The California Artist Finds Her Big Girl Pants

I got serious about working on this commissioned oil painting of the Kaweah Post Office in Three Rivers for a nice (and hopefully patient) lady from New Jersey.

Kaweah Post Office oil painting in progress

Now, this is more like it. layers, details, contrast, texture. It needs to dry so I can paint the words on the signs – KAWEAH, POST OFFICE. The year established and the zip code are too small. The other words are sort of too small too, but I’ve done it before and I can do it again. I’ll probably end up tightening up other parts of the painting too. That’s usually how it goes.

So, I’ll just lift it off the easel, paint the edges, hang it up by the window, and then wipe the paint off my forearms. I always get paint on my forearms when I paint the edges of the canvas.

Kaweah Post Office oil painting hanging upside down by the windows

OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Would you just look at that!?!!

The wire is on the wrong side. The title on the back will be upside down too. I’ve only done this about 800 times so far.

I might need some time off soon.

Kaweah Post Office and Big Girl Pants

Dabbling, thinking it might be good to finish this before it gets hot again when I’d rather be in the drawing studio with its A/C unit instead of in the painting studio with its swamp cooler. Dabbling, deciding, doodling. . .

Has anything even changed from yesterday?

Get going – drink some coffee or eat some chocolate!

Here’s the problem: I’ve been concentrating so hard and long on the upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia, just drawing like a pencil machine, that I’ve gotten nervous about my painting abilities.

This is a commission, I’ve been paid, and the customer is waiting. Put on your big girl pants and get busy.

Wow. That created a sense of urgency. Stay tuned. . . more will be revealed.

 

More about lavender

My amazing friend Barbara grows lavender. She opens her lavender gardens (or is it a farm?) to the public each June when the lavender is at its peak. People can harvest bunches of lavender.

English lavender in bloom

The dates of this event are a little squishy, because the bloom is dependent on the weather.

This year, it is possibly Saturday June 15. This happens here in Three Rivers, and you just sort of have to pay attention to the paper and to people who might know.

Barbara and I like to collaborate on art projects. She had me paint lavenders on saltillo tiles for her garden and to sell during the Hidden Gardens Tour. These sold well, so I have painted more for her Lavender Harvest Event.

In addition, I have finished 2 new paintings based on her beautiful lavender. The hope was to have them printed into blank books to be useful as journals. More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .

Livingston Lavender, oil painting, 8×10″, private collection

I know I said 2 paintings. Guess you’ll have to come back tomorrow.

My Amazing Friends, Chapter Four

Tomorrow is the Three Rivers Hidden Gardens Tour. I think you can still get tickets here.

My favorite spot on the tour is my amazing friend Barbara’s lavender garden. (Your favorite might be Anjelica Huston’s place, which I’ve only seen from the road or in Architectural Digest a few years ago.)

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Barbara and I have been having great fun putting together some stepping stone/plant identifiers. Her daughter painted a couple of saltillo tiles with lavender for her a few years ago. Barbara loved them, and decided she wanted more. Her daughter now lives far far away, so she commissioned me to do these tiles.

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I think it may fall into the category of Odd Jobs.

But, this post is about my amazing friends, and Barbara is truly amazing her knowledge of plants, her ability to work tirelessly in her gardens, and her appreciation for beauty.

When people talk about lavender, they sometimes mention English, French and Spanish. If they are like me, they most likely don’t realize there are many many version under each of those categories.

This is Spanish. The flower tips look like butterflies.

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French lavender has leaves that are sort of toothy and serrated. I didn’t paint anything that detailed on the tiles.

 

I painted 24 tiles with different names, and another 11 with pictures and no names. They are all for sale for a price not determined at the time of this writing, and a percentage of the sales benefits the Three Rivers Union School Foundation. (Sorry, we don’t ship tiles!)

 

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An Odd Job

As a California artist based in rural Tulare County, I am willing to do odd jobs. Odd art jobs, that is. (Please don’t call me to wash your windows – they will probably turn out odd.) Staying in the business of art in a place like this means saying, “Yes” when  asked to do odd jobs.

I’ve shown you some of the unusual things I’ve been asked to do in the past. Here are a few links if you want to see some of these items (each will open in a separate tab or window): cabin sign (gotta scroll down the post to see it), chair back slat, ornament (you can read the entire story and see all the photos in December 2011), antique window, pet sign, boat sign, quilt square. There are more, but I fear I will test your patience and you will say TLDR*.

