Sold in Spring 2023

If you are getting this post in your email, go to the internet and type in jana botkin dot net (type it in computer style, not the way it is written here).

Sales have been slow. I am not defining “spring”, precisely, and it isn’t over yet. However, I am not producing very much: just editing and formatting 2 different books, teaching drawing lessons, communicating occasionally with the folks on 2 different pairs of murals, and wondering if there will be any reason to paint towards selling at the Silver City Store this coming summer.

 

Lest you think I am bored, your Central California artist is never bored. I am yardening, meeting up with an old friend from high school, cleaning out closets and rooms at church, yardening some more, reading, knitting, walking with my neighbor, and yardening (in case you were wondering.)

How I Finished the Oil Painting Commission

My blog seems to be back to normal, so if you are receiving my posts via email and can’t see the photographs, tap here to go to the blog on the internet.

The large oil painting commission has taken quite a bit of thought and time. It feels very important to make it the best I possibly can. This is difficult for a non-perfectionist, whose main drive is to complete projects rather than do things perfectly. However, as a grownup, I am capable of overcoming my natural bent when it is the right thing to do.

I photographed the painting while it was upside down on the easel.

Then I flipped and cropped the photo, enlarged it to fill my computer screen, and studied it.

This is a weird phenomenon, one observed and used by my drawing students and me. Things often look fine until you see a photograph on a phone, camera, or computer screen. Suddenly the flaws appear.

The result of my study session is a red oval around each part that didn’t look quite right.

Then I mixed up the right colors and began making minuscule corrections. My plan was to photograph the corrections for you, but all wet paint was shiny and looked terrible in the photos. So, never mind that plan.

I lifted it off the easel to sign it and saw that the bottom looked terrible.

Then I looked out the painting workshop door and felt happy in spite of the little hitch in my git-along.

 

Here it is on the easel, ready for the official photograph. In spite of looking tiny in this setting, it is way too big for my scanner.

Wait! You haven’t seen the edges yet!

Finally, paint the bottom of the canvas, and the painting is finished. (Still wet)

I think you need to see it in person to truly appreciate this commissioned oil painting of my current favorite scene of Tulare County to paint for the very patient and accommodating Mr. Customer.

 

Painting, Wandering, Waiting, and Wondering

My blog seems to be back to normal, so if you are receiving my posts via email and can’t see the photographs, tap here to go to the blog on the internet.

I am slowly working on the commissioned oil painting, and wandering around the yard while waiting to hear about two mural projects (each with two murals) and wondering about several subjects.

Oil Painting Commission

Wandering

Sometimes while thinking about the painting, I amble around the yard.

 

Wondering

I am wondering if the host of my website will sort out the evil robot situation, if I will be able to make the oil commission match Mr. Customer’s vision, when I will hear about those upcoming murals, when I might be able to start, and why the deer haven’t eaten all these irises and roses.

 

 

A Conversation with Mr. Customer

For awhile I had a link in these emails of my daily blog post to take you to the site on the internet so you could see the photos. Now there is some tomfoolery happening with my blog, so I am not putting the link in until it gets sorted out. If you would like to see the pictures, go to jana botkin dot net (written this way to confound the evil robots who are messing things up.)

Mr. Customer and I had a texted conversation about his commissioned oil painting.

Me: Is this starting to look like what you are wanting?

Mr. Customer: It is!


Me (knowing that he is a very encouraging and positive person and needing to verify things a bit further): I have made the mountains as perfect as I know how but I am faking the hills in front of them. The only place the mountains looked that clear and perfect and visible was from Rocky Hill, but from there the hills were just one solid ridge. Hence, fakery. 

Mr. Customer: Pretty darn close

Me: I aim for believability. No one memorizes the actual configuration of the hills, and most people only know a few specific peaks. But even those look different from every viewpoint. So as long as you are happy, then I am happy too.

Mr. Customer: I will be happy. Just so you know.

Yippee skippee! I am happy too!

Paint, Yarden, and Paint More

For awhile I had a link in these emails of my daily blog post to take you to the site on the internet so you could see the photos. Now there is some tomfoolery happening with my blog, so I am not putting the link in until it gets sorted out. If you would like to see the pictures, go to jana botkin dot net (written this way to confound the evil robots who are messing things up.)

The commissioned oil painting of mountains is challenging. I paint a little, get stuck, try to figure out which photo is my guide for whatever section I am working on, paint a little more, and then take a break. Here’s how that looked a week or so ago.

Yeah, no problem, I got this figured out.


Wait, where am I? These rocks aren’t lining up with the right peaks. Where’s a pencil??

Yeah, I got this figured out.

Hunh? Time for a break. I’ll just survey things in the yard, pull a few weeds, decide the next priorities.

Does that mean yard priorities or does it mean oil painting priorities?

These weeds are sure pretty. But remember, one year’s weeds equals seven years seeds. . .

(Oh yeah? Then why do I have prolific weeds in the areas that I have been weeding for 24 years?)

The iris around the pillars are supposed to be prettier than the weeds, but they haven’t bloomed yet.

STOP IT! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PAINTING.

I walked back to the painting workshop but kept seeing beautiful things and weeds on the way.

Finally got back to work. 

Oh no. Now I have to figure out the foothills, again working from forty-eleven photos.

In case you were wondering, I LOVE to work at home, both in the yard and in the painting workshop. 

Three Versions of the Favorite Scene

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

Version One

Mr. Customer gave me permission to show his 12×36″ commissioned oil painting in progress on the blog.

