Finished Oil Paintings

January was a productive month, all standard subjects that show off the beauty of Tulare County. November and December were good months, and my inventory got depleted. (This is a good thing.)

Sunny Sequoias XXX, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, $60 plus tax
Sunny Sequoias XXXI, oil on wrapped canvas, 8×8″, $100 plus tax
Sunny Sequoias XXXII, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, $60 plus tax
Sunny Sequoias #33, 11×14″, $275 plus tax
Timber Gap with Lupine, 8×8″, $100 plus tax
Orange #137, 6×6″, $60 plus tax
Sawtooth #23, 18×24″, $650 plus tax
Farewell Gap IIXXX, 18×24″, $650 plus tax
Orange #138, 6×6″, $60 plus tax
White Chief, 18×24″, $650 plus tax
Sawtooth XXV, 6×18″, oil on wrapped canvas, $150 plus tax sold

There were actually FIFTEEN MORE, I am not kidding, FIFTEEN! But, they were too wet to scan at the time of this blog post. . . maybe that means they aren’t really finished. 

In case you think I am super-human, remember that the three largest were begun in December. I only FINISHED them in January. 

I need a nap.

What is that orange stuff?

Did you notice in the last photo of yesterday’s post that 4 little new paintings snuck onto the table?

These were the beginnings of some vegetable paintings – 2 pumpkins, a tomato and a pepper (and no, I don’t want to discuss whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable). After I figured out that the veggie market was saturated (at least among all my friends and family who buy my work, probably because they feel sorry for me) these just languished on a shelf, forgotten and unfinished.

Now that I am facing reality a little more realistically (from the Department of Redundancy Dept.), I know that these need to be Mineral King oil paintings. To fit on the miniature easels without toppling over, they need to be horizontal. I know they will have visible sky and that it will be at the top of the boards. 

Therefore, I have painted in some sky color. 

When I figure out which scenes to paint, I will hope that I put in enough sky. 

Mineral King Oil Painting Factory?

I feel like a Mineral King oil painting factory. Where is the variety? Where is the creativity? What’s going on here??

Part of the business of art is understanding what sells, and producing what one’s customers want to buy. This means painting the same things many many times if necessary. (Or I could become a secretary, or maybe a waitress, or maybe move to a large city and go into full time editing. . . )

The business end involves these steps:

  1. Looking at what has sold in the past in what sort of percentages, both the subjects and sizes
  2. Locating the right photos, which isn’t too hard because I have a decent filing system
  3. Assigning inventory numbers and titles
  4. Recording those on the photos, the backs of the canvases, the written list for the studio and the list on the computer
  5. Putting hanging hardware on the backs of all the canvases
  6. Ordering new canvases because I don’t have enough for the number of planned paintings
  7. Taking photos or scanning the finished work
  8. Blogging about it

The creativity happens at many levels that aren’t visible in this ugly stage.

  1. Taking reference photos (over a series of years)
  2. Editing the photos (keep this one, fix that one, crop these)
  3. Deciding what sizes and shapes to paint (this needs to be rectangular, that might work as a square)
  4. Mixing the paint colors (How many painters do you know who only work from the primary colors, hmm???)
  5. Drawing the image on the canvases (Is this creative? or is it simply a skill? or does it qualify for anything, since I do so much adjusting while painting each new layer?)
  6. Blogging about it.

Wait, what? Blogging about it appears on both lists. Go figure. . .

Writing this all down makes me want a strong cup of coffee.

What’s Wrong With These Pictures??

These Mineral King oil paintings appear to be troubled. Sawtooth, the Oak Grove Bridge, and more Sawtooth, all looking topsy-turvy and scribbly.

