Random Thoughts on the real Columbus Day

1. There is a strange thing about my daily paintings of fruit. Have you noticed that all of the fruits begin with the letter “P”? This is truly peculiar. Peculiar P Paintings: pomegranate, persimmon, pumpkin, pear, pepper, plum, peach. It is true that I haven’t shown you all of these in this particular series, but it is something I have puzzled and pondered.

2. Columbus Day is my birthday. Just sayin’. The real Columbus Day, not the fakey convenient Monday closest to October 12 for the purpose of making my birthday cards late and banks closed. I’m sort of old now, so not supposed to notice. Anyway, Happy Birthday to Careen, Nicole, Norman, Kim, Kenny Wing, Reggie and Regina Powers, and any other birthday twin who shares this date with me, past or present in my life.

3. Hey Carol, if you are reading this, I hope you made me some soap!

4. Remember I am working on a HUGE project, as of yet mostly unrevealed? Have a look at another portion of it:

5. I love to draw. šŸ˜Ž

6. I might want to live at Hearst Castle. Barring that, I’d settle for Cayucos.

List of Random Subjects

Not For Sale. Pencil on Paper. Approximately 5×7″. Currently Untitled.

Today is a list of thoughts for my regular readers. Irregular readers may peek too. (Take that any way you wish.)

  1. Congratulations to Sophie, Leslie, and Kim on winning a prize. They were the first 3 folks to subscribe by email via a new gadget installed by my oh-so-capableĀ web designer. It is under the FEED ON thing on the left. “Feed on?” It is more of that computer talk which takes normal words and makes new meanings, leaving literalists such as myself mumbling to ourselves.
  2. I just chased Bambi off the front porch. Speaking of FEED ON, he is developing a taste for and a dependency on cat food. His mom posed for me at a distance.
  3. A blog I subscribe to called Blogging With Amy explained how to use a new gadget called “Press This”. Why do you care? It is the reason you are seeing quotes from other blogs on my blog. There is so much interesting Ā and inspirational information out there, and this is a great way to share with others.
  4. I love to blog.
  5. Almost as much as drawing.
  6. Definitely as much as painting.
  7. Oh No. I’m picking up horrible grammar habits from reading too many blog.
  8. Tatting is a dying art; so is spelling correctly and using good grammar.

Thank you. I’m glad we had this little talk. Bambi’s Mom eavesdropped too.

Why I Make Art, #3

Reason #3: I make art because it is my job. (Duh, hunh?)

Some people make art because they feel like it or because they can; I make art because if I don’t, there is nothing to sell.

Being an artist is a great way to earn a living, even if it is not always easy, fun or highly Ā profitable. My friends have heard me say more than once, “I’d rather draw an ugly house than wait tables.”

In his nonfiction book “On Writing”, Stephen King wrote, “Life isn’t a support-system for art. It’s the other way around.”

If you are thinking “what a sell-out” or “how commercial”, comfort yourself with the fact that this isn’t my main reason. Even when I had a real job, I made art. That was because of Reason #2 – I feel compelled to make art.

Why I Make Art, #2

His Other Car

Reason #2: I make art because I feel compelled to do so.

When I was a child, I would get this overwhelming urge to make something. “Mom, I feel like making something.” She probably dreaded those words. She’d send me to Highlights to find a project. We NEVER had the materials, even if the finished result was something I wanted to own, which it rarely was.

Sometimes I would get out the doll-sized sewing machine, go through Mom’s scraps and sew something sort of functional, a little schlocky and definitely slightly weird (hmmm, sounds like my knitting).

Other times, I’d draw.

Often I’d look for something to do until the urge wore off in a fit of frustration and just go read.

Regardless of the outcome, the desire to make something has never left me. Drawing, painting, making tile mosaic stepping stones/tables/steps/drinking fountain/light pole, origami boxes, tatted doilies, crocheted afghans (that was in the early ’80s), knitted anything. . . it is the way I am wired.

Since deciding to earn a living with by making something, it seemed wise to choose one method that I never tire of – drawing in pencil. Drawing brings the most satisfaction of anything I do. I think it has to do with skill level; the ability to do something well removes the frustration.

Always learning

If you’ve been reading this blog in the last week or so, you are aware that I have a large, nay, HUGE (I refuse to accept “ginormous” as a word), nay,Ā ENORMOUS project underway. There is much to be figured out, tons, freak-me-out amounts. (Deep breaths, deep relaxing breaths. . .)

One of the things is to learn is whether it is better to photograph the drawings or to scan them. I experimented with lots of settings on the camera, keeping Kaweah Kitty from walking over the drawings, Ā trying different editing tricks, and comparing the differences.

Remember in the olden days when we took photos as carefully as possible, then waited an eternity for the film to come back and let us know we failed? Things are much better now, maybe. That might be a subject for another post.

