Odd Job Accident

Little Bucky was patiently waiting his next coat of paint in the painting workshop.

When he was dry enough, I flipped him upside down so I could paint the underneath parts. However, I forgot that one of his antlers was not attached to his head. It fell out.

I photographed it, texted Ignacio, and confessed.

Little Bucky was a little dismayed, but he appeared to be used to only having one antler.

Phooey. Why did I say yes to this job??

Ignacio suggested superglue, so that’s what I did. I also asked him if he still had the other piece from when it broke previously so I could glue it for him. He didn’t, and asked if I could make him a new one!

When I said, “From what?”, he replied, “Wood”. I reminded him that I am not a carver, but work in pencil, oil paint, and murals. 

Maybe I should have added superglue to the list.

 

Five Different Reasons to Send a Note

Everyone loves to get real mail, and as Crane Stationery used to advertise, “No one has ever cherished an email”. (This was before texting, which has made email look personal and handcrafted.)

The other morning I wrote a bunch of notes. A list had accumulated of people I needed to communicate with, and each one needed to be handwritten. Sometimes email just doesn’t do the trick.

As I carried them to the mailbox, it struck me that each note was written for a different reason.

  1. Thank you
  2. I’m sorry for your loss (any of my cards, blank inside, would work for this).
  3. Get well soon (any card with a blank interior will work for this)
  4. Happy Birthday (nope, none of my cards actually say this inside, but I have great confidence in your ability to write those words)
  5. An invitation (I used a blank card for this too)

There are many other reasons to use cards and hand-write notes to people.  

I’ll give you some other ideas tomorrow.

 

Lazy Listicle of Distracted Thoughts

  1. The acorns have been raining down from the live oaks in our yard and attracting herds of deer. One morning Trail Guy counted 16 in the driveway. (Deer, not acorns)
  2. This painting needs a title! Any suggestions?
  3. These 2 5×7″ oil paint on panel paintings are drying. There are 3 more, but these are days of distractions,  falling acorns, broken things, a rush pencil commission, RAIN, and yet another odd job.
  4. This big guy was focused on acorns and water. There is a tub on the other side of that rock that the deer come to (and the turkeys and the cats. . . probably some others we don’t know about). Such is life in Three Rivers in rural Tulare County.
  5. My wonderful webdesigner gave up two hours on her day off to begin figuring out what keeps going wrong with my website. This was her only day off in the busiest week she has had since pre-Plague. There are still some mysteries, but it is mostly functional at this time.
  6. Many years ago a former neighbor gave me this juicer. This year it wouldn’t work, AFTER we picked a 5 gallon bucket of pomegranates. Someone told me about a repair shop in Goshen, so I navigated my way to Breck’s in a ferocious rainstorm, and they gave me hope. Now my hope is that it can be repaired quickly, because in spite of not paying for it initially, at $90/hour, I will be paying for it now.
  7. In spite of November being my busiest month, I spent a day on my tookus, watching a live workshop of many demonstrations of art realism. During the boring ones (I KNOW how to draw!), I packaged notecards. During the other sessions, I took notes.
  8. I also took photos. This is how the light looks on one of my studio windows in the afternoon.

P.S. I might have knitted a little bit too. . . it wasn’t Zoom and no one could see.

P.P.S. (that means PS #2) I hit a skunk on my way home the other night. Didn’t know it until I got home. Felt something, but didn’t smell it until the car was in the garage. Well, yippee skippee. A skunk is easier on a car than a deer. 

 

Painting Three Rivers

Did you think I forgot these paintings? Not a chance; I have a little bazaar coming on November 19 in Three Rivers and need some appropriate merchandise (besides just 2023 calendars and cards and coloring books.)

Did I think you forgot them? Not gonna let you forget—don’t worry your pretty little head about that.

One:

(Please, do not sing about this.)

It is now finished, drying, and awaiting a scan so you can see the colors more accurately. The title is Alta Peak/Moro Rock View. (Yes, I know it is brilliant and clever and original.)

Two:

Just a bunch of yellow grass couldn’t possibly take that long, could it?

Yes, it could and it is. It isn’t titled yet. Perhaps “Yellow Grass and Live Oaks” would be appropriately creative and original. . .

Three:

Mixing colors for this one has been fun. My paintings tend to be all greens, grays, and browns, or nothing but orange (poppies and oranges, over and over).

How about calling it “Three Indian Grindholes on the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River in Three Rivers at Sunset”?

Nope. It is only an 8×10″ oil painting, so there isn’t enough room on the back of the canvas to write all that.

Part of the business of art is coming up with good titles. I’ve got some thinking to do.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Laurie!

 

Making Three Improvements

Improvements

I brought home the paintings from Silver City that didn’t sell over the summer. My good friend helped me evaluate them honestly. I need the opinions of honest good friends, regular people rather than Educated Artist Type people, because regular people are my customers.

First:

Remember this?

I redid it like this:

Immediately someone said, “I want that!” However, I know her pretty well, and she is a talker and a dreamer. It ain’t a sale until money exchanges hands, and no money exchanged hands. So, I added a flag.

I’m certain that was the missing element.

Second:

Why didn’t this sweet little 6×6″ of aspens along the Nature Trail sell?

Because it didn’t have wildflowers!! (After this photo, I repaired the big red blob and changed my signature back to white).

