After watching Marty Weekly paint, I caught the plein air bug again. I wanted to set up in exactly the same place, same time of day, and attack the same scene, using the methods that Laurel Daniel taught back in April.
Following Marty’s example a little bit, I painted 11×14, which is HUGE for plein air after doing 6×8″ paintings with Laurel.
I forgot my camera, so after painting for about 1-1/2 hours, I went back to the cabin to get it. What a hoot to walk away from a wet painting on an easel with a full palette just sitting out there in the elements. No worries because it was an extraordinary day.
This is how far I got in that first 1-1/2 hour.
It seemed to me that the distant mountains weren’t as pale as one would expect, so I took a black and white photo to check the values. Sure enough, not very pale. But what would you expect when they are only 6.5 miles if you don’t cut any switchbacks? I bet they are really only about 3.5 miles away.
Here is how it looked in color.
Trail Guy showed up and took a few photos of some friends that stopped by to check on the progress. (Yes, they are very tall people.)
See? I was actually there painting in Mineral King.
So was Trail Guy. (That’s my photo face, and yes I do wear dresses in Mineral King and yes I do wear them with my trusty Crocs.)
I like photos like this, showing the painting in the setting. (The clouds will NOT hold still so I have to make them up.)
I quit after about 2-1/2 hours, but, taking another lesson from Marty, I knew I’d work on it the next day.
Enough. Come back tomorrow for finishing the painting.
English is confusing. “A little painting” could mean I painted a little bit or that I painted a small painting. What if in this case it means I painted a little bit on 3 small paintings? And I painted a little bit on a (for me) huge painting?
Then you’d have today’s title and today’s post, that’s what.
This Oak Grove Bridge number umpty eleven needed a few more touches on the sides. Then I realized that it was going to be very difficult to photograph, so I started experimenting with settings on my PHD* camera. (Why did I give away my tripod? Because I didn’t anticipate needing it after 30 years without using it. Why did I give away my large camera? Because the lens ceased to be reliable.)
Two paintings of the same Mineral King scene, a 6×6″ and an 8×8″ will probably sell at an upcoming show at the Silver City Store. (June 29, thanks for asking).
Oops. I forgot to take photos of the stages of painting. If you are a regular reader, you’ve seen that before.
I also took some photos of the kittens, three of which remain at our address. KitCarson is settled very happily in his new home, where he will be loved beyond his wildest expectations, and Tigger, formerly known as Gilligan, is very happily settled in his new home, where he plans on becoming the boss of his people.
Alas, my PHD camera wasn’t up to the task of close up photos of these active little creatures.
Sometimes it might be nice to have a boss or maybe a crystal ball or even a mentor or a board of directors. When deciding what to paint next, there are days when I think how good it is to just do whatever I want; other times I wish someone else would tell me what to paint.
I have two 6×18″ canvases left and five ideas for them.
When I don’t know what to paint, I go with my first idea or first impression. All of the ideas are good, all are Mineral King, of course. The juniper tree along the White Chief trail has been calling to me in spite of having painted it twice already this spring, and OF COURSE I want to paint wildflowers. The others might be good to paint later. But, I’ll have to place yet another order with the art supply company, and Prudence tells me to wait until some paintings have sold. (Prudence often tells me wise things.)
I’m starting this and treating it as an “alla prima” painting in an attempt to finish it in one session.
Nope, this will take another session and much better light. But, I think it is a great start.
I just dove into this without much forethought. Could not wait to paint wildflowers. Does this surprise anyone?
This Mineral King painting will require lots of reference photos to remember the leafing patterns and to get the flowers to be believable. (The peak is Vandever, which is on the right side of Farewell Gap.)
I recently read O Pioneers by Willa Cather. Can you tell by the title of this post? I’m glad I finally read it, enjoyed it, but wouldn’t gush about it to others or call it a “must read”.
With all the spring beauty, it is a little bit hard to keep my feet planted in front of the easel, but I press onward. Currently I’m listening for the second time to The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg while I paint, and that helps keep me working. (Very good book)
The trees in the foreground look as if a fire has gone through the neighborhood, so I added detail.
These are all finished. Trail Guy still thought the top painting of Alta Alpenglow looked fire-ravaged, so I added more fuzzy things to resemble some foliage. Probably just looks like mistletoe now.
These are also finished. That makes 16 of 32 finished, mostly Mineral King oil paintings, halfway through my stack (in case you didn’t want to do the math).
I like this – Trail Guy and Young Trail Girl, releasing a fish back into the stream.
So very tiny. . . I’ll need to work on it further, if the 2-hair brush and my magnifying glasses hold up.
This is a relief after the tee-niny-eensy people.
None of these are finished, but they are close. Maybe I’ll be faster on my next painting day so that my mean painting boss will let me go outside.
Isn’t that an odd title? One day last week my walking buddy and I decided to drive to a new place and walk a trail instead of heading out at dark-thirty with flashlights and walking a road. This meant that I only had a half day to paint. So, hubba hubba hubba, let’s git ‘er dun. The plan was to get the last 9 paintings covered with the basics in colors and shapes, not to detail anything. In other words, to do a job, not a good job.
2 alike, an 8×8″ and a 6×6″. This is the most popular Mineral King oil painting subject.
Another pair of look-alikes.
Five more makes nine. Now what shall I work on?
