These Mineral King oil paintings appear to be troubled. Sawtooth, the Oak Grove Bridge, and more Sawtooth, all looking topsy-turvy and scribbly.
What’s Wrong With These Pictures??
Do Over
A customer brought me a pencil drawing from 1995 with the request that I turn it into notecards.
In order to turn an original drawing into a printed piece, there are some tasks to be done on a computer. First, I scan it, then open it in Photoshop, convert it to grayscale, erase anything that is supposed to simply be paper color, resize it to 600 dpi and whatever size in inches it will be printed, then convert it to a PDF and send it to the printshop, where she becomes their direct customer.
When I saw it, I thought it was a reproduction print, not the original. WHY did I draw an original on such flimsy and textured paper?? And why are all the trees on the distant hills the same size, evenly spaced and looking so distinct? Why is there no pencil on those hills? Why does no grass show between the slats of the fence? Why does that main tree look manicured?
Before I did any of those computer tasks, there was some serious pencil work to be accomplished.
Before:
After:
Ready to print: 
The changes are subtle, but important. My drawing students and I will see the difference, and I don’t feel embarrassed to have my name on the drawing any more.
Coloring Simply
When I paint, I use only the primary colors, a manner called the “double primary palette”. This is because it has 2 yellows, 2 blues, and 2 reds. (White doesn’t count and the purple at the end is a mix I always make when I begin painting.)
This is a colored pencil version of that simple collection of colors.
You may recall that I bought a box of 12 colored pencils recently and really liked the way they work. My favorite non-drawing pencils are Blackwings, so I was eager to try their colored pencils. You may also recall that I thought it was too bad the box only held 12 colors, 2 of which aren’t very useful to me – black and silver. This box does not contain the double primary palette; although there are 2 blues, there is only one red and one yellow. (2 greens don’t count because green is not a primary color.)
On the January Three Rivers First Saturday, I hung out at Anne Lang’s Emporium with coloring books and oil paintings. While I was in between visitors, I experimented with the Blackwing (weird – shouldn’t these be called “colorwing”?) colored pencils. Could I create the full range of colors as if I had one of my sets of 120 (either Polychromos or Prismacolor)?
Here are the results. 2 of the grape clusters, part of the trunk and a few of the leaves were colored with the large set of pencils. The rest was done with only 10 colors from the box above.
Nice, eh? Layering and layering and layering. . . still lots of white paper to be covered here.
P.S. This page is from the coloring book Heart of Agriculture, and I haven’t found the hidden heart yet in spite of the fact that I am the one who drew this picture.
P.P.S. The colored pencils are available on this site: Pencils.com The wood is California cedar, the company is in Stockton, and the pencils themselves are manufactured in Japan. They are $19.95 for a set of 12, plus all the usual add-ons like exorbitant sales tax and shipping.
Sawtooth Oil Painting in Stages
We last saw the Sawtooth oil painting looking quite rough. It has taken many hours, and the Fat Lady ain’t singing yet. (Close – she’s starting to warm up with a few scales.) And just in case you forgot, Sawtooth is the second most popular of the Mineral King oil painting subjects, tied with the Honeymoon Cabin. (Farewell Gap with the Crowley cabin is number one in popularity.)
When all those green grasses are dry enough, I will add wildflowers. Then I will probably revisit some of the upper parts, add a few more details, correct some more color.
Chill out, Fat Lady. Your time will come.
Redwoods, Again
The three small redwood oil paintings are completed and for sale at Anne Lang’s Emporium in Three Rivers (or you can contact me directly.)
But wait! There’s more (in progress). This is 11×14″. The canvas began with a portrait of a stranger in a workshop; it was too hard for me, I didn’t know the person, I have no plans to become a portrait artist, so bye-bye, Stranger Face.
New Year’s Day Walk
The New Year’s Day walk could have been a hike, had we taken food and more than one measly little water bottle. Alas, we did not. We went to the Salt Creek/Case Mt. BLM recreational area and walked from the Salt Creek road (rather than Skyline Drive) up, up and up. It was a smoggy hazy day, and the land wanted rain. We encountered about 8 different walking and biking parties; 4 were folks we know. Three Rivers is small. (A friend recently said to me that the good thing about Three Rivers is that it is small; the bad thing about Three Rivers is that it is small.) Going places, even those close to home, getting outside, looking around–these are all sources of inspiration, a requirement to this Central California artist.
I am so thankful for the rain we have received since New Year’s Day, but we still need more. Alas, those folks in Montecito. . . yikes.
Painting Outside
By “painting outside”, I don’t mean painting plein air. I do mean that it was overcast and hard to see in the painting workshop, so I moved my stuff outside. It wasn’t cold, rainy or windy, so this was an easy solution. And White Chief needed a bit more drying time.
First, had to flip White Chief upside down to paint the bottom edge.
Next, I worked on Farewell Gap.
That’s sort of funny – photos, an oil painting and a mural, all of the same scene.
I haven’t done any singing over this one yet. Just not sure. . .
Flower Fix
A little poppy painting has been hanging around longer than any other. Why?
BECAUSE POPPIES SHOULDN’T HAVE SQUARE CORNERS!!
So, I fixed it.
A Mineral King scene of Farewell Gap in morning sunlight has been hanging around for too long. Why?
BECAUSE IT DIDN’T HAVE ANY FLOWERS!
So, I added some.
See? Flowers fix stuff, and I think fixed flowers sell. More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .
Redwoods and Reality
I had an extra peach painting that was going to become an orange, and then after a reality check, it got turned into redwood trees. This is Three Rivers, gateway to Sequoia National Park, and I need to have paintings of sequoia trees.
Sequoia Gigantea = redwood = Big Tree. I went to Redwood High School so “redwood” is the name that comes most automatically.
Here are the paintings drying on the pegboard/chalkboard. I had to photoshop out a bunch of phone numbers from the background before I accidentally publicized my personal phone directory. This is how we do things when we don’t have cell phones. And no, it didn’t say “For a good time call. . .”
Why don’t I just photoshop the redwood trees onto the canvas??
Forget it. I’m an oil painting Central California artist, not a computer chick.
Thank You
Thank you to all who expressed sympathy about Samson. Our neighbor found his body, and we buried him on the hillside above the house. He died from a freak accident, and you really do not want to know the details. Neither do we, but too bad, now we do.
I called the woman who owns the ranch where we got Perkins and Samson – excellent line of cats, good hunters and survivors. When the next litter of cats happens, if she can catch them (they are semi-feral), we will take an entire litter. No more singletons: litter mates teach one another rules of civility, when we are away they can keep each other company, and all our attention will not be focused on one bossy little prince.
Meanwhile, please do not show up with a box of kittens at my doorstep; I am weak and vulnerable and liable to say yes. Only Trail Guy’s sensibilities keep my Cat Disorder from flaring to maximum capacity. So thank you.