The end of January had some very clear days with temperatures in the 60s. We took advantage of this to check out the Mineral King Road, just as far as where the snow might become a driving problem. There was no agenda, just some friends hanging out, stopping when and where something struck our fancy. […]
Returning to My Favorite Subject
Orange groves, foothills, and mountains remain my favorite subject to paint. (It used to be the Oak Grove Bridge, and who knows what it will be next?) I painted this to hang in my dining area, but put it on my website and then, lo and behold, it sold! (off the website—I didn’t open my […]
Eight New Things Learned in January
1.Quill Driver Books is a traditional publishing company in Fresno. Fresno?? How could I have not heard of this place? They aren’t accepting any submissions, but the books they sell look very interesting. 2. Just for fun, have a look at this tree called the “wonky conker”. I don’t remember where I saw it, but […]
Seven New Oil Paintings, Assembly-line Style
When Kaweah Arts closed in early January for a couple of months, I retrieved all my paintings. Kaweah Arts sold well for me in its three year span despite serious hardships: a plague, a fire, another fire, and a flood, each one leading to the closure of Sequoia National Park, which meant the flow of […]
Pictures, Photos, Snapshots, Oh My
33,170. That is how many photos are on my laptop. I have 12 little drawers full of snapshots collected and used for pencil drawing over the last 37 years. These are in the studio. I have a filing cabinet full of photos taken, organized and used for oil paintings and murals over the past 18 […]
Bumbling Along With One, Almost Finishing Another, and Finishing a Third
Your Central California artist bumbles along on one Tulare County oil painting, almost finished another, and finished a commission. Let’s start with the bumble. The differences are subtle between the before and the after version. In the after version, the lower left corner makes more sense, and there are more branches on the trees. A […]
Commission, Cat, Correction, Challenge
Someone, let’s call her JL, bought this 8×8″ painting, “Hiking Mineral King” at Kaweah Arts as a Christmas gift for her son. He loved it and requested a second 8×8″ painting to go with it for his birthday. JL isn’t familiar with Mineral King, so I made a couple of suggestions. The son chose Sawtooth, […]
Painting Early Summer on a Winter Day
Dry Creek Road is one of Tulare County’s gems. At the bottom of this country road, there are cattle, irrigated pastures, wildflowers in spring, and views of layered hills (beer cans too, but we will ignore those). This painting combines several of these elements, and depicts late spring when a hint of green remains while […]
Little Changes, New Start
These two paintings needed more work. (Doesn’t this look weird??) One of my drawing students* pointed out that with the yellow only appearing at the lower 1/3 of the painting, the 2 different parts look like 2 different seasons. This is a case of needing to change reality. You can get away with odd things […]
Working From Photos Is Not Wrong
The Art World in general looks down on studio artists who work from photos. I mention this from time to time, because the notion that working from photos is wrong bothers me. In order to work from my photographs, I have to find the scenes, find the best angles, light, and cropping. The photos go […]