Category: Custom Art

Such a Productive Day

And about time after so many days of messing around in my yard, other people’s yards, and driving around Three Rivers. I painted all day. It was kind of hot and there were mosquitos. I painted anyway. This is how it is when an artist messes around and then sells seven paintings in two weeks with a solo show coming.

This needed more light. So I said, “Let there be light.”

This also needed more light. Not sure I achieved it yet.

This simply needed another layer, and then I’ll wait for it all to dry again so I can add wildflowers. Of course I’m adding wildflowers. Did you doubt me? (I tried, but it was too wet.)

This needed to be painted start to finish. That’s a little ambitious for a 10×20” canvas, but I was on a roll. I cobbled the scene together from several photos taken when things were still green. When this is dry, I’ll add fences, gates, loading chutes perhaps, and of course cattle. Maybe a few wildflowers.

And this painting is to fulfill the part of the show title* “. . . and Sometimes a Little Farther”. I don’t remember which beach this is. I have many photos of many California beaches, but haven’t painted them yet other than my plein air week in Monterey last October.

You should see the enormous number of brushes I had to wash when the day ended.

*Around Here and Sometimes a Little Farther, at the Tulare Historical Museum/Heritage Gallery in August.

oil paintings

Spoken-for Sequoia

The spoken-for, in-progress Sequoia painting jumped to the top of the queue. Here you can see it in steps to completion.

The light was wrong in the afternoon so I moved the easel to the opposite side of the table. When the painting was finished, I had to flip it upside down to paint the bottom edge.

Because it will be leaving before it is dry enough to scan, I photographed it carefully while upside down in the painting workshop in various lighting. Then I went to work on making the color correct on the computer screen while studying the wet painting in front of me.

I have 2 versions, neither of which really do the painting justice. However, remember that everything looks better in real life (except celebrities).

Sequoia Gigantea IXX, 6×18”, sold

Now it is time to start another one, because my local representatives need me to keep them supplied. This is classic Tulare County art; it is a privilege to be able to see these trees in person and paint them for the visitors (and former residents) of Three Rivers, the true gateway to Sequoia National Park.

An Unusual Job in Three Rivers

Some folks in Three Rivers with a horse-breeding ranch asked me to turn their hand-scratched map into a thing of beauty. It doesn’t need to be to-scale, but all the pastures, corrals, gates, arenas, barns, ponds, and various buildings need to be in proper relation to one another.

This necessitated a walk around the place, which was very appealing in spite of the green turning to yellow.

I pulled out my inferior phone camera to gather a sense of the place and to see if inspiration and ideas would emerge.

Hmmm, this is an unusual assignment, perhaps even an odd job, for some folks who are very delightful and easy to work with. I’m thinking of drawing the map lightly in pencil, getting it okayed by the customers, then inking in the lines. After that, I might add some pencil drawings around the edges, because as you know, I love to draw. I’ll do it twice the size of 8-1/2 x 11”, and then they can print out as many maps as they need to direct customers and workers around the property.

This will be a fun job, no real rules, just freedom to turn this into whatever I want. If the customers like it, they’ll get it framed. (The walls in their house are full of art, so they might have to put it in a barn!)

Back to Work, Party’s Over

What party? Glad you asked! The party of one and sometimes two—goofing off, yardening, exploring, and basically not producing any art.

When we got home from exploring up South Fork, there was a serious distraction. Our neighbor’s beagle followed her nose and found her way to our cat feeding area in the workshop (same room where I paint). Apparently old beagles don’t lose their instinct to follow their noses even when they haven’t had the opportunity to do so in many years. I carried her toward her home and was grateful that one of her humans met me part way because she is solid, very heavy and wiggly too.

Finally, I started working.

First, two new large (for me) Sawtooth paintings. One is the scene from the door of my studio. I tried to start it outside, but Pippin kept wanting to participate, so I took a photo of the door to work from. (It wasn’t helpful.) The color is weird because I used my inferior camera phone, since my camera battery was on the charger.

