7 New Oil Paintings, 6 of Sequoia

In one day! That’s because only the fun “gravy work” was remaining on 6 of them, you know, the part where I get to draw with my paintbrushes, which were behaving well that day.

The 2 on the easel just needed the edges painted and my signature. The 2 little Sequoias needed better colors, more detail, edges, and signatures.

Being a frugal person, I didn’t want to waste the remaining oil paint on my palette, so I made the impulsive decision to paint this meadow. There is a large painting of Crescent Meadow that is garnering much attention at Kaweah Arts but the price is scaring customers. So, maybe this little one will satisfy that itch.

Here are all the completed paintings, drying in the painting workshop, which won’t take long in the 100 degree days of July, here in Central California. Top to bottom: 2 sequoia paintings (6×6″ each), Crescent Meadow (maybe) (6×18″), Moro Rock (8×10″), Tunnel Log (ditto), Kaweah Post Office (ditto), Giant Sequoia (6×18″).

Good Sales of Sequoia & 3 Rivers Art

I’ve told you that sales have been brisk. Let’s look at the pieces that have sold recently and REJOICE! I haven’t included commissions or the large panels of Giant Sequoias. I might have even forgotten a few.

I have no false illusions about becoming a Big Deal, or that this is “The New Normal”. It is a surge, and I appreciate the business. When stores sell my work, they don’t tell me who bought the pieces, so I don’t have a way to personally thank anyone. Thus, this blog post (which might also be a bit self-promotional, but then it IS the blog of my art, and this IS how I earn a living.)

THANK YOU for reading, for buying, for liking my work and my words.

Painting in Mineral King

That was a confusing title. I was in Mineral King, painting non-Mineral King subjects. The heat in Mineral King is less uncomfortable than the swamp-cooler situation in my painting workshop. Sometimes in the past when I have been painting non-Mineral King subjects while in Mineral King, people have asked why I am not painting Mineral King. The answer is because there is a check, a customer, a gallery, or a store waiting for these particular paintings. (And, would you like to commission me to paint something here in Mineral King? This can be easily arranged.)

It is a little difficult for Joe Bag-of-Doughnuts from West Undershirt to accept the reality of art as a business. I do my best to educate him.

Moving on. . . here is how it looks to be painting non-Mineral King subjects while in Mineral King.

None of these are finished, all needing more details, edges painted, signing, and I have to pick some bugs out of the sky of the Moro Rock painting.

The wet paintings go on the stairs inside the cabin until time to take them home to be finished.

It isn’t ideal, but we make it work. I am very happy to have a place to sell my paintings and grateful to Nancy at Kaweah Arts for her terrific work on behalf of Three Rivers artists.

 

Completed Commissions

Here are the promised scans of the two most recent custom art jobs, now both completed.

Here is Sawtooth.

Here is Yosemite Falls, as interpreted by the Central California artist, working from multiple reference photos in the “comfort” of her swamp-cooled painting workshop.

Another Oil Commission

In case you might have forgotten, I use pencils, oil paint, and murals, to make art that you can understand of places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.

Sales pitch over – let’s get on with it.

A friend sent me this photo of Sawtooth because her mother said she’d like a painting of the signature peak of Mineral King. The photo is a little plain, so we decided that some wispy clouds in the sky and brighter aspens will jazz it up.

Here is the rough beginning of the painting.

I added some green blobs, then moved it into the drying area with Yosemite Falls. I could have kept going, but it was time to head up the hill. And sometimes I just quit in the middle of the day because I am the boss of my business and can do anything I want. (Fall down laughing . . . sometimes the business is the boss of me.)

OH NO! Yosemite Falls is sideways! 

This is because the Yosemite friend first sent me a horizontal photo, so I wired the canvas that direction. After she changed her mind, I decided to wait until the painting is entirely dry to change the orientation of the wire. Being the boss of my business, I can do things in any order I want. Sometimes I just get rebellious and live on the edge like that.