Nothing wrong here – just letting the bottom edge dry.
Lots of things wrong – spacing, angles, proportions, curves, and can’t see what I need on the photo. Turning things upside down revealed many wrong shapes.
The red lines show how it is supposed to be. Maybe. This angle may be too hard for me. Technically speaking, mechanically speaking, everything I need to know is on that photo – all the shapes and proportions are there. BUT I CAN’T SEE THEM!! 
Nothing wrong here. Just letting that bottom edge dry. Will I add foreground trees? More will be revealed. Plus, I was working on this at the end of the day, using artificial lighting. In the daylight, it may be clear that the painting needs more layering.

Sawtooth Oil Painting in Stages

We last saw the Sawtooth oil painting looking quite rough. It has taken many hours, and the Fat Lady ain’t singing yet. (Close – she’s starting to warm up with a few scales.) And just in case you forgot, Sawtooth is the second most popular of the Mineral King oil painting subjects, tied with the Honeymoon Cabin. (Farewell Gap with the Crowley cabin is number one in popularity.)

The black thing is a shadow from the edge of the roof, because I worked on it outside in the sunshine.

When all those green grasses are dry enough, I will add wildflowers. Then I will probably revisit some of the upper parts, add a few more details, correct some more color.

Chill out, Fat Lady. Your time will come.

Redwoods, Again

The three small redwood oil paintings are completed and for sale at Anne Lang’s Emporium in Three Rivers (or you can contact me directly.)

Sunny Sequoias XXX, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, $60 plus tax
Sunny Sequoias XXXI, oil on wrapped canvas, 8×8″, $100 plus tax
Sunny Sequoias XXXII, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, $60 plus tax

But wait! There’s more (in progress). This is 11×14″. The canvas began with a portrait of a stranger in a workshop; it was too hard for me, I didn’t know the person, I have no plans to become a portrait artist, so bye-bye, Stranger Face.

Painting Outside

By “painting outside”, I don’t mean painting plein air. I do mean that it was overcast and hard to see in the painting workshop, so I moved my stuff outside. It wasn’t cold, rainy or windy, so this was an easy solution. And White Chief needed a bit more drying time.

First, had to flip White Chief upside down to paint the bottom edge.

Next, I worked on Farewell Gap.

That’s sort of funny – photos, an oil painting and a mural, all of the same scene.

I haven’t done any singing over this one yet. Just not sure. . .

Flower Fix

A little poppy painting has been hanging around longer than any other. Why?

BECAUSE POPPIES SHOULDN’T HAVE SQUARE CORNERS!!

So, I fixed it.

A Mineral King scene of Farewell Gap in morning sunlight has been hanging around for too long. Why?BECAUSE IT DIDN’T HAVE ANY FLOWERS!

So, I added some.

See? Flowers fix stuff, and I think fixed flowers sell. More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .

Redwoods and Reality

I had an extra peach painting that was going to become an orange, and then after a reality check, it got turned into redwood trees. This is Three Rivers, gateway to Sequoia National Park, and I need to have paintings of sequoia trees.

Sequoia Gigantea = redwood = Big Tree. I went to Redwood High School so “redwood” is the name that comes most automatically.

Here are the paintings drying on the pegboard/chalkboard. I had to photoshop out a bunch of phone numbers from the background before I accidentally publicized my personal phone directory. This is how we do things when we don’t have cell phones. And no, it didn’t say “For a good time call. . .”

Why don’t I just photoshop the redwood trees onto the canvas??

Forget it. I’m an oil painting Central California artist, not a computer chick.

Art and Reality

Art and Reality is referring to the fact that I earn my living with art and have to be realistic about things.

The economy has definitely picked up. People are buying larger paintings and more of them. Paintings sold very well for me in December (perhaps I’ll do a blog post showing all the ones that are GONE, after I hear definite totals from the galleries.) 

This means it is time to paint new things and be realistic about old ones that haven’t sold. 

I think I have saturated the market for little fruit paintings, with the exception of pomegranates and of course, oranges! Sequoia trees, Mineral King scenery and oranges are my mainstay. Time for a do-over on paintings which I am the only one who likes. Hard truth, but still better than job hunting. . .

It hurts a little to go from looking good to the stage shown below, but it is temporary.

It’s all part of the business called art.