A Friend’s First Art Show

One of my drawing students is so good that I asked The Courthouse Gallery in Exeter ( where I teach drawing lessons) to feature her in an upcoming show.

I’m defining “so good” based on several things:

  1. Her work is technically excellent.
  2. She composes her drawings from her own photos (and occasionally from mine), carefully choosing, scooting, cropping, editing, giving great thought to composition (which is the arrangement of the elements in the drawing) as opposed to automatically copying what is in the photo.
  3. She does the work – studies drawing on her own outside of class, draws on her own outside of class, sketches regularly and takes practice very seriously.
  4. She produces one good drawing after another after another – the big word for this is “prolific”.

The Courthouse Gallery selection committee asked her to show there in July through September!

We thought they were booked further ahead, but suddenly, we both felt some time pressure. We realized we would have to work together to get her work titled, framed and priced. We decided a postcard would be a good thing. We decided that scanning her work would be prudent. We realized that this could get expensive. We remembered that I have lots of mats and frames.

We had a lovely 1/2 day together, along with her daughter Jenna, digging through my mats and frames, deciding if any of them complement her drawings. We found several that worked. We scanned, we scrutinized, we did the work.

You will be seeing more about Wendy Miller and her work in this blog as her show approaches. Without giving away too much of her work, here is a teaser. (I want you to come to her show!)

 

“Hey Mom”

11×14, pencil on paper, by Wendy Miller, private collection

Painting Preparation or Procrastination?

It has been about 2 months since this California Artist did any oil painting. When I take a long hiatus*, I wonder if I will be able to paint any more.

I used to have that little niggling worry about drawing when several weeks would pass without my picking up a drawing pencil (unless I was using one to balance my checkbook).

Because the season of Mineral King is upon us, it is time for me to supply the Silver City Store with oil paintings to sell.

This happens in steps:

  1. Inventory existing paintings
  2. Make a list of subjects that should always be on hand and for sale
  3. Go through photos
  4. Choose photos to paint now and ones to paint later.
  5. Write the titles and inventory numbers on the inventory list and backs of the canvases
  6. Turn on the swamp cooler. Yes, in April. This gives me hope that we will have a shorter summer in terms of heat.
  7. Find something to listen to while painting. If the internet is working, I can listen to podcasts online. If it isn’t, I can listen to the radio or to my iTunes music.
  8. Wonder where Perkins is and if he’d like to hang out. Miss Zeke a little. Miss Kaweah a lot. Go back into the house for something or another thing.
  9. Paint! Just do it! I just listened to a podcast on productivity that said if you find yourself procrastinating, there is a problem. OF COURSE there is a problem if you procrastinate – you won’t get the work done! Then there is the Steven Pressfield book called The War of Art in which he discusses something called “resistance”. I’ve listened to podcasts and read blogs about this.
  10. Fix/finish those California poppy paintings I started 3 months ago.
  11. Use the leftover paint on your palette to base-coat canvases for the next painting session.

Any questions?

*Hiatus means pause or gap in sequence. Why use a one-syllable word when there is a great three-syllable word to do the job?

Mineral King Time Already – Early Early Early

It has been a dry winter. Trail Guy has been hiking this week.

Wow. This is early early early.

This is our friend and neighbor Keith. He is eating an orange on the bridge on April 26, 2013. There doesn’t appear to be any snow. Early early early.

The Park is officially opening the gate to the public on May 22. Early, early, early.

 Is “early” really a word? Looks funny. Nothing like a little overuse of a word to destroy one’s vocabulary.

Me? Just painting Mineral King scenes so that the Silver City Store can sell them for me this summer. They sell my Mineral King oil paintings very well. Maybe my prices are too low. Maybe you should pick one up this summer before I decide that my prices are too low. Then you can say, “I got her early work”. Early early early.

I was able to paint this week because I finished my April drawing quota for The Cabins of Wilsonia.  I finished them early.

Next week? Back to the drawing board.

Do you know anyone else who can honestly and literally say that?

Weird

First, I want to share something with you.

I am a spelling nut. Typos jump out and slap me between the eyes. (My own don’t – it is a fact that proofreading one’s own work is nearly impossible.) It sometimes feels as if I might have a form of Tourette’s Syndrome, except that I shout “TYPO!” in inappropriate settings instead of swearing.

Come to think of it, “typo” IS  four letter word.

I’ve never forgotten the spelling rule “I before E except after C”.

Weird.

Think about that for a bit. I saw it as a pin on Pinterest. Might have been on a tee shirt:

I before E except after C.

Weird.

Now that I’ve shared that little oddment, I can’t remember what I was going to say.

I’m on schedule for the pencil drawings of The Cabins of Wilsonia. Here is a cabin drawing.

You can read more about the project at my other blog, The Cabins of Wilsonia.

My Amazing Friends, Chapter Five

Back when I had a list of 80 people waiting to get into my drawing lessons (dang, what happened??), I met Nikki Crain. She eventually became one of my drawing students, and we became friends. Not only does she draw very well, she is a master weaver.

We have done many shows over many years together. (I used the word “many” too many times and it has ceased to look right to me. Isn’t that a weird phenomenon?)

IMG_5681

 We like to be neighbors on the stage at the Perfect Gift Boutique, where we often help one another set up, talk to customers, and pass time between customers.

We enjoy the Senior League Bazaar each year at the Three Rivers Memorial Building. Nikki weaves and educates customers about weaving, the Fibonacci sequence of numbers, how to wear a shawl or a scarf, fibers, soy candles, and just stays cheerful and helpful. That in itself is uh-MAY-zing.

