Blog tutorial

Lemons VII, oil on wrapped canvas, 8×10

If you are on my email list, about every week or 2 you receive an email from me. It mostly says hello and this is what is in my blog and here is the link. People ask me about these emails when they haven’t heard for awhile. Some people don’t read my blog unless I resend the link. People also ask questions about how to access certain posts or if I have ever written about a subject.

  1. If you would like to be on my personal notification list, you can email and ask, or you can use the Artist button at the top of the page and click  “Contact The Artist” . I might be able to figure out myself how to add one directly to my blog, but I’d rather be writing or painting or drawing or anything else!
  2. If you would like to receive automatic notification each time I post, look to the left of this entry. Scroll down if necessary. See the thing that says FEED ON? (No clue what that means but it doesn’t mean lunch is coming, sorry.) Underneath, see Posts RSS? click on that. It gives you a place to enter your eddress (isn’t that a clever word?); then, each time I post, you get an email from WordPress with a clickable link to my blog.
  3. If you would like to learn about a particular subject, you can scroll down to Categories and click on whatever subject piques your interest.
  4. If you missed an entire month and would like to catch up, you can scroll down to Monthly and click on the month you’d like to read.
  5. If you are looking to read other blogs but don’t know where to begin, scroll down to Blogs I Follow and click on any of them. Each of those blogs may have its own “blog roll” with clickable links to other blogs. This is a great way to find interesting reading material and learn of new subjects. I find other blogs to be great sources of information and inspiration. For example, I recently read a blog about blogs. It said lemons are cheerful and welcoming. Really? Do you feel cheered and welcomed? I hope so!

Thanks.

Class dismissed.

Don’t You Get Bored Working Alone At Home?

Grapes V, 6×6, oil on wrapped canvas, sold

Nope. Look at the things I could/can/should/am/will do:

  1. draw
  2. paint
  3. blog
  4. update website
  5. photograph work
  6. sort through photos and refile those used/stacked/piled/contemplated
  7. plan for upcoming shows
  8. package notecards and reproduction prints
  9. sweep the dead scorpions and spider webs from the studio
  10. write another bio for the upcoming studio tour
  11. decide what to paint next
  12. update inventory lists
  13. look at artists’ websites
  14. read artist blogs
  15. read art marketing blogs
  16. visit a gallery or museum
  17. follow up on inquiries about commission work/lessons/paintings for sale

This list didn’t include rehanging my work in the studio, wrapping and shipping work to shows and customers, going to the Post Office, paying bills, updating accounting, balancing the checkbook, or weeding and pruning outside the studio.

Are you tired yet?

‘Scuse me, I need to go lie down.

Teaching without a degree

Honeymoon Cabin, pencil, 11×14, unframed, $300

A few years ago I took 1/2 a semester of oil painting at a local junior college. I learned more about painting from only the primary colors, and I learned about layering (called “glazing” in Artspeak). I learned that I need more light to see than a 19 year old, that just because a class is labeled something (“Photorealism”) doesn’t mean it is that class (it was Studio painting), that I have very little tolerance for rap “music” (rhythmic and profane chanting would be a more accurate term for it), and that the teacher was still trying to “stick it to The Man”. Hunh? He also had very little tolerance for my ilk – a wannabe without a Master’s of Fine Arts posing as an artist and an art teacher.

That’s me – a poser of the first degree!  Gotta have a degree in something to teach, I suppose.

So, Mr. Stick-It-To-The-Man, why are you bitterly and loudly complaining about working at a junior college while I am making and selling art? Hmmmm???

In addition, I learned that there is a real contempt out there for those of us who chose to paint from photos. One of the most influential painters and writers in my so-called art career is Jack White, and he says “All realistic artists either work from photos or they lie about it.”

I do teach people how to draw and they learn and they love it. The only ones who don’t learn are the ones who quit too soon!

I quit the painting class. But, I continue to paint, to learn more about painting by reading and practicing, and I sell lots of paintings. Take that, Mr. Stick-it-to-the-man!

But I’m not bitter. 😎

I believe strongly and whole-heartedly that drawing well is the basis for painting well.

Look at this – Shereen learned to draw!

Drawing Lessons

I teach people how to draw. The lessons are probably considered “semi-private” because each student receives one-on-one instruction, but in a small class.

Just the facts: 4 people at one time, one hour each week, each working on her own piece at her own pace. Youngest – 6th grade. Oldest – too polite to ask! Cost – $50 per month.

We meet every Tuesday afternoon at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter, except for July, August and December. We draw from photos, see each other’s progress, learn from doing, learn from watching, learn from one another. (And yes, I am speaking in the royal “we”.) July and August feel like a long time to go without drawing. Often I lose a student or 2 during this break; more often, I gain new students.

