This is an enormous empty lot in Visalia, and I took the photo because I am astonished that it is green! It rained in September and October, something that doesn’t always happen around here. See those enormous trees in the distance? Valley oaks, quercus lobata, the largest oaks in the country (or the world? I […]
More Walking in Visalia
If you’ve been hanging around here on the internet for awhile, you know that Trail Guy and I drive old vehicles. The reason that we are able to keep them running is due to Mark at Foreign Auto Works. Mark just sold his business to Frank, and we will continue going there. However, before Mark […]
2026 Calendar
(SHARON, I moved the picture of the calendar back to lower on this post so you can skip it.) Around Here—and Sometimes a Little Farther, 2026 is a collection of new pencil drawings by your Central California artist. The drawings are mostly rural scenes, mostly from this often overlooked location in the heart of California. […]
Want to learn to draw?
Check out work by two of my drawing students. The first one is finished, and the second one is in progress. I teach people how to put on paper exactly what they see. It is the beginning of all art, in my opinion. (If a person can only see it in his mind, I cannot […]
Tackling an Unfinished Project
Trail Guy nailed some boards together for me several years ago, and I painted redwood trees on them. We got on a roll, and he pounded a few more of these panels together, but sales slowed and I moved on. We were cleaning out an area in the workshop and 2 of these appeared. I […]
Learned in October—or more accurately, Eight Messes
2. I am a mess in my bookkeeping. Why do I not know if I got a refund or not for all those refrigerators? Ugh. I’d rather draw or paint or teach people to draw than fiddle with numbers, paperwork, phone trees, and records. 3. Phone calls are a mess. For many years after Kodak […]
Thinking Aloud About Old Notecards
I’ve been getting my art printed on notecards since 1987. In the olden days, a package consisted of 2 each of 5 designs. In the olden days, people communicated on cards and mailed them with a stamp rather than talking into a little machine and tapping something. This meant that I had 1000s of cards […]
What’s Ahead
Some recent thinking has led to this listicle for you.
the Boring Business of Art
While I am wading through unbloggable territory, I’ve been able to attend to some of the business of art. This means lots of computer and phone time, along with digging around in filing cabinets. The phone time isn’t as awful as when you actually need assistance, because most companies are available with live humans if […]
Shhhh. . .going quiet
I will not be posting this week due to a situation. (Not everything in life is bloggable. . .) Fret not! I’ll be back when things are settled a bit.