Another Big Tree

Tall narrow canvases with oil paintings of Sequoia trees sell steadily, so I paint them steadily.

Sentinel Tree, 6×18″, $165

This one is modeled after the Sentinel Tree, in front of the Giant Forest Market, now a museum. I say “modeled after”, because I no longer feel the need to duplicate every branch as it appears in the photos. I don’t charge enough to paint that slowly, and frankly, no one cares. This painting is destined for Kaweah Arts, which sells sequoia tree paintings very steadily for me.

Bright Fruit and Sequoia Trees on the Easels

After a chunk of time away from the easels, I was very happy to return.

First I got to finish the fruit painting that will be a gift. (I will be GIVING it, not “gifting” it.)

This is wet, photographed here in the box I used to carry it into the house to dry.

I started this quite awhile ago, working from a photo shared with me by one of my drawing students. The ferns had been nipped by frost, turning them golden.

Although I am working from a photo, I am rearranging the trees. Here is a photo of the photo, which I am looking at on my laptop while painting.

My hope is to make those ferns perfect. Just perfect. But there is lots to be painted before I get there.

The new paintings won’t be at the Gift Fair but there will be plenty of merchandise to choose from.

More Paintings to Sell

I fixed the two river paintings and then worked on another sequoia painting. It is good to have backup inventory for the places that sell to folks on their way to Sequoia. It is good to have backup inventory for all the places that sell my work, currently four, but Silver City will be closing soon for the season.

I have learned that the best sellers have light on the edges of the trees along with a burn scar. It doesn’t matter which trees I paint, or if I can tell you where they are in Sequoia National Park or even if they happen to be in Kings Canyon or Balch Park. Just big trees, sunlight, scar.

As usual, I’ll scan this when it is dry to show you. It is called “Too Big”, a 6×12″ oil painting on wrapped canvas for $150.

No More Potatoes

There might have been a question about a river painting that wasn’t selling. It might have been: “Why do those rocks look like potatoes?” 

The answer might have been, “Because you are hungry”.

However, Nancy at Kaweah Arts and I concluded that her customers tend to be visitors to Sequoia National Park who are more interested in paintings of sequoia trees than of an unfamiliar section of the river.

When it is dry, I’ll scan it and try to remember to show it to you.

“There is no try—only do, or do not.”

Be quiet, Yoda. I didn’t ask you. I didn’t even like your movie, so why do I know this? In fact, I don’t think I’d recognize you, so mind your own beeswax.

Sequoia, Big Tree, or Redwood?

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Sequoia, Big Tree, or Redwood? 

All three work. 

Redwood High School class of ’77 45th reunion is this weekend. So few people are attending that it was moved to a smaller location (no, not Goshen or Farmersville or Ivanhoe). I will be attending because many people travel great distances to go, and it would be quite rude if I couldn’t be bothered to go 35 miles to Visalia. Besides, maybe someone will show up who likes and then buys my work. “Networking”, I think it is called. Now, back to production.

Three paintings are now completed and ready for display and sale at Kaweah Arts in Three Rivers.

In the Big Trees, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125 (plus Calif. sales tax)

Sequoia, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $100 (plus you know)

Big Tree, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $65 (plus. . . sigh.)

 

Finding titles for these pieces is quite the chore. Painting them is easy, because now I have enough experience that I can make them up, using a photo just to get a clue.

Big Tree, Sequoia, or Redwood?

If the photos don’t show, go here: cabinart.net/blog.

There are lots of big trees in the world, Redwood is the name of my high school, and the trees for which Sequoia National Park is named are sequoia gigantea. However, any of those names apply to the paintings in today’s blog post.

It is a little bit difficult to work at the cabin because there is no studio space, and everyone else is on vacation. Besides, when I am there, I’d rather be reading, knitting, splitting wood, or chasing wildflowers. But sometimes a grownup has to do what needs to be done. I know, this is difficult to accept, because didn’t we all think that being a grownup meant we got to do anything we wanted? It is true, but choices have consequences, and the consequence of not painting when inventory is low is that there will be nothing to sell.

That’s a good enough start. Think I’ll put down my paintbrushes and go pick up my ax.

Welcome to the World, New and Improved Oil Painting

If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, and the photos don’t show up, you can see them by going to the blog on the internet. Tap or click cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

When paintings are slow to sell, it is a good art business practice to analyze them. This is best done with the help of someone who knows the customers. 

Recently I took a hard look at this painting, one that I had always liked, because I love seeing dogwood in bloom around redwood trees. But what if I am the only one who feels that way? I am here to earn a living, not to paint for myself. (Well, sometimes I do allow a painting to live in my house for awhile, but that isn’t the main point of all the easel time.)

I asked the proprietor of Kaweah Arts why she thought this hadn’t sold yet. She and I have been friends for many years, always honest with one another. I told her that I figured most of her customers don’t even know what dogwood is, because the bulk of them visit Sequoia National Park in the summer when the dogwood isn’t in bloom.

She very diplomatically replied that her customers are interested in the big trees alone. Of course they buy other items, but sequoia trees are what Sequoia National Park was formed around.

Together we evaluated the painting, and then I told her to remove it from the inventory list, because I was taking it back to the easels.

This is how it went.

Welcome to the world, new and improved

“Redwood, Dogwood”, oil on wrapped canvas, 12×16″, $325.

Back to the Easels, the Sawhorses, and the Big Chair

Oil paintings generally happen on an easel; acrylic mural paint goes onto panels of scrap wood resting on some sawhorses. What’s “the Big Chair”? Glad you asked. Keep reading.

Sawhorse Project

Kaweah Arts requested a panel with a single redwood where the entire tree is visible. I have 2 different sizes of these panels, and instead of waiting to hear which size the customer wants, I will paint them both. These sell steadily to people passing through while visiting Sequoia. Eventually, The Park will be reopened, and those customers will resume stopping by Kaweah Arts while on their way to The Park.

I don’t think this is quite finished but I was running out of daylight.

On the Easels

These were on the easels. The top one is a bit of a do-over and the others are just the first pass over the canvas. They will help resupply Kaweah Arts after I rob them of the large paintings to take to the Courthouse Gallery for the show Images of Home.

These are ready to be varnished.

The Big Chair

A friend makes these giant redwood Adirondack chairs; I painted an indoor mural to earn a few of these. This one was in the perfect position to hold 5 paintings while they dried in the sunshine after I varnished them. Can’t even see the chair, can you?

Okay, here comes the announcement. I hope it doesn’t become invisible to you from too much repetition.

Images of Home

Exeter Courthouse Gallery

November 14 – December 30, 2021

Opening Reception – Sunday, November 14, 1-4 p.m.

Better Sequoia

From 2012:

2012
Thought it was finished and changed my mind.
Best Sequoia painting, titled “Sandy’s Sequoia”.

Since everything looks measurably better in person, I am wondering if the differences are just due to camera variations. I don’t know where the original painting from 2012 is, nor can I find the photo that I used, so this is a mystery to be lived with. Not everything has an answer (Uncle Google may be omnipresent but he is not omniscient.)

This is custom art, Gentle Blog Reader. Custom art works like this:

Using pencils, oil paints, and murals, I make art that people can understand of places and things they love, for prices that won’t scare them.

P.S. My business manager made me put that in the blog. She is mean like that.