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.

Facelift, Figuratively Speaking.

The heat backed off a little and two places that sell my work requested more. 

I started with the river painting do-over. It sat on an easel with its buddy non-selling river painting. . .and got a facelift. . .…but we will wait until the bruising subsides and the stitches get removed.

I mean we will wait until it is dry enough to be scanned before doing an actual comparison.

Nearing the End of the Season

This will be a long post.

The end of the season in Mineral King is approaching quickly. We had a weekend of preliminary closing tasks, interspersed with walks to appreciate the clear air and fall colors.

Hanging around

First, we closed a neighboring cabin and had our usual debate about which water bottles might freeze, split, and leak during spring thaw. We ended up putting several in a washbasin inside so we can finally learn and stop wondering.

Then I split some kindling, after which I split the piece of wood I was using as a chopping block booster. However, the real chopping block split in the process.

Trail Guy came to the rescue with another chopping block, which I had to try.

Heading out

I know, you came here for fall colors, and instead, you read the mundane details of cabin life. We headed out the next morning to see the sights, and ran into people we know over and over, so got a very late start.

We were finally on the trail toward Aspen Flat when we encountered 3 women, 2 that we know. One of them was wearing a pack on her back and one on her front. Oh-oh, someone needed help. Trail Guy stepped up to the task, and we all turned back. The idea was to be out and about, not that we had an important destination.

Changing directions

Next, we headed down the road and up the Nature Trail, just like the previous weekend.

Steak, anyone? This rock is along the road, one I noticed a few years ago and then couldn’t find until recently. What a thrilling discovery. (Yes, I know, easily thrilled here.)

We had a friend with plans to climb Sawtooth that morning, so Trail Guy and The Farmer kept pulling out their binoculars.

We trudged onward, with Hiking Buddy and I commenting that we were fine with just a walk rather than a hike. The colors are decent, but there have been much brighter falls. It’s the contrast to two autumns with smoke and fire that make this year seem spectacular.

Where is that Sawtooth Soldier?

(Sharon, this shot of Iron Falls is for you.)

And another direction

This is the view next to the Honeymoon Cabin.

The Spring Creek bridge has been removed for the season.


This is the view up toward Aspen Flat. The brightest trees on the left are the section I call The Yellow Tunnel. The more distant trees on the right are not quite yet yellow: that’s what we call Aspen Flat. We didn’t make it there. Maybe next week.

Even heading down the road was nice because it wasn’t in the 100s or even the 90s for much of the drive. This is the final view of Sawtooth (very distant – just squint at this photo) on a day with clear air.

P.S. About 6 potholes got patched on the road. That leaves about 600 more.

 

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Sometimes when a painting has been hanging around for awhile, I have to ask myself a question that is hard to answer: What is wrong with this picture?

This painting has been hanging around too long. It is the North Fork of the Kaweah River in Three Rivers, looking downstream from what used to be known (maybe still is) as The Airport Bridge with Blossom Peak(s) in the distance.

This is what might be wrong:

  1. Blossom Peak(s) in the distance need to be more separate from the trees in front of them.
  2. The main rock needs to be blurrier where it contacts the water.
  3. The sky looks murky.

Stay tuned to see if those changes fix the painting. 

And a Final List in a Week of Lists

List Lady, that’s me. They help me think and prioritize. (I like charts too… doesn’t everyone?)

This list is all the things that I can do instead of making lists when this very busy week is in my rearview mirror (figuratively speaking).

