We last saw the cabin scene oil painting when I was confused about the conflicting light sources:
With each successive layer, cohesion and coherence gets restored. (Aren’t big words great?)
I’m still missing the details needed to confidently paint this side of the cabin. My photo is outdated, and I have word out to some people who might have the necessary visual information.
It is rather astonishing and somewhat disappointing to me that I don’t have the details of every cabin memorized. One would think as an artist. . . but one would be wrong.
I just bumble along like the rest of the world. So, enjoy a closer look at the left side of the painting. It might be finished, sort of, maybe, but then again, I might want to continue adding details.
That’s what pencil artists do with enough time when handed oil paints and tiny brushes.
Making a cabin scene is different from just making a scene.
A cabin owner requested a painting of her cabin as a gift for her husband. (He only looks at the blog when it is about Mineral King AND she forwards the link to him, so I’m not ruining any surprises here.) She wants it to include a view that normally doesn’t show with the cabin, and requested a square format.
Because this is a little difficult, all this mind-reading, designing, and putting together things that aren’t normally together, I didn’t make a scene but began with sketches.
If you recognize this cabin, SHHHHH, IT IS A SURPRISE!!
She asked for square, so I showed her two squares plus a 6×18″ and this cabin painting; she agreed with me about this size and shape working well for her idea.
I thought I was out of this size of canvas, so I ordered some more. After they arrived and I was putting them away, I saw that I already had some that size. Someone around here could use an assistant, or perhaps a better administrator. Oh well. . . they won’t go to waste.
Will this fit?Yeppers, it fits, so get some paint on this canvas!
They all start ugly. No need to be afraid for me or the painting or the customer or the husband. No one will need to make a scene. (But wait! Is this creative??)
Starting with what I know, I put paint on Farewell Gap in the distance.The trees are next. They are just a mass of greens with some variation in the values (ArtSpeak for lights and darks).
A risk of this sort of photo-combining is that the 2 photos might have the light coming from 2 different sources. Would the customer or the viewer notice? I might be able to cheat, but it might bug me forever. So I began reworking the color on the mountains, because it is easier than figuring out how the cabin shadows could be reversed. I pushed more paint around until my fingers got cold and my efforts felt ineffective. This is far enough for now.
Realizing the problem of conflicting light sources almost caused me to make a scene, but that would have only served to upset Tucker and Scout.
Is watching grapes get painted about the same as watching paint dry on a fence?
Don’t answer that!
Outlining the grapes first seemed like the right approach.I wanted to start filling them in before the outlines were finished, but restrained myself.Sometimes it is easier to support my hand in a different position. Besides, to draw a circle, it is best to be on the inside of the circle.I filled them in from top to bottom, and for the most part, I just ignored the photo. And grapes come in all sorts of shades of purple, violet, red-violet, greenish purple (gurple), so no matter what I do within those boundaries, it will be believable.And kept rotating the canvas as I went.
When this is dryer, I will add brighter sunshine on the edges of some of the grapes. That contrast is what made me go for my camera when I saw these grapes.
And now it is dryer, and I am finished! Looks better right side up, yes?
Remember to contact me if you bought a 2019 calendar in person – if you bought it through the website, I have your info already.
A dear friend bought some little fruit paintings for her dining room a couple of years ago.
She decided that another painting would look good on the other side of the window. I agreed.
We discussed the options, and she thought grapes would be good there. I told her that grapes are crazy hard, so we discussed another option, maybe a collage, but the design process made grapes sound pretty good. She and I have been friends since about 5th grade, and I am willing to do crazy hard for her. Crazy hard in painting beats crazy hard in design right now. . . don’t know why, but that’s the way it is.
The pink line is just a weird thing that my computer does some times – it is not part of the painting.
Remember to contact me if you bought a 2019 calendar in person – if you bought it through the website, I have your info already.
Until I began this painting, I never noticed that the sign above the door is not centered.