Version Two

This 10×20″ oil painting has been hanging around (literally), waiting its turn at the easel. It is just part of the series I began back in February to build up the inventory of my favorite subject in a variety of sizes and shapes.

Hmmm, I think I may have overdone the size exaggeration of Castle Rocks.

Version Three

This 18×36″ oil painting is one that is destined to hang in the dining area of my house, IF I ever complete it and IF it doesn’t sell (because I can always paint another one).

Thus we conclude eensy progress on three oil paintings of the best things about living in Tulare County in the spring, after a wet winter, when there is snow on the mountains, fruit on the trees, green on the hills, and gratitude and happiness in my heart.

Somewhere North of Tahoe, Explained

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

By “Somewhere North of Tahoe, Explained”, I mean the painting, not the location. Having received permission to show you the photos supplied by the customer, I thought you might like seeing what I had to work with and the final outcome, all together in one post.

The first photo is too dark but has a dramatic sky, snow on the distant peaks, and the meadow portion is green. The second shows better detail so that I can understand the landscape.

Both appear to have been taken using a wide-angle lens. This means that distant mountains seem farther and smaller than they probably look in person. 

Neither photo is the same proportions as the final painting needed to be.

Since both photos seem to have been taken from the same spot, I figured the log must be an important element. I can tell that the close shrubs are sagebrush, and the distant shrubs across the meadow are probably willows.

Most of my guesses are based on having painted similar scenes of Mineral King, but because they are guesses, I did this sketch for the customers to approve, or improve so it suited their vision.

I got lucky on two counts: 1. they liked everything; 2. they weren’t scared off by the scribbly sketch.

You saw all the steps; here is the gussied up photo when it was dry enough (and sunny enough) to take one for my records. (For some reason, the meadow appears fluorescent here, but fear not, it looks fine on the painting).The painting was picked up by the customer on Saturday. She sent me this photo of it in place.What a terrific solution for a window that looks out onto someone else’s cobwebby wall!From this:

To this:
. 

Somewhere North of Tahoe, Completed!

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

 

My drawing students and I have all experienced an odd phenomenon: we can look at a piece of our art and think “DONE”, and then look at a photo of it either on a camera or on a screen, and see everything that isn’t quite right. 

While studying the painting in the photo above, I made a list.

  • fix dark halos around sage
  • sage needs shadows on the ground
  • more splinters and cracks on log
  • better shadow on ground by log
  • shadow by log clump of sage
  • add light stems to sage
  • more gravel by log
  • bump up the ridge so not so straight
  • smooth out clouds on the right (some strong edges need to be softened)
  • tree on right looks unnatural – needs a bit more darks, and make the light parts more consistent
  • Fix 2nd tree on the left. The darks aren’t right – connect them? Add some light on the left side?
  • Finish sage on the bottom left of painting and the bottom right – missing details
  • slightly greener grass in meadow
  • dark patches added to meadow

That’s a long list, but each item is a small maneuver.

While I was engaged in this exercise, the customer emailed to say they are coming to town on the weekend, and no rush, but will it be ready? 

YES, IT WILL!

Have a look as it progressed to completion. These are tiny corrections, so you may not be able to discern the difference between before and after that list of details was finished.

 

This last photo is signed. When it is dry, I will spray varnish it and take the best photo I can. 

I have been communicating with the wife; this place, somewhere north of Tahoe, is special to the husband, who took the reference photos. I wonder if she has been showing him the emailed progression photos.

 

 

Odd Job, One Layer After Another

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

This painting felt too big and too hard, so I broke the process down into steps. First, I decided that the sky couldn’t be beyond my abilities, and I mixed up the blues.

It didn’t seem beyond my grasp to shape the tops of the distant peaks.

How hard could the rest of the sky be?

Not wanting to waste the blue paint, I used it up on the 12×36″ commissioned oil painting without a deadline (THANK YOU, DM!)

I’ve painted plenty of clouds before, and they are very forgiving. That seemed like a good next step. Just mix some gray, and put it where the clouds might be darker, then put white on the bright places and smooth the two together. 

By this time, I was cold and wanted to go in the house. Instead, I turned on the stereo and put in a couple of CDs that I used to love but haven’t thought about in years. With Selah singing to me, I tackled the mountain with all its detail.

The music was going, and I forgot about being cold, forgot about wanting to go inside, forgot about thinking it was too hard, and I painted as if inspired, because maybe I was.

Time flew, I was having fun, and when it was time to quit for the day, I didn’t want to. However, the two CDs were done, and my knees hurt from standing so long.

Selah helped so much that I ordered a new CD from them. (2020 was the release date of “Step Into My Story”; sounds new to me). Yes, I put actual Compact Disks on an actual stereo and listen to it through actual speakers, actually. Why wouldn’t I? I have these items and they work beautifully. I can crank the volume without injuring my ears, and sing along without injuring anyone else’s.

Two Large (Not Too Large)

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

Large One

Remember this mess?

It’s getting incrementally better.

It seems as if the paint dries more slowly on Masonite board than on canvas. Of course, that could be the result of ongoing winterlike weather.

Large Two

What is this elongated canvas for??

It is for the sketch on the bottom!

Mr. Customer has a memory of seeing snow covered Sierra from Highway 198 on a brilliant day in January of 1969, a year similar to this year in precipitation amounts. We have been exchanging photographs and discussing ideas for several months, and he has decided on a 12×36″ painting. It is a pleasure to be painting more of my favorite scenery, the quintessential* Tulare County scene, for someone who appreciates it as much as I do!

*purest, most characteristic, ultimate