Last Pencil Commission

This is the last drawing I did with a pre-Christmas deadline. It is a Mineral King cabin, and no, I will not publish the name as this is the World Wide Web and I respect people’s privacy.

It was a joy to draw a cabin that I am familiar with, one that I was able to take all the necessary photos instead of just working with one or two provided photos that were missing a lot of detail.

See these photos? I found them all helpful and necessary. This is my favorite kind of commission, but as you have seen on my blog over the past couple of months, I say yes to many challenging custom art jobs.

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

We Took a Walk in Three Rivers

Glory, hallelujah, I love what passes for winter here in Three Rivers.

We were not alone.

This is not a Big Foot print; it is a big foot with big toes and claws. 

Green has begun, and the sycamore leaves are still present. 

Say what?? There was another pile of brush with a less fancy sign that also said Quail Hotel. There is a No Vacancy sign lying at the base of the sign. These look like fires waiting to be lit to this wildfire-conscious Three Rivers resident.

We meandered to a point to see if my mural was visible. Yes, it was, sort of. You had to know where to look. Can you make it out?

Keep coming, rain and snow, because I love the green. (Yes, I know the hills are still brown, but if you squint real hard, you can pick out some baby grasses.)

 

New Big Oil Painting

When I started oil painting on March 8, 2006, I first drew out the painting in pencil on the canvas. Now I simply scribble with a paintbrush. One thing I do that is similar to drawing is to turn the canvas upside down. 

What is this mess?

It is Crescent Meadow in Sequoia National Park on a large (for me) 18×36″ canvas.

This is one more large oil painting toward the show that is coming at a Visalia gallery in January 2022. 

With each painting, I eventually. . .

. . . make art people understand about places and things they love for prices that won’t scare them.

Reluctant Portrait

About 20 years ago I decided to learn how to draw people that can be recognized. This was a business decision: I have a love for architecture, not faces. It was very difficult, but I did quite a few portraits.

Later, I decided that portraits are best left to those who don’t have to sweat bullets in capturing likenesses.

This fall, a portrait came back to haunt me. A man I don’t know emailed me to say I had drawn his dad, and now would I draw his mom.

The request came during a lull in custom jobs, and against my better judgement while ignoring my lack of expertise in this area, I said yes.

He sent me this photo of the drawing of his dad. 

He also sent me several somewhat blurry photos of his mom with a request to put her next to her beloved carved bear. I know this fine lady, and was determined to do a good job. Several of my drawing students also know her, so without telling them who it was, I took the drawing to lessons and showed them.

What a thrill when they said, “That’s [Her Name]!!” (This is the World Wide Web, so I am not publishing the name of the subject.)

Now, I am returning to my policy of no portraits. My students said, “The plaid blouse must have been difficult”. It was easier than her face.

I haven’t heard back, and I hope the family was pleased (and doesn’t have any more members to be pencilized.)

Ride ’em, Cowboys

Now that the commissions are almost all finished, I can return to some of the larger paintings that I began last summer. I have an exhibition coming in January 2022. This will be the first time for me in a gallery for quite awhile, so I want to have some real knock-your-socks-off paintings for the show. 

Remember the cowboy painting back in October? (Probably not – why would you?)

It got this far and then the commissions started coming in.

Saddle up, Cowgirl! (The light is so different at different times of day, different times of the year, different methods of photography.)

These guys, their horses and the dog are quite challenging with nothing but blurry photos. I should be used to this by now.

The cowboys are looking better but someone probably needs to call a veterinarian for that poor canine. 

Better now. Jackson is certainly curious. (That is his pink nose in the sunshine behind the painting.)The edges need paint, and it needs a signature, but I will let it dry and think about it for awhile yet before deciding if it is truly completed.

 

Sanctioned Graffiti

A friend in Three Rivers has a rock in her front yard (well duh, most people in Three Rivers have rocks in their front yards) and for a few years, she has wanted some words painted on the rock. She mentioned it to me and I said, “I can do that!” 

After she explained her idea, I spent time messing around with typestyles, looking for something I could imitate. After experimenting awhile, I realized the only choice was Papyrus, the type that graphic designers love to hate. I love it. What do you expect from an unsophisticated, marginally educated, DBO* from Tulare County?? It was the best choice because it has ragged looking edges, and I was painting on a ragged rough surface.

I forgot to bring my chalk to mark the borders, but was able to scratch in the lines with a rock, then put a first layer down to see if I could control the paint and a brush. 

Yeppers. I can do this. A new brush helped.

Layer layer layer. Watch out for drips.

 Remember to step back and see if it is readable.

My friend wanted it subtle, and liked the light color. I asked if I could add shadows, she was good with that, and we both liked the results.

Voila! Sanctioned graffiti (or sanctified graffiti?) My friend said, “Tell your people that I am thrilled, filled with happiness and joy over this!” I said, “We are ending this year proclaiming the truth.” She said, “Amen”, and we were both quite satisfied.

*Ditch-bank-Okie is supposed to be a pejorative term, but I view it as a compliment.

11 Things I Learned in December and some jibber-jabber

Happy 2021!

