More Green Tunnel

I’ve been painting the Green Tunnel from looking at the photo on my laptop. The progress left me unsure of my abilities and of the results. Sometimes commissions cause this sort of insecurity. (But I’d rather paint than go to counseling).

When the print finally arrived, I was surprised by how helpful it was, in a different way than painting from the screen. I can enlarge details on the screen, but there is something more tangible (duh!) about ink on paper.

The difference here is a photo taken with a phone (above) and a photo taken with a camera (lower). Neither one does the real painting any justice.

Now, let’s see what happened when I had the printed photo to work from.

The goal is not to match the photo exactly but to make the painting be as appealing or more so. I don’t think it is finished yet, but I already like it better.

Resting Coat of Arms

Whole lotta resting going on ’round here.

We chose silver gray for the customer’s name to match Helmet Dude. Now the coat of arms oil painting commission is drying. Sometimes when a painting is drying, I keep thinking of ways to improve it.

With this one, I am just trying not to look any more.

When it is dry, I’ll scan it for a better look. That’s for you to have a better look. I am FINISHED. (Please, please, may I be excused?)

Resting in the Green Tunnel

You last saw the commissioned Mineral King oil painting when it looked this way.

I spent a few more hours on it, and can’t decide if it is finished or not. So, it is resting.

The color is better in real life. 

I think the grasses need to be messier in order to be more believable.

Not sure. 

Keep resting, Green Tunnel.

Coat of Arms, Again

The saga continues. You last saw Revisions #1-4, and I speculated that the customer and I would continue on to Revision #5 or #6.

We met at her cabin in Mineral King for a pleasant time of friendship and revision. There are two things I like to do best with friends: take a walk, or work on a project. 

A wet painting on the very rough Mineral King road? Yeppers. Transported it without incident in the trunk of Fernando.

In the interest of privacy, I didn’t photograph the process or our time at her cabin. I did photograph the wet revision with a first layer only in the trunk of my car. You can see that we agreed on dark green, and together we rearranged ribbons. This was a great exercise for a crocheter (my friend) and a Knitter (me). (Yes, I am a Knitter, instead of one who knits, or even a knitter).

I brought it home and began the relayering process.

Neither one of us was satisfied with this solution to keep her name visible.
Rotating the painting allowed me to see the exact tip of the brush because I did NOT want to mess up the parts that we saved.
The 2nd layer of dark green needs to dry. Next, the blue and yellow ribbons will get a second coat.

But what about her name?

Stay tuned.

Second New Commission (or The Green Tunnel)

There is a section of trail in the Mineral King valley that I think of as the Yellow Tunnel in the fall. It is also the Green Tunnel in the summer, and I showed a photo of it on my blog last month. Here, have another look:

A faithful blog reader asked if I would be willing to paint that for her, and of course I said yes. We chose 11×14″, and then while I was waiting for a printed version of the photo (and a deposit on the painting because I have learned the hard way that if a customer doesn’t make a monetary commitment, it is only a conversation, not a commission), where was I, oh yeah, while I was waiting, I looked at the Green Tunnel from another perspective.

Doesn’t really say Green Tunnel from this view, eh? But fun to consider, if you are a fairly simple person with plain tastes in what constitutes fun.

The check came, and I couldn’t wait for the printed photo but began painting from my laptop. This has benefits and disadvantages, but when one is eager to begin a job, one does what is necessary.

This is not my normal way of painting, but when something feels right and is working, I just go with it. I turned off the voices of all my previous instructors and said to my self, “Self,” I said, “I’ll be me and they can be them and it will all work out just fine.”

Tucker and Pippin were also fine with that, and I had to be very careful of where I stepped when standing back to view my progress. (Jackson was out working or something.)

Call me “Butter” – I’m on a roll!

Now it needs to dry before I continue or the sky will turn green.

 

Back to Work With Oranges and Lemons

Incoming work ceased. While drawing lessons resumed, I waited for several conversations to become custom art jobs. 

They have. There are more of these unfinished conversations, but for now this one is enough.

These are now on hold.

