These Mineral King oil paintings recently sold. That’s the good news. The less good news is that I have no idea who bought them. This is probably usual when one sells through a store* rather than a gallery.
Tomorrow I’ll show you what I painted to fill the blank spots on the store*’s shelves.
*”The store” is the Silver City Store, AKA Silver City Mountain Resort.
Some people are early adopters of new technology; I am not one of them. I tried Facebook and it was all I feared it would be – 1/4″ deep, 6 miles wide, and a giant thief of time, energy and brains. My sister and her daughter suggested Instagram. There were techie obstacles, such as not owning a smartphone. (Nope, a borrowed Jitterbug doesn’t take photos).
I signed up for a private account to practice and connect with my family. The privacy settings weren’t private, so now my private family account has 2 extra folks. The “extras” are real life friends, not strangers, so I didn’t panic; I learned.
Against the advice of my most techie friend, I set up an Instagram account for my business. It was against her advice because she believes Facebook is the most useful for people and businesses, and doesn’t think Instagram will work.
My niece thinks hashtags are key. I know nothing. Hashtags are weird, the word itself is weird (“hashtag”? It’s a number sign or a pound sign, for Pete’s sake!), and people who put that word in front of other words when they speak sound weird.
I am willing to learn and to try. It seems like the right place for someone who deals in pictures. People don’t get mean on Instagram, attack others for opposing political views, or show what they had for dinner, at least not as much as on Facebook; perhaps I am delusional and ignorant. (definitely ignorant)
My business Instagram handle (“Handle”? What do you think this is – a CB radio from the ’70s??) is JanaBotkinArt. The account is public. You are welcome to follow. You are welcome to express your opinion and to offer advice.
I’m just learning here. . .
Ten-four, Good Buddy. Over and out.
It is Friday, and the only new thing I have to show you of Mineral King is a drawing. My weekends have been taken with memorial services (one last Saturday and another one tomorrow), drawing workshops, art receptions, business presentations.
I’m not complaining, just ‘splaining.
The drawing is new. The scene is old, or perhaps “classic” is the right word.
It has been awhile since I drew anything of Mineral King (except for water). Maybe a series of pencil drawings of Mineral King would sell as reproduction prints. Cards? Too much money to print, too little profit. But I’ll give that some thought too.
Want a laugh? Look at how I drew this scene in 1987.
Growth is good, unless you are a cancer cell.
I don’t know the correct way to spell gekko/gecko. Both seem to work.
Who cares? (WHAT?? The Typo Psycho actually doesn’t care how something is spelled??) When I spelled it with 2 k’s, I found better images on Google.
A customer has asked me to design a mural of gekkos/geckos, because they are a symbol of welcome. Here are photos of some of the steps so far, using Photoshop Elements (that’s the baby version) to see how things might look.
Better if that board is painted first. . .
Nope, Customer has a stylized gecko/gekko she likes better than the photographic look here. What can I do with this?
She preferred the 3rd arrangement and suggested colors that she likes. I colored them (on copies with colored pencil) and photoshopped them onto the board.
Mind reading isn’t my strong suit, so it takes multiple sketches, colored sketches and photoshopped versions to see if I am able to portray the customer’s vision.
I await her response. . . more will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .
. . . and you thought I just sit around drawing all day? Nope. Sometimes I get to color too.
Redbud is a gorgeous tree or shrub that blooms in March in Three Rivers (and probably many other places.)
For many years, Three Rivers has had an arts and crafts fair called the Redbud Festival. It happens in May, this year on Saturday, May 13 and Sunday, May 14.
Where?
So glad you asked – Three Rivers Veterans Memorial Building
When?
Great question – 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday, 10-4 on Sunday
This is how my booth looked last year. Oh dear, there is that 24×30″ unfinished painting of The Oak Grove Bridge. I may bring it again this year, along with FIVE coloring books, ZERO tee-shirts, many cards and lots of new paintings (including a rooster, a pair of hens, and 2 paintings of eggs).
An acquaintance of mine told me, “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but you draw better than you paint.”
What would “the wrong way” be?
I’ve been drawing since I was about umm, oh, maybe 5 or so. I’ve been painting 11 years. It makes complete sense that I draw better than I paint.
But, I continue to work on my painting skills, hoping I am not just reinforcing bad habits.
The bottom line is that paintings sell.
Any questions?
A pencil show? Yes, an art show of only pencil drawings by 3 of my advanced drawing students and me!
Some facts:
Title: Gray Matter
Dates: Friday, May 5 and Friday, June 2
Location: Brandon-Mitchell Gallery, 117 So. Locust in Downtown Visalia (between Main and Acequia, west side of the street)
Time: 5-8 p.m.
Participants: Kelvin Farris, Maggie Meling, Wendy Miller, Jana Botkin
We are part of the monthly “Art Walk” in Downtown Visalia. There are many business and art studios that join in this regular event. This is something I’ve never gone to, so I don’t know what to expect. However, you can expect some wonderful pencil drawings, including these.
Once of the most dreaded tasks of an artist is having to write a biography. However, this is a piece of cake compared to an “Artist’s Statement”. I have no idea what this actually is, in spite of having read about them numerous times and having tried to wade through such things as written by other artists.
Look at the type of Artspeak that fills up Artists’ Statements.
I’m constructing a framework which functions as a kind of syntactical grid of shifting equivalences.
Or try to digest this one:
Imagine the possibility that painting might take root and find a place to press forward into fertile new terrain.
In reading a blog by artist Lori Woodward recently, I came across this sentence with which I agree completely. I have had this thought this many times:
Representational works need no explanation – they either resonate with the viewer’s life experience, or they don’t.
Here is a piece of art that I hope just speaks for itself:
And here is the link to Lori’s post: Lori Woodward
I went back to work in the painting workshop. The main distraction disappeared out the door, so I was able to concentrate for brief periods of time.
There is a sense of urgency to get some things finished so I can get to Exeter and repair the faded mural.
All of these can be considered finished, except for drying and getting varnished.
But, when the sun comes out, I forget what I am supposed to be doing. Everything else is more interesting than oil painting or the business of art.
Please excuse the extra blog post at an unexpected time. Almost everything is almost working again on my site.
You can subscribe to the blog using your email address and the Subscribe button (although, if you are reading this, you have probably already done so.)
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The For Sale pages and Shopping Cart work in some browsers and not for others: Safari and Google Chrome, yes; but not for Firefox.
If you are having trouble with the Shopping Cart, you can try using the Refresh Button (a semi-circle with an arrow on the end up in the navigation bar) or you can clear your cache, which in some browsers is called “Clear History”. I sound as if I know what I am talking about, but I am simply parroting what my Web Guru has told me. I also don’t know if any of this applies to non-Mac, to iPads or to smart phones.
Short of spending a zillion dollars, there isn’t a solution. Right now I don’t have a zillion dollars, and if I did, it would be spent on a trip to Ireland. (I really really like my ’96 Accord with 215,000 miles, but thank you for your concern about the best way for me to spend a zillion dollars, should it ever enter my life.)
Here is a pencil drawing of water to take the edge off of this boring post.
