Fruits, Nuts and Flakes

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The current state of my fruits (no nuts or flakes) in progress

A friend said he disagrees with the idea that California is land of fruits and nuts. He said it is more like a bowl of granola: fruits, nuts and flakes.

I wonder why there is a correlation between flakes and artists. Artists have often been called flaky, and I work very diligently to blast that stereotype from my profession.

In my experience, it is contractors who are flaky. When I find a builder or a repairman who returns calls, shows up on time and actually calls when he cannot make it, I rejoice and spread the word. They are rare birds.

And here is a not so rare bird.

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Hey, Rabbi Google (as we were taught to call it while in Israel), these are oil paintings – an orange, pomegranates, and a California quail.

Gathering Visual Information

Visual information is necessary to an artist. In the olden days, artist did sketches. Cameras came along and made things easier. Digital cameras showed up, and now the visual information is quick, easy and abundant.

I am working on a coloring book for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, to be titled Heart of the Park. Those of us with ready access to these places call them “The Park”. It is 2 parks that overlap in several areas and are administered by the largest employer in Three Rivers. (That would be SEKI, AKA The Park, AKA National Park Service.)

My friend and I took a field trip so I could get the final photos needed. These were all in Kings Canyon, so we went through Sequoia to get there. I’ve spent quite a bit of time there, but most of it was in Wilsonia, working on The Cabins of Wilsonia. My photos were inadequate for the task at hand.

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Version A of Panoramic Point?
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Or Version B? (that is Hume Lake, not in the Park, but in the line of sight to the canyons and peaks beyond).
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The Gamlin Cabin is behind the General Grant Tree.
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I may have learned about these types of corners in one of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books.
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The view from the back wins because of the Giant Sequoia behind it (not the General) and because of the stone chimney.
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I didn’t know there was a Big Stump Trail. It was recommended as a possible source of coloring book pictures.
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The trail was fun for this group of visitors from France.
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I need to see the stump without all the people, and since it is no longer wasting film to take many photos, I take as many as I want.24,000 may be a bit of a load on my laptop, but I keep reminding myself that I don’t download movies or games, so it will be fine.
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This vertical version of the view would work in the coloring book, but I don’t like it. It could be a nice meadow with deer and wildflowers, but I don’t like it. It’s sort of like a graveyard, and I don’t like it.

 

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Documentation of documentation. (Thanks, GEP!)

Thoughts on Success in Art

I have 3 nephews. 2 of them are “creatives”, one an accomplished graphic artist supporting a wife and 2 children, and the other about to start his junior year in college as a music major. Might be performing arts, might be music theory. . . can’t remember exactly and embarrassed by asking him too often.

Music Nephew and I have been having an email conversation about “the arts”, and he mentioned how a musician friend of his gets in the way of his own success. I responded with something that I think you might enjoy, Oh Blog Readers (all 4 of you or so. . . maybe 6 or 7, but I still don’t know how to access or read the blog stats).

Most of us trying to make it in the arts are usually in the way of our own success. I’m gradually learning to redefine success. I know I don’t want to spend hours and hours on social media trying to build up a following, so I’m not – that’s success. I’d rather have real people that I know just happily following my blog and thinking of me when they have an art need – they do, so that’s success. I also don’t want to do the crazy hard work of building up a body of work that might appeal to galleries, which I’m not, so that’s success.

My life’s work is to discover and display the good things of Tulare County, a place I love to hate and hate to love. Sigh. Thus, the mixed ideas about success – I am portraying this place, but sometimes I want to live somewhere with a less hostile climate, cleaner air, and richer more educated populace.

If you made it to the end of this bloviation, you deserve a reward. Here, have a look at a successful pencil drawing of a bridge.

Marblefork Bridge, pencil on paper, 11x14 framed, currently hanging at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter.
Marblefork Bridge, pencil on paper, 11×14 framed, currently hanging at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter.

Perilously Emotional See-Saw

For the past several summers, I have sold oil paintings of Mineral King scenes at the Silver City Store.

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This summer I took up 3 6×6″ and 3 8×10″. Each time I go to Mineral King, I stop by the store (we think of it as “The Store”) to see how the paintings are selling. I missed a weekend, and then stopped by again.

