It keeps raining, and I keep drawing water in pencil.
Whole Lotta Oak Grove Bridges
Whole lotta bridges going on around here. All the Oak Grove Bridge, of course. 2 paintings, a calendar, 2 photos.
Samson was busy with other things (thank you, GE for babysitting) so I tackled the bridge again. This time I started over, working from back to front and top to bottom. This layering and layering and layering is called “glazing” in Artspeak.
The lower right corner is a mess. Real life is very messy. Most scenery is messed up with sticks, dried stuff, dead branches. . . and we don’t notice because we look past it to the good parts.
You can see the lower right edge of the photo is a mess, a tangled mess.
It isn’t finished here because I just flat don’t know what to do.
So, for now I’ll stop and just think about all the versions and how I’ve handled this corner in previous renditions.
Because I’m feeling more confident about the 11×14 commissioned oil painting of the Oak Grove Bridge, I decided to pull out the 24×30″ version from last year. I tackled it the same way – starting over in the farthest places, working forward.
Just like with murals, the larger, the easier.
Weird.
Particularly Challenging Challenge
Oil painting is a real challenge at times. Getting the colors right in addition to the darks, lights, textures, shapes and proportions, along with seeing what is really there instead of what I think might be there plus adding and subtracting whatever is necessary to enhance the scene . . . it is just hard.
Then along comes a new challenge. This oil painting commission of the Oak Grove Bridge may take longer than any other previous oil painting. Let the photos suffice, although none were taken while claws and teeth were attached to my painting (or photographing) hand. In all the wrestling, a button got pushed on the camera that made the colors more vivid than normal. I’m surprised nothing got broken or accidentally painted or dropped.
While this Bengal bitey-boy-beast, AKA Samson, took a rest, I was able to work on the rocks beneath the bridge a bit, and also located the posts on the bridge itself. The customers didn’t give me a deadline, and they say, “No hurry” each time I see them.
Good thing.
Trail Guy Blazes the Way to Mineral King
Before Trail Guy was Trail Guy, he was Road Guy in Sequoia National Park. One of his specialties was opening the Mineral King Road in the spring.
This week someone from the Park asked if he’d help make the road passable for snow mobiles so people could get up there to do a snow survey. This is when they measure the depth of the snow and figure out the water content, some pretty helpful information.
He went again 2 days later because he wanted to check on the cabins, something they were unable to do on the first trip because there were so many downed trees to deal with.
I didn’t go along because while he is retired, I am not. I’ll just do my best to explain his photos, and if I get stuff wrong, he’ll correct me and I’ll fix it.
Trail Guy took many photos of cabins, and if I have people’s eddresses, I will send them. Didn’t want you all to get too chilly in the snow with 30 photos.
Water in Pencil
This is my latest pencil drawing of water. It isn’t titled, because the name of the falls is highly unpleasant. The drawing is unframed and it is on 11×14″ paper.
When I look at this drawing, I think about Millard Fillmore.
Who?
A president of the United States, maybe the 12th one. I’ve been listening to a podcast called “Presidential” by Washington Post reporter Lillian Cunningham. It is both entertaining and educational, a great combination when drawing rocks and water.
I could call the painting Rocks & Water. It is a little obvious.
I could call it Fillmore.
No, that’s too obscure.
Why do “obvious” and “obscure” have the same prefix?
Any ideas?
I mean about the title of the drawing, not the weird ob words.
Three Oil Paintings
Happy Birthday, Robin!
Today’s post is an update to several paintings in progress.
I carried this one outside to the sidewalk to photograph for you. That’s what the weird gray texture around the sides is. The leaves on one of the pomegranates need another layer, because they were an afterthought. And, when it is dry, it will photograph with more accurate colors. Still have to sign it.
What shall I title this oil painting?
This one is called “Sequoia Gigantea”. That was the name of the newspaper at Redwood High School, and I have never forgotten that it is the real name of what we euphemistically call “The Big Trees” around here. This is to keep them from being confused with the other Big Trees, the other redwoods, the Sequoia Sempervirens, AKA “coastal redwoods.
And the Oak Grove Bridge painting goes on and on and on. . . this time when I saw that the arch still wasn’t right, I adjusted the left side. Why is this so hard for me to paint?? With all the practice I’ve had, you’d think I could paint it with my eyes closed.
Wait. That wouldn’t work.
Paint it with one arm tied behind my back?
Never mind. It is hard, but I love the scene in reality, on paper and on the easel.
This post is brought to you courtesy of the Department of Redundancy Dept. because I keep painting the same scenes and subjects over and over and over and. . .
Disconnected Thoughts From an Artist’s Brain
- Samson matches a breed of cat called “Bengal”. That accounts for his distinctive markings, his thick and silky short hair, his busy nature and his propensity to play in water. This is just a lucky accident of random breeding, but the discovery and description helps explain some of his peculiarities.