Now there are chairs on the porch and geraniums in the window boxes.
And now, it is finished! Next, I’ll sign it, paint the edges, wait for it to dry, scan or photograph it, varnish it, wait for it to dry again, and then mail it.
“Two Pencil and Colored Pencil Drawings of One Old Gas Pump” is too long of a title for a blog post, but it is more accurate than “Two Gas Pumps”.
Let’s review:
Two sketchesDrawing #1 of the Silver City gas pump under way.Drawing #2 under way.
Now, new pictures for you.
Pump drawing #1 before color added.Pump #1 with color added.Gas Pump #2 before color added.Gas Pump #2 with color added.
I can do a tiny bit better. #1 needs more separation between the closer and the more distant trees. Pump #2 needs to be a bit smoother. Both could be a bit brighter in the color department.
A bit more distinction to push the farther trees back.A smoother surface on the pump.
In progress on my drawing table and on the easels:
This is a little tedious to draw because all the background foliage is just organized scribbling with lots of layers. I’ve been listening to things on the internet to keep myself from falling asleep.There’s a story here. . . I’ll tell you later when I figure out the ending.Oil paintings of 4×6″ pomegranate and 6×18″ Sequoia Gigantea/Redwood/Big Tree are now begun. What a mess, but each layer will bring improvement and renewed confidence in my skill. (I don’t paint well when it is hot out, and it was when I began these.)Ever draw a gas pump? (Ever use one??) After the customer approves the pencil (graphite) part, I’ll spray fix it and then use some red colored pencils. The proportions were wrong – was I sleep-drawing? No worries – I corrected things and the finished product will be fine.And on the chair behind me were these little hooligans, resting from their shenanigans.
What sort of stupid-sounding blog post title is that?
An honest one. I paint better when I am not overheated, and in spite of the calendar having turned to autumn, the swamp cooler in the painting workshop is still in use. I painted better this session than the last one because I was more comfortable.
Yuck, it is hot in here.Much better, thanks, and yourself?
Several of these still need a signature. That is easier when the paint is dry.
It was still hot last week. I painted awhile in the workshop but didn’t turn on the swamp cooler. Probably should have. Painted slowly, quit early.
Layering the background.More layers on the store and foreground.The camellia is coming along nicely, and when this layer is dry, I’ll add the tiny details.
The lemons might be finished.
I retreated to the studio and turned on the air conditioner. While listening to interviews with the very smart and entertaining Mike Rowe, I began this pencil commission.
I love to draw.
Drawing #1 of the Silver City gas pump is now under way.
My commissioning customer/old family friend told me in our correspondence that she was interested in a pencil drawing of the gas pump at the Silver City Store. If you have seen it, you might understand. If you haven’t, you might consider this peculiar.
What I consider peculiar is that earlier this summer, while delivering some more oil paintings to this popular place near Mineral King, I was struck by a particular view and angle of the gas pump; I took some photos without having any idea that Ms. Customer would make such a request.
We discussed these photos. I referred to the peak in the distance as Hengst Peak; she told me she grew up calling it Mosquito Peak because it is above Mosquito Lakes. I thought it was over Mineral Lakes, but there is already a Mineral Peak in Mineral King (well, duh). It is the one that looks like Sawtooth’s shadow, but I digress. And I defer to her greater history in Silver City, so for purposes of this discussion, it will be Mosquito Peak. Not that we are talking about the peak–we are talking about the gas pump.
Sorry.
But then she requested a photo showing the road too, so on my next trip up the hill, I took these photos.
More discussion ensued. More clarification. This is normal. . . these things take time to figure out on my end and to decide on the customer’s end.
Finally, it was time to do some little sketches to be sure that I am understanding her wishes.
Good thing she knows that I know how to draw. We’ll see if I caught her vision for the gas pump in pencil. Stay tuned, for as you know, more will be revealed in the fullness of time.
Until I began this painting, I never noticed that the sign above the door is not centered.
