Ready for Summer, Professionally Speaking

The store, no, the employees at the Silver City Resort do their best to sell my paintings every summer. Sometimes they are closed due to pandemics, fires, floods, ultra heavy winters, or ruined roads. But we nevah nevah nevah give up.

There are about five Mineral King paintings at the Mural Gallery and Gift Shop in Exeter which I will retrieve today to take up the hill for Memorial Day weekend, which is early this year. Historically Memorial Day was May 31 until most holidays got Mondayized to become 3-day weekends when people would be the least interrupted and have chunks of time to do things that rarely have anything to do with the date which gave the privilege of time off.

I looked over the paintings, evaluating sizes and subjects, and figured out that five more would probably be adequate until August. Meanwhile I need to concentrate on getting a few more large paintings ready for the solo show, also August.

Stop talking, Central California Artist, and show us your paintings!

Sawtooth #63, 8×8″

Sawtooth #64, 8×10″
Honeymoon Cabin #49, 6×12
Mineral King Family Cabin
Mineral King Trail, 8×8″

Every year it is a by-guess-and-by-golly to figure out which subjects in which shapes and sizes to paint. Lots of artists would have just figured out a way to reproduce the paintings as prints, but I want people to own originals. Besides, I don’t want the unsold inventory hanging around.

As my dad used to say, “You pays your money and you takes your choice”. I have no idea where he got that saying. His main piece of business advice was, “You kiss their fanny and you take their money.” He had a lot of sayings, most kind of funny, and all full of wisdom.

Day #3 of Painting Sawtooth*

Nope, don’t wanna paint this.

After a moment’s thought, I remembered a made-up somewhat embellished view that sold twice last summer as a 6×12”, the same proportions as this 12×24” canvas. I dug out the relevant photos, and flipped the canvas.

Then what happened? So glad you asked! First, upside down so the proportions would be correct and believable. Sometimes I just need that extra method of seeing correctly (another reason against plein air painting for me.)

It was not dry from the previous day’s painting, so it was a little challenging to keep the paintbrushes from digging up yesterday’s wet colors. I didn’t paint the sky first because I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep the blue pure. It got this far along, and then it needed some drying time. You can see an outline of Sawtooth, so in spite of not wanting to paint that thing again, here it is, because it sells.

It seemed like an easy task to finish the little canvas of the classic view of Mineral King. I barely need photos anymore and have stopped trying to keep track of how many times I’ve painted this scene. I’ve titled the scene “Farewell Gap”, “Classic Mineral King”, “Crowley Cabin”, and “Mineral King Family Cabin”, and probably a few other names too. It’s good to have one handy, but I pick and choose which elements and which colors. Sometimes the tree on the left is tall, sometimes it is gone. Sometimes the stream lines up with Farewell Gap, sometimes not. The water and snow on the peaks also change from painting to painting. Every time I stand on the bridge to view the scene, I am POSITIVE it has NEVER looked so good. So, I take another photo.

Done!

I’m feeling the pressure to complete all the Mineral King paintings because it is time for the Silver City Resort (4 miles below Mineral King) to open for the season.

*Only one Sawtooth today.

Another Day of Painting Sawtooths*

I thought this would be easy to finish, forgetting that it is much faster to cover large areas with a wide brush than little bittty dots of color with a tiny brush. Feeling bold, I messed up the sky with aspen leaves.

See the photo in my hand? Many aspens. This photo carries more weight than the stack of Sawtooth photos I’ve been using so far because it has the best aspens.

The leaf mess in the sky is now aspen trees.

I’m tired of green now.

That yellow and white were so fun that it is time for red.

After I got these wildflowers done, I stopped for lunch. While I was downing something fast and boring but nutritious (thank you for your concern), I faced the fact that I just didn’t want to work on the 12×24” horizontal painting of Sawtooth. If I didn’t want to paint it, why would anyone want to buy it?

Time for a new thought. Come back tomorrow if you are curious.

*We discussed this yesterday.

A Day of Painting Sawtooths*

Two Sawtooth paintings on my easels, yellow-lidded palette thawing from its overnight storage in the freezer. Next a decision to begin with the skies, so the tall painting needed to be flipped. And since sky was the first color, I added in the tiny (6×6”) classic Mineral King painting to the day’s tasks.

I flipped it over because otherwise I’d need to stand on a ladder to reach the upper parts of this 24×30” painting. While it was accessible, I worked on Sawtooth.

And since the right colors were on the palette, I painted Sawtooth on the 12×24” canvas.

Then since the colors of Sawtooth were a good blend for trail dust, I flipped the painting and hit the trail.

Moving forward on the painting, I mixed up distant forest colors and got those trees covered.

Obviously the next step was to take care of the distant evergreens on the larger painting, which I was able to reach right-side-up.

