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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
It’s Pretty Here
Three Rivers, Tulare County, central California, is GORGEOUS in the spring. Here are 4000 words worth of photos: Looks as if Michael is leading horses to water. He didn’t have to make them drink. This is just an average morning, out on an average walk, on an average spring day. My yard only looks like […]
Drawing Tools
Hmmm, that could mean “creating a picture of tools using a pencil”. It doesn’t. It means this blog post is going to explain to you some tools used in drawing. I probably used all the techniques (except the last one) in this drawing called “Release”. An eraser shouldn’t need explaining. It erases; you get that! […]
Peeking into the painting studio and eavesdropping on conversations
Um, would you paint something just for me? You betcha! I’d be happy to paint something for you! What did you have in mind? How about a pomegranate? How about 3 of them? Then you can decide which one you like best. Would you ever be willing to paint a sequoia in the snow, say, […]
Phinished, but not Photo’d (or Finished but not Foto’d?)
Move that scaffolding, I’m finished! The scaffolding was in the way of photographing the completed Oak Tree mural, so until I can stop back by for photos, this is the best I can show you. We kept adding things, and found out that the cover-up paint didn’t exactly match the wall color. That seriously curtailed […]
Oak Tree Mural, Day 2-1/2
My old house is down there! (not discernible, but still. . .!) This is the view from where the mural is located. I try not to go outside very often because it makes me miss Lemon Cove, and it makes me forget what I am supposed to be doing! Could hardly sleep the night before […]
Oak Mural, Day Two
This California artist began the oak tree mural by working on the middle level of the scaffolding. There is a method here: build the trunk and largest branches first, get off the scaffolding and evaluate; build the trunk down to the ground, look again at the middle branches to see if they are appropriately stout […]
Oak Mural
Call me “Butter” – I’m on a roll! A tree mural roll, that is. This time the wall was inside someone’s home. It began looking like this: There was a pile of scaffolding outside, and 4 strong men available to assemble it. And a sister on hand to tell Jeremy how dangerous his position was. […]