Mineral King in Fall, Part 4

I wonder if I can keep going into December with this? Don’t tempt me – I might have to change my blog description from a California Artist to an Autumnal Photographer.

Mineral King Multi-Colored Slope photo by Jana Botkin

Mineral King Multi-colored Slope

(Do you know where this is?)

Farewell Gap with Yellow Foreground photo by Jana Botkin

Farewell Gap with Yellow Foreground (my titles are wearing out!)

Red Firs and Yellow Aspens photo by Jana Botkin

Red Firs and Yellow Aspens (no, they don’t look very red, but that is the name of these fir trees)

Along the Mineral King Road photo by Jana Botkin

Along the Mineral King Road (No, I will not call it “Take Me Home, Country Roads”!)

Fall on the Nature Trail photo by Jana Botkin

Fall on the Nature Trail (but don’t hurt yourself!)

Sawtooth and the Monarch Drainage

Sawtooth and the Monarch Drainage

To be continued next Friday, because Fridays are for Mineral King on this California artist’s blog!

Holiday Bazaar

This used to be called the “Senior League Bazaar”. . . I was walking past the Three Rivers Memorial Building and on the marquee it said 17 HOLIDAY BAZAAR. This means it is happening on Saturday, November 17. The hours are 9-4. You are invited! There is no entry fee. This is a pleasant gathering of crafters, artists, artisans, handy creative folks with neat-o stuff to sell.

I will be there with paintings, cards, 2013 calendars ($15 while they last – just 8 left!) and blank journals with my paintings on the cover ($14 inc. tax). Such a deal! And what a way to combine art with usefulness. . . I amaze myself with own brilliance at times. 😎

Holiday Bazaar at Three Rivers Memorial Building

You can shop inside and outside. It is a great chance to visit with various artists, learn a bit about their processes, and some years a booth has fudge for sale with little tastes.

three rivers memorial building
Even if you don’t feel like shopping, you might just enjoy being in Three Rivers, especially with the Chinese Pistache trees in full glorious fall color.
Chinese Pistache Tree at Three Rivers Memorial Building
Chinese Pistache Tree at Three Rivers Memorial Building – will the leaves still be there on November 17? I guess you’ll just have to come see for yourself.

Interview with Mariya

A very old friend of mine is hosting an exchange student from Russia.

Oops. My friend is younger than I am. We’ve been friends since I was in 3rd grade and she was in 1st grade. . . that’s what I mean by very old friend, not that she is ancient!

Mariya would like to be an artist. I met her during that very bad show, and she is sweet and sincere. She has to interview someone in the profession she hopes to someday join, and so she chose me. I decided to share the interview with you, Oh Fine Blog Readers!

Inside Jana Botkin's studio
Sometimes my studio is orderly and I am hoping it is in good shape when Mariya comes to visit so she doesn’t think making art is the result of a chaotic mind.

Why did you decide to be an artist?

 I chose to be an artist because every thing else I tried just felt like a job. Drawing was the most challenging and fun way to spend time, and getting paid for it was a dream come true.

 Did you always dream of doing this work when you were young?

When I was a child, the only profession that interested me was art. I thought it was unrealistic, so I kept trying on other ideas in my head but none felt like a good fit.

 What do you like most about your work?

The variety involved with working as an artist is one of the best things. Always looking for subjects, learning photography, interacting with customers, drawing, painting, learning to paint murals, improving my skills, teaching people to draw, finding places to sell, writing a blog, meeting people at shows – there is always something different to be working on!

What do you like best, and what do you dislike about your job?

Whatever I am doing at the time is my favorite thing – if I am painting a mural, I’m just sure that I could spend my life doing only that. When I am drawing, I know it is why I was created. When I am teaching people how to draw, I wish I had 100 students! If I give a presentation to a group, it feels as if I was born to do public speaking. While I am writing, I am certain that I could write forever and never run out of words. When I am planning a new piece of work, it is great fun to take multiple photos from different angles at different times of the day, looking for the best light. I love working with my photographs, cropping, planning, designing and dreaming about how it will look in oil, pencil or as a mural.

On the other side, bookkeeping, record keeping, paying bills, collecting from people who don’t want to pay, and paying taxes are all tasks I’d rather avoid. I also find it more difficult each year to participate in shows – the physical labor of packing and unpacking and the uncertainty of sales while having to stay energetic and positive is just flat hard.

 Can you give me any advice?

Find what you love, learn it to the best of your ability, never stop practicing or learning. The hardest part of being an artist is marketing, so it might be wise to be a business or marketing major in college and an art minor. And, it seems that art schools focus too much on being different and creative and not enough on skills, marketing, and learning how to make art for real people instead of for gallery owners.

 

orange paintings in the studio
Mariya has not yet visited my studio where I paint orange after orange after orange.

 

 

Daily Paintworks

What means this?? (That’s how my niece asked for more information when she was three, and I thought it was so cute that I’ve been saying for 20 years since.)

Daily Paintworks is a wonderful online gallery featuring new paintings from its members every single day. I’ve followed it for a few years, and learned about some fantastic painters.

Recently, my friend and fellow artist Nadi Spencer joined Daily Paintworks. I don’t jump into new things very quickly (still successfully resisting Facebook, Twitter, Kindle and an iPhone), but I trust Nadi. We listen to many of the same podcasts, subscribe to many of the same blogs and often share information about upcoming shows and places to sell our work.

