Four Little Poppies

“Four Little Poppies” sounds like the title of a book I loved as a kid called “Five Little Peppers (and How They Grew). It’s sort of a given that a California artist would paint California poppies.

This little 4×4” oil painting of poppies needed something more, so I added blue.

poppy oil painting

It wasn’t enough, so I added 3 more paintings.

4 poppy oil paintings



Now there are three four little poppy oil paintings, each 4×4″. They are $30/each (plus tax, welcome to California, leave your dollars here). All four together can be had for $100 (plus tax, see the previous snide remark.) One sold over the weekend, and I can’t remember which it was! Never mind. All sold. I can paint more if you wanted them but hesitated. 

Did you know that California is called “The Golden State” because of the poppies on the hillsides? That might be a myth. The hills turn golden in the summer when the grasses dry up from the abundance of sunshine (and lack of water.), so perhaps that is the reason for the descriptive title.

Holiday Bazaar at Three Rivers Memorial Building

Another upcoming event for this Central California Artist. November is my busiest month of the year! Who would have guessed this? 

The Senior League Holiday Bazaar has been happening for many years at the local Veterans Memorial Building. It used to seem podunk to me, and now I appreciate it as a great low-key event in which there is time to really visit with the visitors.  (Department of Redundancy Dept. here)

There is a great variety of vendors, although it tends to be heavy in the jewelry department. Each year there are different folks showing and selling their wares, and others who return faithfully. 

1437 Turning Leaf XIV

Oh wait. This is supposed to be about shopping! Hope to see you there. . .

Senior League Holiday Bazaar

Saturday, November 14, 2015

9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Three Rivers Memorial Building

2016 Calendars Available Now!

Cover of 2016 Calendar

$15 includes tax and mailing


This year’s calendar is full of pencil drawings of cabins. Some are from The Cabins of Wilsonia, some commissioned drawings of other cabins from Wilsonia, Mineral King and Camp Nelson.

I’ll have them at the Holiday Bazaar on Saturday, or you can order one using the “Buy Now” button above or you can email me or you can contact me using the contact tab beneath the “About the Artist” tab above.

Cabin Commission Continued

Thank you, Veterans. You probably didn’t want to go, probably didn’t like being there, maybe questioned why, but you did it so we didn’t have to. Thank you! (including, especially, Cousin Bruce)

I would have said “Wilsonia Cabin Commission”, but I liked 3 Cs in a row in the title.

pencil drawing of cabin

When you compare this to yesterday’s work, you can see that it is inching forward to the right. You can also see that some of the shadows have been darkened. If you are really focused, you might detect that some of the edges are sharper and see that there is more detail on individual rocks and more pencil on the ground.

The right edge of this image is dark and fuzzy because this drawing is 12×16 and doesn’t fit very well on the scanner. Inquiring minds need to know these things.

 

Pencil Commission of Wilsonia Cabin

For over a year, a pencil commission of a Wilsonia cabin has been waiting for decisions to be made by the cabin owners. I too have been waiting. And waiting and waiting and waiting.

2 other sketches

We finally got together in person and discussed some details. They chose a view, chose a size, and paid a deposit.

I got a little ahead of myself in this commission. Normally the customer decides the size, pays 1/2 down, and then I take the photos and do the sketches. For several reasons, I didn’t do this one in the right order, which made me nervous. In the past, when the steps get out of sequence, I usually do a bunch of work for free. Then, the customer just flakes away, because he has no monetary commitment, or as in today’s vernacular, “no skin in the game”.

Not these folks. I persisted, we finally connected, and now this drawing is in progress!

cabin drawing

Lots of fuzzy background trees – my hope is to add interest (and distract from all the vagueness) by adding that closer branch.

Lots and lots of little details too. I was relieved they didn’t want all the signs, the 2 bridges, the bird house, the bird bath, the wind chimes, the plaque, etc. The water wheel and wishing well were fiddly enough.

As a right-hander, I work from top to bottom, left to right. This minimizes the smearing from my hand dragging across the piece as I draw.

 

 

Picking up Walnuts

One of the great benefits of living in the Central Valley of California is the availability of food. (Is that why we are so dang fat in Tulare County??)