  1. Fix the oil painting of the North Fork of the Kaweah River with Blossom Peak(s) in the distance.
  2. Paint a new oil painting of pumpkins, titled “Unspiced #2” as a replacement for the painting “Unspiced” which I feel confident will sell. (Yeah, yeah, I know, I told you this already.)
  3. Paint out another river picture that has been hanging around too long. I believe this one is still here because very few of the visitors to Three Rivers and Kaweah Arts recognize this view of the river. (It’s not because the boulders sort of resemble potatoes, but thank you for your thoughtful input.) I plan to use the canvas for another Sequoia tree painting, because that is what the bulk of the passers-through our area want to see.
  4. Paint a few more Sequoia trees for Kaweah Arts.
  5. Design and bid 2 more murals, this time for a new building in Visalia called The Loft or The Artist Loft or Loft for Artists. (Notice how the word “loft” ceases to sound correct after a bit of repetition?) That bid proposal has a deadline of December 11, but I have a few very strong ideas and have to figure out if I need to paint the scenes to scale for my submissions or if I should use existing paintings that are somewhat proportionally correct.
  6. Relearn how to write blog posts without resorting to lazy listicles.

Making Another List

 

While figuratively twiddling my thumbs and waiting for responses, I took advantage of the empty schedule to do some necessary tasks. These sorts of things don’t normally come to mind when people think about an artist’s work.

  1. Finished bookkeeping to file my sales tax report. (no photo for that boring task)
  2. Took inventory of notecards to see which ones to order next time the printer has a sale. Should I reorder this one, which I love but doesn’t sell very well? 
  3. Checked on sales and inventory at Kaweah Arts and resupplied them with cards.
  4. Asked Trail Guy to repair my flat files and then reorganized the contents. (They don’t show in this photo and my walls are currently almost empty, unlike this deceptive photo of abundant paintings.)
  5. Finished the design and ordered the 2023 calendars. (Hold your camels because I’m not ready to show you yet!)
  6. Asked Trail Guy to oil the shingles on my studio that are looking tired from the sprinklers, and he did it – thank you, TG! (This photo was taken last year.)
  7. Updated my inventory lists for the places that sell my work on consignment.
  8. Worked on the 30,000 photos in my computer, getting the drawings from The Cabins of Wilsonia separated into their own folder. (280 drawings, all requiring lots of boring computer work to get into order). The book is now $40, such a deal.

And thus we conclude another lazy listicle of another day in the life of your Central California artist who would rather be…

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

Waiting. . . and Making Lists

Today is a peek into the life of a professional artist. A working artist. A self-employed artist. A rogue, solo, maverick artist. Something.

So many jobs on hold. Time for a listicle:

  1. Finished a commissioned drawing but the customer isn’t ready for it.
  2. Framed a drawing requested by a business to use in a display, but the proprietor hasn’t told me when she’ll be there to receive it.*
  3. Been chosen to supply art for a new office building but the Committee hasn’t made its decisions yet.
  4. Been asked to paint a mural but the Asker hasn’t returned my calls.
  5. Sketched a few ideas for that mural but since the Asker hasn’t told me the budget, I don’t know how big to make the mural.
  6. Designed and bid 3 murals for a large project and waiting to hear if my ideas and prices are acceptable.
  7. Ready to paint a replacement in anticipation of selling something from Falling into Winter at Exeter’s Art Gallery and Museum (formerly known as The Courthouse Gallery). I’m certain this one will sell. (6×12″, Unspiced, $125)

*UPDATE: THE DRAWING OF THE GATEWAY BRIDGE IS NOW ON DISPLAY AT THE THREE RIVERS HISTORICAL MUSEUM.

Mural News

The Visalia Times-Delta has an article in the Saturday edition about the Mooney Grove murals. This is the link.  Maybe it works without a subscription. You’ll have to try it. (Thank you, J.C. for letting me know!)

 

More Fall in Mineral King

It was clear by the colors that fall has arrived in Mineral King. We missed fall the past two years because of fires, so this year we are soaking it in. 

This is more of our walk down the road and back up the Nature Trail last Saturday.

The next day we took a walk up the valley to Crystal Creek, where we took in more of the bright colors of fall, a real gift after the smoke of the past two falls.

The Sierra Gentian at Crystal Creek from last week were now fully opened.

But that looks a bit too summery for a post about fall, so let’s conclude with this bright little leaf, whose name I do not know. (Want to name him? How about Rufus?)