While I Wait

This post was written on December 8.

As the arrival of the book The Cabins of Wilsonia gets closer, my anxiety mounts. This is due to several factors: the printer hasn’t been very forthcoming with information, and the closer to Christmas it gets, the more difficult I know it will be to get it signed, sealed and delivered.

It isn’t as if I have nothing to do. Look at this list:

  1. Figure out how to do some computer baloney (You don’t want to know – expensive, difficult and time-consuming while the company tries to sell me new computery stuff, and nothing makes sense and I have to call the company and be on hold forever to get any assistance while the chirpy voice tells me to just check the (non-working) website!)
  2. Send yet another email to the printer to ask if they know when the book shipped (last info was Dec. 5)
  3. More computer baloney with another irritating company
  4. Check email to see if the printer has answered.
  5. Begin cleaning up studio from slamming in and out for various weekend shows
  6. Check email to see that printer said book shipped Dec. 8, and think cynical thoughts about any info from printer.
  7. Sit in the sunshine with my sweet kitty and knitting to think uncharitable thoughts toward the printer and contemplate how to productively use the rest of the day.
  8. Vacuum the studio, hang paintings.
  9. Take inventory on pencil reproduction prints and find things to throw away, a very satisfying activity.
  10. Scan reproduction prints for the upcoming rebuilt website.
  11. Work on the blog
  12. Gather for another secret oil painting workshop
  13. Remember I have a commission drawing job and finally sit at the drawing table to do work as an ARTIST, for heaven’s sake!

I thought about telling you how really irritating the whole internet/domain/hosting baloney was, but I don’t want you to feel as irritated and stressed as I do.

So, let’s just have a look at the sweet Mr. Perkins and feel better.

Special Interruptive Post

Please excuse me for bombarding you with 2 posts in one day. There are two pieces of news that cannot wait:

  1. The book printer notified me that the book binder will be shipping the books (The Cabins of Wilsonia) to me on Friday. That means they get loaded onto pallets and into a truck on Friday for a long road trip from Tennessee to Three Rivers. Maybe. Anyway, it is the first definitive news I’ve had since I sent the book to the printer in JULY!!
  2. Today my dear online blogging friend Cheryl Barker is featuring my art on her blog in a give-away. She and I have so much in common and would probably be attached at the hip if she wasn’t in Kansas while I’m in Central California. Here is the link to her blog post: Cheryl Barker.

Now, as an apology for bothering you twice in one day, here is a nice painting on which to rest your eyes:

Red Leaf, oil on wrapped canvas (ready to hang), 6×6″, $50

A List of Art-Business Items

I’ve told you that I love lists. Here is an updated list of art related items, matters of consequence taking place in this business of art called Cabinart.

  1. The printer still cannot tell me when The Cabins of Wilsonia will be shipped to me. This means I cannot tell you when I will ship it to you. All I can do is tell you that when it arrives, I will ship it to you.
  2. I finally found a new web designer! This means that I have hours and hours of work ahead, transferring all my info to a new and improved site, a working site, a site where you can see what is new in my available art and comment on my blog!
  3. The web designer is from outside of Austin, Texas and I found her through Linked In. She is a dream to work with. Wow! One of those social networks actually has benefits besides simply passing time.
  4. There is a show in Three Rivers on Friday and Saturday of this week. “Boutique” is a better word here than show. I’ll send an email to those on my list and also post info on the blog on Friday.
  5. With a new website, there will be a WORKING subscribe button on the blog!
  6. There are still plenty of 2015 calendars available.
  7. IT RAINED!!
  8. I started a new oil painting of my favorite bridge. My plan is to exaggerate the colors.

2015 Calendar Reminder

The 2015 calendars titled “Beautiful Tulare County” with my current best paintings that fit the format (can you say “run on sentence”??) are available.

 



 
$15 each, including tax and mailing If you don’t use Paypal, you can mail a check to Cabinart at P.O. Box 311, Three Rivers, CA 93271. US only, with apologies to my foreign friends.
Everyone uses calendars. They used to be freebies, handed out at drug stores and hardware stores and coming unasked for in the mail. The thought of buying one was bizarre, unless you had a friend who was a nut about horses and you happened to find a horsey calendar.

Then, businesses pulled back from freebies. I refused to pay for calendars except for the custom one I made for Trail Guy each year. There were a few years when the only way I had the month on paper was to go online and print one from the internet!

Now, I print 100 a year, and hope maybe there might be just one left over for us. So far, it hasn’t happened. There was that one year that one of the calendars was upside and backwards. I kept that one. It had the days on top and the picture on the bottom.

No worries. All these calendars are done correctly on good solid cover-weight paper with my best oil paintings of beautiful Tulare County!

Ahem. This was going to be a short post. No more caffeine for you, Young Lady!

