Drawing cabins in pencil is the way I started my art business. Now I spend 90% of my artmaking time as an oil painter, so when I get asked to draw a cabin, I am really happy about it! Someone from Minnesota found me on the internet and asked if I could draw her parents’ […]
Some flowers, a painting, and a lost and found sketch
A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I decided to ride bikes in Lemon Cove, because there are flat roads down there. We parked at the Lemon Cove Woman’s Club (I think that is the odd way the name is spelled), and we were just slayed by the orange blossom scent and the incredible […]
Recently (ish) Sold Paintings
Seeing a collection of paintings that has sold provides fuel to keep me painting during a season of slow sales. This is a season of producing; November-December was a season of selling.
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 Fruit Instead of the Golden Gate Bridge
I had a few unexpected hours available to paint and decided to not waste that time doing something useless like weeding or vacuuming or painting the Golden Gate Bridge (just your basic endless repetitive chore). I worked on the commissioned oil painting, 6×18″ for my friend/customer to fit between 2 other fruit paintings in her […]
Library of My Youth, Chapter 4
Today I will show you what I submitted for the 2nd mural on the Ivanhoe Library. For review, here is what the selection committee provided. Here is what I submitted for this entry way. Here is my explanation. “Mural B shows 2 Valley Oaks, quercus lobata, which is the largest American oak, native to Tulare […]
Library of My Youth, Chapter 3
Okay, I’ll quit stalling now. This is what the Ivanhoe Library mural project gave to the potential artists. First, I introduced myself with this. “I am very pleased to be able to submit two designs for the library of my youth. I grew up outside of Ivanhoe, attending Ivanhoe Elementary School K-8. I credit my […]
Library of My Youth, Chapter 2
I am stalling in showing you the actual designs because I feel gun-shy. After 14 months of working with a large organization and then never getting the job, I am cautiously optimistic that this mural job will come to fruition. So, today I will simply show you the pictures I presented to the mural selection […]
The Library of my Youth, Chapter 1
I grew up in the country, with the choice of asking Mom to drive me or riding my bike if I wanted to go somewhere. (One did not bother Dad, because he was working; we were Mom’s work.) She rarely denied me when I asked her to take me to the library 2-4 miles away […]