Eagle Lake Such an ugly start. Let’s git ‘er dun! Eagle Lake (a painting formerly known as a dog’s breakfast), 7×14”, oil on wrapped canvas, $200, currently drying, destined for the Silver City Store, unless it sells first from this little spot on the interwebs. Oak Grove Bridge The Oak Grove Bridge is a bit […]
Starting Two New Oil Paintings
Favorite Bridge The commissioned painting of fields and groves needed more drying time, so I began a new painting of my favorite bridge—Oak Grove, on the Mineral King Road. It is always difficult. I make it even harder by choosing canvases of non-traditional proportions. This is 8×16”. It sometimes helps to crop off the unnecessary […]
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 […]
MURAL UNVEILING
“Unveiling” is obviously a euphemism here. Murals are highly visible, and no one threw a tarp over the one on the side of the Ivanhoe library. (However, someone did throw an egg on it and tomorrow I will go touch it up. Sigh.)
Finally Back to the Drawing Board | Actually a Table
After I finished formatting, photo editing and captioning, cover designing, bar code ordering and finally ordering the Springville book, I went back to the drawing board, which is actually a “drawing table”, I think. Remember this sketch? The upper house is mostly finished, and I was able to begin the lower one. Jackson came into […]
April Arrived as Always
Silly title, sacrificing sense for alliteration. My blog, my silliness. This is the April page on my 2026 calendar. (all gone. . . whaddya expect in month #4?) These sycamores are so picturesque. . . used to be so thick that the buildings beyond were a mystery. After I started drawing this, the trees got […]
Back to Buckling Down
Here is the afternoon’s painting session after a morning of exploring around Lake Kaweah. I’m easing into the production of Mineral King paintings, with the workshop doors open to the greenery, flowers, cats, and sounds of leaf blowers, chain saws, a distant donkey, and the occasional vehicle. March is a month full of distractions and […]
Finally Painting Sequoias Again
After a couple of weeks of messing around, I finally planted my feet in front of the easels to complete these three Sequoia paintings. First, I dabbled on this one day, and then said, “Never mind, I’d rather [walk] [pull weeds] [go to the library] [anything else]”. I girded my loins, and returned to the […]