5 Things in the Life of a Central California Artist

Aren’t lists helpful? Back in the olden days (the 1970s), I was working some dumb boring job. At the end of some days, I got to see my best friend who was in college in the same town. I’d trudge through the day, doing my mindless boring job, and every time I thought of something to tell her, I’d write it on a little piece of paper. When I got to her house, I’d pull the list out of my pocket and share my thoughts or questions or ideas with her. She used to laugh, but it wasn’t derisive. I think she laughed because it was a bit weird, but so be it. It worked. Still does.

Turning Leaf XIV, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $50

(Email me using the Contact the Artist tab above to buy)

But I digress. Here are a few things happening this month in the life of this Central California artist. This will give you an idea of all that is involved to earn a living as an artist in this rural place.

  1. The upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia is supposed to be arriving on or around November 21. The early bird price of $70 including tax and shipping is good until November 19.
  2. There is a lovely little show in the dining room at Sierra Subs in Three Rivers called “Hidden in the Leaves”. I have 2 paintings in the show, one of which is shown above.
  3. My 2015 calendar of oil paintings called Beautiful Tulare County is now available (see Monday’s post)
  4. On Saturday, November 15 from 9 – 4 at the Three Rivers Memorial Building is fun little arts/craft fair called the Senior League Holiday Bazaar. It is a low key event, with a big variety of items for sale by those who made said items. One of the hottest things there is homemade jelly and jam. (I hope another hot item is my calendar!)
  5. I’m working on a very challenging pencil commission right now. Stay tuned for details and in-progress pictures.

Home Improvement

A dear friend manages vacation rentals. A few years ago, she was asked to take on a home that needed a ton of loving care, and she had to provide it on not just a shoestring, but a frayed shoestring. (This means she had almost a zero budget.)

Because we love to do projects together, she asked for my help. Together we figured out how to rearrange furniture, do things with paint, color, pictures on the wall, fabric, rocks and pine cones.

It was an amazing transformation, and the house became a successful vacation rental.

Now the same owner has handed over another house to my friend. Of course she called me and of course I said yes. (HEY! Does this mean I am a Vacation Rental Consultant?) As a Central California artist, I am used to people needing help and not having much to spend. I don’t know what I’d do if someone actually had a real budget with real money in it!!

The upstairs loft resembled a dorm in an orphanage (not that I’ve ever seen such a room, but I read plenty of orphan stories as a child.)

I sketched layouts, wondered if we could dump various pieces of furniture, lose a few beds (there were seven or eight), get better bedspreads, buy a trunk for the foot of each bed, rip out the carpet, paint, something, anything.

My managing friend eked out a small budget from the owner. We found a few treasures at a yard sale, pulled the faded ’70s art off the walls, discussed furniture, found a nice rug at World Market (found many, but only bought one), messed with paint colors and ideas, and finally came up with a good plan for that loft.

It was a ton of work.

This is where I came in for some real work as opposed to just coming up with ideas.

We’d love to have ripped out the carpet, but the budget was just too eensy. If you want to see the whole house, here is the link. Click here.  It was voted Best Vacation Rental in Three Rivers this year, BEFORE my friend and I went to work on it! (It might be wise to book it before the owner figures out that he can raise the price.)

A Well-Organized Show in Visalia

The organizers provided pop-up tent-tops, lunch and handled all the filthy lucre.

I began the day with high expectations and much optimism.

The pop-up tent was 10’x10′ in theory. In reality, it tapered inward, so instead of fitting all 6 of my display screens, only 5 would fit. So, quite a few paintings didn’t make it. Still, I have a TON of paintings.

There were 3 or 4 blocks of these tents with umbrellas in the middle of the street, because it was hot and shade was very welcome.

After setting up, I went exploring down the street. (or was that up the street? I walked North on Garden, so I think it would be “up”) This is GORGEOUS work by my amazing friend Nikki.

This was a simple booth with 3 different books for sale. (Hi Carole and Irene!) I thought the display was EXCELLENT. I wonder who won the best booth prize??

An hour before the show was advertised as open to the public, there were VIP guests. Except there weren’t. It was a nice idea, but just meant we had an easy first hour.

Then the public began to arrive. I saw many old friends, former and current drawing students, met new people, and had my sister with me for about 2 hours.

People were nice, and many of the comments and conversations were either puzzling or funny.

“I have 2 lemon trees in my back yard.” 

“Oh?” (What is an appropriate response? “Great! Want to buy a painting of a lemon?”)

Or, “Oh my gosh, I thought those were pictures!!” (usually pronounced “pitchers”)

Couldn’t really say what I thought, which was, “They are pictures. Did you mean photographs?”

“Oh my gosh, that’s $50??!”

“Uh, yes, it is an original oil painting, Doofus.”

Nope, I didn’t say that either.

