January 2021 – Cabin Art

Learned in January

My friends don’t think of me first as an artist; this means I am not very self-promotional, which can be both a good thing and a not-so-good thing.
Quesadilla Gorilla is not just in Visalia and Three Rivers; it is also in Fresno and Hanford and is raising money to expand by selling bonds. How in the world do people learn how to do this high finance stuff??
Sharpshin hawks are creepy cannibals; one keeps getting other birds right in front of our kitchen window.
Nosocomial means “in hospital”; sometimes illness is spread nosocomial. I hope none of my blog readers ever needs to know this word.
Tucker, my black cat, is a digger. I was burying kitchen waste in the herb garden, so I dug a hole, dumped the stuff in, turned away to rinse out the container, and then when I turned back, Tucker was covering the pile up for me. I actually filmed him doing this, but don’t think it will work on the blog. Besides, there are plenty of cat videos out there on the World Wide Web. (Maybe not one covering up garbage.)
I went 30 days without sugar or sweets. The results: both a sense of accomplishment and one of deprivation.
Horse bangs are called a “forelock”. I wonder why people forelocks are called “bangs” instead of a “forelock”. (A person could bang her head on the wall trying to figure this one out.) In Britain, bangs are called a “fringe”; I learned this back in the days of Princess Diana.
When you have tech troubles, it is helpful to engage in activities that cannot be accomplished with a computer. I had a bad couple of tech trouble days, and was helped immensely by Apple, but still took great comfort in knitting, baking bread, and yardening. Try those things on a computer, you Virtual Digital Techie Robots.
Bears might be able to wear a size 4 in Crocs.

Showing in a good gallery involves many tasks, like gathering a mailing list, completing a contract, providing digital images for publicity, titling and pricing all work, making an inventory list, coming up with a title for the show, and horror of horrors, writing an artist statement.

I have been working on this last one for awhile. You may remember that I despise the pretentious way that artists tend to talk, which I call ArtSpeak, occasionally poking fun at some of the nonsense. (A post about it is here.) So, I wrote up an artist statement and sent it to a dear friend who has helped me with many marketing tasks through the years.

This is not my artist statement but it is what I said to her when requesting her help in editing.

“In reading guidelines for writing an artist statement (just the very term causes my lip to curl up in disgust), I have come up with the following and wondered if you could be Jane Bag-of-Donuts from West Undershirt and see if it reads well, makes sense, and is straightforward enough for Tulare County without insulting the Wanna-be Snobs.”

More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .

If I was a smoker, I’d light up about now, but I think I’ll knit a few rows instead.

A Good Yarn, colored pencil, private collection

Still Here

Last September my exhibition proposal to Arts Visalia was accepted for January of 2022. Lots of time to prepare, lots and lots of time.

Alas. Two weeks ago Arts Visalia asked me if I could be ready this April. After asking many questions and getting good answers, I said yes.

This meant instead of just dabbling, slow-poke style, I have to now shift into Git-‘er-dun mode.

I had 1-1/2 hours of time with nothing to do but think about the show (what else can one do in the dentist chair?)While there, I came up with the title for the show: Still Here.

You can interpret this several ways, all of which work.

I am still here in Tulare County, still making art. Tulare County is still here after all those fires. It is still here, compared to the bustle of a city.

We are unsure as to whether this show will be a virtual one or if people can attend in person.

More will be revealed. . .

Virtual Drawing Lesson 2

C sent me her drawing and a list of questions. Instead of circling new areas on the photo and addressing those, I will attempt to help her with her specific concerns. This is what I would have done if we were sitting together in class, before giving her new instructions.

Her list is in green below.

1. The dark line on the left side of his face is definitely too dark. Not sure why I left that, but I’m guessing I need to use my gum eraser and lighten that up. The white area that is above the eye looks much better on your example from last week, mine is too dark, but I’m not sure how to adjust that or if I need to. Your thoughts?

2. I erased the little swirl in the middle of his forehead because I realized it was not in the correct spot so I will add that back in this week.

3. I have some lines in the forelock that are a bit strange, from erasing, that I need to correct. Other than that, how do you think the forelock looks and what are your suggestions?

4. The mane. I attempted it and feel like it’s starting to look ok, but would it be possible to break the steps down a bit more on that for me? I feel like you gave me step 1 and step 4 but me being me, I need steps 2 and 3 also. Like here’s the squiggly lines (step 1), now here’s an example of the next step, and then the step after that to get to the clumps of dark and light (step 4). I hope that makes sense. 🙂

5. The very bottom of his chest on the left, that I have shaded in, looks a bit strange. The pencil strokes don’t look right. What would you suggest to correct that?

It was much harder this time, because I needed to show her by placing tissue over her drawing and drawing on top so she could see how to correct things. Instead, I had to rely on words.

It is pretty difficult to show steps this way because I have to draw step one, then draw it again and show step two on top and then draw steps one and two again with step three on top of that and then redraw one, two, and three before adding four.

Here are my notes in response. Time will tell whether or not this method of teaching is helpful to C.

Everything is Hard

Brace yourself for a long post with thoughts about life and how it has changed in my 61 years.

Ever noticed how anything you might want to accomplish is hard? All the possible places for things to get hung up, snagged, delayed, misunderstood, broken, unavailable are endless. It is a wonder any of us get anywhere on time, keep ourselves together, keep moving forward. Look at these examples:

A. We need a new water heater and want to switch from electric to propane. My current favorite contractor said that he could do the job. That was in August. The number of obstacles he has encountered since then would just flatten anyone. I kept calling. When we finally connected and set a date, it didn’t happen. I learned that he was waiting on the plumber, whose truck broke down. And who knows how many obstacles that poor guy encountered? Plumber #2 couldn’t get the right brand of water heater, so on and on it goes.

