What Does A Central California Artist Do?

Are you wondering how an artist in a place like Tulare County (Central California – there is a huge area of our state that is rural, and it is my job to record and share the good things about this area) can find work to do?

How about a list today:

  1. Teach 5 hours of drawing lessons a week, 3-5 people in each class.
  2. Sell coloring books.
  3. Plan for and draw another coloring book (Anyone want to guess the subject?)
  4. Finish the 24×30″ commissioned oil painting of a Three Rivers house
  5. Begin and finish 3 oil paintings for the upcoming Redbud Festival (May 7-8)
  6. Gather and price the items to take to the Redbud Festival.
  7. Take coloring books to the Post Office, and check supplies at the Three Rivers Mercantile, which has sold more than 2 dozen so far. (Told you we are rural!)
  8. Figure out when to get with a web designer so she can figure out why the shopping cart on this website won’t provide me with the mailing address when people place orders.
  9. Figure out how to put a better subscribe button on this blog that comes with a freebie so that people will want to give me their email address so I can notify them (you?) when the new coloring book is ready. (Have you guessed yet what it will be about?)
  10. Compose and send an email newsletter to my subscribers to remind them of Redbud Festival (May 7-8) and tell them of the new coloring book.

First one to guess and tell me either in the comments will win a free coloring book of the new design!

Thus we conclude a little peek into the work of a Central California artist in rural Tulare County. Not your typical definition of “artwork”.

OH! #11! – BLOG!! GOTTA BLOG!!

WAIT – THERE’S MORE! #12 is reorder the first coloring book, “Heart of the Hills”. You can order one here.

Are You a Colorist?

Are you a colorist? This is a word invented for adults who like to color in coloring books.

About 10 years ago, a friend in a high-powered, high-stress job confessed to me that she liked to color at work when it all got to be too much. I went online to find coloring books and found 2 books with very intricate geometric designs for her.

Within the last 6 months or so, coloring books for adults have taken off like a rocket. Many friends told me of either giving or receiving coloring books for gifts. Women in particular get a goofy happy look when they say, “I LOVE to color!”

I have many theories as to why coloring has become so popular with adults:

  1. Everyone has the desire to be involved in a creative activity.
  2. Coloring is a creative activity that requires no skill outside of what we learned as children.
  3. It involves simple decisions with instant gratification.
  4. The repetitive nature of it is peaceful and meditative.
  5. Life is complicated and stressful. Coloring is fun and easy.

Want a coloring book of Three Rivers and Sequoia and Mineral King?

I have one called Heart of the Hills.  There is a tiny heart hidden in every picture.

It is available at the Three Rivers Mercantile, Kaweah River Trading Company, Three Rivers Historical Museum, and on my website. (It is also available from the trunk of my car if you see me around.) $15 + tax.

first drawing

Doesn’t this little picture make you want to color? Go ahead. Become a colorist.

Three Rivers Spring Mini-Tour

The last several weeks have been full of coloring books and an oil painting commission of a Three Rivers house. Meanwhile, it is BEAUTIFUL out. Spring is fabulous in Three Rivers (everywhere, yes?) so I took a little tour. Come see these things with me.

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Climbing roses are hanging upside down. See? They are on this archway.IMG_2779 IMG_2775IMG_2777Time to do a little bit of work on our tour. This is the traffic-stopping, attention-getting sign at Kaweah River Trading Co., the excellent gift shop in town that pushed me to make the local coloring book. Soon they will also be selling colored pencils.  You can buy Heart of the Hills there or at the Three Rivers Mercantile or the Three Rivers Historical Museum or here.IMG_2770 IMG_2769

My friend has stunning and unusual flowers in her yard. This is what I recorded before my camera battery quit. Sometimes it is good to just be in a place, taking it in without recording everything. IMG_2767 IMG_2763

Remember When Life was Simpler?

