Weird, But Good

My solo show, Around Here, in Tulare was originally going to consist solely of oil paintings. However, I asked the director if she also wanted pencil drawings, which normally attract attention but not sales, and she said, “Sure, why not?”

So, I gathered up my best framed pencil pieces and added them to the mix.

The director hung them on their own wall.

Well, saw off my legs and call me Shorty; shut your mouth and slap your grandma*, all that sold from the show was pencil drawings!**

*Heard that on a country song

**And many packages of notecards plus a few books.

Thanks, all y’all!

P.S. J.C. I can draw Sawtooth again for you if you’d like one of your own.

Did You Think I Was On Vacation?

In case you were wondering if all I do is yammer on about the beach or Mineral King, let me remind you that I am a working artist. Sure, maybe I’m only working part time these days, but I AM working. Here’s a list of upcoming projects (remembering that until money exchanges hands, it is only conversation):

  1. I bid a mural which I did not get.
  2. I won a competition for a mural that was initially promised to me, turned into a competition in which my design was chosen, delayed, and now, three years later, it might actually happen.
  3. Some folks want a pencil drawing of the view from their parents’ front porch in Texas. This will be a very challenging commission. Maybe they’ll send me to Texas. . . probably not.
  4. The same folks want another pencil drawing of the view from their other parents’ home with a vineyard and the Sierra in the distance.
  5. Someone I’ve never met in person but am getting acquainted with on The Frugal Girl blog wants an oil painting of his house, somewhere on the east coast.
  6. A friend and I are discussing a painting of the 2 sequoia trees in Redwood Canyon (on the Mineral King Road), which she calls “Two Sisters” and I learned as “Aunt Tillie and Uncle Pete”.
  7. My show continues in Tulare, so here is a reminder of the dates, days and hours.

The list format doesn’t allow for photos to be inserted, so here are a few to keep you from thinking TLDR, which means Too Long, Didn’t Read.

#1 —I didn’t waste time doing sketches when the potential customer hadn’t come up with a budget. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way.

#2 This is the mural that I designed, submitted to the competition, was chosen, then put on hold. I sure do hope I get to paint it!

#3 Texas porch view photo to be turned into a 14×17” pencil drawing

#4 Front porch view (but change the trees to a vineyard)

#5 This is just a photo of his amazing Japanese maple. This will be a very challenging painting but I’m up for it!!

#6 After photographing them countless times, I could only find one shot, which is horizontal rather than the desired vertical format. For now it is just conversation, so there is time to get new photos.

Finally, here are the specifics about the show AROUND HERE in Tulare.

AROUND HERE will be at the Heritage Gallery in the Tulare Historical Museum through August 30. Days/hours are Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays, 10-4. (444 W. Tulare Ave.)

Good Reception, Going Quiet

The reception was well attended by people from all different parts of my life. I was especially touched to see several of my drawing students there (no extra credit for attending; no demerits for skipping.)

Here are some photos provided by attendees.

I love my drawing students and miss them when we don’t meet for two months in summer.
There was an enormous selection of finger foods which looked delicious, but I stuck to water. Too much talking and handshaking and hugging to be dealing with a plate of food.
Father John, formerly of St. Anthony’s Retreat in Three Rivers is a very accomplished painter who encouraged me back when I began oil painting in 2006.
Kim is a fabulous realistic pastel artist and also a fabulous pianist. Her tunes in the background were perfect.
I was thrilled to see some MK friends! (and learn that others stopped by a day or two later on their way to MK—thank you, G & D!!)
This is the only decent photo of the ones I took before the reception began. I was a little worried that no one would show up, so maybe I wasn’t giving photography my best attention.

Why is this chick so smiley? Because: A. Her favorite dress still fits after 30 years and she rediscovered that it has pockets; B. She is going quiet on the interwebs for a week or so; C. She will be with her first friend from Three Rivers and her very dear friend from Texas next week.

Nothing to see here, folks.

AROUND HERE will be at the Heritage Gallery in the Tulare Historical Museum through August 30. Days/hours are Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays, 10-4. (444 W. Tulare Ave.)

P.S. It is ALL FOR SALE.

RECEPTION TONIGHT!

The gallery director and her granddaughter hung the show with my eager and curious assistance.

This gallery seems dark inside, but the lights on the art are terrific. Carpet on the walls looks odd at first glance, but it is surprisingly effective in preventing the need to continually patch and repaint holes.

It’s a great gallery and I hope you can come.

Many Aspects to the Business of Art

Maintenance

Tony finished my steps. That man is an artist, in addition to knowing how to make these the most comfortable for the situation while incorporating existing elements.

Framing

I will be showing some pencil drawings in Around Here and Sometimes a Little Farther. Pencil drawings require framing. Although I prefer drawing over painting, that framing business is not fun.

Spray-painting mini-easels for little paintings on panels

Remember when I painted a bunch of 5×7” beach scenes on panels? Some will be displayed (and sold, one always hopes, “one” being me in this case) on natural colored easels and some on blue easels.

Improving paintings

My dear friend Louise is so helpfully honest when I think there is trouble with a painting. (She helped me with my first mural here at home!) She encouraged me to shrink that stack of haybales, so I did it first with Photoshop and sent it to her. It passed inspection by her excellent eye, so I fixed it on the painting. When it is dry again, I’ll scan it again. (This version is before I finished fiddling around with several parts.)

