Recess for Oil Paintings

Those large oil paintings were looking so good that I carried them out into the sunshine for a little recess. 

After recess, I made a few additions and changes in spite of having signed them. They will need another recess for yet another photography session. 

This one was too wet to carry outside. It is also unfinished and unsigned.

Now it is a little better. This one requires copious amounts of studying and thinking.

(Sorry, no hopscotch or tetherball at recess, although Tucker may have considered playing tag at one point.)

 

Peculiar Sights

Strange and vaguely interesting although peculiar sights have crossed my path lately.  Before I show you these, there is some confusion about “site” versus “sight”. A site is a place; a sight is something to see. I saw these things, so they are sights, at various sites.

Hey Central California artist, will you just land that plane already?

Yeah, no. 

Have you noticed how many people use this absurd expression? Now that I have alerted you, you will hear that the airwaves are filthy with this strange verbal juxtaposition.

Are you going to show us or not??

Just having fun in February, my first favorite month.

February Distractions

February is my favorite month. Wait – it is my First Favorite. I also love March and April. In February we can get brilliant sun or cold storms, the green shows up, wildflowers begin, and fruit trees pop into bloom in orchards down the hill. I would like February to have 31 days and August to only have 28. (Just 14 would be fine too.)

February brings distractions.

I’ve been weeding baby poppies, hoping to give them a chance to go bonkers this spring.

A friend requested some help laying artificial turf at one of the vacation rentals that she manages. (This house)

Then a friend let me come by to pick some Mello Gold (super sweet grapefruit looking citrus), I had a package to mail, and a book was FINALLY ready for me at the library. My vacation rental manager friend and I have plans to make some stepping stones for one of her yards, another place needs some ferocious weeding, Trail Guy and I like to take walks, several friends like to come to Three Rivers to go “hiking” with me (they call it that but I don’t take a pack with water or food so it is just a walk), and I have a big knitting project on the needles.

Maybe February needs to be 40 days long.

Dithering Over Decisions

Still Here, my upcoming exhibition for the month of April has me dithering about how much is enough, how to prioritize the work ahead, and wishing for the umpteenth time that I had a functional and accurate crystal ball.

When Arts Visalia asked me if I’d move from January 2022 to April 2021, I decided that I would finish 4 of the 5 paintings in progress and not try to add anything else. The fifth could just wait for another opportunity.

This might be finished now.

Because I am painting larger than normal for me, I am not able to guess how long a painting will take to finish. The ones on the easels seemed almost impossibly far from completion. Then suddenly 3 of the 4 looked ready to sign. So, I pulled out #5, because it will be a nice addition.

Maybe there is time to finish this one.

 

Incrementally closer to completion with each painting session.

Meanwhile, I went through my framed pencil drawings and decided a bit more variety will be good. So, I delivered 3 more drawings to my framer with the usual instructions of “Make them look good and call me when they are ready.” I believe in hiring the best people for the job and then just getting out of their way.

I wonder if Arts Visalia will rethink the decision to hang my work in Gallery 2 and move me into the Main Gallery. I could fill it up. My work could fill both galleries. HEY, ARTS VISALIA, DO YOU READ MY BLOG?

Probably not. Guess I’ll head back to the easels.

Virtual Drawing Lesson 5

Virtual Drawing Student C finished her drawing of the horse, Rocky. She sent me a new photo that I named Mr. Curly, and I have instructed her how to begin.
About starting Mr. Curly:
1. First step is always to decide how big and where on your paper that Mr. Curly will go.
2. Remember to draw a border so that you don’t view the edge of the paper as the edge of your drawing. Margins are necessary for many reasons.
3. Do you have tissue paper so you can trace the main shapes? The purpose of this is to simplify the image in order to get the bare bones laid out on your new paper.
4. If you don’t have tissue paper, you can skip that step. It is a little harder to see the main shapes with all those colors and textures than if you are looking at just an outline on tissue.
5. Remember to look at the drawing (and the tracing or the photo) upside down, sideways, other sideways, and then finally right side up. 
6. Go slowly, draw light, and don’t stop until all the shapes look perfect. Okay, you can stop if you need a break or feel stuck, but don’t begin shading until you have all the outlines down. Remember to draw the dog before you draw the fleas.
7. After it looks perfect, scan and send it to me so I can see if there are any problems with the proportions.
 
