Recently, I had to leave Three Rivers at 10 a.m. This presented two choices: A. waste time until 10, or B. paint for an hour or two before leaving. Being the responsible mature adult that I am (oh hush, you!), I wisely chose B. Creating Tulare County-based paintings is what I do; wasting time is […]
Growing an Oak Tree (in Oil Paint)
Let’s review. I really liked this painting, but no one was willing to give me green pieces of paper with dead presidents’ faces on it in exchange. So, after going through some photos and thinking about my current inventory, I decided to grow a big oak tree on the canvas. Jackson required some attention. He […]
Drastic Do-over in the Painting Workshop
A friend of mine sells agriculture real estate. When I used to waste time on LinkedIn*, occasionally I’d see a photo of his and ask to paint from it. That’s where I got this painting, Springville Ranch. Apparently, no one else shared my interest in this subject or my happiness with the colors. Bye-bye, Springville […]
Fridays are about Mineral King*
I have some new friends, acquaintances really, because we haven’t met in real life, but we are learning to know each other. They are bloggers like me, but with much bigger audiences, so I feel honored that they show up here from time to time. They don’t know about Mineral King so here is a […]
More Tasks in the Painting Workshop
When a painting doesn’t sell, I study it to discern what can be improved. This painting has been with me for awhile, so I gave it some thought and then made a few subtle changes. I don’t expect you to be able to discern what I did to it, but maybe after it is dry […]
Finishing Tasks in the Painting Workshop
The reason I refer to “the painting workshop” instead of “the studio” is because I paint in a different building than where I draw. The drawing studio came first, and when I began oil painting on March 8, 2006, it was imperative to keep that mess away from my pencil drawings. It still is imperative; […]
Sold in Spring
Learned in May? Who had time to learn anything when I was painting like a machine and paintings were selling at warp speed. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. It only felt like warp speed (nope, no idea what that actually means) compared to a s l o w s l o w s […]
Nine Things Learned in May
In the lengthy month of May (why does 31 days feel so much longer than 30?) I spent time finding interesting things to ponder on the interwebs along with painting, planting native plants at my church, drawing a map, and getting used to the two-home rhythms of summer. I also took in the last wildflowers […]
Mineral King—the Season has Begun
For those new to my blog, Mineral King is an area of Sequoia National Park where I spend copious amounts of time in the summer. Next Friday I will provide a more in depth explanation. Today’s post is a long one. You’ve been warned. . . The road is under construction, so it is a […]
Finishing Two More Oil Paintings
This painting has been on hold for many months. Finally, I felt able to finish it. After working on Sawtooth #66 with the water, and Sawtooth #65 with all the made up things, this suddenly felt quite manageable. Success breeds confidence. Let’s paint a sunset at the beach. First, I mixed a bunch of sunset […]