In conclusion, I don’t think my work is suitable for a street fair in Visalia, no matter how well organized it is.

Visalia is the largest city in Tulare County, and it would be good to have my work in a place with a greater population than Three Rivers. However, I don’t know what would be the right venue.

More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .

Reading While I Paint

Reading Rabbit loves his books. So does this Central California artist, just a regionalist from Quaintsville.

Bet you are just dying to know how I can read while I paint. Or maybe you are wondering how in the world I can paint in solitude and stay motivated, hour after hour, day after week after month after year.

Audio books!

1. No Excuses by Brian Tracy is motivational reading to help you identify, set and reach goals. Sometimes I feel as if I’m sort of like the rabbit above, and it takes some simply worded motivational kicks-in-the-pants to get me going. After listening to the first several chapters, I stopped and made a list of paintings to finish for the upcoming fall shows. On purpose, not willy-nilly as I am sometimes prone to do.

2. Five Smooth Stones by Ann Fairbairn was published in 1966 and is the story of a black man from New Orleans who escaped that Jim Crow place, became highly educated and returned. You can’t tell at all that it was written in 1966 (except the term “black” is not used). I wish it was on tape, because I’d rather sit and read this book than do my work.

3.  Rich Habits by Tom Corley is also not an audio book for me, but I’ve listened to a couple of wonderful interviews with the author. Here is a link to one of the interviews: Tom Corley at Matt McWilliams Tom did a study on really wealthy people to see if he could find consistent patterns. Instead of writing it as a dry study with facts and charts, he wrote the book as a a bunch of short stories. It is surprisingly good in addition to being really interesting (and easy peasey to read).

Here are the links. If you order through Amazon, I get a few cents.



Painting for a Show in a City

With the first fall show coming on October 11, the pressure is on to get some paintings finished, signed, dried, scanned and varnished. Let’s see what is in the painting workshop.

Yikes. This photo shows me that my Mineral King mural needs to be freshened up. Wouldn’t it be fun to repaint it every 3 months to reflect the actual season? Forget it – I have to finish paintings that can be sold!

I had no trouble finishing these pumpkins. The bridge might be finished. The poppy fields are rough – this is after one pass over the canvas. The orange wants a few more blossoms.

I thought this would be too hard, because it is a challenge to turn 2 rectangular photos into one square scene, and real life is very messy so I’m trying to clean it up here. The rocks and background trees have been really satisfying. I love detail – did you know that?

On the advice of a trusted friend, I added more foliage to the poppies. It probably isn’t enough to suit her, but I like it. Those 4 orange poles will become The Four Guardsmen, 4 sequoias you pass among as you enter Sequoia National Park from Three Rivers. There is Farewell Gap (Mineral King) as it appears in early fall – leaves changing a bit, no snow, and very low water. Getting the water and rocks to look right is stretching my limited abilities. And the bottom scene is the trail to Farewell Gap. The light was wonderful that day! It isn’t finished in this photo.

Upcoming Show: Taste the Arts, Saturday, October 11, 11-5, downtown Visalia on Garden Street from Main to Oak Streets. (no idea where I will be – I’ll just follow directions like a good soldier when the time comes.)

Woohoo, world, I’m going to the big city of Visalia to meet some people and sell some art!

Yeah, I know, I really don’t get out much. Visalia is the county of seat of Tulare County, population around 125,000. “City”? It is to me! Three Rivers is 35 miles east and has about 2500 people, including all the part-timers. Just sayin’ so you can keep things in perspective from where I live.

 

Fall Shows Ahead

Last year I couldn’t do any shows in the fall because I spent the entire year drawing for The Cabins of Wilsonia (WHEN WILL IT BE HERE???)

This year I am painting again, because paintings sell best at shows. Truthfully, cards, tee shirts, and calendars sell best, but if one is an artist, one needs pure art to set the stage, provide the atmosphere, supplement and be a backdrop for the small stuff.

Here are paintings in progress:

The raven is for an upcoming show for which I lack information. The oranges are in progress.

My favorite bridge in progress on this 10×10″ canvas because I love to paint this. The rocks are always challenging, as are the arches. Each time I am sure that I am making a dog’s breakfast of the scene. Each time I persist, and then I almost break my arm patting myself vigorously on the back.

The beginnings of another Mineral King scene and some pumpkins that I have been reluctant to finish for about the past 6 years. If someone said, “I love that and want to buy it!” – that might light my fire to finally finish it.

Earning a living as an artist, particularly in a rural place like Tulare County (3rd least educated and 13th poorest county in the state) is a balancing act. It would be just grand to be able to paint anything I want and have a large population base from which to find the buyer. The reality is that I paint what people want because that is the way to please customers.

Even so, I continue to repaint my favorite bridge and oranges. Over and over and over. . .