Category: Sources of inspiration

Experimenting with Alien Pencils

As a professional artist, it is important to keep my work consistent and to meet deadlines. This doesn’t leave much room for experimenting, something that I view as a luxury for hobbyists. Hobbyists can do anything they choose, whatever inspires them, no deadlines, no need for a signature look (called a “voice” in Art Speak).

A number of years ago, a drawing student/friend gave me a super generous gift of some pencils that I had never heard of. “Graphitint” by Derwent are water soluble pencils, described as having “a hint of earthy color”, but are neither graphite nor colored pencils. After making a chart to see what this “hint of earthy color” looked like, I tried a bit of water on the swatches, drew a small picture, decided it was hideous, and just put it all away.

Recently my friend Carrie Lewis asked me to write another article for her digital magazine, Colored Pencil Magic. At first I told her that I had already written everything I knew about colored pencils. Then I remembered my Graphitints, right there in my stack of colored pencil boxes and tins.

I couldn’t very well write an article stating I had tried them ten years ago and then shoved them aside.

So, I decided to learn more about these alien pencils. I chose a photo to work from and started another chart to pick the right colors and get a feel for them.

What alien creatures – soft like 6B graphite, but still different than colored pencils. I thought back to a great drawing teacher I’d had who only let us use 6B pencils, keeping a super sharp point. That gave me the confidence to dive in here. After all, it’s only paper, and I do know how to draw.

It was enjoyable, because I listened to Peggy Rowe read from her book Vacuuming in the Nude and Other Ways to Get Attention, (on her son’s blog “The Way I Heard It”). And it was enjoyable because I love to draw, even with alien pencils.

Enough. Many layers, like colored pencils. Lots of ad libbing, along with severe editing, and this little 5×7″ drawing with alien pencils was finished.

She Loves Flowers, Chapter Three

I wasn’t joking about loving flowers.

My yard is huge, and these represent little dots of color, scattered all around. It is not like some classic English garden, or as if everything is perfectly placed and professionally landscaped. But oh my goodness, I do love me some flowers.

P.S. This post comes to you after a very full busy weekend. I will tell you a bit about it later this week. Now, hold it down, will ya? I want to take a nap.

More Citrus Paintings

This 6×12″ oil painting. . .

. . .held my interest more strongly than the 6×18″ of a Sequoia tree. I am having a thing for these pictures of citrus against the hills.

It is now drying, so I started another one, this time 18×36″.

Yeppers, upside down. This one feels huge, there is no deadline, and I really think it will look excellent in my dining room. Dining area — it is just an area, not a separate room.

What is it about these scenes that floats my boat? They are truly a source of inspiration to me right now. But, as a nod to a popular piece of advice, I’m not going to overthink* it. I’d rather paint.

*Have you noticed the popularity of this? The word “overthink” keeps appearing in book titles and songs, and now of course, in people’s speech patterns (along with “literally” when “figuratively” is meant, and “at the end of the day”). Who starts these fads??

P.S. It costs a fortune to have a transplant, and while insurance covers much, there is much more that it does not cover. If you feel generous and inclined to help my friend, Rachelle, this is the best way to do so: HelpHopeLive.Org

What is an “Artist Statement”?

An artist statement is not a biography, nor is it a list of accomplishments and awards. It is a few paragraphs meant to cause someone to want to view the artist’s work and provide a bit of insight into the reasons the artist makes the art.

The most helpful questions I’ve read about writing a statement are these:

What do you want people to see in your work?

What is a distinguishing characteristic of your art?

Based on your conversations, what do people find delightful or surprising about your art?

The least helpful “advice” I’ve read about writing an artist statement are these questions:

What informs the color in your work?

What are the paradoxes in your work?

How do your cultural roots inform your practice?

This is what I have come up with. Does it make you want to see my work or help you understand why I do what I do?

My artistic goal is to show people that Tulare County has beauty, and we can feel proud to call it home. I also want my art to ignite the viewers’ curiosity about the places that I paint and draw.

Using pencil and oil paint, I am a studio artist who makes art that people can understand. My style is straightforward realism with tight detail, a somewhat cleaned up and brightened version of real life. I like my paintings to look good both close up and from a distance, which is a result of having used nothing but pencil for the first decades of my career.

