Author: cabinart

The Painting Factory continues to produce

I have decided that there are 3 kinds of sky colors applicable to my painting:

Photography blue – can be washed out, greyish blue or fakey overdone blue
Real blue, so frighteningly blue that no one would believe it in a painting
Believable painting blue that most painters just fall back on – default blue!

Blick.com had a great sale on 10×10″ canvases. Since I have enjoyed the 6×6″ squares so much, I decided to try these. There may be a show in Sequoia over Labor Day, and it makes sense to paint subjects that are relevant to that area. These are all from photos that I have used in the past, but the square format adds a challenge and makes them look new.

Drawing again!

One more week in the studio due to technical difficulties with the mural. The Mural Team will sort it out, and I should be back on the wall next week. Meanwhile, back at the studio, I am working on this large drawing of a beautiful back yard on the river.

It is taking a pile of reference photos, and a list of more needed is growing daily.

This is the upper left corner. I started there, and now am jumping all over the drawing because I am missing so much visual information. No matter how many photos I take, I always seem to need more. This is because people hire me for accuracy, not just my “impression”. My art is called “realism” for a reason!

commissions pencil drawing

Day Eleven on the Mural

After a very productive week in the studio, I returned to the wall today and was greeted by this sight:

This is Channel 26’s Great Day camera man and reporter Clayton Clark.

Clayton did a fake-out while I was unloading my supplies.

He wore a little thingie in his ear so the folks back in the Fresno studio could communicate with him. He did a little “teaser” every so often, and then interviewed someone every 15 minutes.

Here they are with Randy Groom, the new Exeter City Manager.

Clayton did some actual painting and enjoyed it enough that he painted when the camera wasn’t even on him. Made me feel like Tom Sawyer. 😎

I let him add his name to the helper signature section. While there, I found a message from Marilyn and the Uganda ladies! Made my day!

These folks saw us on teevee and stopped by to help.

This was definitely the most social and least productive day yet!

Channel 26 Great Day Clayton Clark Exeter murals Mineral King

Nice place to escape the heat

Mineral King Morning, 11×14″, oil on wrapped canvas, $175

Mineral King oil paintings

Life at the Painting Factory

Didn’t want you all to think all I do is stand before an easel – I DO have a life. Sort of. Okay, maybe it is more of a Cat Disorder, but it is MY Cat Disorder and I am quite content with this state (even though I know I can’t just quit anytime I want.)

Kaweah Kitty hates it when I take a break and is always on hand to help me find my way back to the painting workshop. (try to be polite about her tail – she can’t help it)

She has a tendency to lie underfoot – obviously she feels quite safe despite the fact that I might accidentally squash her when I step back to view the easel contents.

Butch just hunkers down in the RV garage and yells when I walk past. Poor little guy is an orphan and we don’t know what happened to Cashmere and O’Reilly.

Sometimes he comes outside, but he is skittish in the extreme. We can pet him now, but only on his terms. It took from November until May – that is a record! (not a good one – no idea how we will get him “fixed”)

Check out that non-tail. It’s why we call him Butch. Looks like a Manx, talks like a Siamese, acts like a psycho.

Dante, Finished?

(the weirdness around his nose is the reflection in the wet paint)

I am a one woman painting factory

One might think that after painting about 80 pieces of citrus, one might tire of the subject. One would be wrong.

The rough early stages no longer fill me with dread and worry that this will be the painting on which my career croaks.

These are for a special purpose and have a bit of a story. I bought 12 2×2″ canvases to try – no, oops, I bought 12 packages of 5 each! 60 of these little canvases should last me awhile.

Dante is just drying, and I have finally finished this early a.m. painting of Mineral King in addition to almost finishing a commission of redbud.

This is a table full of dreams and plans. It will take some time to think about my current inventory and upcoming shows before I know what sizes to paint which subjects. Anyone have a working crystal ball they can lend to me??

oil painting commissions

Dante, Improved

Here is Dante again after several hours. The proportions got reworked a bit, the background darkened, and more paint added all over. The eye on the right is a little weird, but the paint is too wet to respond to any commands from a brush!

Dante

This is a commissioned piece in progress of a magnificent German Shepherd. The customer is unable to see my emailed photos, so I am showing it to him in this fashion. You all can peek over our shoulders – we don’t mind!

Time in Mineral King (instead of just painting it)

A picture is worth a thousand words – here are 11,000 words for you to enjoy. Click on them to see them larger.

Entering White Chief bowl

This is as far as we went; still much snow remains

Lots of Blue Lips out!

The next day we went to Empire. This is an old road built by the miners and it is a great relief to find it after scrambling up a long steep slope.

Went high enough to see down into White Chief.

My goal was this nubbin at 10,500′. Michael went 200 feet higher, but my good sense (and lack of depth perception) caused me to wait. Waiting is seldom a problem for me.