Three:

Why do I still have this little painting of alpenglow on Vandever?

Because it wants brighter colors and more detail, of course.

The business of art requires honesty, realistic looks at sales and what customers want.

P.S. They’ll look better when scanned, and even better in real life.

 

Painting As If I Have a Deadline

After finishing three more 5×7″ oranges on easels, they sold within days. The director of the Mural Gallery asked for more, so I set up an assembly line to get the first layer on the panels.

That was sloppy business. I prefer to work with exact, tight, precision, so I moved back into this 8×10″ painting of a typical Three Rivers scene, and got serious about making it as accurate as possible.

Then I got a call from a man for whom I had done an odd job this summer. He has a deer, which has faded from the sun, and wondered if I could freshen it up. He was able to provide a photo of it when it was new, which will help me get this done right. I said yes, and then we had to figure out how in the world I would charge him for this odd job. He told me what he paid for it initially, we figured out how much he was willing to spend, I told him how many hours that would cover, and then we made a plan. I will paint one side only, keeping track of my hours, and if there is enough time and money left in the budget, I’ll paint the backside. If not, I’ll just paint the backside plain brown, no detail. 

The cats aren’t a fan of this guest in their safe room. I expect they will adjust soon.

Whatcha doing, Central California Artist?

Messy beginnings

All my paintings begin this way. It no longer causes me distress, that continual uncertainty about my skills. With approximately 1300 paintings (not counting murals) completed since 2006 and most of those sold, I am learning to just flow with the mess. 

Planning

With the Holiday Bazaar happening soon (Saturday, November 19, Three Rivers Veterans Memorial Building, 9-4), I needed to take inventory and plan. I counted up the number of available paintings by subject, tallied them by size, and came up with a plan. 

Three Rivers subjects are in the shortest supply. 8×10 and similar sizes are the most likely to sell at a one day bazaar here in town. So, two 8×10″s, one 8×8″, and a 6×18″. (Priced at $125, $100, and $165)

Chop chop and hubba hubba

I went quickly through my photos, going on “gut instinct” rather than evaluating to the same degree that I evaluated sizes and subjects, and without hesitating, assigned inventory numbers and titles, wired the backs for hanging, and started painting.

Cover that canvas

Take a break for drying

These will turn out just fine. Most paintings do. If not, I will just add more layers or turn them into Sequoia tree oil paintings. It’s just the business of art.

Sold in August, September, and October

Sequoia, citrus, Mineral King. . . all the usual subjects one would expect from an artist in Tulare County. However, I have heard Morro Bay referred to as “Visalia West”, so maybe the beach scene is Tulare Countyish. (I wish). The pomegranate is colored pencil, something I haven’t tried or sold in many years.

I try to show this in sizes that are proportionately relative to one another here; closies count.

Just because, here are links to previous posts of Sold art.

Sold in Summer

Sold in April and May

Sold in February and March

Painting in Order to Sell

Farewell at Dusk, 10×30″, oil on wrapped canvas, $500

There is an ongoing topic among artists about whether or not it is right to paint in order to sell. In general, the two schools of thought are:

  1. Do Your Own Thing And Express Yourself And If Nothing Sells At Least You Haven’t Sold Your Soul
  2. You Are In Business So You Had Best Please The Customers And Be Grateful They Like Your Work Enough To Part With Their Hard-Earned Dollars

It is clear that I belong in School #2.

Paint it out

Sometimes I paint something because I love it, and then I have to paint it out because no one in the local market of buyers agrees. The recent conversion of a river scene to sequoia trees is a prime example.

Paint it again

Sometimes I paint something that sells, so I paint it again and it sells again, and so on and so forth. Here is a recent example of that situation. Six times? Seven? I lost count. Because it was so popular, I painted the most recent version in hopes of selling it at the Silver City Store this summer. (Nope. . . is it waiting for you?)

Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint IX, 12×24″, oil on wrapped canvas, $550

Paint what I love

And the best of all is when I paint something just because I want to, and then it sells. But sometimes that feels disappointing because I wanted to keep it. (So what’s the problem? Just paint it again!)

Paint it better

Sometimes I paint something, it doesn’t sell, and then I have to figure out why not. I did that with this painting of redwood and dogwood, and it sold very quickly after the do-over. (I was tempted to name it Red Dog but knew that was a loser from a marketing standpoint.)

The challenge with every scene, but particularly those I’ve painted many times is to make it the absolute best I can every time. No auto-pilot, no “phoning it in”, no sleep-painting. Focus, focus, focus. 

As I often tell Nancy of Kaweah Arts, “I came here to earn a living, and I’d rather repaint a scene that bores me than be a waitress.” 

The best way to not be bored while repainting a popular scene is to continually challenge myself to find a way to make it the best I can. Because. . .

I use pencil, oil paint, and murals to make art that people can understand of places and things they (not me) love, for prices that won’t scare them (but allow me to continue eating).

Facelift, Figuratively Speaking.

The heat backed off a little and two places that sell my work requested more. 

I started with the river painting do-over. It sat on an easel with its buddy non-selling river painting. . .and got a facelift. . .…but we will wait until the bruising subsides and the stitches get removed.

I mean we will wait until it is dry enough to be scanned before doing an actual comparison.