Only From The Back

Commissions are a challenge. They are a main component of the business of art, so unless you like a good challenge, you may want to rethink a career as an artist in a rural place like Three Rivers.

Back about 6 years ago, a man asked me to draw his parents house in pencil. No problem. That’s what I did (and still do). Then he asked me to paint it in oil.

Since I’d been painting about 10 minutes when he asked, I thought it prudent to refuse. But, being helpful and knowing lots of people, I referred him to a well-established artist.

He was happy with the drawing. I never heard from him about the painting until the Redbud Festival in Three Rivers in May. He said he “hated it”. I asked if he discussed it with the artist, and he said he hadn’t because he figured it was a done deal.

Being an opportunistic artist, I told him I could paint the house for him now. He liked the idea.

A week later, he came to my studio and laid out 6 photos. He wanted to know which I wanted to paint.

I said, “umm, well, I need to look and absorb and think a bit”.

He wanted an immediate answer. I felt pressured. I picked one, and he said, “That’s the view you drew, remember?”

Actually, no, I don’t. It was 6 years ago and a few drawings and paintings have passed through my hands since then. “A few?” More like several hundred!

Then, he pulled out a photo of his parents and said, “Will you put them in the painting?”

I almost fell over. Or, as they say in the South, “I like to died!”

I explained that my experience in painting people is limited to the back views.

To be continued. . .

Sisters, an oil painting commission
Walk This Way, oil on board, private collection
One With the Stream

One With the Stream, oil on wrapped canvas, 36×24″, $800

Would you allow yourself to be painted or photographed from the backside?? Tell me the truth here!

Up on the Roof

Monday a.m. (that’s today) you can find me up on the roof at Sierra Lodge in Three Rivers refreshing a mural of sorts on an old sign.

It’s complicated to explain, so let’s let the photo do the work.

This is formerly a neon sign that was visible from way down the road. Now the trees have grown, and very few of us in Three Rivers had any idea it was here at all. (Not much neon in town!) I remember when this was called the “Mountaire Motel” and occasionally my family of origin would join Aunt Mary and Uncle Ritchie in the coffee shop for Sunday lunch. Now the coffee shop is the lobby.

The owner was an art major in college and his appreciation for art is evident. The place is charming with many styles of art, all containing bears and/or some sort of conifer tree.

I don’t get to begin working until 9 a.m. because guests on vacation don’t like to have artists walking around on their heads.

Ever had anyone walk on your head while on vacation? Tell me about it here!

Should I paint this?

There is a small waterfall on a trail not far from my house in Three Rivers. If I want to go far on that trail, I drive the first mile. If I don’t want to go further than 4 or 5 miles, I walk up to the trailhead.

The stream that makes the falls is seasonal. It scares me to go there after the weather turns warm because there are Snakes. Rattlesnakes is what is meant in Three Rivers when one hears “The Snakes are out” or “I saw a Snake yesterday” or “We had a Snake in our yard”.

Notice the capital S on the word. In German, nouns are capitalized. Snake isn’t German, but it needs to get your attention. I don’t like Snakes. A Snake caused me to break my camera a few years ago.

I digress.

The waterfall is beautiful. It doesn’t photograph that well. If the sun is on it, it is all washed out brightness and deep black shadows. I mess with the photo on iPhoto, and it gets okay. But okay isn’t great, and I need great to make great paintings. Maybe one day I will be skilled enough to make great paintings from okay photos. This is not that day.

See what I mean?

Maybe I should add redbud. Ignore that sandy “beach” with the weed-covered well thingie.

What is your opinion of this scene? of this scene as an oil painting?

Great Poppy Year

The year was 2008, and the California poppies were stunningly abundant in Three Rivers. People still talk about it.

This is one of my photos from that most memorable year.

My postman brought me some photos he took, and I painted from them. You saw the results of one such painting here.

I promised to show you this when it was finished, and I keep my promises. If I remember. This larger version contains more detail than the 8×10 version. The mailman’s photo was easier to paint from than mine, because the solid mass of poppies almost makes my head spin. Hard to paint with an almost-spinning head.

Great Poppy Year©, 16×20″, oil on wrapped canvas, $360

Redbud Festival in the Olden Days

This past Redbud Festival in Three Rivers got me reminiscing. (I love that song by the Little River Band. I love the Little River Band.)

The very first one I ever participated in was in 1987. I shared a space with my friend Katie. She sold silk-screened tee shirts with a Redbud logo of her design. Her boyfriend had just broken up with her, and she had to keep leaving our space to cry. (That ex-boyfriend visited my booth this year – we have remained great friends, but sad to say I’ve lost touch with Katie.)

I took no photos. I traded one drawing for our rent, and another for a pottery lamp. (George, can I please PLEASE have that drawing back? I’ll give you 2 lamps for it!!)

The next time I participated was in 1990. The show was still at Ardfarkle’s, the former restaurant at the Three Rivers Golf Course. I took a photo of some hairy good-looking guy sitting in my booth.

I think I sold some things. I also learned that shows are often about making contacts more than making sales. I definitely learned to NEVER put pencil drawings framed under glass in direct sun. Now I only do outdoor shows if I am in shade. Those pop-up tents weren’t invented back then, or perhaps they were just too expensive. That hairy good-looking guy built me an awning, which worked when the sun was at the exact right angle.

