occupation of pencil artist. (Given the choices of of towns in Tulare County, this is a reasonable assumption.) Now that I actually do live here and have become a painter, I recognize a multitude of reasons that any artist would want to reside in Three Rivers.

We are surrounded by beauty that takes no effort to see. There are incomparable views from my yard, studio, mailbox, and even from in my neighbor’s pool. The beauty continues as we go to the post office, the Memorial Building, the golf course, or maybe even from the dentist’s office!

Then there is the beauty that might require a little more effort to take in: the North Fork, the South Fork, Kaweah River Drive, and the Salt Creek area of BLM land come to mind. If you are able to walk, there is so much more that becomes visible.  In fact, I wrote a series on my weblog called “Peculiar Sights in Three Rivers” documenting odd items that appear to the pedestrian in our town.

Another great enticement to living in Three Rivers is the shorter drive to Sequoia and to Mineral King. In less than an hour you can be among the big trees and in a little longer than an hour, you can be in a valley that I have heard resembles the Swiss Alps.

Everywhere I look there are subjects to paint. The wildflowers could keep my brush flying for several seasons. The gates alone could occupy my pencils for a year. I could produce an entire series of drawings and paintings simply of loading chutes. Curves in the road, bends in the river, the autumn leaves, light on the rocks, Moro Rock from every possible angle, Alta Peak from every attainable viewpoint, sycamores all around town, the grand oak trees of every variety, the assortment of fence styles – every one of these subjects could be depicted in pencil or paint.

It is true that there is beauty in almost any location if one learns to recognize it. I certainly had plenty of subjects available in my former locations.  Now, the accessibility of paintable scenes is almost overwhelming!

A little plan

In reading other blogs, I see patterns of posting. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee has “Random Mondays”, Jon Acuff has “Serious Wednesdays” and Abby has “Five Senses Fridays”. As an original thinker (sort of, maybe, mas o menos) I am hereby now instituting “Thoughtful Thursdays”. Starting this week, I will republish articles written by me for the Kaweah Commonwealth, the local paper. They call my articles “Artist in Residence” and they are similar to what you see here, only a little more formal and a bit longer. In republishing them here, I will refine them a bit for a wider audience and thrown in some photos or paintings or drawings. The first one will appear Thursday, January 6. Enjoy!

What I did in the Nonweek

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is sort of an off week. People are off work, school, schedules, diets, and budgets. (Hopefully they aren’t off base or off track too.) I think of it as the Nonweek, when there really aren’t many obligations.

During the Nonweek my expectations of myself are low. Write a few thank you notes, put away the Christmas decorations, get the number off my odometer, pay a few bills. Maybe. Maybe not.

This year I set a higher goal. Murals fade. My very first one, a Mineral King scene, was looking sort of tired, so I repainted it during the Nonweek.

If I had taken a before photo, you’d be shocked at the difference. Oops. Didn’t do that. Sometimes I just do my work without thinking about all the ramifications of possible blog posts.

See? Shabby buildings, fancy murals, and a wreath on the studio door to validate the time of year.

Now the California poppies mural looks faded to me!

On aging and other weird-word thoughts

Sometimes it seems as though it is just as satisfying to create with words as with pictures. Here is an example of the thought process that leads to messing around with the language that we call our own: I am aging. Everyone is from the moment we are born. Aging has a sense of ickiness, of something that should be fought, particularly in women. As I was putting stuff on my face that was almost but not quite guaranteed to protect it from aging (too late!), it came to me that perhaps I was saving my face from the ravages of the world. Then it occurred to me that perhaps I was saving the world from the ravages of my face! Then, I realized I don’t know what the word “ravages” actually means. Here is the definition: “severely damaging or destructive effects of something.”

And think about this: when you are young, “maturing” is a good word. It means growing up, learning, becoming less self-centered, more goal oriented, able to see the longer views, becoming more self-controlled. When you are “mature” and middle aged, it means you are starting to look weathered.

“Weathered” is sort of good in a man’s face. It is never good in a woman’s face. Women seldom like their pictures taken; men don’t mind as much. Have a look at the first portrait I ever painted in oil. A normal woman would have HATED this view of herself, but this man was overcome by emotion that I had chosen to paint him!

“Walk This Way” – 11×14″ – Private Collection