And more books. . .

Salt and Light, oil on board, 11×14″, not for sale

(But why isn’t it for sale? Because it is too personal to me. Then why are you showing it here? Because it is the only painting I have with books in it!)

  1. Up For Renewal by Cathy Alter is autobiographical. It was well written for a dumb book, or maybe it was a dumb subject. Anyway, I ended up just skimming it at the end. She spent a year of her life actually following the advice in women’s magazines!!! Are you kidding me???
  2. Just My Type by Simon Garfield is a book I had in my Amazon shopping cart for awhile until I remembered that I don’t like to own too many things. My friend Don bought it and graciously lent it to me. We both have an interest in typefaces, and this is “a book about fonts”. I ended up skimming it too. I realized that I like the way fonts look, I like to see if I can recognize them, but I don’t care very much about their history. It goes back to a year of my life as a phototypesetter, and then a couple of years working at a printshop where I ordered type through several other phototypesetting companies. Just broke my heart to hear my graphic designer nephew tell me that Papyrus is a horrible type. It was confirmed in this book. So what? I STILL think it is pretty, so there, Cory!!
  3. Georgette Heyer was recommended to me by my current favorite writer, Carolyn Henderson, author of Middle Aged Plague (READ HER! SHE IS FANTASTIC!! Then remember to return to me, ‘k?) Carolyn explained her this way:

    Georgette Heyer was a Regency Romance (don’t lose me here) writer of 1920-1960 – comedy of errors, delightfully written, much good advice slipped into gems of stories.

    Heyer reminds me of Jane Austen. I tried with the book Bath. Too many words, too little action, people with nothing to do but talk about one another. If you like Jane, you will like Georgette. I keep trying, but I have really lost my taste for fiction.

You Know You’re A California Artist When. . . Part 3

It was getting a bit long yesterday so here is the rest of my pencil version of California artist.

5. . . . the houses you draw often have palm trees.

6. . . . sometimes you draw poppies.

7. . . and you keep drawing oranges because everyone likes them.

5×7 reproduction with color added, $10, email me to buy  (not on website)

8. . . . you wade through dirt clods in your friend’s vineyard to get good photos of grapes for drawing.

Sweet and Seedless, colored pencil, matted and framed, 12×15″, $150

Fruit on the Vine, reproduction of pencil with colored pencil accents, 11×14″, $20

9. . . . you draw lots and lots of Giant Sequoias and call them “big trees” but think of them as Redwoods because you went to Redwood High School

Redwood & Dogwood, 14×11″, pencil, matted and framed, $400