A California Artist goes to Washington

Washington is a fantastically beautiful state. I’ve been there in many seasons and loved every one. The rain doesn’t bother me because I get to go home. The gray sometimes feels like a relief from relentless sunshine. Grape hyacinth become naturalized. There are trails in neighborhoods for walking. Churches offer coffee in their lobbies and they recycle their bulletins.

In summary, the grass is greener on the other side of the border. (2 borders, actually)

Here is what I experienced while visiting Carol in Washington. (Carol and I have been friends for 35 years – isn’t that a rare and wonderful thing?)

  1. I began the design of The Cabins of Wilsonia with Carol’s expert help on Adobe InDesign.
  2. We took a ferry to Whidbey Island on the only day that had sunshine.

 

Okay, that’s all for today’s list, because I want to tell you our Whidbey Island story. We had hoped to ride the free bus on the island to visit a town called Langley, about 6 miles from the ferry. Then we learned that the buses don’t run on Sundays.

While on the ferry, a nice lady named Jackie took a photograph of us together. (My hair was all wacky in the wind and I looked fat, so I deleted it. Thought I’d spare you the visual assault.) We got to visiting, and when I suggested to Carol that we hitchhike to Langley, Jackie laughed and then offered to take us there.

We could tell Jackie was a great Mom because of her daughter’s reaction. When we got in the car with her and her 2 daughters, her 13-year old was HORRIFED! “Mom, do you KNOW them from high school or something?? What are you doing?? Are you serious??” The look on her face was priceless!

 

 If I paint tulips, my followers might think I’ve just messed up my poppies.

Langley was beautiful. I could not stop taking photos of tulips in the sunshine, which were in everywhere. The water was visible from many places, and the town was fun even without a yarn store.

Why does everything next to the ocean look more appealing? In Tulare County, the supreme compliment a business can receive is “Oh! This looks like something at the coast!” The buildings have more style, the shops are well-maintained with interesting names, the gardens are lush, and even the fences and gates are creatively built. (And I’m sure the children are all above average, too.)

Can’t remember what the shop was about, but loved the name.

Just your average coastal type fence, I guess.

No big deal – just toss a few bulbs in the ground. Maybe there are no squirrels there? No gophers? No deer?

Did you know that Washington State Ferries are push-me-pull-yous? The captain just moves to the cockpit pilot house on the other end instead of flipping a U or using reverse. (Is it a cockpit? Is there a reverse? Life’s full of questions.) (Thank you, Gus, for teaching me the correct terminology.)

Jackie and Carol texted one another while we poked around town, and then she picked us up to take us back to the ferry! We figured we could walk the 6 miles if necessary (or hitchhike?), but sweet Jackie was there again! Her daughters were really quite lovely – polite, interesting, and adventuresome. Carol and I decided to walk the last 1/2 mile or so to the ferry instead of waiting in the car line, and then we had to RUN to get on board! (Did 52 year olds run in the olden days? I don’t remember seeing it happen when I was a kid, but of course I didn’t know anyone that ancient other than my grandmothers, and they certainly didn’t run.They had to have been waaaaay older than 52.)

Four Benefits of Learning to Draw Before Learning to Paint

As a self-confessed color junkie, I’ve pondered the question of why pencil? Was I just a chicken? That’s all water under the bridge, and now I am just accepting the fact of 13 years of drawing with a late start to oil and mural painting.

It ain’t all bad!

Drawing in pencil helped me develop several areas of skill. The subject has been covered very thoroughly here and here. Since I like lists, here is a list of the benefits of learning to draw well before learning to paint.

  1. Drawing teaches perspective. That is how things look distant or close.
  2. Drawing teaches proportion. That is how one size relates to another.
  3. Drawing forces an understanding of values. That is the darks and lights.
  4. Drawing teaches composition. That is the way things are arranged on a page or canvas

If I hadn’t learned to draw first, it would have taken me much longer to learn how to paint. Not saying I know how to paint well, just saying that I’m grateful to have had all those years of drawing first!

If you would like to learn about drawing lessons, you can read this blog post or check the lessons page on my website. Or both.

Meanwhile, have a look at this California artist’s pencil and oil renderings of oranges. You can see that the pencil picture has more precision and detail – needs it, because there is no color. Someone said recently “Values do all the work, but color gets all the credit!” True, but I think detail does a ton of work too.

Washington Navels, graphite, sold

One of the 100+ oil paintings of oranges so far, sold

Eight Reasons this California Artist Chose Pencil

My last post ended with this question: if I am so taken with color, a “color junkie”, then why did I choose graphite as my medium?

Simple – I love to draw. Oh come on, there must be more to it than that! Okay, yes there is.