P.S. Maybe Mr. Shaggy or just Shaggy would be a more appropriate name. Or how about Lurch?

Virtual Drawing Lesson Thoughts

In working with my drawing student C via email, we discussed the fact that the drawing of her horse Rocky got finished in record time for her. She is such a good thinker and clear communicator that I decided to share what we discussed. These are her conclusions about finishing quickly and my thoughts.
C’s drawing table is where she can work any time she passes by without having to set things up.
It is so helpful to have an art project be accessible so it isn’t a project unto itself just to set up. 
C felt dependent on my help when in class and a little intimidated to just dive on in.
I need to find a way to encourage my students to be more independent so they don’t wait for me to tell them each step; at the same time, I understand why they wait for instruction, because who wants to erase?? 
C felt a little intimidated about being with people who are more advanced than she is.
It takes awhile for people to realize that their classmates are super encouraging and that all of us started at the beginning, not suddenly arrived as accomplished artists. I sometimes purposely bring something ugly and early to show my students so they won’t feel embarrassed by their own early origins. My students all make better first drawings than I drew AFTER I started accepting commissions. 
C had confidence drawing horses, a subject that she has painted several times.
She is right about having more confidence when drawing a familiar subject. I often remind my students to pick something they love, because they will be staring at it for L O N G time.
 
I love that my drawing students become friends, love listening to them all get to know each other, love learning from them on a variety of topics. Sometimes I wonder if it would be more efficient to ask everyone to stop talking and focus. Then I remember being in a colored pencil workshop when the very unpleasant instructor shouted, “QUIET! NO TALKING!” and I never want to do that. So, we’ll just keep on as things are, and I will continue looking for ways to encourage independence.

Sunny Afternoon

Sometimes, I just take time off. In spite of the upcoming art show Still Here rescheduled from January 2022 to April 2021, it was too clear and beautiful to just stay indoors to work one afternoon last week.

Trail Guy and I headed to Lake Kaweah on the lower end of Three Rivers or the upper end of Lemon Cove, which is still very low and not very green. However, it is spacious, outdoors, and not crowded. Sometimes I engage in the pointless mental exercise of trying to decide if it is an ugly beauty or a beautiful ugliness down there. 

Across the river there were 3 cowboys on horseback with a dog, all trying to convince a big black bull to get out of the river and go back to his home on the range. I was slow on the shutter so you’ll have to take my word for the bull.

This is Slick Rock. 

Mustard in bloom and cockleburs up close; Alta Peak in the distance with new snow.

We often find a peculiar sight or two on the lake bottom.

What? Let’s look a little more closely.

PVC pipes, with holes in them, spray painted with brown and green, with a concrete weight on the bottom. I give up.

If we could tip this upright, you could see it is some sort of a pedestal. There used to be homes and a motel down here, so there are all sorts of leftovers from that era.

Enough! Back to work, Central California Artist.

A Torrent of Words about Freebies

WARNING – this is a long post.

An old family friend (which means our parents were friends but he and I didn’t know each other very well) invited me to design a cover for a publication for the college where he is a professor. This is our emailed conversation (and I corrected a few grammatical errors so it isn’t verbatim-you are welcome, Professor Friend):

“I have enjoyed the CABINS OF WILSONIA book.
 
I would also like to know if you might be interested in doing the cover for the next issue of [unnamed university] JOURNAL.
 
I have edited this journal since 2006.  It is published annually by [unnamed university] and is thematic, including a mix of scholarly articles, literary pieces; artwork and personal reflection — all peer-reviewed.
 
You can view back issues at:
[oops, he gave an email address here instead of a website link]
 
For each issue, I have asked local artists to do the cover with original art.
 
The theme for the 2021 issue is EARTH, AIR and WATER. 
 
If you are interested, I would need something by mid-July.”
 
I responded:
“I’m glad to know you have enjoyed my book–thank you! If a picture is worth a thousand words, that book is about 265,000 words.
 
I’m interested in doing the cover – thank you for liking my work enough to ask.
 
Here are some questions:
1. Do I email someone at the address you put in your email in order to see back issues?
 
