Not me. I’m never moving again, being deeply traumatized by leaving Lemon Cove and moving 14 miles east to Three Rivers almost 22 years ago.
A friend of a friend is leaving California. My friend would like to give her friend a little something as a token of our native state. Her idea was perfect – a 2×2″ painting of a poppy, the state flower.
Back when I thought I was ordering a dozen 2×2″ canvases to give them a try, I ordered a dozen packages of 10 each. It has taken awhile, but they are now all used up.
I was relieved to find a poinsettia which could be converted to a poppy.
It needs to dry, then it can sit on a cute little easel for the friend of a friend who is leaving California.
I think she deserves a medal of bravery for making such a huge change.
Until a customer is happy, I don’t consider commissioned art work to be finished. However, I took a chance on this painting and signed it before the customer replied.
A lifelong friend helped me work out the finishing touches of this painting. We sat together with the latest photo of the painting, using her suggestions and my Photoshop (Junior version) skills to try some things. We were both very pleased. Look at this “map” we created; every place we made a change, I put in an arrow so I could follow it later. (Be ye not dismayed – this is a photo with blue arrows, not blue arrows on the actual painting.)
I set up my laptop by the easel and began. It is very incremental, and you may not be able to discern the changes. Just be polite, ‘K?
Basically, I added shadows to some lemons, added darker ones hidden in the leaves, and then took some of the hard clean edges off the furrows (that is the dirt/moss area between the rows, not the eleven between my eyebrows – thank you for your concern).
A young woman named Sarah works at the Silver City Store. She told me that she loves my painting on display there titled “Big & Tall”.
Sequoia Trees, Big & Tall, 18×36″, oil on wrapped canvas, $1200
(In case you are wondering why anyone could “love” this painting, remember that it looks way better in person!)
I told her that I could paint one for her in a size that would fit her budget (and suitcase – I believe she lives a fairly peripatetic lifestyle – and “peripatetic” is a great word that you might want to look up and adopt).
She was excited, and chose 6×18″. We discussed the cropping that would be necessary since this is narrower proportionately compared to the 18×36″. Sarah said she trusted my judgement, so I began.
First I found the reference photo. Then I folded paper around it and experimented with the cropping until it looked right.
Then, I mixed the colors and began.
I am getting used to the mess of a beginning painting; it doesn’t make me feel visually assaulted any more. Does this mean I am finally accepting myself as an oil painter instead of just a pencil artist who paints?
In spite of the slow start to the summer season in Mineral King and the closed campgrounds (WHY?? Do “They” think that camping is more dangerous than shopping at Costco??), Silver City Resort is going gangbusters. These are the paintings that have sold so far this summer.
Now if you will please excuse me, I need to get out to the easels!
Your Central California artist went to the Central California Coast. What a fantastic location that is for this Beach Girl At Heart. I found a few scenes that would make nice paintings but don’t believe I have the audience (“market”) for that subject. Meanwhile, enjoy some photos from that wonderful area.
This oil painting is based on a photo that I took near the junction of the Eagle Lake and Mosquito Lakes trails, (Mineral King, of course) on the way to what we call Eagle Meadow. The meadow is a seasonally gorgeous blend of Jeffrey shooting stars and knotweed, thick with mosquitoes. It isn’t visible from this spot near the junction, but you might be already slapping. (How about that for a title to this painting? “Already Slapping”)
You last saw it looking like this, while I was wondering 2 things: “Why bother?” and “Who told me I can paint?”
While waiting for blank ornaments to arrive, paint to dry on other projects, and approval to come for a pencil drawing, I went back to my slow trail painting.
It is a slow trail indeed, but I will get there if I don’t stop. The stump in the lower left may need to go away, but it is what helps me recognize which trail I am on.
Nothing here is completed, just inching along, a few hours on one project, move on to the next, and finish up each day with some drawing time in the air-conditioned studio as opposed to the swamp-cooled painting workshop.
An old insulator that we hoped to install it in a cabinet but we have yet to get a key that fits.
A wise friend of mine often reminds me that “life is much harder than I expected it to be”.
I am inclined to agree with that statement because somehow I assumed that adulthood would smooth out the bumps, either because I’d have money, wisdom, or experience to solve or avoid problems.
Haha. Fall down laughing.
When you have a plumbing incident, you do NOT want to hire the guy whose name is always followed by “bless his heart”. (But “all’s well that ends well”, as Ma Ingalls used to say.)
When you order something online, it is a real nuisance to have it arrive in the wrong color or size. The emails and paperwork tell you what you ordered, but the actual item is clearly wrong. This precipitates phone calls to navigate through tangled phone trees where they lie and tell you that the long wait is “due to an unusually high volume of calls”. There are ALWAYS more calls than can be handled; it is not unusual. So then you go to the website, and it doesn’t work. Sigh.
Upgrades for technical devices provide you with 2 choices: skip them and eventually things won’t work or do them and immediately things won’t work.
When you buy something that has to be assembled, you can assume that there will be typos, parts will be called by the wrong names, little pieces will be missing or won’t work, and then you can go through the same type of maddening exercise as in scenario 2 above..
When you have a key made to a door or perhaps a locked cabinet, just assume it won’t fit and that you will have to have it remade. Recently I am three for three on failed attempts to get keys made right the first time.
In spite of these situations, every once in awhile life hands you a little gift or two.
It was time to buy oil for Fernando (he burns some but what do you expect at 230,000 miles?) and IT WAS ON SALE FOR HALF PRICE!
I only bought 2 quarts. Motor oil, cat food, and printer ink should all be bought in small quantities. This is one of my guiding economic principles in life. You can probably figure out the reasoning behind this decision.
2. And a friend sent me this unexpected gift, because she is thoughtful, generous, full of good humor, and tuned in to what I enjoy.
Your Central California artist is either lazy or tired this summer and only taking walks, not hikes. However, Trail Guy is picking up the slack and because of him, we can see Mineral King today.
