Revving up the Mineral King Painting Factory

I prefer short pithy titles, but The Google likes the long ones. Who cares? Me. Just wanted you to know why my titles are longer than they used to be. 

It is time to start producing paintings to sell at the Silver City Store, AKA Silver City Mountain Resort. 

I randomly chose various sizes from my canvas storage shelf, wired the backs, went through my photos and chose scenes that I either hadn’t painted before, or ones that were a new take on an old subject. Of course, almost everything I paint in Mineral King is a repeat because I know what sells and that is what I need to be painting. I came here to earn a living, so SHOW ME THE MONEY. 

Such a sell-out. But if I wasn’t, then I’d need a job, and I’d rather do some repetitious painting (and push to improve each time) than be a waitress.

I drew this bridge at Cold Springs Campground in pencil, a snow scene, but have only painted it once before (that I remember).

I have never painted the mini falls along the Nature Trail (the mess on the right is going to be those little falls, AKA “Iron Falls”).

I’ve never painted Franklin Creek about a half mile or so below Franklin Lake but always appreciate this view with the water, wildflowers, and the light. (That’s the lower painting, 6×18″, still quite a mess).

I have painted the Honeymoon Cabin many times, but I don’t think I have done it from this distance.

I’ve painted the trail several times, but from a different location each time. This might be a new vantage point.

Sawtooth. Yawn. The trail will help. There will be wildflowers.

These seven paintings are very very loose and messy right now. Some days I don’t feel like drawing with a paintbrush. My style of oil painting works best with several layers, so the drawing layer will eventually appear.

Productive Painting Day

Look at all these canvases! It is time to figure out what to paint of Mineral King in order to have inventory to sell at Silver City Mountain Resort, more commonly known as the Silver City Store, informally called by locals, “The Store”.

First I randomly chose a variety of sizes. Seven canvases seemed like a good number to begin with, 6×6″ up to 6×18″, including 8×8″, 8×10″ and 10×10″.

Then I sorted through my photos and chose subjects that were familiar and added a few more scenes that I haven’t tried before. Some will need to be cropped or stretched or somehow manipulated to fit the chosen canvas shapes.

I put a little bit of another base coat to help me remember which scene goes on which canvas. 

But, there are other jobs to be attended to while these seven dry.

Mañana.

Another Version of Sawtooth

Two years ago I had a great idea for an art project for Tulare County. I  asked important people with good connections how to pursue the idea, followed instructions to get put on an agenda for a quarterly meeting, wrote a letter as advised, put together a Powerpoint presentation, and then everything was cancelled due to The Plague.

An arts organization in Visalia has recently put out the word that there might be an upcoming project, based on the idea that I never got to present. A friend overheard and notified me, and now I am working on my submissions for the unnamed project, unnamed because it isn’t real yet and there hasn’t been a “Call To Artists”.

It calls for art that is horizontal in a 2:1 ratio. 

OF COURSE I thought of the current most popular subject matter that I paint, which is Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint.

Trouble with that is the verticality of the subject matter. Will this work horizontally? The best way to find out is to try it. 

Not wanting to spend a ton of time on a piece that might look wrong, I just did a quick messy first pass over the canvas of a 6×12 to get an idea whether or not it would be worth the effort.

If Sawtooth is big enough to matter, then the stream won’t fit. Black Wolf Falls barely fits. I am definitely fudging reality here. Does it matter? Does this work?

Maybe, maybe not.

Insert my regular cliché here; you know the one.

Back to Sawtooth

Remember all those oil paintings of Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint? Sunnypoint was a Forest Service campground in Mineral King closed in the 1970s (or was it the 1960s? I wasn’t there then.)

The view that has been so popular is a bit made up. When you are standing where I have stood to take so many photos, year after year, of the same scene, your eyes tell you that the barest tip of Sawtooth shows. When you leave the exact spot, you remember it as a place where Sawtooth, Black Wolf Falls, the stream, and wildflowers are all coexisting in beautiful harmony.

It is my job to gather up all those pieces of reality and combine them into a believable fantasy for you. This beautiful fantasy, which matches up with peoples’ memories, has brought me back to the easel once again.

After a week of messing around, taking walks, editing 2 books, and staying away from the painting workshop, I finally went back to work.

The work that remains after this dries:

  1. Add the wildflowers
  2. Fix whatever is wrong that I have noticed during the drying process
  3. Sign
  4. Let dry again
  5. Scan
  6. Varnish
  7. DELIVER!

There is more to the story of multiple iterations of the Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint paintings. Mañana. . .

Sold in December, Part 2

When I see all these sold pieces, both pencil drawings and oil paintings, I am astonished. Trail Guy and I loaded up “Images of Home” into the back of his pick-’em-up truck, and it felt as if I was taking home MORE than I hung at the show.