IMG_1331

One time I handed one of my plates to Nikki and she made some wonderful placemats to match.

 The mini version of the placemats,  called “mug rugs”,  are coasters that don’t stick to the condensation on your cold glass and then drop off in your lap and startle you. They are beautiful and useful, a winning combination.

Nikki and I spent a morning together so that she could learn more about blogging. It was fun, of course, and now you can follow her beautiful work on her blog, Handweaving by Nikki.

IMG_5579

Nikki usually opens her Three Rivers studio on First Saturdays. You can see her looms, her fibers, her work and her amazing self!

Still Goofing Off Instead of Working

How does a California artist goof off and get away with calling it “business”? It’s all business. Everything is a source of inspiration. Everything is inspirational when one lives in a beautiful place.

Sorry to rub it in. Forgive me?

Thanks. Glad I got that cleared up between us.

A California artist gathers her two closest friends in the entire world, who immediately love each other. They invent a game of dropping a pebble off a bridge over the Kaweah River to see who can land a hole-in-one in the rocks below. The California Artist takes photos and wonders how anyone can be so blessed to have such Ah-sum and Uh-MAY-zing friends.

It becomes a business trip when your walk takes you to the lavender garden of an amazing friend where you view your painted saltillo tiles and help place them while your friends get a preview of a breathtaking yard.

Definitely a business trip. No miles to write off. But, my hard-working conscience is eased by the fact of visiting my tiles and helping to place them.

On Sunday, I really did take a day off. I got to meet Gizmo and Gonzo, a taggenberg (maybe that is what the goat girl said) and a nubian.

After meeting these little guys, I finally understand why we call nasty bike tire-popping thorns “goatheads”. They are shaped like the heads of goats. Duh.

Isn’t Three Rivers the most interesting place to live?

Goofing Off Instead of Working

How does a California Artist goof off? Lots of ways!

She has a friend visit for several days and they go walking together. (If you take food, it’s a “hike”. If you don’t, it’s a “walk”.)

She visits the Big Trees (Sequoia National Park) with her friend who moved far away and wondered if she’d ever get to see them again.

They climb Moro Rock. These chicas have been friends since age 17. They have probably climbed Moro Rock together in the past, but they can no longer remember.

They walk (no lunch) out on the High Sierra Trail because the view is definitely a source of inspiration. Hey! That was a business trip!

My Amazing Friends, Chapter Four

Tomorrow is the Three Rivers Hidden Gardens Tour. I think you can still get tickets here.

My favorite spot on the tour is my amazing friend Barbara’s lavender garden. (Your favorite might be Anjelica Huston’s place, which I’ve only seen from the road or in Architectural Digest a few years ago.)

IMG_9396

Barbara and I have been having great fun putting together some stepping stone/plant identifiers. Her daughter painted a couple of saltillo tiles with lavender for her a few years ago. Barbara loved them, and decided she wanted more. Her daughter now lives far far away, so she commissioned me to do these tiles.

IMG_9580

I think it may fall into the category of Odd Jobs.

But, this post is about my amazing friends, and Barbara is truly amazing her knowledge of plants, her ability to work tirelessly in her gardens, and her appreciation for beauty.

When people talk about lavender, they sometimes mention English, French and Spanish. If they are like me, they most likely don’t realize there are many many version under each of those categories.

This is Spanish. The flower tips look like butterflies.

IMG_2179

French lavender has leaves that are sort of toothy and serrated. I didn’t paint anything that detailed on the tiles.

 

I painted 24 tiles with different names, and another 11 with pictures and no names. They are all for sale for a price not determined at the time of this writing, and a percentage of the sales benefits the Three Rivers Union School Foundation. (Sorry, we don’t ship tiles!)

 

IMG_9370

Wildflowers at a California State Park

There was a great variety of flowers at Montana de Oro.

The poppies came in three colors. Don’t know if I’ve ever seen a yellow poppy before!

This two-tone was so pretty. I thought these only came from greenhouses where people mess around with seeds and test tubes and who-knows-what-all.

This one looks normal to me.

I was going to ignore these little orange flowers but they made me think of my friend Shannon, whose favorite color is orange.

The Indian Paintbrush grow everywhere, all elevations, including Mineral King and above. These were the brightest I’ve ever seen.

Sometimes Morning Glory is called “bindweed”. I don’t know if it is native or if it is an invasive pest. I do know that farmers hate it, but it is pretty. I prefer the blue kind.

These were oranger (is that a word?) in real life. They are shaped like a monkey flower.

I KNOW these are not natives! The nasturtiums from someone’s garden got away. Maybe it happened from the farmhouse at Montana de Oro that is now a visitor center.

Statice out on the bluffs? Really? This grows very well on the Central Coast of California, but is it a native?? Or, is it like the nasturtium? So many questions. . .

California Artist on California Beach

If you ever go to Morro Bay and look across the bay, you can see a strip of land. It is called a “spit”, and it provides a very long strip of beach for walking. Or, if you like to ride a bike on the beach, it is a good place for that.

It was a foggy day, but the other Morro Rock (not to be confused with the Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park visible from my yard) was visible through the fog. I love long walks on the beach. I might have gone 8 miles, maybe 9, maybe 10. Since I’m not training for anything, I didn’t keep track. I wore shoes going and came back barefoot. My plantar fasciitis cooperated – it was there, but not too bad. The sand felt wonderful!

These guys posed well for me.

Tomorrow I will show you the wildflowers we saw at Montana de Oro.