Here is the afternoon’s painting session after a morning of exploring around Lake Kaweah. I’m easing into the production of Mineral King paintings, with the workshop doors open to the greenery, flowers, cats, and sounds of leaf blowers, chain saws, a distant donkey, and the occasional vehicle. March is a month full of distractions and […]
Buckling Down
“Buckling down” is a weird expression. It reminds me of sayings such as “nose to the grindstone”, “shoulder to the wheel”, “eye on the ball”. . . How can a person accomplish anything in that awkward pose? It was a beautiful early spring day (Yeppers, February is spring in Three Rivers). After a fair amount […]
Quickity Painting Session
This stack of ten canvases was staring at me accusingly. So rude. The only way I could get them to shut up was to start working on them. I spread out the smallest canvases with their photos, mixed up a pile of sky color to cover eight of the beginning backgrounds, along with a nondescript […]
Planning Session for Summer Selling Season
Deciding what to paint for the Silver City Store this coming summer felt like a daunting task. There is no excuse for procrastination, and the better I plan, the better the sales. So, suck it up, Buttercup. The first step in planning is to look at the available Mineral King paintings. (For my out-of-the-area readers, […]
Around Here
On a sunny morning in Three Rivers, Trail Guy and I took a drive up the Mineral King Road to see how far we could get, and to see what the construction project looks like. We only made it to the lower gate. Although word went out that the construction crew was on hiatus until […]
New Oil Commission, Chapter 5
Before I finished layering the background things, I blew off any discipline about painting, ignored conventional wisdom about The Way You Are Supposed to Paint, and I launched into detailing. When I draw, I work from top to bottom, left to right. This way I don’t rest my hand on finished parts, thus not smearing […]
New Oil Commission, Chapter 4
About the mural The threat of rain prevented me from beginning on Friday. More relevant:the powers that be did not offer me a key to their building, which means I can only paint on Fridays. This coming Friday I will be setting up for the Holiday Bazaar, and the following Friday is part of Thanksgiving […]
New Oil Commission, Chapter 3
On Monday, you saw this version of the custom oil painting of a Mineral King scene. Next, I put more paint on the sky and worked more carefully on West Florence. (The humanoid is still a mess.) Time to rescue the humanoid from embarrassing me. Wait, time to rescue me from the embarrassment of the […]
New Oil Commission, Chapter 2
Here is my usual collection of thoughts about custom art: This is too hard, I’m a washed-up has-been, why does anyone think I am qualified? And: These people are counting on me and I’d better get started because it is going to be hard and take a very long time. Finally: Just paint, you Goober! […]
New Oil Painting Commission
“Commission” means someone is paying me to paint custom art for him. Them. Her. Shhhh, I think it will be a Christmas present. Let’s call the customer Mister. You can decide if it is a man, a woman, or several humans. Mister decided on 20×20”, a square format. The canvas arrived, and I put a […]