6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $50
Farewell Gap is an unusually symmetrical mountain pass. The elevation is somewhere in the 10,000′ range, and the trail to get there is 6-1/2 miles long, very well graded, with fabulous flowers. I love that hike. (Never mind. Stupid plantar fasciitis.)
This year I am lollygagging about the cabin, enjoying the views from the valley. This is one of the best. This one sold, but I can paint it again. Happily! Love this view.
Mineral King, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $50
The Crowley family cabin with Farewell Gap in the background may be the most photographed scene in Mineral King. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve drawn and painted it. Each time I take the picture, I’m sure it is the most beautiful it has ever been. I’ve been to Farewell Gap many times (no helicopters were involved), met most of the Crowley family and had dinner at their cabin. Lovely family, lovely cabin, lovely scene.
This painting is sold, but I am always happy to paint it again!
6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $50
This is the Honeymoon Cabin in Mineral King. Originally it was part of the resort at the end of the road. Disney bought the resort, and then abandoned the idea of a ski resort because Mineral King was incorporated into Sequoia National Park. They removed all the buildings except this little cabin. The Mineral King Preservation Society restored the cabin in 1986, and now it is a mini-museum. It is so very cute, and each time I paint it, it sells.
Yep. it sold, but I can paint it for you again.
6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $50
This is Sawtooth, 12, 343′ in elevation, reached by foot out of Mineral King. It shows up from the valley floor, particularly in Tulare County where it is located. I’ve painted and drawn it many times. I’ve also been over Sawtooth Pass, below Sawtooth at Monarch Lake and at Columbine Lake, partway up Sawtooth, flown off its side in a helicopter, climbed it once, and looked at it more times that can be counted. When you are near its top, it looks too small to be visible from Visalia. This painting is for sale at the Silver City Store, or you can buy it on my website.
This is a movement, or perhaps a trend, or maybe even a fad in the Artworld. I’ve considered it for several years, but seem to have too much work to be slamming out extras. And I would be “slamming them out’, because layered and detailed is my preferred way of painting. But, I can and often do paint daily among the tasks of blogging, updating my website, drawing, paying bills, tending the studio garden, teaching drawing lessons, returning phone calls and emails, bookkeeping, running to the Post Office, designing murals, bidding jobs, framing drawings, keeping up with inventory, photographing my work, et cetera. (Notice this list does not include Facebook. I am still resisting, but feeling the pressure and beginning to weaken.)
“Scuse me. I got distracted with that list. Had to go lie down for a bit, revive my spirits with a bit of chocolate.
It occurred to me that I don’t have to pay a fee to join a daily painting site. Nor do I have to announce that I am going to do FIFTY PAINTINGS IN FIFTY DAYS or whatever grand scheme I might concoct by staying up too late at night, consuming too much chocolate, stewing over ideas to generate interest and create sales.
Nope, all I have to do is show you one painting every day. In fact, I am going to do that for 5 days in a row. Maybe even 6 days. Aren’t you excited??
This was a painting done from the Hidden Garden Tour. I did 8 different paintings, of which 5 sold, including this one. It has a certain glow to it, and might have been the best one of the lot. Of course, taste is an individual matter.
I have a policy in my kitchen that unless an item performs 3 tasks, it doesn’t belong. A friend tested me once, going through my drawers, pulling out things and saying “Aha! What about this?” (Hi, Carol!)
(Just for your information, a potato masher turns bananas into bread worthy gunk, mashes 2 kinds of potatoes and pulverizes applesauce. Just sayin’.)
I’m not entirely unreasonable about this, because I am NOT giving up my popcorn popper. (A nut chopper? Get lost, Pal – I have a chef’s knife and I know how to use it!)
When I painted the mural on panels for the museum at Mooney Grove, it pained me to have to buy these clips. Almost caused a twitch under my eye with their one-function purpose in my studio.
Yesterday I began a set of 6×6″ paintings. This is usually routine business, but with this splint on my hand, it it not possible to hold the canvases in my usual manner. HEY! THOSE CLIPS!
Look. I was in such denial about having to buy One Function Stuff that I never removed the tags.
What handy little canvas holders. BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE. . .
They work as easels too! That’s 3 functions for these items – guess I’ll keep them.
Kaweah Kitty
(fearless feline)
Friend’s Fruits
Food Fiend
(Killer Kitty)
Wrecked Wrist
(Spica Splint)
Gopher Getter
(Precious Perkins)
With thanks to The Pioneer Woman for the idea. . .
Critter Catcher
Possible Painting
Cottage Collage
Cute Cabin
Sad Shack
Stunning Sequoia
(Possible Painting!)
General Grant (Gigantea!)
Bridge Brotherhood
Orange Orange
Knitting Knut
Buckeye Bridge, 16×12″, oil on wrapped canvas, $250
Tulare County is poor. We have high unemployment, even in better times. We aren’t very educated, and people buy inexpensive posters and cheap prints for their homes and offices. But not everyone. . . I have been earning my living with art, a full-time occupation, a business with art as my product since 1993. How?? By God’s grace, for sure. By not giving up. By building my skill and my reputation as a reliable business person who works well with customers, has fair (read “cheap”) prices and meets deadlines.
My good friend and I have been discussing art, business, and all variations of same.We know it is a luxury rather than a necessity. We know it continues to sell, people continue to buy it, even in a place like Tulare County, even in crummy times.
Why do people buy art? I thought of eleven reasons.
Have you bought art? Care to share why?
My Friend/Customer came by to see the deer. This was at my request, because I really had no idea if I was meeting her vision. This is what she saw:
We discussed it endlessly, and I ended up dabbing on some accents of light green in the foliage. (Scared her!) We discussed it some more, and she decided to just let me paint it in my regular style! Detail, precision, accuracy, my style! Phew, this was sort of fun, but sort of nerve-wracking. Now, I am looking forward to completing this painting, my way! I will leave the background vague (but not as vague as it is here – ‘twould give me a twitch under my left eye.)
It might seem strange that I “allow” a customer to have this much influence on my work. It isn’t strange to me, because commission work is for specific customers, painted to their wishes. This is made easier by practice, and this one was particularly easy because of the relationship I have with this friend.
She isn’t just any friend. She is a very special friend. When we met 12 years ago, I had a studio in Exeter, drove an ’88 Accord, had a Dad, and had only one cat. I only worked in pencil and only drew scenery, buildings, and agriculture. Lessons only happened at my studio in Exeter, and I was on the Mural Team.
Due to the influence and encouragement of this dear person, I learned to draw faces. Colored pencil crept in, and she helped me see the necessity of building skill with it. She talked me into giving drawing lessons in my dining room and found a full class to make it worth my while. Together we hashed out the reasons for me to close my Exeter studio, the reasons to learn to oil paint, and she encouraged me to learn how to paint murals.
See why I listen to her?? Can’t wait to do the best deer ever for this incredible friend!