Painting new things

A friend sent me a photo of his country property. I thought it was so beautiful that I painted it on one of those little 5×7” panels. It’s too wet to scan.

Appreciating the ability to work while at home

I love working at home. Jackson and Pippin like it too. (Tucker prefers to play hide-and-seek in the lawn.)

Just Three Photos Today

I had a stack of 8×10” paintings from my various plein air sessions last fall. It’s taken awhile, but I am finally accepting that my plein air attempts will probably always require several touch-up sessions in the painting workshop. When people who know me or my work see my unretouched plein air paintings, they say things like, “That doesn’t look like your work,” or “Are you finished with that painting?”

Therefore, I studied each of these paintings without looking at the photos of the scenes. What could be improved?

The answer was usually more color, brighter color, more detail, and/or cleaner edges. Only one had a signature.

This is the most satisfying aspect of painting to me. Those tiny little changes take a painting from “meh” to “nice!” (I hope that ’s what they do.)

The day was great for drying outside by the wood stack on those hot-from-the-sun metal panels. (old roofing?)

They are fairly light-weight and tend to blow off the adirondack chairs. Those chairs work just fine for the wrapped canvas, larger canvas panels, and masonite panels.

Looks as if you’ll have to wait for the scans or come to my show opening (August 7, Tulare Historical Museum, 5-7 PM) to see them right-side-up. Well, not Sawtooth or the Sequoia tree, because those are for stores to sell to visitors passing through.

Looks as if Tony is almost finished with the steps. I went spelunking in a box of found and saved random treasures to locate something to make the steps a little more special.

That Tony does great work! He is going to add another step at the bottom, where the concrete is sloped and gets slippery and treacherous. It is always wise to listen to an expert tradesman and consider his ideas.

Painting With Focus

With the upcoming show (opening August 7), with many days and nights away from home, with a little stretch of mild summer weather, I have shifted into overdrive when it comes to cranking out paintings. I am focused on getting some inventory ahead for the local shops that sell for me, along with finishing things that previously didn’t feel very important.

This means that I sometimes set up paintings assembly-line-style.

Does this make you wonder where the creativity comes in?

It takes thought to decide what subjects and sizes will best meet the “demand”*, to prioritize, to organize, and to be highly efficient with my limited time. Then it takes focus to be sure that each painting is the best it can be. I don’t go for perfection, which is basically driven by anxiety. Instead, I view each painting as if I am a critical customer unwilling to part with my hard-earned green pieces of paper with dead presidents’ faces unless something really speaks to me. (Because I have been that person many times.)

Oops. Sometimes I flip my canvas upside down to paint and forget to see if the hanging hardware is going the correct direction. That’s easy to fix once the painting is dry.

*No one I work for is demanding—every last one is wonderful to work with.

Somewhere in Oregon

These paintings of rural Oregon scenes were high on my list of Want To Paint, but rather than go to a retail establishment that caters to visitors to Sequoia National Park, they will get framed and then be part of my upcoming show, Around Here, and Sometime a Little Farther, in August at the Tulare Historical Museum and Gallery.

I wonder if I should title it “Somewhere in Oregon”.

Then this one could be called “Somewhere Else in Oregon”.

New Paintings, Local

I painted these two Sequoias one day, then set them outside in the sun and breeze to dry. They dried quickly enough to be scanned and delivered to the store two days later.

Sequoia Gigantea XXI, 6×18”, oil on wrapped canvas, $195

Sequoia Gigantea XXII, 4×12”, oil on wrapped canvas, $175

The smaller of the two is a new size to me. I found these canvases while in Oregon. They are probably available somewhere in my county here in Central California, but since I only go to The Big Town of Visalia to either see my mechanic or grocery shop, who knows?

The proprietor decided to accept both paintings. The smaller of the two sold off the counter before she could even hang it on the wall, before I even made it back home!

I guess we know what I’ll be painting next.

Tryna New Idea

Have you noticed that I am really enjoying the use of the non-word “tryna”?

While in Oregon, I loved seeing those rural scenes with barns, but only took photos through the car window because we were always on a schedule without time to meander along back roads. Freeways don’t often have scenic turnouts, and many country roads don’t either.

I lamented that I had no reason to paint Oregon subjects; then, my artist friend Krista told me to paint them and then look for an outlet to sell them in Oregon. (She is full of bigger ideas than I ever think of.) My sister said, “I don’t know why a barn picture wouldn’t sell. It is a thing to have a barn picture.”

Then I remembered that my upcoming solo show in Tulare is title “Around Here, and Sometimes a Little Farther”.

So, I went for it, using 11×14 canvas boards instead of my usual wrapped canvases. Why??

That was so satisfying that I did another one. (The photography part was an interruption so I skipped all the steps on the second barn.)

I wonder if that hay stack is a little too weird. too centered, perhaps.

Whenever I finish something in fairly short order, I almost break my arm patting myself on the back. Inevitably, when it is dry, I scan it, view it on my laptop screen, and groan: “WHY DID I THINK THAT WAS FINISHED??”

At least I know what to expect after these are scanned.

I also figured out that in the upcoming show, all my paintings of local scenes are on wrapped canvas, and all the “sometimes a little farther” paintings are on boards. These will require easels or frames. Aha! The visitors to the show might be able to differentiate just by the format (and possibly by all the ocean scenes. . . duh.)

Ka-Ching! That’s just part of the business of art.