Mrs. Texas and I chose to have a second beach day, this time in Monterey. While there for a weeklong painting retreat last year, I still didn’t have enough time to do all I had hoped. One of those things was to tour the Point Pinos Lighthouse, a place I painted while perched on the […]
Plein Air Painting in Gilroy
Mrs. Texas is at the edge of a pumpkin patch, a big “patch”. Okay, a pumpkin field. We mistakenly thought it was summer squash, that yellow crookneck stuff that prompted a friend of mine to say, “‘Squash’ is the past tense of ‘squish’, and ‘squish’ is not a food.” (Right on, Ben!) But pumpkins? Yes! […]
The Central California Artist Went Back to Gilroy
Mrs. Texas was in California for another handful of weeks, and I felt compelled to go back to see her one more time. So, I did. (There is a lot to be said about driving a car that isn’t potentially on its last gasp.) We did a number of wonderful things, and I even did […]
Don’t Be Scared—I Can Make These Look Good
Sequoias, Redwoods, Big Trees, Sequoia gigantea—all these words mean the trees which gave Sequoia National Park its name. Paintings of these trees sell very steadily to the visitors in our area. Sometimes it feels a little boring to keep painting the same things over and over. When that feeling comes upon me, I think of […]
Will the Fat Lady Sing?
Who is the fat lady? Sometimes I sing for my drawing students, not well, and we all laugh. What am I yammering on about? The drawing of Texas, which is too large for my scanner, so the upper edge is nipped off and the lower edge is blurry. But first, let’s look at the scratchy […]
Just Another Work Day for Your Central California Artist
Painting To postpone two difficult tasks, I started this 10×30” commissioned oil painting, following the sketch which the customer approved. Just Plain Work This part didn’t warrant any photos. Some friends from Southern California went to my show, bought a drawing, and then hit a snag and couldn’t return to pick it up. I took […]
Weird, But Good
My solo show, Around Here, in Tulare was originally going to consist solely of oil paintings. However, I asked the director if she also wanted pencil drawings, which normally attract attention but not sales, and she said, “Sure, why not?” So, I gathered up my best framed pencil pieces and added them to the mix. […]
Driving Through the Valley After my Show
Golly tamale, that Central California Artist must have run out of things to write. Nope. Rarely does that happen. I drove to Tulare to retrieve my art. It was very serendipitous to pass many vineyards at a time when I need photos of them for the current pencil commission. I like using my own photos, […]
And Another Commissioned Pencil Drawing
Same customers, similar approach, different state. This new pencil commission is looking across a driveway at a vineyard with the Sierra* in the distance. The customers provided current photos of the view, but now the vineyard is gone and almond (or peach? plum? nectarine?) trees are in their place. So, I went exploring on the […]
Instruct me, Please
When working on custom art, which involves combining multiple photos and verbal or written instructions, there must be much communication. My customers for the Texas drawing said to lower the bluebonnets to keep them inside the fence, since if they are outside the fencing, the cattle eat them. I keep accidentally thinking of the bluebonnets […]