Next, I photographed my studio door for reference. It is a little unusual for me to be using a mural instead of photographs. However, I used this door, a stack of photos, and mostly just painted from my mind. This is a new approach, but after painting Sawtooth a minimum of 64 times, I should be able to figure out how to paint it from memory. (I am not exaggerating the number of times I’ve painted Sawtooth.)

It’s a little tricky to see any changes among the first three photos, but I was very diligent about photographing the progression. By the end of the day, I was sitting down (because my feet told me to) and began “drawing with my paintbrush”. (That’s what the ArtWorld snobs call it when a painter gets obsessed with detail—maybe because they don’t have that skill. Yeah, that’s gotta be it. They’re just jealous. So there.)

You can tell that I sort of forgot about the 12×24” canvas. These are both quite challenging, because I am not following a specific photo to create a specific view. Instead, I’m wanting to create paintings that summarize the feeling and memories that someone has after walking up the Nature Trail in Mineral King. I’m painting two different shapes so there are choices for customers.

*Sawtooth is a mountain that is visible from Visalia. Two paintings of Sawtooth would be “Sawtooths”, not “Sawteeth”. Any questions?

And Another Productive Day!

This looked like a full day of painting ahead. If I could knock these out, it would be a productive day.

Let’s go! I knocked out the wildflowers on the 8×10” Sawtooth painting first.

Actually, this didn’t look too hard. It needed some fencing and cows and of course, wildflowers, which are just colored dots in this type of painting. And it is so small here on the computer that you can’t see many of those details. Trust me. It looks better in person. Duh.

Easy peasy. Let’s go to the beach next. Wow, this one went quickly. Finishing with details is the best part of painting.

I took a brief break to scan a dry painting in the studio and was just slayed by the perfection of these lemon geraniums blooming by the studio and flowing over the wall. You should smell these!

Finally, I tackled this trail in Mineral King on a 8×8” canvas. It isn’t finished, but I signed it because I was able to scratch my name into the wet paint.

Finished all three plus an additional 8×8”, AND met with the customer about designing her ranch map. I need a week of these productive days, quickety quick before it gets too hot to paint.

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.

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.

A Cover-up

Shall we call this Paint-gate? I bet people under 50 years of age don’t understand why every political scandal and cover-up has “gate” attached to the end.

This cover-up isn’t scandalous. A friend gave me a 24×30” canvas with an unfinished painting that her daughter did in college. Out of respect for my friend, I haven’t shown you the painting.

It is a dark painting, literally, in terms of colors. I can’t tell if the subject matter is dark, figuratively speaking. It IS weird, one of those nebulous assignments that college art teachers love to hand out, hoping to stimulate creativity.

Sorry Teach, those assignments only incite panic and bizarreness. Why don’t you focus on teaching your students some useful skills? Creativity comes with time and life experience, not with vague, ludicrous prompts like, “Design a container for air” or “depict transparency”. Stop the unhelpful weirdness and just show people HOW TO PAINT.

Ahem. Where were we?

Placement first.

I couldn’t reach the sky and Sawtooth so I flipped the canvas.

I worked forward, and then dropped down to the trail.

Just a little here and a little there while watching the clock because I had to be somewhere. It’s hard to do good work when thinking about time; the part of our brains that recognizes shapes and colors doesn’t know how to tell time. Sounds ridiculous, but I know this because all my drawing students tell me that the one hour that they are drawing is the fastest hour of the week.

The trail looks as if it is made from crushed oyster shells, not something you’d find in Mineral King.

Clearly, this cover-up will be a long project. I’m not used to painting this large. I have to keep squeezing out more paint. Duh. I also have to remember to use the largest brushes possible for each area, because this needs to be finished and dry in time for the solo show in August. Sure, there is time, but the workshop is not a pleasant place to paint when it is hot.

What a Week!

I finally had a couple of hours to put my paintings back after surveying them for the upcoming solo show, “Around Here and Sometimes a Little Farther” in August.

Once again, I was so pleased with my little studio where I draw and display art that I took some more photos.

A friend/former neighbor was staying in the vacation rental across the street and requested a look into my studio. Since he reads my blog, he knew that it was in disarray so he waited until I let him know that order had been restored. He walked over for a visit (with Mabel, a Pembroke Welsh corgi), and I first showed him the workshop where I paint. He asked a few questions, and then wondered if I would paint a giant Sequoia for him.

But of course!

I told him he could have the incomplete one on the easel, and I’d even box it up and send it home with him wet. He agreed (with the understanding that I’d finish it first).

We moved into the studio, where he selected 3 more paintings.

I told him that isn’t why I invited him to see the studio and he responded that it is why he wanted to see it.

So I carried the 3 paintings over to his place because he needed to keep Mabel on her leash (she was getting used to the turkeys so he needed to be ready for who knew what might happen.) I propped them on the sofa table and photographed them to show you.

What a week! A visit with my longtime friend, finding a print for someone, selling some paintings, two dogs visiting my workplace. . . but wait! There’s more!

Tell you next time. . .

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.