Why learn to draw? You can read about the reasons here: Reasons To Learn To Draw (Thank you, Captain Obvious!)

If you are interested in taking drawing lessons, you may call or email me to get on a waiting list. Or, if you would rather learn in private, you can schedule private lessons. This means all my attention, all to, by, and for yourself! Is that a good thing? Ask my drawing students!

Superlatives!

Tulare County is a place of superlatives. Sadly, we rank highest in the nation in being fat, uneducated, diabetic, poor; we make more teenage moms, have terrible unemployment and the dirtiest air. Ready to run away screaming yet? I don’t know all the specific statistics, only that we are either the “best” at those terrible things or close to it.

That’s the bad news. Perhaps it isn’t all that bad if it prevents our population from booming like that of Orange County, but that is a stretch of “glass half full” thinking.

The good news is that we have the largest trees (Sequoia Gigantea), the oldest trees (valley oaks), highest point (Mt. Whitney), smallest operating Post Office (don’t worry, we have normal sized ones too!), produce more dairy than Wisconsin,  we produce prodigious amounts of citrus and we feed the world. No kidding! Tulare County, my home.

Sunny Sequoias IXX, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $75

Worth It!, oil, sold

Sold (yes, I know this isn’t a Valley Oak, but I haven’t painted one of those yet!)

Kaweah Post Office, sold, another one on the easel, stay tuned!

Oranges 83 – 11×14 on canvas in black wooden frame, $250

List of unrelated thoughts with one semi-related piece of art

  1. I see only one movie in a theater a year. It has to do with the time, the distance, and my pickiness high level of discernment.
  2. This year’s movie was The Help. I would gladly see it again. It is the best movie I’ve seen in longer than I can remember!
  3. The theater was at a mall, and there weren’t many parking spaces. I find that puzzling in this county, in this economy.
  4. 90% of the cars in the mall’s parking lot were newer than mine. That also puzzles me in this county, in this economy.
  5. My new custom orthotics feel good, and I KNOW this stupid plantar fasciitis will be healed soon. Maybe I should sign up for a walking 1/2 marathon so I have a training goal.
  6. Ellen,  the Best Knitter I know, saw my wrist/thumb splint and said, “I have De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis too”. She is left handed with an affected right hand. I’m right handed with an affected left hand. Hmmmm. . .
  7. Such a wild and reckless life I lead – injured from walking and knitting. Good thing I am not a sky diver or skeet shooter!
  8. Three people have asked me about portrait commissions. Portraits are even harder to me than murals. Perhaps that is why I sit at the computer instead of returning those phone calls.
  9. There is a 2″ watermelon in my garden. Grow, baby, grow!
  10. I have begun a Huge HUGE new project. So far it has involved 9 nights away from home, and it is currently covering my dining table in the house and the work table in the studio. In the fullness of time, more will be revealed.  Meanwhile, my lips are sealed.

Daily Painting 13

Hidden Gardens 2, 8×8″, $75

Historic adobe house, lavender farm, fabulous garden, and a view of the fake Comb Rocks. The real Comb Rocks is out the the frame to the left. (It’s a Three Rivers thing, with apologies to those of you who are wondering what I’m going on about.) The number of available views to paint from that one location would seriously cut into my gardening time if I lived there! I do a great deal of gawking while I walk past that particular location.

Daily Painting 12

Hidden Gardens 5, 10×8″, $90

Well, why not? We were on the subject of flowers this week and I haven’t shown you all the Hidden Gardens Tour paintings yet. This is one of the 3 remaining in my possession. I’m thinking about putting them for auction on eBay, seeing if I can raise a little cash for Three Rivers Union School. Just thinking about it.  The Hidden Gardens Tour was very successful in raising cash for our little one school school district. It is a rare community that has a K-8th grade school, and ours is very important to the entire town. Hmmm, might be talking myself into it. More will be revealed. . .

WALKING AGAIN!

Excuse me. Didn’t mean to shout at you with that title. Okay, pants-on-fire, I DID mean to shout! I’m happy!! After receiving a boatload of stuff from a podiatrist, along with the reassurance that walking won’t permanently injure my foot, I’m back on the trail. A little huffy-puffy, but I can work back into it.

The best flowers in Mineral King aren’t usually in Mineral King. They are 4 miles above it, where the trail splits to go to Farewell Gap or Franklin Lake and Pass. This year’s flower season is condensed, due to the late start. These photos are a week old, because I was so into that Daily Painting thing that I delayed showing you.

Michael’s favorite

My favorite