Painting Outside

By “painting outside”, I don’t mean painting plein air. I do mean that it was overcast and hard to see in the painting workshop, so I moved my stuff outside. It wasn’t cold, rainy or windy, so this was an easy solution. And White Chief needed a bit more drying time.

First, had to flip White Chief upside down to paint the bottom edge.

Next, I worked on Farewell Gap.

That’s sort of funny – photos, an oil painting and a mural, all of the same scene.

I haven’t done any singing over this one yet. Just not sure. . .

Flower Fix

A little poppy painting has been hanging around longer than any other. Why?

BECAUSE POPPIES SHOULDN’T HAVE SQUARE CORNERS!!

So, I fixed it.

A Mineral King scene of Farewell Gap in morning sunlight has been hanging around for too long. Why?BECAUSE IT DIDN’T HAVE ANY FLOWERS!

So, I added some.

See? Flowers fix stuff, and I think fixed flowers sell. More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .

Redwoods and Reality

I had an extra peach painting that was going to become an orange, and then after a reality check, it got turned into redwood trees. This is Three Rivers, gateway to Sequoia National Park, and I need to have paintings of sequoia trees.

Sequoia Gigantea = redwood = Big Tree. I went to Redwood High School so “redwood” is the name that comes most automatically.

Here are the paintings drying on the pegboard/chalkboard. I had to photoshop out a bunch of phone numbers from the background before I accidentally publicized my personal phone directory. This is how we do things when we don’t have cell phones. And no, it didn’t say “For a good time call. . .”

Why don’t I just photoshop the redwood trees onto the canvas??

Forget it. I’m an oil painting Central California artist, not a computer chick.

Thank You

Thank you to all who expressed sympathy about Samson. Our neighbor found his body, and we buried him on the hillside above the house. He died from a freak accident, and you really do not want to know the details. Neither do we, but too bad, now we do.

I called the woman who owns the ranch where we got Perkins and Samson – excellent line of cats, good hunters and survivors. When the next litter of cats happens, if she can catch them (they are semi-feral), we will take an entire litter. No more singletons: litter mates teach one another rules of civility, when we are away they can keep each other company, and all our attention will not be focused on one bossy little prince.

Meanwhile, please do not show up with a box of kittens at my doorstep; I am weak and vulnerable and liable to say yes. Only Trail Guy’s sensibilities keep my Cat Disorder from flaring to maximum capacity. So thank you.

Art and Reality

Art and Reality is referring to the fact that I earn my living with art and have to be realistic about things.

The economy has definitely picked up. People are buying larger paintings and more of them. Paintings sold very well for me in December (perhaps I’ll do a blog post showing all the ones that are GONE, after I hear definite totals from the galleries.) 

This means it is time to paint new things and be realistic about old ones that haven’t sold. 

I think I have saturated the market for little fruit paintings, with the exception of pomegranates and of course, oranges! Sequoia trees, Mineral King scenery and oranges are my mainstay. Time for a do-over on paintings which I am the only one who likes. Hard truth, but still better than job hunting. . .

It hurts a little to go from looking good to the stage shown below, but it is temporary.

It’s all part of the business called art.

Samson

Bengal. Biter. Liked water. Fierce, ferocious and fearless. Too fearless. Short life.

Gone a week now. Hope diminished.

Is it better to let a cat be a cat and know he will be in danger and probably have a short life or is it better to have a cat declawed and kept prisoner, safe inside your house?

We chose option #1.

Never mind. I can’t do this any more. Bye-bye, little buddy.

White Chief Finished

The White Chief oil painting might have been a teensy bit too hard for me, but I got-‘er-dun. Here is how it looked last time I showed you.

Now there is more detail on the bank above the pond and more detail on the lower left corner. The pond has some new color too. 

New day, new work on the painting: first thing in the morning is intense sunlight (and shadow from the window pane divider).I’ll work on the middle left. Here’s a close-up of the before:And here’s a close up of the after. The lighting has changed so it isn’t a completely fair comparison.

Now I am sort of going all over the lower half of the canvas, improving anything that I can see how to improve. The pond, lower right, and middle right all got some new layers of detail.

Just the lower right corner needed attention.

One more session, and the Fat Lady got to sing.

White Chief, oil on wrapped canvas, 18×24″, $650 (includes tax)

So, which task is harder: hiking to White Chief, or painting it?

Painting it, for sure!!

Sawtooth, Continued

The oil painting of Sawtooth was looking a bit rough when we last saw it.

It is only slightly less rough, because I chose to work on Farewell Gap more. It is tricky to fit in painting time around holidays, visitors from out of town, short daylight hours, colder temperatures, and year-end business to wrap up. But, I’ll keep layering, tightening up the detail, improving the color and accuracy.

Happy Birthday, Trail Guy!

He’s very busy, as you can see. And don’t you wonder if all retired guys wear shorts year around??

 

Progress on One of Those Largish Paintings

This is the classic Mineral King view of Farewell Gap with the Crowley cabin, step by step. The bottom photo isn’t finished yet. What remains are the exacting details, the part that I enjoy the most about oil painting. I am drawing with my brush at that stage, and you may remember that I love to draw.

I don’t know how many hours. It would probably sicken me and horrify you. . . either you’d think, “Poor Schlub hardly earns anything for these paintings”, or you might think, “Dang! Easy money!”

Ignorance is bliss.