Merry Christmas, dear blog readers. I will be silent for awhile. Nothing to worry about – I’ll be back, and hope you will join me.
Meanwhile, have a lovely week of holidays!
P.S. I have been and will continue to busy through December 24. See?
On Day 2 of the oil painting workshop, we didn’t spend too much time mixing colors. Everyone took her palette home, covered in plastic wrap, and stored it in the freezer until the 2nd class. We dove right into painting, beginning with recoating the green, but this time we added details to resemble grasses and foliage.
Ahem. Is that the Royal “We”? Well, I did help. . . that’s why they pay me the Big Bucks.
At lunch time, no one wanted to stop. I took a photo of each painting in progress. Some had progressed to the poppy, recoating the oranges and tightening and adding detail. This first one looks finished to me, but the edges need paint and the painting needs a signature.
At the end of our session, no one was completely finished, but I only teach 2 sessions, not 3. (I’m supposed to be “off” in December, so there.) Anyone can work at home on her own; will they or won’t they? 
All these lovely California poppies in oil paint by four of my advanced students from drawing lessons – YEA, drawing painting students!!
In the 24 years I’ve been teaching drawing lessons, I’ve never given lessons in December. But, some of my advanced students beg, plead and cajole until I cave in and give oil painting workshops during my “time off”.
We start off with a little lesson in color, using the double primary palette. This means 2 yellows, 2 reds, 2 blues and white. The color at the far end is a mixture of the bluish red and the reddish blue, which becomes the color used for darkening. I used colored pencils to demonstrate this (I love to draw, you know!)
Then it was time for everyone to squeeze out the paints. We spent about 1-1/2 hour just discussing and mixing colors. My method is to mix 3 levels of orange and green, dark, medium and light. Orange and green were needed because the subject matter was a California poppy.
First, I had them draw the general shape of the poppy on the canvas. Second, they painted the background. I didn’t take photos until the orange started going on.
A weird thing happened: I handed each participant 3 different photos, and each person chose the very same one, all without talking to each other or seeing the others’ choices!
At the end of our session, this is where everyone was on their painting.
On day #2 we will do the second layer and the detailing.
Someone bought some cards of a poinsettia painting that I did about 8 or 9 years ago. (It looked fine as a 4×6″ image, back when I was first learning to paint. Be polite, okay?)
She liked it so much that she asked me to paint the same picture for her as an 8×10″ oil painting.
Oh boy, another do-over!! This time I get to do a better job because I paint better and because the canvas is larger to accommodate more detail.
There wasn’t one photo that was my guide when I first painted this. I used several, simplifying the image as much as possible. This time I am using several photos again, but not simplifying the flower so much.
This looks a little bit weak in color because the paint is wet and shiny. This is at the end of day #1.
In the next painting session it looks almost finished, but there is more layering, the center detail, edges, and finally. signing. (Then drying, scanning, varnishing, drying yet again). This was painting day #2.
You can see in the next photo that most of the painting looks weird and reflective, because it is wet and shiny. There are 4 petals that haven’t been re-layered. This was painting day #3.
At the end of the painting session, I hung it out in the workshop to begin drying. This one wasn’t in a huge rush to be delivered, so I didn’t want its messy wet self in the house.
Funny how it doesn’t look reflective here. That is because it has indirect light from the window rather than a lamp shining on it. That lamp helps me mix the colors right, but makes for poor photography.
And finally, this is the finished and scanned commissioned oil painting of a poinsettia. Color looks duller than in real life. I hate that. But, the real one is brilliant. Guess you’ll have to take my word for it.
Christmas is coming, and if I had any marketing sense, I would have been telling you about merchandise that is available all through the month.
I do have sense, and I sense that it would be irritating for me to keep pounding the sales drum. However, if you need a reminder or an easy idea for a gift, and I said nothing, I would have neglected my duty to serve you, my readers.
Choices and consequences. . . here we go. . .
P.S. If you live in the area, we can figure out a way to exchange currency for merchandise in person. If you don’t live in the area, I believe in using the U.S. Postal Service, accept checks in the mail, Paypal and can use Square.
Did you know that navel oranges are harvested in December? If you are from Tulare County where the world’s best (and most) navel oranges are grown, you probably knew that.
My grandfather and dad were both orange growers. I am an orange painter.
A friend/neighbor called to say that her sister-in-law wanted an oil painting of oranges just like the one in her dad’s house. I asked for a photo of the painting so I would know how to make another one. Obviously, these people have impeccable taste in artwork.
After receiving this photo, I looked through my 963 photos of oil paintings, arranged by subject, and although I recently finished Orange #134, this old painting didn’t show up in my inventory.
That’s okay. I have plenty of photos to work from. And if I am going to paint an 8×10 oil of oranges, I might as well do a second painting to have ready for the next orange art emergency.
This is how the orange paintings looked on day one of painting in December. (The 8×10 will probably be mailed while it is still a bit wet.)
At the end of the painting day, I put them in boxes to carry into the house and prop up over the wood stove so they will be ready for the second layer.
(I painted a second and third layer without photographing the process.)
EPILOGUE: Finished and in the mail, right on schedule!
I am a big believer in incremental improvements, little changes adding up over time. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to draw in pencil, paint in oil, or even be a knitter.
My Three Rivers studio was just a little storage shed on our property until it got gussied up in December 2001. It was thrilling to have a place to work at home!
Over the years little changes have been made. They all add up, and here I am, 16 years later, with a studio that looks like this:
Next will come new siding.
I had a peach. It didn’t sell. Now it is an orange.
I had some lanterns. I didn’t like painting them and didn’t want to finish. Now they are pomegranates.
Welcome to the land of fruits and nuts, where you can enjoy the fruits of my labor.
The oil painting, Oak Grove Bridge XXII, sold. This means it is time to paint another view of my favorite bridge. I looked through my photos and found an angle I’ve never tried before.
Is it lunch yet??
Happy Birthday, Phoebe!! (23? 23!!!)
These eggs sold.
These eggs haven’t sold.
At a recent show, someone asked me about this painting, “Brown Egg, Blue Plate II”. “Is this a potato?”
Ahem. No, it isn’t. Guess it is time to rethink this painting. That blue plate was very difficult. I don’t want to waste it. How about a new egg color??