Things remain constant in my life, with small changes:

I’m still drawing (and now painting) the same subjects: The Kaweah Post Office, Farewell Gap, cabins, the Oak Grove Bridge, and even the old Mineral King Store. I borrowed that round table so much that my Mom finally gave it to me. (It is now used for propping up easels while I paint.) And that (somewhat less) hairy guy still picks wild iris to enhance my booth each year I participate in the Redbud Festival.

Is your life consistent? or is it just me?

Very truly yours,

The Consistent (Central) California Artist

Redbud Festival Report, Day Two

The Redbud Festival was well attended on Sunday. Those organizers do a swell job, and there were some high quality exhibitors with great merchandise. I only saw things briefly as I raced to and fro on quick errands.

This is some of the hilarity shared at the Arts Alliance Booth, those amazing volunteers who put this event together.

There was very good music both days. This group might be called “Nick and Keith”, or perhaps it is called “The Remnants”. Whatever they decide to be called, they are great!

Here are a few more stories of encounters with people during the show.

 

3. Two brothers were leaning against the stage, looking at my booth. Together they made a beeline straight for the Kaweah Post Office VI, pointed and said, “We’ll take that one.”  I am not equipped to take credit cards at shows, so they collaborated together beautifully to come up with the cash to buy it for their Mom.

4. Farmer Eric and I had a nice visit while his locally famous mom chatted with a potter. Didn’t take long for us to find people in common. It is my guess I’ll be hearing from him about oil paintings of oranges when his kitchen remodel is completed.

5. The funniest thing was a young woman who stopped and stared at me. I stared back. She said, “Why do I know you?” I asked her name, and when she said it was Judith, I said, “I know that, but why do I know that?” We worked it out – she was a sandwich maker at a place where I used to stop almost weekly back when I went to Exeter 3 days a week! She was delightful back then, and just as delightful now. We acted as if we’d won a prize when we figured it out!

I sold work, saw old friends, made new ones, enjoyed some wonderful music, and it was very hot.

The end.

Redbud Report, Day One

Redbud, the arts and crafts festival in Three Rivers, not the flower, was a 2 day event over the past weekend. It was hot. I’m not complaining, just stating a fact.

Because this is a local event, it is a blend of meeting new folks and reconnecting with old friends. Here is a list of encounters that come to mind:

1.  Derek, an oil painter who chooses subjects similar to mine.

2. My former drawing student and friend (they almost always shift to the friend category) stopped by with her husband and 2 little girls. No, medium girls! I drew Chloe as a toddler and could see a bit of a resemblance in her almost 10 year old self! Kept getting her mixed up with her 8 year old sister . . . stupid old artist that I must have seemed to them!

 

My booth now has fabric covers over the screens, the art is spaced out, and each piece has a label. This is how it looked at the beginning of the show.

2012 Redbud Festival

The Redbud Festival will be Saturday and Sunday, May 12-13 at the Lions Roping Arena in Three Rivers. Saturday is 10-5, Sunday is 10-4.

Redbud Festival is named after this flowering tree which grows wild in Three Rivers. It blooms in March, so the name of the Festival doesn’t correspond with nature. However, it does coincide with Mother’s Day, so here is something to do with your Mom this year.

My space looked like this 2 years ago. (I didn’t participate last year because all my work was in the Tulare Historical Museum for a solo show.) It will look different this year.

As I continue to read art marketing sites and blogs and to interact with other artists, I continue to make changes to the way I display my work.

The changes won’t be huge, but the hope is that my work will look better.

If my work looks better, you will stay in my booth longer. If you stay in my booth longer, you will study the work more. If you study the work more, you will get attached to something. If you get attached to something, you will want to buy it. If you want to buy it, I will sell it to you.

Oh great. Now you will be afraid to come see my booth at the Redbud Festival because you will get sold! No, I won’t sell to you unless you want me to. I don’t know how to “hard-sell” stuff, much less my own art. If I did, I’d, ummm. . .  no, I love my life. It would be the same as it is now!

There will be a new painting of the Kaweah Post Office, 2 of fields of California poppies, a Sequoia painting in a new shape, and maybe, just maybe a new painting of the Kaweah River. And there will be oranges, of course. And some small paintings of California poppies that sit on easels on a table top.

 See you at the Redbud Festival?

Spring Walk in Three Rivers, Part Two

Okay, let’s try this one again. I thrive on beauty. It drives me. It inspires me. It feeds and refreshes me. It nourishes something intangible inside. And remember, it is beautiful in Tulare County for a total of about 15 minutes each year. Good thing I had my camera with me during that little window of time in Three Rivers.

These dogwood are cornus florida, known in Three Rivers as “Karl’s trees”.

Ithuriel’s Spear blooms in shade on north facing slopes toward the end of wildflower season.

That might be Ash Peak, from which Ash Mountain, the headquarters of Sequoia National Park derives its name.

Spring Walk in Three Rivers

This California artist would like to share some inspirational photos with you. She took several walks in Three Rivers in the last 2 weeks with her camera in hand. Since a picture is worth 1000 words, here is 6000 words worth for your gazing pleasure. (But remember it is usually hot and brown and dry here in Tulare County, and we are all fat and have diabetes and the unemployment is really high, so you should probably not consider moving here just because we have 15 minutes of beauty each spring.)

Okay, never mind. Only one photo will load. Computers can be enough to make a preacher cuss. Since I don’t allow profanity on my blog and I’m no preacher, gotta go now!