Jana Botkin | Cabin Art

A California Artist's Show-and-Tell

Archive for June, 2012

Jun 29 2012

Timber Gap, Mineral King

Remember I said that Fridays are for Mineral King? If you don’t care about this place in the Southern Sierra, in Sequoia National Park, you can skip Fridays on my blog. If you only care about Mineral King and don’t give a rodent’s hiney about my art, you can skip Monday through Thursday on my [...]

2 responses so far

Jun 28 2012

Are Competitions Worth It?

Some artists enter competitions on a regular basis. If you read their resumes, you see the awards they have won. If you are a gallery owner, this might matter to you.   If you are Joe Bag-of-Doughnuts (or Bag-of-Bagels or Box-of-Oranges or Sack-of-Tacos – don’t mean to discriminate here) who says, “I don’t know much [...]

2 responses so far

Jun 27 2012

Across The Fruited Plain

Is the Central Valley of California technically “the fruited plain”? Not exactly sure. It has been called “the land of fruit and nuts”. Take that anyway you would like. As the California artist daughter of a farmer, I take it in a literal sense.   The business of art requires thought and planning. If a [...]

4 responses so far

Jun 26 2012

Out Of The Office

Published by under the business of art

So to speak. . . the blogging office, that is. Today I have a guest post over at Chris LoCurto’s blog. He works for Dave Ramsey, and his blog is a great source of information on leadership, business, stuff like that. The commenting community is full of business leaders, sharp folks who have so much [...]

2 responses so far

Jun 25 2012

One More Place You Can See and Buy My Art

That is a shamelessly self-promotional title! However, it is also promoting the Silver City Resort, so perhaps “self-promotional” is a bit of an exaggeration. (happy birthday, Deanne!) A few weeks ago I posted a list of places that carry my work. Immediately afterward, I took paintings to the Silver City Resort for the summer. (6 [...]

2 responses so far

Jun 22 2012

Fridays are about Mineral King

Published by under Mineral King

By Mineral King standards, Soda Springs is a short hike. In fact, we call it a “walk”. It is all a matter of one’s perspective. I think it is 3 miles round trip and is mostly level. If you are used to towering peaks, majestic canyons, blowing erupting fountains, roaring waterfalls and the like, this [...]

4 responses so far

Jun 21 2012

Definitely a Summer of Animals

This is definitely shaping up to be a summer of animals in Three Rivers and in Mineral King. I’ve been asked more than once why I don’t paint animals. The answer is that I don’t have good photos from which to paint. It is unethical and illegal to paint from other people’s photos without their [...]

2 responses so far

Jun 20 2012

Whatcha Working on Now, California Artist?

Published by under commissions,Oil Paintings

So glad you asked that question! Here is a peek into the current status of Put My Parents In The Painting. (I’m twitching slightly from the effort and the stress, but it’s nothing a few rows of knitting can’t cure.) Mother’s face barely shows on the photo. I tried to see some particulars under a [...]

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Jun 19 2012

Read-O-Rama

Published by under Reading

This California artist has been soaking up non-fiction books, learning about local history, the resilience of a kidnap victim and an ancient prophecy that relates to America today. Phew. No wonder the Reading Rabbit looks as if he is in a state of exhaustion. No fluffy beach-reading is happening around here! Bill and I: Building [...]

2 responses so far

Jun 18 2012

Summer of Animals?

This summer is shaping up to be full of wild animals for this California artist. First, we were hiking in Mineral King and saw this: While on that hike I thought of doing these oil paintings: They are each 4×4″, and from left to right are a mule deer buck, golden mantle squirrel, yellow-bellied marmot, [...]

One response so far

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