B. Two years ago we switched from Huge & Rude Telephone Company to Spectrum. It took many weeks, many hours on the phone with both companies, and no business telephone for 6 weeks. (In case you are wondering, the internet is great, the teevee selection not as good but the quality of the picture much improved, and the landline okay but it cannot call the cell phone.)

C. A customer requested that I buy Microsoft Word to be better able to help him (I am editing his book). Microsoft’s chat feature didn’t work, and the phone number didn’t reach a real person. I just bought it anyway without getting my concerns addressed, and then I learned that my Mac operating system wouldn’t run it. I had to upgrade my operating system but couldn’t because my computer didn’t have enough available memory. Many calls to Apple (all were quite helpful) eventually said that I had to erase my computer in order to install the new OS. I hoped that the external hard drive where I back up my laptop actually contained the information and wasn’t just a dummy. (Yep, I prayed over that mess.) Now that my system is up to date, neither my scanner nor my printer will work with my computer any more.

These are just a few examples of how complicated our world has gotten. You probably have many examples of your own.

In the olden days these things were true: checks were free from the bank; grocery bags were free at the markets; places that sent a bill would provide an envelope (even stamped, in some cases!); the newspaper kept their opinions to the Opinion Page; everyone was allowed to have a fireplace and a lawn; someone else would put gas in your tank and even wash your windshield; you could walk into an airport, pay for a flight, and board, all within an hour’s time; real people answered the telephone at work and at home; you could actually see people’s faces when out in public.

I am so thankful to be able to just head out to the painting studio, and begin. The only obstacles to getting work done are finding the right reference photos (a large obstacle when doing custom art for people with vague ideas of what they want), the sun too bright or too weak to mix colors correctly, the inability to see my own errors, or Jackson biting my leg because he feels deprived of food. (The neighbor’s barking dog isn’t an obstacle, only a nuisance.)

Let’s just look at a calm photo and try to be thankful for the moments of ease and peace that remain (NO! DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT LISTING ALL THAT THE VIRUS HAS STOLEN!!)

Cabin Painting in Stages

You’ve seen most of these photos before. I am showing them again so you can see them all on the same page in order of progression on this painting. Besides, it will help me to see them all together because then I will know I have actually accomplished something.

A few more details (including the flag and porch railing), painting the edges, signing, and then maybe this will be finished.

Making art people can understand of places and things they love for prices that won’t scare them.

More Dabbling with Sequoias

I’ve gotten some helpful suggestions for dealing with the Sequoia oil painting that doesn’t please me.

First, I added the upper branches. (You’ve seen this.)

Next, I changed the green in the background forest to make it look more distant, and also strengthened the color and contrast in the main tree.

Finally, I added branches of a tree that was in the foreground.

Sometimes I think this painting might be headed for a dumpster.

Dabbling with Sequoias

The big sequoia painting is coming along. I had to rotate it on the easel in order to see the edge of my brush in order to accurately paint an edge. This might qualify as “drawing with my paintbrush”. Yeppers, that’s the way I paint.

These big paintings are S L O W. That’s okay – the show I am preparing for is a year away.

Oh no! The gallery just asked if I could switch from January 2022 to April of this year! I don’t know. I DON’T KNOW!

Virtual Drawing Lesson

Figuring out a way to teach via computer seems like an important skill. I tried it earlier this year using Zoom, but hit a rough spot when it came time for me to demonstrate, or show my work, or see my students’ work, or lay a piece of tissue paper over their drawings to show them how to adjust proportions.

Okay, that was more than “a rough spot”. It just didn’t work past a certain stage.

As long as I have been teaching people how to draw, I have been learning from my students. One of my students had a good idea of how to do this and was willing to try. Let’s call her C, because this is the World Wide Web and I protect the privacy of people.

C scanned her drawing in progress and the photo she is using. I looked over her work, and just as if we were together, I circled various parts on her photo, and then showed her on another piece of paper how to proceed. This is her photo, so there is no copyright problem.

Before I show you her photo, drawing, and my instructions: if you are a bit of an art snob, before you get all bent about how “copying isn’t real art”, let me remind you that I am a drawing teacher. I help people learn how to put on paper what they really see, not what they think they see. This is the basis for good art. You have to learn how to see first.

Whooo-eee, that is some sloppy handwriting! I’m sorry, C, and will work harder to write more neatly next time. Plus, I made a writo – a typo in handwriting – “hit” instead of “hint”.

If we were together, I’d circle through the other students in the class, helping them in whatever way they needed, and then get back to C to learn if my suggestions were helpful to her, if she needed me to rephrase or clarify something, or if she was ready for more instruction.

This could be fun!

P.S. Do horses have “bangs”?

Slow-poke Cabin

“Slow-poke” is a weird old word that probably has a good story behind it. This cabin isn’t a slow cabin; the painting of it is slow. Wait, no, the painter is slow. No, not slow–the painter is painting slowly.

Good Grief Charlie Brown.

I added shutters to the windows and door, changed the color of the cabin, began the dreaded lattice, added some dirt, tightened up the steps, began detailing the windows, changed the skyline and the forest in the background, and then needed to go have a smoke.

JUST KIDDING! I’ve never smoked anything in my entire life.

Isn’t it peculiar how the colors differ so greatly in different times of the day? When the painting is finished and dry (at this rate in another several months, GGCB), the scan should show the truest colors.

Using pencil, oil paint and murals, I make art you can understand of places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.

(But sometimes the process might scare you.)