Did I show you this painting? It is in Lemon Cove, and was a thank you gift to the farmer who graciously let us glean in his orchards this spring.

While I was working on this, someone sent me this, wanting it painted on a 3′ diameter circle, but substituting lemons for the mandarins. These folks are in Orange Cove.

So, let’s think about this: I painted oranges for Lemon Cove, and next I will be painting lemons for Orange Cove.

Only in Central California, and I am happy to be your Central California artist, making art that people can understand about things and places they love at prices that won’t scare them.

Now, excuse me while I keep priming and sanding this giant circle.

 

Not Mineral King Mountains

Last week I had the privilege of spending several days at Hume Lake with my friend and a new friend at my friend’s cabin. (Friend friend friend – just wrecked that word for myself.)

This is the 4th summer that she has invited me to join her, and through the times spent together, I have come to know and love her cousins, gotten reacquainted with Hume (worked there the summer of ’78), and become quite close with my old friend from childhood. 

Rather than go into a bunch of personal blah blah blah, let’s do our usual thing with photos.

Look on the lamp table. There is my oil painting, cleverly titled “Hume Lake I”.
“Hume Lake II” was very well received, as was “Hume Lake III”. (Most of the birthday party attendees began shouting their birth dates at me.)
So calm in the evening.
Wild Azaleas were in bloom.
Because there were no campers around, we got to go places that are usually not open to cabin folks.
One of the places that we explored was the children’s camp called “Wagon Train”.
Instead of cabins, the kids sleep in these covered Conestoga wagon replicas.
The lake was so serene without the hundreds of camping kids present. This is sad, unless you view it as a temporary condition.
This wildflower is new to me. I don’t have to know the name because it isn’t in Mineral King.
We ate way too much, so I force-marched my companions around the lake one evening after dinner. One of them had a Fit-Bit that recorded 26,400 steps that day. (Those steps didn’t counteract all the ice cream,)
I went to Inspiration Point in search of a red Mariposa Lily. Guess I was too early this year, because all I found were Farewell-to-Spring and profusely blooming Bear Clover.
I drove home a different route and saw Hume from an overlook. 

There are so many options for coming and going, unlike Mineral King with one road in and out. Hume Lake also has electricity, wifi in some cabins, many many cabins, and provided the best summer of my life (1978) until I worked in the Mineral King area (Silver City Store) in 1985. (And I thought that BEFORE I met Trail Guy at the end of that summer, so there.)

We had the pleasure of witnessing the baptism in the lake of 3 terrific kids.

Another distinct pleasure was renting stand-up paddle boards. We almost opted out, but I remembered our decision last year that we would do this, combined with the fact that the day was hot, there wasn’t much traffic on the lake, and that “everyone” knows that people regret what they don’t do more than what they do. (My sister and I often remind one another to “Do It Anyway”, in spite of our reservations, fears and doubts.) It was great fun, and I didn’t fall, but I would like to learn how to paddle without the zig-zag effect, which greatly impedes forward progress.

Oh – ice cream. Did I mention ice cream?

Someone needs to cut off my end of the table.

P.S. I have FOURTEEN books on hold at the library. WHEN WILL THEY OPEN AGAIN??

 

 

Getting Unstuck

After not painting for a month or two, I was stuck. The large unfinished oil painting of the oak tree just gathered dust, and it didn’t call to me. Painting Hume Lake shook something loose, meaning that it was fun and suddenly I wanted to paint more.

Early one morning with bright sun on it.
Can you see that the upper left corner of the tree has a bit more detail now?
Here – can you tell now that the left side of the tree is tighter, and the right is unfinished?
Better branches all over, better fence posts, grass, and rocks.

Now it needs to dry again. Meanwhile, that was so fun that I have begun a new one. This is a Just Because, a subject that I have never tackled before, a Why Not Try This decision.

All my gallivanting around California, taking photos, getting them printed, and never painting them because I don’t think I have a market for the various subjects, finally coming into use. Maybe. If it doesn’t sell or no one likes it, it might become another Mineral King painting.