2. Is this a competition?
 
3. What is the image size needed? For publications, I make art to the right proportions, but larger because it all looks better reduced.
 
4. Is this a freebie?
 
5. Do I submit a sketch for approval before beginning?
 
I’ll probably have more questions. I almost always do.”
 
He replied:
“Your artwork is invited so there would be no competition. On occasion cover art contributors have provided more than one creation. Our editors do sign off on all of this but it is not peer reviewed like articles submitted. 
 
I think that [accidental email address] is accessible to anyone even though we typically publish 250 hard copies for subscribers, etc. 
 
It is true that the cover art created is a “freebie”, the only consolation being that your work will be publicized in a different way.
 
With reference to size, our hard copies are 6 by 9 inches.”
 
I wrote back:
“The link you sent does not take me to a website; instead, it opens up a new email message box.
 
In the many years of earning a living with my art, the promise of exposure has yet to generate any income-producing work. So, instead of creating something new, I will send you work that I already have. I have accumulated a large body of work and am happy to share with friends and often with strangers. 
 
If you have any specific ideas in mind, let me know; it will help me narrow the selection for you. I’m guessing you lean more toward rivers than the ocean (water) and mountains rather than farming (earth). (We can forget about air because my work is far too literal for that one!)
 
The size of 6×9” doesn’t tell me if it is horizontal or vertical, but I imagine you have a graphic artist who can adapt the design of the cover to the direction of the art.”
 
Look how much time it takes just to clarify what is being requested for a freebie. University professors may know a truckload about their particular subject, but sometimes get handed tasks for which their degrees have not prepared them. I am enjoying our correspondence and do feel privileged to have been asked.
 
More will be revealed in the fullness of time.

Real Mail

Back in the olden days, people bought things from me in person and wrote personal checks. I collected addresses from these transactions and built a mailing list of 1000 names. Whenever I had a big event, I would get postcards printed and then hand address all 1000. Yeppers, by hand.

Kaweah Post Office #4, pencil and colored pencil, unframed, 11×14″, $275

Printing and postage costs became prohibitive, and big events became fewer, winding down to a big fat nothing last year.

For April’s show Still Here, Arts Visalia will have postcards printed and mailed. This means I have to provide a mailing list, so I pulled out my address files.

It was sobering to see the number of people who have died, moved, and divorced. It was also quite astonishing to realize that many were simply names and addresses, with no memory of how we met or what they bought. 

My list is now about 250 names, all of whom I can identify. If you would like to receive a real paper postcard with a real stamp in your real mailbox, use the Contact button on my website or email me (spelled out here to confound the robots) cabinart at cabinart dot net. The gallery has promised to not use the addresses unless someone requests to be added to their list.

Virtual Drawing Lesson 4

C sent me her drawing with a list of 5 questions. This time I was more orderly, instead of making little patches of topics all over the paper. She only had one area that I needed to demonstrate, but I handwrote the entire sheet of instructions anyway. Then I realized that no one else would want to read all that scribbling.

Here is her drawing:

And here is a more concise list of instructions.

  1. There are a couple of scratches on the drawing. These can be fixed with a super sharp 2H or lighter pencil, working under a magnifying glass. (Yes, it is difficult – I can do this, and you may address me as “Dr. Pencil”.)
  2. Her decision to make the horse’s upper lip look more like reality than the photo was a good decision. (You may address me as “The Mayor of Realville”).
  3. She circled an area of the chest and said it didn’t look right to her. I told her it is because the strokes are too long, and I demonstrated those, scanned them, and emailed the scan. 
  4. When I spray-fix my drawings, I use Blair Matte Spray Fixative to keep my drawings from smearing. Beware: it alters the colors of some colored pencils (had a terrible spray fix accident once, still scarred), and I always try a little squirt first to make sure the nozzle isn’t clogged. 
  5. The best paper for my style of drawing is Strathmore (brand) Bristol (weight) Smooth (surface) 400 Series (quality).

I provide most of the paper to my drawing students in person. There are many things that are better about taking drawing lessons in person, but we are doing the best we can with this. I think C is doing a great job in communicating clearly, working on her own, and encouraging her reluctant instructor to push through her annoyance with technology.