After thinking it over, I finally decided to join Daily Paintworks. It is hard for me to admit this, as a Regionalist from Quaintsville, a Central California artist, a loyal Tulare County artist, but here goes: The art buying public here where I live just isn’t big enough. It is time to reach out for a larger audience.

I began last week with this painting:orange oil painting by Jana Botkin

Orange #115, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, SOLD


Mineral King in Fall, Part 3

Since I took 273 photos of that weekend of Fall Color in Mineral King, I can keep going with this series for awhile. Tell me if you are sick of it! (or I can look at the visitation numbers to the blog and figure it out – I’m clever like that.)

Nature Trail Gold aspens photo by Jana Botkin

Nature Trail Gold

Farewell Gap Golden View photo by Jana Botkin

Farewell Gap Golden View

Golden Slope from the top of Endurance Grade photo by Jana Botkin

Golden Slope from the Top of Endurance Grade

Sawtooth in Fall photo by Jana Botkin

Sawtooth in Fall

Shameless self-promotion reminder: the photos are available for sale if you contact me at cabinart at cabinart dot net (in words so that the spammy folks don’t mess with my email). 5×7″$10, 8×10″$20

 

Art History

I have art history. A piece of it arrived in the mail last week.

old sketch with a note

Bob, I’m forever grateful. You were one of my greatest mentors, teachers, encouragers and friends throughout my youth. Blessings on you, dear friend.

A Blogger, an Artist and a Business Person

That’s me – three-in-one, three for the price of one, me in triplicate, a human triptych.

Sometimes it is so fun just to show you what I am doing, to write, to be a goofball, to philosophize, and to ramble. Then, I remember that I am trying to earn a living here, and that perhaps I should tell you some of the products and services I offer.

I’ve said for years that I am a business woman and my product is art. That remains true, but now I am beginning to feel like a photographer who writes, or a writer who photographs and sells art on the side.

Easily confused, I guess. . .

Anyway, here is the list.

  1. Drawing lessons, both private and group
  2. Pencil drawings, both originals and reproductions
  3. Commissioned pencil drawings, mostly of homes and cabins
  4. Oil paintings
  5. Commissioned oil paintings
  6. Notecards
  7. Indoor murals
  8. Outdoor murals

There will be more, but you will have to attend one of the shows I will be participating in during November, or visit my studio on the first Saturday of December.

2 Guys in Mineral King photo by Jana Botkin

Cowboy Bert and Trail Guy aren’t confused about their careers. They are just enjoying a nice walk on a beautiful fall day in Mineral King.

Sawtooth on a Cupboard Door?

Usually at a garage sale I am overtaken by the desire to go home, fill a box with stuff, and bring it back, sneak it onto a table, and tiptoe away. Stuff stresses me out. Too much stuff makes me twitch, mumble to myself, and randomly toss objects into the trash or a give-away barrel.

There might be a mental disorder that is the opposite of Hoarding. I might have it.

HEY! I THOUGHT THIS BLOG WAS ABOUT ART!

I’m getting there; keep your shirt on.

I found a cupboard door at a garage sale. It was all alone, no cupboard, no twin, no handle. It suddenly looked like a canvas that wanted paint.

So, I bought it and painted it. Stuff with a clear use is exempt from my Too-Much-Stuff-Problem.

Sawtooth is one of the prominent landmark peaks of Mineral King, visible from Visalia. (I prefer to look at it, hike beneath it, photograph, paint and draw it rather than climb it or be flown off of it.)

Sawtooth oil painting on a cupboard door

Sawtooth on cupboard door, approximately  9×21″, oil, sold

It sold to a visitor to my studio on First Saturday Three Rivers while it was wet. As long as it was signed, she was happy. And if the customer is happy, I am happy.

First Saturday November is Over

But First Saturday Three Rivers December is coming.

Wilsonia cabin drawing in progress on the table

This is how my drawing table looked. I was working on a Wilsonia cabin.

Cabinart painting studio with doors flung open

This is the painting studio/gym/storage area/Trail Guy’s workshop. Please be impressed by my red chrysanthemums – I think the leaky hose in their barrel is the cause of their gloriousness. But wait! Notice the giant fruitbowl painting drying on the easel! When the three sides of the canvas are dry, I’ll flip it over and paint the bottom edge.

cabinart studio interior photo

This is the other side of the drawing studio. On the table are cards, journals (blank inside, $14 inc. tax), and the slightest corner of the 2013 calendar ($15 inc. tax). Too bad the air conditioner is so prominent. (So glad to have it during the summer.)

People came. They ate cookies. They bought art. It was good.

Want to come in December?

Mineral King in Fall, Part 2

I told you it was gorgeous in Mineral King in mid-October this year. Since our cabin is closed for the season, I will be stretching that mid-October Blast of Fall Color into several blog posts. May these photographs inspire you to do something good! (Don’t be cynical with me. . .)

Empire Peak in Fall photo by Jana Botkin

Empire Peak in Fall

Nature Trail Aspens in Fall

Nature Trail Aspens in Fall

Mineral King fall colors photo by Jana Botkin

Mineral King Fall Colors

Mineral King aspens in all colors photo by Jana Botkin

Aspens in All Colors

There will be more next Friday, because Fridays are for Mineral King on this California Artist’s blog!