I realize that the proportions are different on the recycled 24×30” canvas, but it doesn’t matter. I can make up this scene, but I will refer to a handful of photos. This will take many layers to cover the previous painting, done by a friend’s daughter as a college assignment.

Might as well begin the horizontal version (12×24”? 10×20”?)

Ultimately, I finished one, started two, and puttered around on four.

Mineral King oil paintings oil paintings

Working Toward a Solo Show

In August, “Around Here and Sometimes a Little Farther” will open in Tulare at the Tulare Historical Museum’s Heritage Gallery.

What is this? So glad you asked! It is another solo show of my art.

Pieces have sold since the show last fall in Exeter at CACHE, new pieces have been painted, and it is time to assess the collection. Do I have enough paintings? Is there enough of a spread of sizes, shapes, and subjects?

How do I figure this out? So glad you asked! (Have you noticed how many times an interviewee responds to a question with “great question”? I try to avoid clichés, so I made my own clichéd response.)

Trail Guy and I set up my display screens in the painting workshop and hung all the larger paintings. I made lists: how many of which subjects, how many vertical, how many horizontal, which ones need to be touched up or improved or finished, and what shall I paint next?

The two blank canvases will become Sawtooth paintings, one horizontal, and the other vertical. The vertical canvas is turned around because it has a painting on the other side, done many years ago by a friend’s daughter. She passed the canvas along to me, rightly discerning that my frugal self would say a hearty “THANK YOU!” and turn it into something else.

These look rather undignified, all squished together, crooked, some on the floor. Doesn’t matter for purposes of this evaluation session.

I wanted to go lie down, eat some chocolate, read a book, pull a few weeds, knit something, or just rock while staring out the window, but instead we schlepped all the paintings to the studio and replaced them with pencil drawings. Sometimes I can find my inner warrior and soldier through.

Are there enough? Are any too tired to show? What pieces need to be added? Do I have frames that will work or will I need to fork out money for more framing? (My framer is wonderful, in case you are interested. I take him pieces, tell him my budget, sometimes indicate a mood such as “formal” or “rustic”, tell him to make it look good and call me when it is finished. His name is Ed, and his business is Express Framing in Visalia. Tell him I sent you.)

This list is shorter than the oil list because I have many many many pencil drawings. How many? Glad you asked! A LOT!! (I don’t want to count.)

Currently I have 24 larger paintings, about 15 smaller ones, and 9 tiny (5×7”) ocean scenes that will sit on easels. That is 48 paintings, but there is a chance some of them will sell at Silver City this summer. There are two new large ones to paint (maybe more if the asphalt paver coming to repair our driveway decides he would like to barter), three to improve, and one to finish.

I will probably add about four more to the current batch of pencil drawings: another pier, another portrait, and two with some color in them.

What was so tough? It was a lot of schlepping, but that’s no biggie. Sometimes it is just hard to face reality: is my work good enough? How much work remains? Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Can I do better? Am I promoting my work enough? Does anyone care? Should I just go get a real job?

All of this thinking and planning is simply part of the business of art.

art show Heritage Gallery Tulare Historical Museum

Forget Watercolors; Where are my Oil Paints?

The last painting of a lemon sold the day I took it to the gallery*, so I painted another one. This is Lemons on the Tree IV, 6×6”, $75. It needs a few blossoms.

Now it is time to start painting Mineral King subjects to sell at Silver City this summer. This is Sawtooth #64, 8×10”, $150. It isn’t finished. (Were you nervous there for half a second?)

The Honeymoon Cabin is very popular; this cabin is from the resort which ended up in the hands of Mickey Mouse and is the only remaining one from the big teardown after the avalanche in 1969. It is now a mini museum, operated by the Mineral King Preservation Society.

