Behind a Locked Gate

Last week I got to spend a day in a place behind a locked gate. (It’s always Who You Know.) It was cold, and there was about 20 minutes of sunshine available in the middle of the day. I walked, enjoyed, and took photographs to share with you. You all deserve to share in the enjoyment without having to break any rules yourselves!

It was really cold.

Kind of makes you want a sweater, hunh?

Don’t those frozen drops look as if  you could just unzip the rocks?

You shiverin’ yet?

Very very little snow, only in the shade. That’s why we were able to go there at this time of year.

Starting to figure it out yet?

Be the first to tell me where we were, and I’ll send you a little prize! (Not you Diane because I already told you! And not you either, Cathy, for the same reason!)

Indoor Mural, Day 3

But Wait! There’s More! At the bottom of the staircase mural of Giant Sequoias is an open area with 6 doors leading off of it. Now, each of those 6 doors has its own identity!

Behind Door #1 is the library. Over Door #1 is dogwood, carolinus florida, or, as it is known in Three Rivers, “Karl Opitz’s tree”.

Door #2 leads into the workout room; feel happy and inspired to sweat by viewing these Bigelow Sneezeweeds.

Door #3 is a closet, and those blurry blue-ish flowers are bush lupine.

Door #4 leads to the Crew’s Quarters, and it is graced by Redbud.

Door #5 leads to the Captain’s Quarters, a room for crafts with California poppies providing inspiration.

Door #6 is the under-the-stairs closet and those are (happy sigh, love these little ones) Baby Blue Eyes.

Indoor Mural, Day 2

This California artist has completed Phase One of her indoor mural of Giant Sequoias/Redwoods/Big Trees for some exceptional people of fine taste. They have a particular fondness for these trees, and sell fabulous chairs made from some of the fallen ones (from private land – don’t gitchur knickers in a twist!). You can find them on eBay: Redwood Adirondack Chairs.

One more thing about this mural – it comes with a promise to retouch it if a grandchild goes nutso with a crayon or marker!

An Indoor Mural of Giant Sequoias

This week I began painting a mural of Giant Sequoias in the lower story of a house in Three Rivers. As I painted, it occurred to me that there are a number of advantages to indoor murals.

  1. The light stays constant (this particular wall has no light from the outdoors).
  2. The sun will not fade the mural.
  3. The paint does not dry in my palette from sun and wind.
  4. My skin is not aging from the sun while I paint.
  5. I don’t have to keep changing my layers – too hot, too cold, too hot, too cold.
  6. There is no wind to blow over an umbrella or steal my photos.
  7. Nobody stops by to ask if I am the artist.

Wow, much more of this and I will begin making excuses for not doing outdoor murals!

In the morning, the wall looked like this:

When I stopped for lunch (a quick snack – takes too long to eat!), it looked like this:

At the end of the day, it looked like this:

Secret Ornament, Day 2

The main elements are in place and it has now been hanging by my wood stove for 2 days and it isn’t dry yet!  I can hear my Oh So Wise Dad’s voice in my head, “Whatever you do, don’t panic.” Okeydokey, Daddy-O, but can we get this thing a-dryin’ here so I can get to a-paintin’?

Another odd job

From time to time I get asked to do unusual things with my art abilities. Remember the original ornament? I painted it for the White House Christmas tree in 2007. I wrote about it the following December in 4 parts on my blog.

  1. The Ornament Story, chapter one
  2. The Ornament Story, chapter two
  3. The Ornament Story, chapter three
  4. The Ornament Story, chapter four

A man recently tracked me down via my website and requested that I paint an ornament as a Christmas gift for his parents. I asked him a number of questions about available photographs, amount of detail, and his expectations in general. He answered every question and went to a great deal of trouble finding the kind of ornament he wanted and having it shipped overnight to my studio.

A giant carton arrived via FedEx. It was full of fluffy paper and in the center was a fancy silver box with a purple ribbon. Inside that was more fluff and bubble wrap and tissue. In the very center was this ornament:

Oh my goodness. I hope I don’t mess it up! My customer has great faith in my abilities and I will do my very best on this project!

Remember, it is TOP-SECRET! If you recognize the house at anytime during my showing of the process, DO NOT UTTER  A WORD TO ANY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY!

Thank you. I have faith in your ability to keep secrets. It is not as if this is the World Wide Web or anything. . . right?

Most Popular Pencil Drawing

Whenever I put on an art show for my drawing students, it includes a popularity contest. Anyone who views the show may vote for his 3 favorite pieces. I do this because it causes visitors to spend more time studying the work. When folks say, “How am I supposed to decide?”, I respond with this: “Vote for the pieces that call you back”.

The piece that called the most viewers back was . . .

Kirby’s “Swan”!!

In addition to being the most popular, it sold! In addition to selling to one eager customer, there was another person waiting in the sidelines for the first buyer to change his mind! (And Kirby, it wasn’t a “mercy purchase” because he said it cost too much for that!!)

Congratulations, Kirby!!

Colors, a post event list of thoughts

  1. What a confusing weather day. It was frosty out when I loaded the car, and I was just sure I’d shiver all day long.
  2. I set up in the direct sunshine on Wendy’s porch and was just sure I’d hot to death.
  3. Notice the spacious spacing on the display panels. What do you think?
  4. It was weird to weed through my paintings and figure out which to show and which to leave out.
  5. Many friends showed up!
  6. I met some new folks.
  7. Despite the counsel to drop pencil and focus on oil painting (from Those In The Know About Such Things), more pencil items sold than oil paintings.
  8. The pencil things cost less; is there a correlation between price and sales?
  9. Does Mickey Mouse have ears?
  10. Colors is a beautiful store/gallery/happening place, and this California artist is grateful to be in such a fine artsy place as Three Rivers!