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THEY WERE ALL SOLD!

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The reason I stopped by was that I met some great folks who wanted to talk about Israel. Then the woman asked my last name (weird, I know, but someone introduced us by first name and mentioned I had been to Israel) and was all excited to meet me.

Hunh?

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Turns out she buys a painting by me each year when she comes to her Mineral King cabin.

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It is quite a thrill to meet a stranger who buys my art, because often I wonder if it is just my friends and relatives who feel sorry for me that buy my work.

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The business of art is a perilously emotional see-saw.

Please excuse me while I go find a chill-pill and then start painting again.

Framing on Short Notice

I have many unframed pencil drawings. It costs a lot of money to frame a picture. I have a lot of frames, and a big box of mats. Matching drawings with mats and frames is a process.

“Process” is a nice businessy word that actually means ‘BIG FAT HASSLE”.

This is how I frame on short notice.

  1. Here is a frame that might work.
  2. Here is another one.
  3. Just grab them all.
  4. Where are the mats? Get the whole box!
  5. Hold a picture up to a frame with another picture in it to see if it is vaguely the same size. Don’t worry too much about the best color, because time and supplies are limited. Besides, they are all grays because they are pencil.
  6. Yep, that might work. Unframe the drawing.
  7. Oops, this one is a little short on the top and bottom. Better extend the drawing.
  8. Okay, that’ll work. Get it in the mat.
  9. Looks fine, get it in the frame.
  10. Dang, is that a hair under the glass? Better unframe it.
  11. Put it back.
  12. Dang, it’s crooked. Better unframe it again.
  13. Straighten it and put it back.
  14. I FORGOT TO SCAN IT! Better unframe it.
  15. Scanned, put it back.
  16. WHAT’S UNDER THE GLASS THIS TIME? Better unframe it.
  17. Put it back. Yeppers, that’ll do.
  18. NEXT!!!?
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Ahem. The bottom of this is a little crooked. “Unfinished” is a better word. It’s not wrong, it just isn’t done yet. So there.

Show on Short Notice

Told you it was a busy week! So busy that I forgot to post.

I received a “Call to Artists”. This is ArtSpeak for “Hey, wanna put your art in a show?”

The point of the show is to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service.

The duration of the show is August 1 – September 30.

The location is the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter.

The deadline for entry is JULY 14!! Tomorrow!

The entry process was a little vague and somewhat complex, and with the short notice, I was scrambling. I have plenty of art of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, probably enough to fill the entire Courthouse Gallery all by my lonesome, but it has to be framed, the size determined, a price set, titles assigned, and photos or scans taken. This is part of the business of art.

Suddenly instead of working on the Exeter coloring book, I was pulling drawings from drawers, taking frames from storage and off the walls, digging through a box of mats, retouching drawings and occasionally reshaping them so they will fit in available mats and frames.

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Tomorrow I will describe my framing process. Prepare to either laugh or start snatching yourself bald in frustration.

Busy Week Ahead

Today I want you to see the list of things I hope to take care of this week. It will relieve you of any illusions of an artist just happily creating under amazing peaceful inspiration. (That’ll teach me to run off to Israel for 2 weeks when there is work to be done!)

Illusions of peaceful inspiration from Israel
Illusions of peaceful inspiration from Israel
  1. Finish preparing the manuscript of Trail of Promises (final edits) and email to the printer. (Remember that I am now also an editor and dabbling in book shepherding due to my “vast experience” with The Cabins of Wilsonia.)
  2. Wait for the paper proof of the cover and hustle it to the author for approval.
  3. Package up an order of notecards and hustle them to the post office.
  4. Prepare a deposit and hustle it to the bank.
  5. Scramble around to find mats and frames for pencil drawings that pertain to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks for a last minute exhibit.
  6. Spend time writing a few sentences to accompany every piece.
  7. Email the images and the prices, sizes and “paragraphs of inspiration” (WHAT?? I thought it would make a nice card or print to sell in the parks!! Is that “inspiration”??)
  8. Finish the Exeter coloring book designs – title page, front cover, inside front cover, inside back cover, and back cover, color the covers, scan everything, email it to the printer (hence the reason for the hustle to the bank – gotta pay for these things in advance)

No painting or pencil drawing this week. Just lots of hustling around. Anyone want to order a coloring book? Some notecards? I’ll be going to the post office.