This post is about showing you the difference between a scanned drawing and a photograph of the same subject. There is a distinct difference in quality.

photographed version

photographed, adjusted with iPhoto

scanned version

Whoa. Wow. Woo-hoo.

Sneak Peak

I’ve dropped a hint or two about a lot of drawings coming up soon. Here is another little preview, but I’m not ready to disclose any details yet. This is for 2 reasons: 1. The details are a little squishy and 2. If I think about it too much, I will have to go lie down from overwhelmment. Nice word, don’t you think?

Let Us Spray

This is what drawing student Gerald said to me when he finished his drawing. “Spray?”, you are asking, even as you read this. (Yes, I can hear you.)

Spray fixative is one method of preventing the finished drawing from smearing. Framing is another; workable fixative is a third. I’ve been told it adds “tooth” (that means texture in Artspeak) to the paper. It didn’t, but that’s another story for another time.

Early in my art career, drawing people’s cabins and houses was my main activity. One time, I finished a commissioned drawing of a lovely old home, grabbed my trusty can of spray fixative left over from some college art class and proceeded to ruin the drawing. It left little waxy spots all over the paper. They scratched off with my fingernail, and I learned a Big Fat Lesson: do a test spray on something else first.

Because of that unfortunate incident, I went off spray. Completely, cold turkey, no tapering down, no patch, just Q U I T. Go ahead and call me a quitter – I can take it. (I’m a loser too, in the true sense of the word. But I digress.)

A few years later I met a pencil artist who charged huge amounts of money for her drawings, used a wide range of pencils, and sprayed with Blair No Odor Fixative. I began using a wider range of pencils (seeĀ The Rules for further explanation) and the fixative. My prices stayed the same.

“No odor” was a lie – it stunk. I think the manufacturer meant “this smells like you can get high but don’t waste your time”, but “no odor” took up less space on the label. After several years of learning to depend on this marvelous stuff that prevented my drawings from smearing despite pulling them in and out of various envelopes, folders and picture frames, the magic spray was discontinued.

I hoarded 6 cans, and today I used the last spray from my last can.

There are other brands, other types, maybe even a Blair substitute. Ick, shopping. Add it to The List. Meanwhile, I’ll just be careful with my drawings as I complete them. There will be many. I’m not ready to tell you why just yet.

Let us spray.

Teaching without a degree

Honeymoon Cabin, pencil, 11×14, unframed, $300

A few years ago I took 1/2 a semester of oil painting at a local junior college. I learned more about painting from only the primary colors, and I learned about layering (called “glazing” in Artspeak). I learned that I need more light to see than a 19 year old, that just because a class is labeled something (“Photorealism”) doesn’t mean it is that class (it was Studio painting), that I have very little tolerance for rap “music” (rhythmic and profane chanting would be a more accurate term for it), and that the teacher was still trying to “stick it to The Man”. Hunh? He also had very little tolerance for my ilk – a wannabe without a Master’s of Fine Arts posing as an artist and an art teacher.

That’s me – a poser of the first degree! Ā Gotta have a degree in something to teach, I suppose.

So, Mr. Stick-It-To-The-Man, why are you bitterly and loudly complaining about working at a junior college while I am making and selling art? Hmmmm???

In addition, I learned that there is a real contempt out there for those of us who chose to paint from photos. One of the most influential painters and writers in my so-called art career is Jack White, and he says “All realistic artists either work from photos or they lie about it.”

I do teach people how to draw and they learn and they love it. The only ones who don’t learn are the ones who quit too soon!

I quit the painting class. But, I continue to paint, to learn more about painting by reading and practicing, and I sell lots of paintings. Take that, Mr. Stick-it-to-the-man!

But I’m not bitter. šŸ˜Ž

I believe strongly and whole-heartedly that drawing well is the basis for painting well.

Look at this – Shereen learned to draw!

Old and New

In 1906 the Smith Hotel collapsed. That was in Mineral King, and it was the San Francisco earthquake that caused its demise. Those Mineral King pioneers weren’t easily daunted – instead of wringing their hands in defeat, they pushed together the pieces and created the Mineral King Store and Post Office.

1969 was a heavy heavy winter, and the Store and Post Office collapsed under all the snow. Then, the Walt Disney Corporation burned the rest. (They weren’t hardy like the earlier pioneering types.) Now, all that remains is photographs, paintings and drawings.

One of them is on the wall of my giant Mineral King mural in Exeter.

Another was drawn by me back in the previous century.

This week, I finished a redo. Oh my. This is called growth. GROWTH!

This is a commissioned piece for someone who saw the old version hanging in my cabin and wanted her own. I was more than pleased to re-draw it – my eagerness could almost be classified as giddiness.

Those old drawings are embarrassing to me. And you are probably asking yourself why I am showing them if they are such a problem. . . good question. It is because humility is good. Because I teach drawing, it is good for my students to see my growth. Even if you don’t take lessons from me, you might find it interesting.