My favorite place, Mineral King, is clearly a huge influence on my choice of subjects; I think it is the most beautiful place in our county. Recognizing art of familiar places brings delight, so to that end I gladly accept commissions of the places and things that people love.

And you thought I just sat around drawing all day.

Pippin would like to know what in the world I am going on and on about.

Red Things

Recently, I noticed red things in my yard. Maybe that is just what artists do. That’s what this one does.

Big Ideas

As I continue to paint larger, the bigger ideas continue to come to me. I’ve been drawing more than painting lately, because I can shut myself into the studio with the air conditioner to filter the smoke.

Meanwhile, I do a little bit of preliminary work on the big ideas. Here are 2 of the latest. The top is 24 x 48″, and the bottom is 22×28″, leaning up against the 18×36″.

“Man-aze a lotta work ahead!”

P.S. HB, JC!

Decisions, decisions

My very wise dad used to say, “Life is a series of choices and decisions”. (My very wise friend still says, “Choices and consequences”.)

In preparing larger paintings while hoping for a show at a local-ish gallery, I have to keep in mind my mission, which is to show off the best parts of Tulare County with my art. One would think that choosing the best scenes would automatically result in sales; one would be wrong.

It is painting the scenes that people love, scenes that ring a bell, touch their hearts, resonate, remind them of good memories, and doing all this in the most excellent way possible that MIGHT result in sales. (Anyone have a crystal ball that I can borrow?)

There is a scene that draws me back, in any season with water in the creek, and I want to paint it on an 18×36″ canvas. It is Yokohl Creek.

This version isn’t quite it, and won’t fit on 18×36″ format. So, have a look at the cropped version:

Better, so I started on the canvas.

But wait! Spring is the most beautiful time of year!

Shall I try to convert the view I cropped to spring colors? First, let’s crop this view.

This still doesn’t have the same visual pizazz to me as the brown version. What’s a Central California artist to do?

More will be revealed. . . (and I bet you can complete that sentence.)

oil painting Tulare County art yokohl creek

Irresistible Subject

Ever painted a circle? I have. It was a heavy saw blade with sharp teeth. Sawteeth? Yeppers, Sawtooth with sawteeth.

This one is much kinder to work with. It isn’t heavy, the surface is very smooth, the top is clearly marked, and it fits on an easel.

The paper photograph hadn’t arrived, but I couldn’t wait a moment longer to begin. A scene with citrus and mountains, a true source of inspiration, is just irresistible to this Central California artist!

Good thing my customers have faith in my ability, because as always, things start out looking rough.

HURRY UP, PRINTED PHOTO!!

citrus citrus oil painting

Fun in an Orange Grove

What passes for recreation these days is gleaning oranges in a friend’s grove in Lemon Cove. (Don’t be confused – there is a Lemon Grove in San Diego, and an Orange Cove in Fresno County, and Lemon Cove is in Tulare County.) This has always been fun for Trail Guy and me, but now it is almost the only thing we do for fun. Taking walks, yardening, they count too, but I’m talking about going somewhere in a vehicle.

It is fun to ramble around the grove, take photos, hunt, find, pick, eat, and later, to share. As an added bonus, when I am out there I can touch my face as much as I want, so there. (Talk about fun – wowsa.)

We are having more fun than humans should be allowed, especially when we are supposed to be hunkered down in our dwellings, watching too much teevee, taking in confusing and conflicting information, and being afraid.

Not us, nosireebob.

This is what passes for a business trip in this time of “staying in place”. And now I have ideas and inspiration for new paintings. Take that, Virus!

This area hasn’t been picked yet because it is valencias, not navels. We didn’t glean here. Gleaning is what happens after picking.

To find oranges, you look for a “door” to go inside the trees canopy, and then look up and around. (Try not to bash your head or step on any sprinklers or thorns.)

Saturday Bonus

How long will this “Shelter in Place” be in effect? What a terrible balancing act between economic health and physical health, with so many unknowns, and so much pressure to see into the future accurately. If you are a praying person, please pray for our leaders.

Meanwhile, let’s continue enjoying springtime.