- Two of my drawing students and I will join our works together for a Visalia show in May and June that we have titled “Gray Matter”.
- Drawing water is both forgiving and precise. I’m on my second new drawing this year of running and flowing water. Water is a big thing right now – 4 dry winters followed by abundant rain and snow in January, and now my interest in drawing water. I’ve drawn water for years, but now I want to draw nothing but water.
- My website is definitely broken on the For Sale pages. It was rebuilt only 2 years ago. This is too fast for me to comprehend, and a decision needs to be made.
- The Farm Bureau coloring books are at the printer.
- The “new and improved” laptop means this: my scanner won’t work, the email program is arranged differently and has lost some options, the dictionary is no longer on the computer but online, Powerpoint won’t work, Word won’t work, the photos aren’t as easy to find or edit or export or email or get printed. I like “tried and true” quite a bit more than “new and improved”.
- Still no decision on a cell phone. I don’t want one. That is an opinion rather than a decision.
If you made it to the bottom of this post, you deserve to see a pencil drawing of water. Makes me feel better.
I have made the decision to pay to repair my website. Anyone want to buy a painting?? Too bad the For Sale page is broken. You can use the contact button, and I can email you some specifics.
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TAMMIE!
Last week I took a small stack of pencil drawings to a framer because I have a show coming in the spring. As I was lining them out on his counter, I decided that there is something wrong with this picture. It isn’t anything I can put my finger on; I just don’t think it is good enough and I don’t know why.
One of the things I teach my drawing students is honest evaluations of drawings. We tell each other the truth (kindly, of course) because it is how we learn and grow. It is too hard to find flaws in one’s own work, just like it is impossible to proof one’s own writing.
This is what I heard:
- not enough darks
- weird road curve into the distance
- something wrong with the shoulder of the road
- edges of bridge arches too clean – should be more pock-marked for its age
- furthest pillars wrong size
I thought about just shredding the drawing. Please forgive me for inflicting this on those of you who bought a calendar – try to be brave through the month of February. At least it is the shortest month!
Then I thought that seeing the photos might help us all understand.
I actually worked from 3 photos, picking and choosing the best and most visible parts of each.
This sort of dissatisfying result is probably because I worked from photos instead of standing there on location with a sketchbook. Of course, then I might have gotten run over, bitten by a rattlesnake or a mosquito with a nasty disease, gotten too hot or too cold or sunburned or maybe bugs would have landed on my paper or the wind might have blown it away.
I hate it when that happens.
Will I try to figure it out and rework the drawing? Probably not. I used spray fixative (actually called “Fixatif”, which on of my drawing students says ought to work on any marriage!) which makes it not erasable.
Little Bitty Ore Buckets
Say what? Ore buckets? Little bitty ore buckets?
Remember the first Mineral King Room (in Three Rivers History Museum) mural was of a tram tower below the Empire Mine in Mineral King and only made sense if someone was standing there ‘splaining it?
Now, there are visual aids. In addition to the real ore bucket resting alongside the mural, there are to-scale versions actually on the mural, hanging from the cable.
These are utter perfection, the final touch that makes this mural come alive! Thank you, Nancy B. of the Three Rivers Historical Museum!!
And here are the other 2 murals, in case they were feeling left out.
He Liked It!
The Commissioner and Mrs. Commissioner were very happy with their commissioned oil painting of the Kaweah Blacksmith Shop.
This little building used to be up the North Fork of the Kaweah where the Kaweah Colony was. The flood of 1997 took it away, and in recent years, The Commissioner and his wife bought the property and began learning about it.
He liked this one too. This pencil and colored pencil drawing has a story to it, several stories, really.
I drew this from some photos taken at a friend’s farm yard north of Sacramento. The tires were taller than I am, and my friend said it is quite A Thing when one needs to be changed.
The piece in the Madera Ag Art Show got 1st place in Equipment and Machinery, but it didn’t sell. I showed it around for awhile and finally just put it in my studio. Classic example of what I like not resonating with the general public. . . sigh.
When I was scrolling through old emails looking for Mrs. Commissioner’s name because I forgot it (rude), I found an email from 2007 mentioning the fact that The Commissioner might be interested in this piece. There was no way I was going to call a stranger to ask if he wanted to buy a drawing, even a 1st place one. Not happening!
He is no longer a stranger, he remembered the woman who suggested that I show this to him (she died in a skydiving accident, so you can see what a memorable person she was), and he has very good reason to want this drawing.
That reason will remain a secret, because I am not in the habit of revealing personal information about my customers. I may be rude enough to forget important people’s names, but I have my limits on rudeness.