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Odd Job

As an artist in business since 1987 in Tulare County (full time since 1993), I occasionally get asked to do odd jobs. It is challenging and usually fun. If an artist is established and available, it is one of the many parts of the business of art.

A giclee is a reproduction on canvas done with some sort of special printer, often coated with something so it looks like a painting.

Some friends have a giclee of a blue jay, and they had a painting accident while changing the color of their living room.

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See those drips? Here, look a little more closely.

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First I tried a bit of turpentine. Nope. The drips are dry.

Next, I’ll see if oil paint will stick to the surface. This will involve mixing a bunch of different shades of gray. (Too bad I can’t use pencil.)

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Woohoo! That was easy and fun. I really like this painting, which is odd, because my own style is much tighter.
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Hmmm, look how good it looks on a blue background. I’m tempted to copy this painting for myself, but must maintain professional business ethics. Phooey.

Almost Done Designing a Book

“Done” designing a book? Stick a fork in me, I’m done.

When did we start substituting the word “done” for “finished”?

Who cares? I’m almost done!

Here is what remains on my book design project for Louise.

  1. Learn how to design the back cover.
  2. Design the back cover, making sure it is prepared properly for the printer.
  3. Figure out how to get a bar code, and how to place it on the book.
  4. Figure out how to send the book to the printer.

That’s it? Maybe. Louise and I found a chapter with the final paragraph missing, and some weird computer business on the table of contents. Always something more to deal with in this business of book designing.

We, that is Louise, the 3 people who commissioned her to write their story and I, will receive one copy from the printer before we have the whole batch printed. We’ll pass it around, and each one of us will mark it with a different color, if there is anything to mark. Then, we’ll get it printed.

When I have permission, I will tell you the title, a summary of the story, and show you the cover.

Now I need to find a quiet place to contemplate matters of consequence such as being almost done with designing a book.

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Pencil drawing from The Cabins of Wilsonia – a woodshed? an outhouse? a toolshed?

And More Designing a Book

I offered to design a book for an author friend. Let’s call her “Louise”, because that is her name.

Louise discussed it with the 3 people who commissioned her to write their story, and they gratefully accepted my offer.

I read up on book design, learning most of what I needed from The Book Designer‘s website. I had paid him for consultation to be sure I wasn’t messing up The Cabins of Wilsonia. He charged more for one hour than I often earn in a week, but he was worth every dollar. He is a fount of helpful information.

I bought a template from him to use with InDesign, thinking this would be simple and easy and fast and how awesome to just slam this thing out with all my previous experience and knowledge.

Fall down laughing. . .

Look at some of the work:

  1. Learn how to change the template so the chapter titles appear as running heads instead of the author’s name by emailing the Book Designer for help, several times because, well, because it is complicated.
  2. Change the master template page things to have chapter titles in the space where Louise’s name would have appeared.
  3. Find that in normal books, the chapter titles are on the right page, not the left. If you have the author’s name on every spread, the title goes on the right. If you have the chapter titles on each spread, the title goes on the left.
  4. Change the master template page things again to accommodate this new information.
  5. Realize I have the power to eliminate many of the hyphenated words at the end of lines, and go through all 300 pages to fix as many as possible.
  6. See that changing the hyphenation caused some of the photos to land in the middle of paragraphs, so go back through the 300 pages to scoot them.
  7. Louise and I decide that a plain divider line looked too plain, so design a fancier, but not too fancy divider line.
  8. Replace the divider line with the pretty one.
  9. Go back through the 300 pages and see that I missed some.
  10. Find that there is a spell check on InDesign and decide it can’t hurt to run it in spite of the facts that I used spellcheck on Word,  Louise and I have proofed it many many times, as have the 3 people
  11. Find a few typos.

Fall down laughing with exhaustion. . .

This pencil drawing of a Wilsonia cabin invites me to sit on the porch and contemplate a life without InDesign.
This pencil drawing of a Wilsonia cabin invites me to sit on the porch and contemplate a life without InDesign.