I sure do know how to stretch a story out. . . have you noticed how many people use the cliché “long story short”, and then proceed to make a short story even longer? I am sort of doing that here, except I break it into chapters for you, because of another cliché that applies […]
Drawing a Cabin in Pencil
Which of the three sketches of a Minnesota cabin did the two sisters choose? They chose A! (The exclamation mark is because that was the one I was hoping for.) I cropped all the extraneous cold stuff. The sisters asked if I could show a bit more porch, and the best I could say was, […]
The Other Day. . .
. . .I walked into the painting workshop, looked at all the paintings in their various stages, and just wanted to walk back out. Why? Because it was so beautiful outside and because I couldn’t figure out where to start. The simplest solution was to start where I stopped the day before. So, I did. […]
A Good Painting Day
What makes a good painting day? So glad you asked. It is a day where I make visible progress on paintings, the kind of progress that makes me like the pieces I am working on, and the kind of progress that brings me closer to putting the paintings on the DONE list of Tulare County’s […]
Little Things Mean a Lot
It often just comes down to the little things, the details, those finishing touches on a painting that bring the most satisfaction. Here are five paintings that I added little things to on a single morning of painting. Big Oak: I studied this painting for awhile and decided the dirt patch at the bottom might […]
Seven New Oil Paintings, Assembly-line Style
When Kaweah Arts closed in early January for a couple of months, I retrieved all my paintings. Kaweah Arts sold well for me in its three year span despite serious hardships: a plague, a fire, another fire, and a flood, each one leading to the closure of Sequoia National Park, which meant the flow of […]
Bumbling Along With One, Almost Finishing Another, and Finishing a Third
Your Central California artist bumbles along on one Tulare County oil painting, almost finished another, and finished a commission. Let’s start with the bumble. The differences are subtle between the before and the after version. In the after version, the lower left corner makes more sense, and there are more branches on the trees. A […]
A Nameless Rose Painting in Seven Steps
Step one: Slap some paint in the approximately correct colors in the approximately correct shapes and sizes on a 6×6 canvas: Outline, background, interior parts. Step two: Detail the background but not too carefully because the rose is the star here. Just hint around at leafy shapes, using darks and darkers to suggest lots of […]
Hopeful Beginning and Messy Middle
If you receive this in your email and want to see the photos, click on the title. When I begin a new painting, there is a sense of “oh boy, this is going to be great!” When I am in the middle of a painting that doesn’t seem to be improving, I encourage myself that […]
Finished and Unfinished
Yesterday we saw two brand new paintings on the easels, looking like they’ll never get finished. Eventually most paintings do. Layer after layer, keep studying, figuring out what to do next and how to improve it every time I pick up the brushes. Today we will see some finished and some unfinished paintings. This is […]