That feeling slapped me upside the confidence, making me want to paint over everything that didn’t sell and pull the drawings from the frames and shred them. Ridiculous. Several of the sold pieces happened outside of the show (all those repaints), and each time something sold, I replaced it with a new piece. 

So, having put to rest the foolishness of wanting to destroy my remaining work, let’s resume yesterday’s triumphant post of art that sold in December, shall we? 

Upon further reflection, I am realizing that several of these sold earlier in the fall but I didn’t show you. That brings December down to a more believable number of sales.

Sales, as Opposed to Tech Troubles

The year started in a somewhat ignominious manner with tech troubles. That stuff is quite alarming, upsetting, and interruptive. I combat this by reviewing all the sales in the previous month (necessary to pay for all the tech repairs, and I am sorry to report that no fat lady has sung yet).

I had sales through Kaweah Arts, the Mural Gallery, Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery, along with commissions. All is not lost – let’s rejoice together!

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Tune in tomorrow, same Bat time, same Bat channel.

P.S. Happy Birthday to Trail Guy!

Painting More Than Sawtooth

Do you remember that I sold this painting of the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River more than one time at the opening to my show, “Images of Home”?

The second purchaser requested a thicker canvas, so as soon as it arrived, I dove in. (Have you ever noticed that “dove” means both the past tense of “dive” and a bird, depending on how you pronounce it?)

 

Notice that the redbud are brighter in this one. The colors on our screens don’t adequately reflect the reality of the paintings. At one point I walked to the place in my yard where Moro Rock and Alta Peak are visible so I could clarify a few things that weren’t clear in my reference photos; that was convenient!

I also worked a tiny bit on this painting that has been a difficult project. I took it to the painting session in Exeter where my honest and helpful friends could help me discern some of the weaknesses.

First, I removed the stump that identified the spot on the trail because no one else cares besides me; the point of painting is to make it irresistible to any random viewer, not just painting because it makes sense to me. The fact that it is signed and yet I continue to work on it should indicate my level of desire to make it better – normally after I sign, I stop looking at a painting.

Then I widened that tree where the stump was, taking it out to the left edge of the canvas.

We also decided on these changes: have the light come from the left side instead of the right (or, gasp of horror, both sides), straighten the leaning tree on the right to make it cease pulling your eye out of the picture, add a bit more visible sky, vary the tree sizes, add more branches because real life is messy, and whatever I do, DO NOT TOUCH THE DEER. (That’s because they are tiny and difficult – if it ain’t broke, I ain’t “fixin'” it!)

Still not finished, but definitely better. It needs texture on the tree on the right, light corrections on all the trees (it is on the wrong side of most of them), more branches, a few more skinny trees.

This is artWORK;  not artPLAY.

 

Almost Finished with the Sawtooth Paintings

At the time of this writing, 2 of the Sawtooth paintings are finished, and the third just needs a small area before joining the others in their finished state. I had leftover paint on my palette, so I painted the edges. This made them a bit too wet to handle, so #3 had to be on hold for a bit.

As I show you these photos of the paintings in progress, I get more and more confused as to which painting is in what stage; I’m like the mother of triplets who lost the note telling which kid has a mole on his 2nd toe or something else to distinguish them (but I don’t have difficulty in real life because they are 2 different sizes and have an inventory number on the backs).

Sometimes when I look at photos of the finished paintings, I see more things to correct. Unless they are glaring mistakes, I will ignore them. These patient customers would like their paintings sometime, preferably sooner rather than later.

Here – you can see a few more and join me in my state of confusion. This top one is finished, but we are hard pressed to tell in the high contrast sunshine.  The 16×20 is finished; the 11×14 beneath it isn’t – look at the trees on the right (middle) side. This one looks finished. I wonder if it is the 16×20 or one of the 11x14s. This one needs mid-ground trees and foreground grasses and flowers. Definitely not finished. This one appears to be finished. When there are grasses and tiny colored dots for flowers, it is finished.

What’s harder? Painting the same scene three times, or trying to sort the photos and show people? Or trying to comprehend a blog post about it? (See? I always have questions!)

Oil Painting With Friends

Today I will be at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery from 11-3, oil painting with friends. You are welcome to stop by!

Why will I be there when I could be painting at home? 

  1. My friends don’t have as much experience in oil painting as I do, so I can help them.
  2. Sometimes it is fun to paint with friends instead of painting alone at home.
  3. I HAVE A SHOW HANGING AT THE GALLERY WITH MY ART FOR SALE!

I might bring this trail painting or maybe a stack of Sawtooth paintings.