Yeah, yeah, I know about 2020. No complaining here, and no unprecedented overusage of the word “unprecedented”. Just keeping on keeping on. Steady, sort of predictable, finding the good things in life about being a full time artist in Central California, AKA “flyover country” in the Golden State. (We feed the world, and don’t let anyone forget it.) 

  1. Have you heard of a “Covid fee”?? I ordered some photographic prints from Shutterfly and there was a “covid fee” added to my order. What in the world for??
  2. Drying persimmons the hoshigaki method is so bizarre but the best dried fruit I’ve ever eaten in my life. A friend is trying this method and sent me this photo. She also sent a photo of some finished ones, but they look rather alarming. I want to try this next year!
  3. Rosemary and Thyme is a lovely thriving gift/clothing/home goods store in downtown Exeter where my studio was for 4 exciting years. The owner is one of the most creative, original and innovative people I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, and her store is now becoming an online shop. If you like cool stuff, beautiful stuff, good stuff, for yourself or for others, this is the local place to support.
  4. Maeve Binchy really is my favorite novelist. I’ve loved her writing since the 1980s, and with the current difficulties of getting library books, I started rereading her books. She is the only author whose books I automatically bought and kept. (I used to buy Sue Grafton’s books but decided I wasn’t going to reread them so sent them on to unknown bookshelves; also used to buy Barbara Kingsolver’s books but hit a few I didn’t like so that was the end of that.)
  5. There is so much confusion and conflict in trying to discern truth these days. I heard from several sources that there are 21 cases of The Wuhan in our little town and one person has died of it. The truth is that there have been 21 known cases since the thing started and the person who died (a friend and former drawing student), died from heart failure after a surgery that didn’t turn out well for her.
  6. Using “www” before your web address is so last year.
  7. People aspire to riches in order to avoid ugliness.
  8. Ring picking is something I never have heard of. It is a method of picking citrus to a particular size, using a metal ring to measure each piece as you pick. How could I never have heard of this before??
  9. This isn’t anything I’ve learned but maybe something for you to learn about me. I enjoy doing yardwork and occasionally assist a friend with some of her vacation rentals. Sometimes I just can’t resist using the prunings to make a wreath.
  10. This isn’t new information either, but Pippin is just too cute to not keep taking pictures of him.

  11. And final piece of irrelevant jibber-jabber: Persimmons are so beautiful. They taste good when dried the traditional way. (No thanks, I don’t like persimmon cookies.)

Remember, I make art that you can understand of places and things you love at prices that won’t scare you.

Oops. I think I let Pippin into the house.

Cabin Commission in Oil

I met a cabin owner who was interested in a drawing of his cabin. The cabin was closed for the season, which meant the flag wasn’t out, and the shutters were closed over the windows. I took an entire roll of film (JUST KIDDING – I’m not that old fashioned!) and then did this sketch to see if everything important to the cabin owner was included.

His wife asked if I could do the drawing in colored pencil. No, I cannot. Well, I could, but it would take months, and then I might need carpal tunnel surgery. 

So, we decided that an oil painting is the answer. These are really nice people, and they are not in a hurry. That’s good, because I want to do a great job on this, and I have the photos to work from. (Never mind that it was smoky smoky smoky when I took them.)

The proportions aren’t right. I let this dry (for 3 weeks!) while I worked on the jobs with deadlines. Then, I got serious.

This still looks rough. The windows are in place, but will look different when I open the shutters. This stage is still the early layering, getting the canvas covered, the placements and proportions correct.

After another layer or two, I’ll begin the fun phase of “drawing with my paintbrush”. I’m 61 years old and I can paint however I want (as long as the customer likes the results).

P.S. Because this is the World Wide Web, I am not showing the photos in order to protect the cabin owners’ privacy.

Big Sigh of Relief

After finishing the commissions with tight deadlines, I went back to the ones without a timeframe. 

First, the most difficult one, the Hard House. 

It needed some tightening up, and 2 baskets of fuchsias. But I decided it needed something more. There had been a birch tree in the front yard, but I didn’t want it to cover the gable end. So, branches coming from the left seemed to be the right approach.

The photo had a palm tree in the distance, and that seemed to be a helpful addition to all the empty sky on the right.

The edges are painted, it is signed, and now it needs to dry for awhile. It is too big for my scanner, so when it is dry, I’ll carry it out into the sunshine for a proper photograph.

Big deep sigh of relief.

Now, will I learn to turn down jobs with inadequate photos?

Probably not. Challenges are how one can increase in skill, and I like the idea of getting paid for the practice.

Turns out the sigh of relief was premature. To be continued as I bumble along in order to keep. . .

. . .making art people understand of places and things they love at prices that won’t scare them.

 

 

Christmas Cabin Surprise

A friend asked me to draw this cabin, another one that didn’t survive the wildfires. Her photos were fairly inadequate, but my confidence in making up things is growing. This is due to experience, both with cabins, and knowing that most people don’t observe detail to the degree that I do when drawing.

The front door of a place is the most important feature, and this one is hidden by the dual trees. I asked my friend if I could remove those trees and if she could describe the front door. She said yes to both.

When custom art jobs are tricky, meaning when there aren’t adequate photos, a sketch is often helpful.  This one has an unusual roof shape on the left gable end, and a surprisingly wide chimney, along with steps that were hidden behind the tree that I removed.

The sketch was approved, so I did the drawing.