My latest job could sort of be considered a mural, sort of a commission: a faded decal on a recreational vehicle at a mobile home park in Hanford, California.

It was a challenging and fun job. (I consider a job fun when the conditions are good and the job turns out well.)

The most fun part was mixing the colors to match the non-faded sides of the RV.

This side wasn’t faded as badly but the owner requested a touch-up here too.

*Too long, didn’t read

Decisions, Decisions

The commissioned pencil drawing presented several challenges. When a place is really beautiful, visually captivating, unusually interesting, my oh my it is difficult to choose the right view!

I didn’t intend to draw this view but thought it made a nice photo.

The door by which one enters a building is considered the “face” and is usually the most welcoming view.

Since it is actually the office of a ranching business, showing the tank with the name was a good commercial idea.

This used to be the front door. It faced the afternoon sun, and with the stone steps and the view beyond, I was a goner. But I knew it wasn’t even worth showing to the customer because this sort of view is not why people commission me to draw their houses and offices and cabins and ranch offices.

This is the view which attracted my attention to this beautiful house way back when. . . with the orange trees recently topped, the house really shows up well. Unfortunately, topped trees look sort of like a weird lumpy lawn.

Come back tomorrow to see which view the customer chose! 

Commissioned Pencil Drawing Coming Up

I’m drawing my brains out, working on The Cabins of Wilsonia. (Okay, I’m not really drawing my brains out – I need them for stuff like posting to my blog. Try not to take me too literally here.) When I get commissions, I take a break from that Giant Project.

There is a house here in Tulare County that I have admired for years. It is on a road I really like – it is curvy, against the foothills, and it meanders through citrus country. A friend was hired to do some work at this house and provided the name and address of the owner.

I had the audacity to write a letter introducing myself and asking if he would like to hire me to draw the house.

He did not respond.

I was embarrassed, but got over it. If I was a really good business person, I probably would have followed up with a phone call. Alas, I don’t want to be sellsy, so I let it go.

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by the man’s wife, via a common friend. (She isn’t really “common” – she is actually quite special. But, what I meant is that she is a friend to me and to the wife. Try not to take me so literally here.) She asked if I could draw the house for her hubby’s upcoming birthday. She mentioned that I had written to her husband awhile back – I was a little embarrassed, but also pleased that my self-promotion hadn’t been too sellsy.

Trail Guy and I went to the house to get some photos. Now that he is retired, he gets involved in the more fun parts of my business. He also does errands for me so I can draw uninterrupted.

These are not the photos I am using for the drawing – because it is a birthday surprise, and because there is a 1 in 1,000,000 chance that the man reads my blog, I’m not showing you those yet.

On the off chance that he does read my blog, he won’t know which view I am drawing. Sneaky of me, yes?

Now that I only have Perkins, I am especially vulnerable to any and all cats. Try not to take advantage of this weakness, please.

If I didn’t love living in Three Rivers, I’d want to live here. Of course, I thought that when I was in Blowing Rock, Washington, and Downers Grove. Stop it.

After the birthday gift has been given, I’ll show you the photos I used, the ones I didn’t use, and the finished drawing. I think it turned out great, but given the subject matter, how could it be anything except beautiful?

Trading skills

Trail Guy has used the same Cabela’s commuter mug for more years than I can remember while he was Road Guy. A week before he retired, it fell inside one of his big yellow machines. The handle broke. ONE WEEK before he retired! (Reminded me of the old song called “My Grandfather’s Clock”, but in that story, the clock stopped when the old man died. No, I am NOT calling Trail Guy an old man! Stop causing trouble.)

A few weeks ago, our friend Jonah stopped by the house. He wanted to show me some really interesting pieces he carved from firewood, and he raided our woodpile for more. Suddenly, I had a brilliant idea!

“Hey Jonah, can you carve a new handle for Trail Guy’s mug? I’ll paint something for you in exchange!”

“Sure, I can do that and I’d love a painting – surprise me with something!”

What a guy – look at this handle out of manzanita wood, hand carved by the very gifted and hard working Jonah.

Trail Guy said Jonah runs cattle in the area of the Oak Grove Bridge, which happens to be one of my favorite subjects to paint and draw. The day after Jonah delivered the mug, I began this little painting for him. He doesn’t read my blog, so it will be a surprise. (Don’t tell him if you see him, ‘k?)