I don’t think Jeff reads my blog. Marketing and sales people would tell me that I don’t push it hard enough, that I should be linking posts to my Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts. That would be difficult, since I don’t participate in any of those. This may be why I only have tens of […]
Drawing Jeff’s Garden With a Paintbrush
I thought this would be very difficult and take “forever”. Instead, I am thoroughly enjoying the process because now that the sizes and locations and base coat are down, I can simply begin drawing with my paintbrush. Step by Step by Step. . .or Way Leads on to Way Let’s just have a series of […]
Planting an Oil Garden
What’s an “oil garden”? Glad you asked! Remember this colored pencil sketch for a commissioned oil painting of someone’s garden? (Let’s call him Jeff, because that is his name.) Jeff approved of the design for his painting and chose 12×24” for the canvas size. Having realized the benefits of starting with a sketch on an […]
Oil Painting Commission to Stretch This Artist
CUSTOM ART | COLLAGES Custom art is an important piece of my art business. There are countless scenes and objects that I’d really enjoy painting or drawing, but in 33 years of earning a living with art, I have come to understand that people want what they want, not necessarily what I want. Therefore, I […]
In the Think Tank and Other Work Thoughts
Sort of Working Having finished the oil painting commission, priced paintings and cards to sell at Silver City, all this while believing that I have finished enough paintings for the entire summer (possibly delusional about that), it was time to consider how to next spend my work time. I pulled weeds at church (not work), […]
Close to Finishing the Oil Painting Commission
The distant groves and fields are probably finished. Time to begin the embellishments. I found blueberry photos on the interwebs, AND I have my own from excursions in Oregon. In my extensive collection of photos, I found one of avocado leaves, pre-digital. I used my inferior phone camera to take a picture so I could […]
Further Development on the Commissioned Oil Painting
Five step-by-step photos today, mostly painting left to right. So many parts in the photo were ambiguous and repetitive that I often lost my place. A way to combat this lostness is to first paint the things that are definite, then make up the stuff around them. Some of my sizes are probably definitely wrong, […]
Beginning a 10×20” Commissioned Oil Painting
The real estate customers chose the panoramic shape. Good thing they know I can paint. (Well, duh, that’s why they commissioned me.) This is similar to my current favorite subject to draw and paint, but there are blueberries and avocados rather than orange trees. There is also a distinct lack of snow-covered mountains and no […]
Long Distance Oil Painting Commission
Some friends in real estate in a distant place have occasionally asked me to paint something for a customer after a large sale is made. Client. I think “client” is probably more correct here. Remember these? I wonder if the clients appreciated the paintings. No one has gotten in touch to thank me or ask […]
Selling While Acting Semi-Retired
You may have noticed that I have been lollygagging quite a bit this year. I remember my dad describing himself as “semi-retired” when he was the age I am now. I think that is beginning to describe me. Go for a walk, hang out with some friends, organize some stuff, do a freebie job at […]