The first painting that I sold at Kaweah Arts was a 6×18″ oil of a Sequoia tree. Immediately I painted another.
My mama didn’t raise a dummy. This time when the big tree sells, I will have another one ready for delivery to Kaweah Arts. Call me “Butter” because I am on a roll!
Don’t be scared. It will turn out just fine. They always do, except when they don’t, and then I repaint them into something else.
The 6×18″ oil painting of a giant Sequoia, AKA Big Tree, sold at Kaweah Arts, an art consignment shop. When Nancy, the proprietor, let me know, I asked if it was bought by a friend or relative who felt sorry for me. She said that it went home to Wisconsin with a woman who always buys art to commemorate her travels.
Alrightythen! Looks like a winner of a subject for this store, so I’d better get cracking on another one.
I chose the photo with a more extreme angle of peering upward into the tree, but then just started making up things. After painting too many redwood trees to count, I feel fairly confident just winging it.*
It isn’t finished. More sky should be showing among the upper foliage, the ground is not right, the grasses along the bottom are too even, and the tree itself needs more detail and contrast.
*Apparently this rogue knitter and rogue baker is becoming a rogue oil painter too.
People ask if it is “cheating” to measure or to use tools when drawing. In a word, NO. If I am drawing something that needs to be exact, I measure. Usually I do it by hand first, then I measure to be certain that my proportions, sizes, distances, and angles are accurate (or close enough to be believable). The “rule” (in quotes, because I am making my own rules) is that if it took a tool to build it in real life, it most likely requires a tool on paper to replicate it.
The big old house’s details are becoming clearer to me now that I have more photos. More erasing, more do-overs (YEA for pencil), and still more decisions remain. Oranges? Walnuts? Nothing in the upper left corner?
The new photos helped immensely.
The wooden thing by the front steps that showed up in yesterday’s post as a question is irrelevant.
The front door and the windows with their diamond upper panes are now correct in both proportions and detail.
Seeing it here on my computer screen helps me evaluate it, and I plan to plant another shrub in the front. This is where Jane’s grandmother lived many years ago, so it isn’t necessary to match every detail as it is today, only to make it look good.
We decided that a flag would be a nice addition, and it will be the spot of color that I dearly love to put in each drawing, when there is an obvious place for it. (The faded silk poinsettias at the bottom of the steps were not welcome in this drawing, although that would have been an obvious spot for color.)
Another day at the drawing table, and only 2 photos in progress. Watching this part is a little like watching paint dry, or watching grass grow.
Because of pruning back the shrubs on the left, I needed more photos to show what is behind them. The shrubs on the right are also being pruned in the drawing, so more photos of that side of the house will help fill in some blanks. The very tall valley oak tree on the right is a bit of a mystery too, as is the mass of confusing growth behind it. I can’t figure out the detail on the front door, and the shapes of the windows are confounding me.
A field trip is in order for more photos. Let’s go!
Good thing Jane isn’t in a big hurry for this drawing.
WELCOME BACK TO FRIDAYS ARE FOR MINERAL KING!
Memorial Day weekend is the traditional weekend that Mineral King opens up – gates, campgrounds (only Cold Springs this year), cabins.
up the trail) with my neighbor. We saw a shrub that has always seemed sort of like a currant – turns out it is a Sierra Currant, rather than the Wax Currant that is more common in our neck of the woods.
We also saw yellow violets (called Mountain Violets)
and regular violets (called Violets in my book Mineral King Wildflowers)
After finishing the 3 small custom pencil drawings of 3 small houses from 3 small photos, my confidence returned to begin the big custom drawing of the big old country house, working from about a dozen big photos, enlarged on my laptop screen in order to see the details clearly, drawing while looking under my big magnifying glass.
Big job. Good thing I love to draw.
These photos represent 2 days of working on the picture.
You can see in the last photo that I pruned the bushes back on the left in order to show more of the structure. It was a little tricky to figure out the size and placement of the window on that segment of newly exposed wall. Working from multiple photos is full of challenges, because I leave behind the security of being able to measure directly from a photo. Instead, I look at one that shows a particular item, put it in the drawing, and realize that I don’t know where it truly belongs in relation to the things that don’t appear in the photo where I got it.
See? Can’t even explain it simply. Guess you’d have to be there.
The goal is believability AND with a piece of custom art, recognizability.
After posting about Seven Big Tree Oil Paintings, it seemed like a good idea to figure out when I painted which one so I could see them in order and decide if I am improving or going the other direction. So, here they are in order.
Interesting – I think the 2 best are the first and the last. So much depends on the quality of the photo, and I don’t have very many to choose from that show the entire tree. But there is also the color variance from photo to photo and tree to tree. As I gain confidence, which happens with experience, I am able to just figure out what colors please me rather than feeling bound to the photo.
If you want a tree like this, the size is 6×18″, the price $165 (plus tax if you live in California). Of course there are larger canvas sizes available (smaller too, but those are for younger eyes and fingers more agile than mine at manipulating paintbrushes). Remember,
(I hope $165 isn’t scary).
Success breeds success. After finishing the two custom pencil drawings, it seemed easy to just finish the third.
Yeppers. Still procrastinating on the giant pencil commission of the big old country house. Productively procrastinating, because I really do like to finish things.
I started out taking photos so I could show you the steps, but then I got so involved that I forgot to stop and take more pictures.
It would have been easier if the tree in the foreground was pruned before the photographer took the shot, but alas, no one was thinking about the fact that someday, some pencil artist might want to know what was behind the branch. I decided it must have been hiding a dormer window.
There are quite a few erasing tools showing up in those 2 progress photos. I used to think that erasing meant I was just an incompetent artist; eventually I have learned to accept it as part of drawing.
Nothing left to procrastinate with, so it is time to become involved with the giant pencil drawing of the big old country house.