1. It is easy to find pencil and paper and draw any time. The back of the bulletin in church, a piece of paper from your printer, an envelope from the trash. . .

2. Pencil drawing doesn’t make a mess. No paint brushes to wash, palettes to scrape, clothing to change.

3. Pencil drawing sets up and gets put away easily. How many boring office jobs did I have where I finished my work, and then pulled a drawing out from under my typewriter to fill up the rest of the day with? Lost count!

4. Pencil drawing isn’t very expensive to reproduce as prints or cards. This makes them affordable for you! (I am sorry my shopping cart isn’t working. You may email me via the contact page if you’d like to purchase something.)

5. Pencil used to be a little complicated to reproduce well, so people couldn’t reproduce my work without my help and permission.

6. Pencil erases.

7. Pencil is easy to frame. There aren’t very many mat colors or frame styles to use that won’t just overwhelm it, so it keeps your choices down.

8. I liked to draw so I drew a lot so I got better so I drew more because it was easy and fun because I had practiced so much. Or as my now retired husband likes to say, “Success breeds success”.

Drawing for upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia

Next post will cover the benefits of working in pencil for so many years.

Sources of Inspiration

Because I just began year #5 of blogging, I’m reposting some of my older articles for my newer readers.

Hidden Garden 5, oil on canvas, 8×10, $90

Sometimes people ask what my sources of inspiration are. Most are probably asking about what gives me ideas for drawing or painting. It is an easy question to answer.

My life experiences give me ideas. When I was a kid, a teen and even a young adult, it was a challenge to decide what to draw. As I aged, the number of choices grew. Now, by the time I have sorted through all my ideas, there is hardly any time left to draw or paint!!

So often I have read biographies and artist’s statements that say “I have always been fascinated by light and shadow” or perhaps by “reflection” or “movement” or “textures” or “shapes”. (My inner cynic responds with “Duh, what artist isn’t?” It is a continual challenge to keep her from talking too much.)

My main source of inspiration is BEAUTY! Sometimes it is natural and other times man-made, sometimes it is rustic simplicity, the way colors look together or the patina of age. Most often it is the way sunlight makes a normal object look beautiful. Once I had a job in a kitchen at a summer camp, and my coworkers would laugh at me when I would notice the beautiful color of iced tea, or the way the colors in the salad complimented one another. (But I am not scarred by the ridicule. Thanks for your concern.)

Now I think back to how I noticed colors, and wonder why I chose graphite pencil as my medium? My very wise Dad used to say (often!), “Life is full of surprises”. Well Dad, my life is full of questions. Perhaps I’ll tackle that graphite question in another blog post.

Why Artists Choose Three Rivers, a rerun

Because I just began year 5 of blogging, I decided to repost some of my earlier blogs for my newer readers.

When my art studio was in Exeter and I lived in Lemon Cove, people assumed I lived in Three Rivers. I’m guessing this was because of my occupation of pencil artist. (Given the choices of of towns in Tulare County, this is a reasonable assumption.) Now that I actually do live here and have become a painter, I recognize a multitude of reasons that any artist would want to reside in Three Rivers.

We are surrounded by beauty that takes no effort to see. There are incomparable views from my yard, studio, mailbox, and even from in my neighbor’s pool. The beauty continues as we go to the post office, the Memorial Building, the golf course, or maybe even from the dentist’s office!

Then there is the beauty that might require a little more effort to take in: the North Fork, the South Fork, Kaweah River Drive, and the Salt Creek area of BLM land come to mind. If you are able to walk, there is so much more that becomes visible.

Another great enticement to living in Three Rivers is the shorter drive to Sequoia and to Mineral King. In less than an hour you can be among the big trees and in a little longer than an hour, you can be in a valley that I have heard resembles the Swiss Alps.

Everywhere I look there are subjects to paint. The wildflowers could keep my brush flying for several seasons. The gates alone could occupy my pencils for a year. I could produce an entire series of drawings and paintings simply of loading chutes. Curves in the road, bends in the river, the autumn leaves, light on the rocks, Moro Rock from every possible angle, Alta Peak from every attainable viewpoint, sycamores all around town, the grand oak trees of every variety, the assortment of fence styles – every one of these subjects could be depicted in pencil or paint.

It is true that there is beauty in almost any location if one learns to recognize it. I certainly had plenty of subjects available in my former locations.  Now, the accessibility of paintable scenes is almost overwhelming!

The Kaweah Post Office V, oil on wrapped canvas, sold

Fourth Blogiversary

Today, April 16, I begin year #5 of blogging. There are many reasons that I blog. Since lists float my boat, here is the list for you:

1. It is fun. Remember Show-and-Tell in grammar school? For some kids it was a chore (and a chore for the rest of us to listen). For others, it was the highlight of their day. I tried to only participate if there was something I was really excited about. That is how I feel about blogging. Every day!