P.S. I have good friends who like my art and prove it by hiring me, and I consider it a great honor, although sometimes I wish I could just give it all away. But then how would I pay for this overpriced laptop and all the hidden internet costs? And gas? Oh, food too. . . what about taxes? and YARN???

New Oil Commission

“Commission” is fancy talk for custom art.

A friend requested an 8×10″ oil painting from a photo she took in Yosemite.

I haven’t been to Yosemite very often and don’t really know it but somehow I knew to ask if this was Yosemite Falls, and doesn’t it have 2 parts? The oak tree in the foreground was obstructing the shapes of the cliffs, and I also needed to know if the barely visible cabin in the lower right mattered.

After a bit of back-and-forth, I went to the World Wide Web, found many photos that showed the dual nature of these famous falls, and proceeded to make up my own version. 

Since when have I become such a rogue painter??

Here are the steps (without showing you the photo from the WWW because I do not have permission.) I began the painting in the studio (the reasons are boring), where oil painting does not belong, but I was very very careful.  I worked from my friend’s photo on the laptop. You can see that I chose to keep and enhance the little structure, because I am into cabins (hence “Cabin Art”).

The next painting session was in the painting workshop, where it is not a tragedy to drop and spill things. The natural light is better there than in the artificial light of the studio, so it was a much better place to finish the painting.

The last photo was taken with the phone instead of the camera. Neither one is adequate, but will have to suffice until the painting is dry and can be scanned.

 

More Completed Mineral King Paintings

These Mineral King oil paintings are now ready to be displayed and sold.

Mineral King Aspens, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $65 INCLUDING TAX! (If you live out of state, that extra $5 can go toward mailing).
Mineral King Trail, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $65 INCLUDING TAX! (What I already said).

Paintings always look better in person (and I almost always tell you that). I was studying the paintings on the studio wall, and decided that this one, painted en plein air (fancy talk for on location), just wasn’t good enough.I brightened and lightened it; now it is for sale at the Mural Gallery in Exeter.

Always learning, striving to. . .

. . . make art you understand, about places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.

 

 

Better Sequoia

From 2012:

2012
Thought it was finished and changed my mind.
Best Sequoia painting, titled “Sandy’s Sequoia”.

Since everything looks measurably better in person, I am wondering if the differences are just due to camera variations. I don’t know where the original painting from 2012 is, nor can I find the photo that I used, so this is a mystery to be lived with. Not everything has an answer (Uncle Google may be omnipresent but he is not omniscient.)

This is custom art, Gentle Blog Reader. Custom art works like this:

Using pencils, oil paints, and murals, I make art that people can understand of places and things they love, for prices that won’t scare them.

P.S. My business manager made me put that in the blog. She is mean like that.

I Can Do Better

I thought the commissioned oil painting of a Giant Sequoia was finished. I photographed it, fixed the photo on Photoshop Junior (because there is no way to hold the camera perfectly aligned with the painting), and even varnished it.

Then I decided to compare it to the one that my customer saw and liked, painted back in 2012.

2012

The darks are darker in this one, and it just looks better. 

Back to the easel with my newest Big Tree oil painting, since I can do better, because. . .

. . .I make art that people can understand, of places and things they love, for prices that won’t scare them.

New Paintings Completed. . .

. . . and one that was, but then I changed my mind. I’ll tell you about that another day.

Giant Sequoia II, 6×18″, oil on wrapped canvas, $165 (plus too much sales tax in California)
Oak Grove Bridge #34, oil on wrapped canvas, 8×10″, $125 (plus tax, yadda yadda yadda)
Mineral King Alpenglow, 6×18″, oil on wrapped canvas, $165 (plus you-know-what in California)
Honeymoon Cabin at Dusk, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $108 (includes the tax but if you are out of California it is bargain at $100)
Classic Mineral King, 18×35″, oil on wrapped canvas, $1200 (more in California but I won’t do the math now because it will make me break out in hives)