Now it is finished. Unless I change my mind. Honeymoon Cabin #49. Hmmm, I guess it isn’t as popular as Sawtooth. And fret not—this is a poorly lit photo of a very wet painting. It will look much better when it is dry and scanned. And as always, everything looks better in person (except perhaps celebrities). This is 6×12”, $145.

This will be the trail leading to Farewell Gap. The method of beginning the painting is clean-out-my-brushes-at-the-end-of-the-painting-session. It is 8×8” and will be $145.

This is not a painting. These daffodils are so heavy-headed that they fall over, so Trail Guy picked a few off the ground and put them on the kitchen window sill.

It is still April, and my daffodils are so varied and beautiful that tomorrow I will show you the immense variety scattered around the property.

*Those quick sales are a thrill and I do NOT take them for granted.

citrus oil painting lemon oil painting Mineral King oil paintings oil paintings

Sunrise Over the Kaweah River

Remember this messy beginning?

After finishing the new little paintings to sell in local galleries and gift shops, I returned to this 16×20” painting, which felt like a mural after those 6×6” canvases.

There was another painting session between the photo above and the next one. I didn’t take any photos because sometimes I just forget. Other times I say to myself, “Self”, I say, “No one cares”.

Sky first (because I paint back to front). These are colors I haven’t mixed before.

The improvements might be hard to locate, but not so hard if you remember that method of painting back to front. It means I paint the things farthest away first, and keep moving closer, rather than jumping around all over the canvas.

Holy guacamole, there are so many rocks in the lower left quadrant.

Nope, not going to paint all the rocks that show in the photo. I widened the river too, because I am the boss of the painting and the photo is not the boss of me.

Now it needs the edges painted, and a signature, but before either of those, I will mull this over for awhile. So often I think a painting or drawing is finished until I view it on my computer screen.

Weird, but not uncommon.

Kaweah River kaweah river oil painting oil paintings Three Rivers three rivers oil painting

Because Business Picked Up …

… it is time to produce more paintings. These are the standard small ones that sell steadily to visitors to Three Rivers and Exeter, where my three main selling locations are, Kaweah Arts, Stem & Stone, and the Mural Gallery and Gift Shop. (Because that lemon sold so quickly at the Mural Gallery, I have another one drying for them.)

They are all oil paint on wrapped canvas, which means the edges are painted and framing is optional. I just didn’t want to type that every time.

Poppies up the North Fork, 6×12”, $145 (Kaweah Arts)

Sequoia Gigantea XVIII, 6×18”, $190 (Kaweah Arts)

Alta Peak, Moro Rock, 6×6”, $75 (Stem & Stone)

Kaweah Country, 6×6”, $75 (Stem & Stone)

P.S. If you don’t live in town and would like to buy any of these new paintings (the ones that haven’t sold already), I can retrieve them from their stores and send them to you.

TODAY IS THE SEVENTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THIS BLOG!

Working at the Mural Gallery

The Mural Gallery and Gift Shop in Exeter has been selling my work for many years. It used to only be for artists who had painted murals in Exeter. Eventually we were all old, moved away, didn’t produce smaller pieces, or dead. (Of that list, I am only sort of old—thanks for asking.)

Now it is a gallery, but more of a gift shop, for local artists. In order to have them take less of a bite out of an artist’s sales, artists can work one shift a month. Today is my April shift.

In case you are wondering what I have there, here are photos taken from my March shift, worked last Friday.

All the Mineral King paintings will move to the Silver City Store/Resort in time for Memorial Day weekend.

Yes, they sell my cards.

While there, I did a bit a display rearranging, after I took these photos. You can see that the place has more of the feel of a gift shop than a gallery. I’ve always done better in gift shop settings than galleries, so this is fine with me. The folks running the place are very in tune with what people want, enthusiastic, organized, and a pleasure to work with.

Meanwhile, I brought four new small citrus paintings. They are waiting for bar code pricing stickers in front of these two fabulous original paintings by the fabulous Heidi Steinman.