Recently Completed

See? I have been working, despite the all the travelogue posts. (It takes more days to show and tell about a trip than the trip actually lasted).

“First Granddaughter” (no, not mine!), 8×10″, pencil, private collection
Mineral King Alpenglow, 6×18″, oil on wrapped canvas, private collection

Little Odd Job of Wildflowers

A friend-collector (collector-friend? friend/collector? How do I call these wonderful folks??) brought me a hand mirror, requesting that I paint wildflowers on the back.

I began with a sketch in colored pencil to see if I was on the same track with her.


When she approved, it was time for oil painting in great detail, my favorite way to paint.

The upper flowers will be wildflowers of Mineral King; the lower ones will be foothill wildflowers.
Green always makes things look better.
More green = more better.
Am I finished? Nope. Friend/Customer requested the leaf or two of a corn lily. I can do that! Besides, I want to do tighter detail on some of the flowers, and more solid greens in the background.
Now it is finished. This method of photographing it on top of the reference photos makes me smile.

More Mineral King in the Studio

I’ve been looking forward to painting in the painting studio/workshop for a few weeks. Going to Sandy Eggo, working on the mural, time in Mineral King – all good things, but still things that prevented painting in the studio. Life is a series of choices and consequences.

Almost finished.
Drying on the table beneath its companion commissioned Mineral King oil paintings.

Painting Mineral King in the Studio

This is a commissioned oil painting of Mineral King. The Friend/Customer wanted a painting to fit a particular space and match some of her other paintings. This magical scene was her decision, and I am happy to comply.

Here we go, step by step.

From the top: the original reference photo, the reference photo that her other painting came from, first layer of the 6×18″ painting, a print of the other time I painted this scene.
What’s going on here? I already like the painting! Normally I just hold my nose (figuratively, not literally) at this stage of a painting.

Maybe something I learned in the plein air painting sessions is improving my studio painting. (Or maybe this is just a magical scene.)

Little Dog

I grew up with German Shepherds, not little dogs. Little dogs make me want to stand on a chair and scream, and then if I touch them, go wash my hands about 4 times.

A friend of about 35 years asked me to draw her little dog. My love for her is stronger than my aversion to little dogs, and I love to draw, so I said yes.

Meet Oliver.

Oliver, a commissioned pencil drawing.

(Stacy, thank you for trusting me with Oliver, even though you are well aware of my semi-suppressed cat disorder.)

Pippin, Jackson, Tucker

Oliver arrived today and he is SO darling!  You did an amazing job of capturing his likeness!

Dear friend and customer Stacy

Old Drawing, New Cards

In 1992, I did this commissioned pencil drawing of a Mineral King cabin. The one who owns it sent me a photo of the card she had left from an earlier order.

Photo of little notecard

I tried to turn it into something that would print as a decent card. This was not acceptable.

Unacceptable!

The customer said she still had the original, and it wasn’t even in a frame, so I was able to scan it (after touching it up a little bit, because I draw better now (as one would hope, 27 years later).

Original drawing, retouched and scanned

Then, I messed with it on Photoshop Elements, and voila!

Ready to be printed.

Printing has changed so radically from the old days. I’m thankful that the ordering and reprinting process is accessible from my laptop these days.

Proud

When my students finish a drawing, I take it home to scan and convert into a file that can be used for printing as cards or prints to share or sell; sometimes it is just so they can have a clean record of work completed. Sometimes it takes a few hours of computer work, but I love and appreciate my students so much that I just consider it part of taking lessons.

Here is a recently completed pencil drawing, before the computer work.

“Watering Girl” (my title for reference, not an official title) is a 5×7″ image on 8×10″ cream colored paper. The artist took the photo several years ago, and although we were both intimidated by the hair and the water, we figured it out together!
And here it is, ready to print.

Lessons are suspended for the months of July and August; we will resume on the day after Labor Day. It is possible that I will have a few spaces available if you or someone you know is interested. (Tuesday afternoons, Exeter’S Courthouse Gallery, $55/month.)

Art Inspired by Mineral King

SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 10-2, SILVER CITY RESORT

Featuring the art of Jana Botkin and the photography of Brett Harvey

P.S. When you comment on the blog, I have to approve the comment before it appears. This doesn’t mean that your comment didn’t “take”; it means I am not near a computer to release your comment. Thank you to those who go to the trouble to comment; I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!

Pencil Progress

If I draw from top to bottom, left to right, it cuts back on the opportunities for smearing. The background hills are very forgiving, a good place to begin this commissioned pencil drawing of a very fine house in a serene setting.

In addition to this poor quality photo from my poor quality printer, I look at a high quality photo on my high quality laptop for more details.
Sometimes I break my own rules about direction of drawing.
Here I have added more layers and begun shading the roof shape. My new favorite pencils are Tombow, a Japanese word that means dragonfly. They are dark and smooth; usually dark means grainy, but not in this brand.
Enough for today – life (and death) is still keeping my work time to a minimum.

Back to the Drawing Board

I love to draw, and it is good to just sit quietly with pencils and paper, doing something simple that has no sadness attached.

In December, I took photos of a house. It took 2 sessions, much conversation, lots of thinking, and finally narrowing it down to 3 views.

Something about my blog has changed, forcing all photos into a square format; I don’t know why it changed and can’t figure out how to fix it. So, these photos are cropped here in spite of being rectangles on my camera and computer—more evidence of “upgrade” as a euphemism for “complication”.

Option A
Option B
Option C

The customers chose Option B. Tomorrow I’ll show you the beginnings of the drawing.