Fifty Years

Mr. and Mrs. Customer had their fiftieth wedding anniversary. Mr. Customer sent Mrs. Customer a bouquet of 50 red carnations with 2 white roses. Mrs. Customer wanted it to last forever, so they asked me to paint it for them.

They emailed me photos, and then I experimented with various methods of cropping. 

I realized that the color in the photos wasn’t telling the whole story so I asked if I could go photograph the flowers in person. I took along some paint samples in order to match the right reds, my camera for a few close-ups (although the roses were drooping), and my computer so they could see the ways I had cropped. I also asked questions to learn what parts were important to them: the background realistic like their home interior or just whatever shows off the flowers? the vase? the coaster the vase is sitting on? as many flowers as I can cram into the painting?

This is going to be complicated and slow, because I will be working from multiple photos. I don’t want it to look like just any bouquet of flowers—it needs to be as special as these people. So, it will take time and thought, enormous detail, and a willingness to make adjustments that enhance the painting rather than slavishly copying a photo.

Enough jibber-jabber.

Start upside down. Make some blobs, get them to roughly correspond to the arrangement in the photos because a professional flower arranger knew what she was doing (and I don’t).

Right side up, add some background, resize things to better fill the canvas, correct the vase shape, include the ribbon.

Lift out places for curly willow, begin shaping the outer edges, cover the surface, start indicating some darks and lights within the carnations.

This is a little bit too hard for me, but not as hard as drawing a 1-3/4″ face from a little photo. I had to take a break and go pull some weeds.

Mr. Customer said they’d like it sometime before their second fiftieth. I can accommodate that request.

A Few More Orange Groves in Paint

Here is the rest of your tour through Tulare County’s finest scenery, as interpreted in oil paint.

This was a commission, the very first time I painted a citrus grove with hills in the background.

In the Orchard (sold)

Tulare County’s Best (24×24″, available, $1000)

This was a thank you gift so it didn’t need a name.

Citrus Sunset (sold)

 

This was a commission.

Another commission.

 

And the latest with the appropriate title of “Citrus and the Sierra”.

Citrus and the Sierra, 10×20″, oil on wrapped canvas, $350 (plus tax if you live in California)

P.S. I thought this piece was spoken for, but I didn’t put the size on it and the intended customer’s intended wall is not wide enough.

 

 

Orange Groves in Oil Paint

These are several oil paintings of my current favorite subject: orange groves with foothills and mountains in the background. Looking at these (and showing them off) helps me regain my confidence as an artist after the tiny face show-down.

Citrus Cove (sold)

Looking East (sold)

Lemon Cove (sold)

Picking Time (10×10″, available, $150)

In the Orchard (sold)

If you have a hankering for a painting of this type of scene, I am available for commissions. Just tell me the size, which mountains you want visible in the background, and anything else you’d like in the painting. Then, I will put your project in the queue.

There. Seeing all those “sold” signs, and knowing there is a queue all helped repair the ding to my confidence after the face trouble.

 

 

 

Name That Painting

My current favorite subject for painting is classic Tulare County—citrus and mountains, two things I consider to be the best parts of living here.

Today I am asking for a little help. My most current painting is nameless, and I am out of ideas.

Would you like to name this painting for me?

Thanks! (You know it looks better in person, don’t you?)

Here are some ideas that were submitted in response to my emailed newsletter:

Here and There

The Elephant and the Orange

Beyond the Trees

Foothill Bounty

Sierra Oranges

Orange View

Oh Beautiful!

Before 50/50 bars

California’s Peaks and Navels

Spruce Road, East

On a Clear Day

Citrus and the Sierra 

Classic Tulare County

The Best of California

Last minute update: the painting was spoken for, the buyer chose the name, and then she measured her wall. Oops. It won’t fit. It is my fault for not publishing the size, 10×20″. It is now available, $375 (this includes sales tax if you live in California or shipping if you don’t), here on my website, or in all the usual ways such as seeing me in person, calling, emailing, etc.

 

An Orange Grove in Oil Paint

Poppies and oranges and orange groves and poppy fields: that’s what I paint in the winter and spring. (Unless I am painting Sawtooth).

Remember this? It was on the easel until the poppies started selling like hotcakes.

I finished 6 new small oil paintings of poppies, and was so pleased to have paint in the right colors left on the palette to finish this painting.

It is signed, but you can’t really tell in the last photo. After it dries, I will photograph it in good light for you (and my website and portfolio and records, etc.)

This type of painting really says Tulare County to me. Now it needs a title.

 

Poppies Won’t Put Them to Sleep

Why won’t poppies put them to sleep, and who exactly is “them”? 

It is a reference to The Wizard of Oz, a joke that won’t matter if it needs to be explained.

My poppies won’t put anyone to sleep because they are very bright. Here are the latest oil paintings in progress:

These two are finished (the clue is the signature).

These two aren’t finished (the clue is the messiness).

This one is finished (once again, the signature is your clue).

This one is less messy, but clearly unfinished.

Daylight was waning*, so I moved it inside to dry and will put the finishing touches on it another day.

*You can manipulate the clock all you want, but it will NOT create more daylight. 

Paint While the Poppies are Hot

Poppies aren’t literally hot; this is my version of “Strike while the iron is hot”. What does that actually mean? I think it has something to do with blacksmithery—taking action in a timely manner.

These four oil paintings of California poppies sold immediately.

The poppies are out in abundance, and interest in them is high. Gotta paint poppies now! These will have to be done quickly and possibly delivered while still slightly wet if I am to tap into the season of interest. Let’s get those canvases ready NOW.

 

These two (6×6″ and 4×6″) are now available at Kaweah Arts in Three Rivers (unless they sold over the weekend).

This 8×8″ needs some more touching up and a signature.

Chop-chop, Central California artist!

And here is a thought: I do not remember poppies in abundance like this when I was kid. Is it because: a. they just didn’t bloom this way; b. my family wasn’t “into” poppies and wildflowers; c. I was oblivious? 

Probably c.

 

Coming Home to Orange Groves

I grew up in an orange grove.

That sounds weird. Until I was about 11 years old, we lived in a house in an orange grove, not under a tree with the jackrabbits. After that, we moved to a house in an olive grove. Although picturesque, olive trees are not as appealing to me as oranges trees. That opinion has to do with the scent of orange blossoms, along with the ready availability of food. (Don’t try to eat an olive directly from the tree. You’re welcome.) 

A year or two (probably three—you know how time flies) ago, I developed a strong desire to paint orange groves with foothills and mountains in the background. This isn’t my best selling subject (that would currently be Sawtooth and before that Farewell Gap or the Honeymoon Cabin), but it sells steadily. 

We saw this painting in progress a week or two ago:

Here are a few more stages of development:

It is lacking oranges on the right side, a wind machine, and maybe some blossoms. They might be too small at this scale. I was very careful to get the mountains accurate, so if you know the middle fork of the Kaweah, you will recognize Alta Peak and Castle Rocks.

Why do I love this subject so much? 

Prolly need some counseling.

Definitely need some counseling, but it prolly doesn’t have anything to do with this particular obsession.

“Prolly.” I love this non-word.

Finding My Way Home

It feels as if I am finding my way back home in my art pursuits. Sales are encouraging, commissions are energizing, rain and snow is reassuring, and all of those things reignite my desire to paint, draw, and tell you about it.

We recently saw this oil painting:

It didn’t look right to me. The colors were wrong, and it needed orange blossoms. Back on the easel with you!

Better.

Painting oranges feels like coming home.