Almost everyone has a friend with an orange tree or grove, a walnut tree or grove, fruit trees, access to packing houses. . . makes me wonder how grocery stores are able to make money around here.

When I was a little kid, it was torture to have to glean for walnuts. I used to beg my mom to not put walnuts in things for a change. As an adult, I’ve actually paid Real Money for walnuts at the grocery store!

Now I have a friend with a walnut orchard. THANK YOU, GERALD! There may be a painting or two as a result of my afternoon gleaning walnuts.

canal 2

It is along the Friant-Kern Canal.

canal

IMG_1891 IMG_1896 Look at this little gem. And the green sprouting weeds are an indication that we have been getting good rains!!

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All that bending down got tiring. After about an hour, I decided to not bend over for just one walnut. Instead, I kicked it to another one, so I could get a minimum of two at a bend.

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The ground slopes up to the bank of the canal. I crawled up and this was what I saw. Alta Peak is visible, if you know what you are looking for. For some reason, I enjoy seeing the same peak that is visible from my yard when I am 25 miles down the hill. Simple pleasures. . .

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Hidden in the Leaves

hidden announce

Hidden in the Leaves is the title of a show sponsored by the Arts Alliance of Three Rivers. At last count there were 17 Three Rivers artists participating. The show hangs in the dining room of Sierra Subs, along the highway in Three Rivers just before you see the Shell gas sign. (Easier to spot than an address!)

Here’s a link to a little thing about it: Fresno Bee Events Page

First Saturday Three Rivers: Its opening reception is Saturday, November 7 and I will be there, set up in the courtyard, showing, and selling from 11:00 until 2:30 . (That’s tomorrow if you are reading this on Friday, November 6.)

Three of my oil paintings are in the show, and one is two are already sold!

Stop by, say hi, order a FABULOUS lunch, sit near the river, look at the paintings, introduce yourself to me, browse through my stuff, hang loose and be cool. Or, buy something. Just have a good time!

Scanned and Ready!

Here are my latest oil paintings of Central California fruits and landscapes, dry, signed, dry again, scanned, varnished and ready to sell!

1555 Pomegranates #48
Pomegranates #48, oil on wrapped canvas, 8×10, $125
1556 Honeymoon Cabin XXIII
Honeymoon Cabin XXIII, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $55
1558 Sawtooth XVII
Sawtooth XVII, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, NFS
1559 Farewell Gap IXX
Farewell Gap IXX, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, $55
1562 Peach III
Peach III, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, $55
1561 Persimmon IX
Persimmon IX, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, $55

To buy any of these paintings, use the contact button under About The Artist in the menu bar above.

Crazy talk?

Shows are coming this month, I’m painting with hyper-focus, and there is some crazy talk going around. With the shows coming this month, these little oil paintings are almost ready to be sold. They are finished, signed and drying. When dry, I will scan, varnish and then price them.

oil paintings

Five down, 8 or 9 to go. 5 plus 8 equals 13,  but I might need a couple more. 8 or 9 or 10 to go.

About the pricing stage: I am getting messages from many places which sound like crazy talk to me that my oil paintings are severely underpriced. Not only are they severely underpriced, but if I double or triple the prices, my sales will increase.

Does that sound like crazy talk to you??

Where are these folks with big money who are just hanging out, waiting to pay me more??

Crazy talk.

Yes, I Still Oil Paint

Thanks for asking. Were you wondering if all I do is fund-raise, read and tile?

I squoze a little painting in. Thirteen little paintings, actually. There are shows in November, craft fairs and bazaars and boutiques, all requiring that I have things to sell.

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Not finished.

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Finished, not signed,

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Finished, not signed, and too wet to photograph well. All that shine looks messy!IMG_1829

Even looks messy when I step back.

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Added blue to an existing poppy. Looks so good I started 3 more!

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Liked the fruits for my friend so much that I began 2 more, incorporating some blue, of course.

I need to learn if adding blue makes paintings more appealing.

When these are finished, signed and dry, I’ll scan them and show them on the blog. There are 13 in progress, in spite of only showing you 7 here.

“Squoze” – did it make you smile like the word “liberry” did last week?