Life used to be simpler. We have gizmos, devices, technology now that is supposed to make our lives easier, but think about these things:

  • Remember when your phone didn’t follow you everywhere, demanding continual response?
  • Remember when you could just go to the doctor and get help without filling out reams of papers, and wondering if you would be able to afford the visit?
  • Remember when you didn’t have to know the name of medicines and their possible side effects?
  • Remember when you just ate food and didn’t think about glycemic index, cholesterol, gluten, veganism, or happy chickens?
  • Remember when you had never heard of identity theft?
  • Remember when people didn’t cuss on TV or talk about private body functions and then try to sell medicine for them?
  • Remember when you had never heard of a “carbon footprint”?
  • Remember when you never considered whether something was organic or local or sustainable?
  • Remember when you could have a lawn without feeling guilty about it?
  • Remember when a fire in the fireplace was a normal guilt-free way to add warmth and comfort to a cold evening?
  • Remember when you only needed a password if you were playing a spy game with a friend? Something common, like “open sesame”?
  • Remember when “carbs” were called “starches”?
  • Remember when the only thing you backed up was your car, and you did it by putting your arm across the back of the seat and actually turned your head instead of watching a little television?
  • Remember when you could ride in the back of a pick-up? Or drink from the garden hose?
  • Remember when there were drinking fountains and no one carried around expensive bottles of water? You drank when you were thirsty, not when you needed to “hydrate”. . . “Hydrate”?? What is the matter with everyone?
  • Remember when you wore sneakers for every activity?
  • Remember back before you had heard of “plantar fasciitis”, “carpal tunnel syndrome”, “irritable bowel”, “acid reflux”?
  • Remember when you got home from vacation, and all you had to do was collect the mail at the post office?

Yeah.

That’s why people like to color. It returns us to a simpler activity that we enjoyed in simpler times. It requires no special skill, no guilt, no medical terminology, no technology or user name.

This is why I made a coloring book. Easy. Simple. No password required.

Heart of the Hills

Heart of the Hills: a Three Rivers and Sequoia Coloring Book  is available at the Three Rivers Mercantile, Kaweah River Trading Company, Three Rivers Historical Museum or here.

That last one probably will require a user name and password. If you see me around, I’ll have a few in the trunk of my car. We can do business that way. Simple.

$15 each plus tax. Easy.

Closing in on the Final List

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Hard to tell if anything is different here. We’ll call this the beginning of another day of painting an oil commission of a Three Rivers house. That archway is bugging me, and now I know what it needs.

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Too small to see. Guess you had to be here.IMG_1501

Time to work on the edges. IMG_1502

Another umbrella, please! and could you grow some branches on the sycamore while you’ve got that paintbrush out? Oh, before you change paint color, will you plant a few daffodils?

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Whoa. This looks a bit precarious. I scooted the painting over as far as possible and then crouched down beneath it to paint the bottom edge.

The list is much shorter now, although there are new items on it.

  1. Paint the middle section of the bottom.
  2. Add more little branches and twigs to the sycamore.
  3. Add the beginnings of leaves to the sycamore.
  4. Spend some time evaluating the details and just nit-pick it to pieces.
  5. SIGN IT!
  6. photograph
  7. let it dry
  8. varnish
  9. let it dry more. . .
  10. DELIVER!!

This painting makes the Oak Grove Bridge waiting oh-so-patiently in the background seem like child’s play. I’m coming, Bridge, just hang on. . .

 

Who is the Boss of this Painting?

Can you see any changes or improvements in this oil painting, a commission of a house in Three Rivers?

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I keep painting, but I don’t know if it is making any noticeable improvements. A little dab here, a little lighter there, make this darker, straighten out that edge. . . am I just licking the canvas??

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A dear friend suggested a few changes in the hills and background trees. She was right. The changes are an improvement. More may be required.

A window now has a frame.

The gravel path on the right has changed color.

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Here is what I think remains to be done:

  1. the right end of the house
  2. grow the sycamore
  3. put texture into the gravel path on the right, just some in the closest areas in the sunlight
  4. build the archway
  5. push the hills back farther
  6. lighten the porch post on the left
  7. tighten up the rocks near the archway and add growies
  8. add another umbrella

Sometimes I make these lists, begin an area, and then discover a whole new place to work on.

I thought I was the boss of this painting, but it seems to be the boss of me.

Three Rivers House In Spring Oil Painting

The saga of the commissioned oil painting of a house in Three Rivers in spring continues. (I know that was too many prepositional phrases but how else can I ‘splain this??)

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I made progress on the landscaping last time. This is an immensely satisfying project, because there are so many different areas, colors, shapes and textures.

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Weird, but true. Sometimes I have to turn the painting so my hand can move the correct direction. I haven’t learned to use a maul stick and am not interested as long as I can rotate the canvas (it’s a bit of a problem on a mural).