I climbed up on a ladder to get a view of a table full of paintings in progress. There are 20 here. You’re welcome (I know you were wondering whether or not to take the time to count these.)
While on the ladder, I looked out the door at my irises in bloom.
Before deciding what to work on next, I took another census. With these, I’m up to 28 paintings.
But wait! There are 5 more, for a total of 33. When I said there are 32 in progress, I was ignoring the citrus.
This one! I’ll do this one next. I might be a teensie bit bored with painting greens.
After photographing a painting, I can see the things that aren’t quite right. Why are those things more visible on a computer screen than in person? What is more important than matching the photo is deciding if the painting can stand alone.
And as a reward for being so productive, I chose to work on my favorite bridge. The colors are weird in the painting because it was actually dark outside when I took the photo, so the camera was confused.
Phew. That was a sprint. And after walking 6 miles in the morning. . . I’ll show you our walk tomorrow.
P.S. The promised update on a memorial service for The Cowboy Bert Raymond Weldon, May 21, 1956 — January 8, 2019 CELEBRATION OF LIFE AND RECEPTION Friday, March 15, 2019, 11:00 a.m. CrossCity Christian Church, 2777 E. Nees Avenue, Fresno, California 93720
My assembly line method of painting the Honeymoon Cabin in Mineral King was a challenge in several ways. Breaks to look at flowers helped. Maybe March is my favorite month.
This was fun because of the pink and purple, two rare colors in my landscapes of Mineral King.
Can you see the changes from the previous photo?
Flower break!
These now need to wait to dry so I can put in the flags and some wildflowers.
Time to work on these three little ones again.
Another flower break!
All five oil paintings of the Honeymoon Cabin in Mineral King are now drying so they’ll be ready for flags and wildflowers.
Final flower break! All day I wondered what smelled a little different, and when I crouched down to photograph these flowers just outside the door, I had my answer.
“Determination gives you the resolve to keep going, in spite of the roadblocks that are before you.”—Denis Waitley
“I will persist until I succeed.”—Og Mandino
“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”—President Abraham Lincoln
Assembly line of Honeymoon Cabin paintings.
Listening to podcasts pulls me through painting days that feel as if I will NEVER finish ANYTHING. (This feeling may simply be a result of starting 32 paintings at the same time.)
Baby steps, back to front, the usual process.
As I worked on these paintings, I was entertained by the slightly raunchy podcast “By The Book”, where 2 women read self-help books and then live by them. I got tired of their cussing, so I switched to the fabulous motivational speaker Brian Buffini, where I heard the quotes above.
The photos have simply become guides for me as I revisit familiar subjects. This does make the process of painting easier.
In spite of not finishing any paintings, it was a productive day. I WILL get to the fun parts of drawing with my paintbrush, putting in the details that make me like to paint, and then signing the paintings. Why? Because I am determined, persistent, and responsible and because I have podcasts to listen to while I push ahead.
These are not finished, but finishing them will be the fun part.
There is a juniper tree on the trail to White Chief (Mineral King, of course) that is striking and memorable. Several people have called it their favorite tree, among them Trail Guy.
I painted it twice last summer.
Juniper I
Juniper II
Now I am painting it two more times.
First the sky, then the background, and next the tree. So rough the first couple of times over the canvas. This is 8×10″.
Better, but not finished yet.
A smaller version, 6×6″.
More work to be done here too.
This juniper tree is along the same trail and memorable in a different way. It might be other people’s favorite tree, but they are probably just trudging along, gasping for breath, wondering who built such a steep trail and if it will ever end. This painting is also 6×6″.
As a pencil artist, with drawing as my first artistic love, a fun day at the easels for me is when I finally get to the stage where I am able to “draw” with my paintbrushes. This is considered a bad thing in the Art World; all I can think of to respond to that is that the Art World is missing out. So there.
But I am not missing out. If I persist, persevere and nevah nevah nevah* give up, I finally get to draw with my paintbrushes so that my paintings look like MY paintings and not something I picked up from an internet video.
This one still needs work, but now I can work on it without gritting my teeth and clenching my jaw.
SHHH, REMEMBER THIS ONE IS A SURPRISE.
What does this need (besides better photos with more visual information)?
Gotta** see those angles correctly, not drag my hand through the wet paint, and be able to see the tip of my brush in order to draw well.
Closing in on it. . . one more session ought to do the trick.
Tucker is a bit indifferent to paintings but would like to know if there will be treats soon.
Finally, I am pulling out all the stops with this one, painting it because I want to, not because it is a commission or because there might be a market for it. If is sells, fine, but if not, it will be exactly at home in my kitchen. There is no deadline, but I have to be careful to not lose momentum, lose heart and then lose interest. These are some of the risks to working alone at home, away from the Art World, but risks I’m willing to take.
Just living on the edge. . .
*This is something that Winston Churchill is reported to have said. He meant “never”, but being a Brit, he pronounced it “nevah”, just like Anthony Hopkins.
**”Gotta” is a word like “prolly” and “liberry” – fun to say, funny to write, and perhaps a teensy bit worrisome to the reader about the validity and authority of the writer.
I’ve shown you all twelve paintings at Anne Lang’s Emporium; if you want one and don’t want to drive to Three Rivers, let me know and we can work out the details (such as Paypal or a check in the mail, the Postal Service to you. . .)
Really, it is different from the other one. . . see?