2. It keeps me accountable. Ever tried to work alone, day after day, week after week for 19 years? How did that turn out? Unh-hunh. You HAVE to show someone. You HAVE  to tell someone your progress. (Pity my UPS driver and the mailman!) The blog takes out some of the party-of-one-ness and forces me to produce even when the distractions are oh so very inviting.

3. It gives my work credibility. Published, even if it is online and even if it is self-published, is public. If it is worth putting Out There, it is Real. It counts. (Remember Steve Martin getting all excited about seeing his name in the phone book? It is sort of like that.)

4. It provides a record of my work. (No, I don’t want to keep a journal. The more stuff I own, the more stuff I lose.)

5. It allows me to connect with those who like my work. They can tell me what they think, and I can learn from them. “They”? Who is this “they”? It is YOU!

6. It is a bit like an online brochure, continually being updated, always available. That is a business thing, or perhaps a marketing thing.

7. I am building a platform. Doesn’t that sound fun? No hammer and nails required. It has to do with developing followers so that when I have something to share, there are people to participate.

That is why I blog. I’d love to hear why you read it. Not so I can gather compliments, but so I can learn what is interesting to you and what I should skip!

Completed pencil drawing for upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia

Product or Process

In knitting, there are regular discussions about whether one is a product knitter or a process knitter. This is in reference to one’s motivation – is it the journey that you enjoy, or is it the destination?

When it comes to drawing, I am both a process and a product artist. The pencil feels like an extension of my hand which is an extension of my eye and my brain.This makes it immensely satisfying to build a drawing.

In addition to enjoying the journey, it is always a thrill to see the finished piece. Getting to my destination never loses its buzz. My latest drawing is usually my favorite.

(Painting is a completely different story, and in the interest of not going into a navel-gazing session here on the blog, we’ll just stick to drawing for now. You’re welcome.)

Seems to me that in order to finish a project, you have to want the product AND enjoy the process. One without the other equals more unfinished stuff, or UFOs, as knitters call them. (Un Finished Objects)

Finished pencil drawing for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia

 

RETIRING

When do California artists retire? Beats me.

When do the husbands of California artists retire? How about after 37 years with Sequoia National Park. That’s a lot of years of getting up at dark-thirty, putting on green pants, driving miles on mountain roads in his own pick-em-up-truck (called his “rig”), and then driving big yellow machines. Faithfully going to work. Faithfully serving the public. Faithfully supporting his California artist wife. Persevering, persisting, day after day and month after month and storm after storm.

When does Michael The Road Guy retire? TODAY!! (Not officially because he works for the federal government and everything with those people is very complicated but don’t get me started because this blog post is about Michael The Road Guy, not those people.)

Impressive, yes? (thank you John Elliott of the Kaweah Commonwealth for this photo and the next)

I am not kidding about the miles on his rig. This was last year.

Doesn’t he look tired?

Thinking with a marshmallow on your head is really hard work. And working when you’d rather be hiking takes a tremendous amount of discipline.

One with the Stream, oil on wrapped canvas, 24×30″

Congratulations, Michael Botkin! No more dark-thirty, green pants, marshmallow head or big yellow machines!

Committing Commissions

 

This is not a commission. It is a do-over. I painted this when I was new to oil painting, and recently I figured out how to do it better. I painted right over the top, so I didn’t have to figure out any shapes or placement.  (Three Rivers is gorgeous in the spring. I know I keep saying that. But, really, the unemployment is terribly high, the air is nasty in the fall, and we are all fat, so don’t move here, ‘kay?)

This sequoia oil painting has better detail than the previous view. Why am I painting a sequoia in the snow when it is spring? Because CS wants it! And this California artist accepts commissions in oil. Pencil too.

Committing more Commissions

I painted three pomegranates for a nice lady of impeccable taste that came to my studio during Studio Tour Ten. She asked for one, and I painted three so that she would have choices and I would have more to sell at the Redbud Festival.

I also began this sequoia in snow for someone else. This is 2 layers of paint. A third layer is coming with more detail.

And this is the beginning of a new experience for me – painting in oil from a pencil drawing! I am purposely not looking for the reference photos, because I want to stay true to the drawing. That is what the customers requested, so that is what I will deliver!

Notice the California poppies in the background. They now have another layer of brilliant color on their little butterfly-like petals.

Isn’t this California artist-like? Sequoias, pomegranates, poppies. I like it here. 😎 (But you’d probably hate it because  there is no Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. Maybe that’s why we’re all fat.)