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More tightening up of the architecture was needed. Those windows! They will need to be revisited a few more times before we are finished here. “We”? ‘Twould be nice to have a little help on those more difficult parts, but I’m speaking in the royal We here.

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Can you see any improvement? The gravel walkway is looking more gravely, although in person it still resembles a stream.

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Hey! A tree grows in Three Rivers. Can you see the beginnings of the sycamore on the far right? I have replanted the tree since in the photos it only has these non-sequitor-heil-hitler-arm-like branches shooting into the scene. Unacceptable.

List of Slightly Related Items

I’m not sure how these 4 items on this list are slightly related other than they pertain to Three Rivers, sort of.

  1. This is my 8th blogiversary!!

  2. I sent an email to the people who have bought or expressed an interest in my work during the past year or so to ask if they’d like to be on my mailing list. Occasionally I sent an email telling of new things or shows or just to say hey. If you would like to be on that list, leave a comment below or email me using the contact button beneath About The Artist in the menu above.
  3. The coloring books are here! You can order from this link: Heart of the Hills. If you order using this link and Paypal, please send me an email with your mailing address because Paypal always tells me “no shipping information available” or some such baloney.heart seekers Look at these heart seeking students from Westmont College in Santa Barbara. Who would think that about-to-graduate seniors would be so interested in a coloring book?? Lovely group of folks, and I was very honored to have them stop by my studio. 
  4. Have a look at some spring photos around our place in Three Rivers because it is beautiful, and because Trail Guy was Builder Guy for me this week.

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This is in my herb garden, where I think of stuff and Builder Guy makes it for me. Don’t you wish you had a cute hanging thing like this? Don’t you wish you had an herb garden? Don’t you wish you had a Builder Guy in your life? Don’t you wish I’d shut up and just show you the photos?

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What to do When You Are Stuck

 

Ever get stuck on a project? This blog post offers a little bit of advice (or perhaps it is just common sense.)

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Return to the source. This helps you see if you have all the facts.

I took a field trip to the house to figure out the details that were hidden in the photos. I drew up some rudimentary floor plan outlines and took more photos. A bonus was that I got to visit with Mrs. Customer, a truly delightful person. She is giving me so much leeway on this painting – an artist’s dream for a commissioned painting.

(The photos I took are boring unless you are the one doing the painting, so I’ll spare you.)

Immediately apply any new information you just learned. (‘Fo’ you forget it!)

After some careful consideration, I moved the chimney over some more. Then I made a few scooting changes on the house – subtle but necessary. The paint was still wet in those areas from the previous session, so I took my own advice about what to do when I feel stuck.

Find a new area to work on.

When I feel stuck, I look at the project carefully to determine if there is any area in which I can make progress. (When I had lots of kids in drawing lessons who all needed help at the same time, I would tell them to sharpen their pencils or erase their smeary margins while they waited.)

LANDSCAPING! I can do this!

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I raised up the easel in order to reach the bottom edge, and then proceeded to break the rules of painting furthest to closest. Since I’m the boss of my painting, no one yelled at me. I hate being yelled at.

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This now required a bunch of different greens and two colors that I only use for redbud and lupine. It was really fun.

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It looks so much better in person that I considered not posting this last photo. When the paint is wet, the camera sees the reflective shine and it makes the color fade away on the camera.

Guess you’ll have to trust me.

Maybe in the next painting session the house areas will be dry enough so I can untangle it one little section at a time, the same way I handled the landscaping. If not, there’s plenty more landscaping to work on.

Rebuilding and Reshaping in Oil Paint

This is the view of the house that I am currently rebuilding and reshaping in oil paint.

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I thought it was looking good, but I was ignoring all the architectural details. You know, those little things like the size and shape of the windows, the placement of the chimney, the width of the porch. And there is that troubling section of roof that doesn’t show off to the far left; a small blur in a photo is one thing, but enlarging it in oil paint on canvas means I need to know.

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This was a day of measuring, scooting, erasing and reshaping.

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This path leading back behind the house is looking good. It was looking like water, and now I think it resembles gravel.

That’s something done right!

Anyone know a drawing teacher? I’ve heard one should learn to draw before attempting to paint.

Looking at these photos here on the screen shows me there is more scooting, rebuilding and reshaping ahead.