Starting over Again

Like that song by Dolly Parton? Nope. Starting 2 new oil paintings of Mineral King (and finishing one other).

This is 3×9”, a new size I found in Salem at Michael’s. Visalia’s Michael’s doesn’t have any this size (or the 4×12”, which I quickly used to paint Sequoia trees.) This does not surprise me; the Central Valley of California usually gets lesser quality merchandise in its chain stores, of which there is an abundance (EXCEPT for Trader Joe’s, of course). However, we did get the largest Catholic church in North America, right in Visalia, although after a year of asking me to write and rewrite a contract to paint a mural, no contract was signed. In frustration, annoyance, exasperation, and a big injection of reality I raised my prices significantly. They gasped in horror, went searching for another muralist, and now, 2 years later, STILL NO MURAL.

Wait—we were talking about new paintings. This will be titled Mineral King Dusk #??

Here is a 6×12” of the classic Mineral King scene. Yes, upside down.

Layer #1 is now good enough to set aside for drying.

This trail scene, Mineral King Trail III, is now drying, awaiting a scan.

The color will be truer with the scan.

Why is it called “scan”, which is the first syllable of the word “scandal”? And why does it sound so close to “scam”?

I just work here.

A Day with Oil Paint

There really are only so many potential titles to a repetitive blog topic. This could be “A Day at the Easels”, but I chose to paint flat on the table, or holding the canvas in my hand. It could be “A Day with an Audio Book”, but then I’d have to make a book report.

Let’s just get on with it, shall we?

Paintings are selling steadily at the Silver City Store; the main subjects are the Crowley cabin with Farewell Gap in the background, the Honeymoon Cabin, and Sawtooth. I wanted to paint something DIFFERENT, and after my recent hike to White Chief, it was an easy choice.

This isn’t White Chief but it is the trail to White Chief. I took a nice photo of Trail Guy with three cabin neighbors as he led them to White Chief (they haven’t spent much time at their family cabin—as a result, they needed a guide*). Because I don’t know them very well, it seemed prudent to keep their faces off of the World Wide Web. However, I thought the trail was quite nice in and of itself.

Break time! Oh look, there’s my favorite cat, Tucker, “hiding” in the tall grass.

This may look finished to most folks, but it wants another layer and more detail to satisfy your Central California Artist. (It is 8×10” in case you are wondering how I got so far in half a day of painting.)

Now, it’s time to paint White Chief. This is not how it looked in early July, although it could be how it looked in early July of a wet year. Can’t remember. . . I’ve slept since then. Besides, Trail Guy took my reference photo for this 8×10” painting, so I wasn’t there.

Yeppers, right on schedule, Jackson showed up and meowed at me. When I didn’t respond, he was fixin’ to bite me, so I hauled his 20+ lb. self onto my lap for a bit. He pretended to enjoy it, but put his claws in me** so I would just feed him already.

Like the trail painting, this requires another layer and more detail.

It was an altogether satisfying day of painting, one that flew by with that audio book. (Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate, in case you are curious.)

*They could have simply followed the trail but they would have missed out on a wealth of information.

**Not mean-like, just that thing cats do when they purr. He isn’t mean when he bites, only insistent and bossy. Downright domineering, actually.

Your Central California Artist Walked to White Chief

Walked? Hiked! I carried a daypack with water and lunch, so I’m calling it a hike. So what, who cares? I went 7 miles on my numb feet, that’s what. Yea! I can still hike (maybe not far, but I’ll take what I can get here.)

Let’s just have photos, with minimal commentary and zero whining.

Spring Creek has a foot-bridge.
The White Chief trail is very steep. I followed these fine fit folks up and was thankful for the frequent Trail Guy/Guide and photo stops.
Everyone’s favorite juniper
I’ve painted it seven times.
Once you break into the canyon/dry lake bed, it’s much easier walking.
We didn’t go into the mining tunnel; can you see it? On the far right, in the center.
Once again, I forgot to put a dime or a quarter in my pack for size comparison. These are TINY.
Bye-bye, White Chief. It was GREAT to see you again!
Entering White Chief, oil on wrapped canvas, 12×16”, $375

Since this is my business blog, here is my painting of Entering White Chief. It is the picture I chose for the publicity of my upcoming show Around Here, and Sometimes a Little Farther, opening August 7 at the Tulare Historical Museum and Heritage Gallery, 5-7 p.m.

Everyone is Focused

TONY WAS FOCUSED

While I was focused on painting, Tony (you don’t know him but you may remember when I painted a goose for someone—that was Tony) was focused on replacing the worn wooden steps to my studio. Trail Guy originally built them for me, not once, but twice. I’ve been in this studio since January of 2002, so it is time to have something more permanent.

JACKSON WAS FOCUSED

Jackson has been focused on getting my attention lately. He meows quite a bit, occasionally bites me, and one day he carried a squirrel into the workshop for me to praise him, and then, thankfully, he carried it back out.

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA ARTIST WAS FOCUSED

With my painting days rather limited in the summer, I have to focus on using time wisely and getting paintingsdry quickly.

Having finished the most urgently required paintings, I pulled out several that have been languishing, or perhaps just mulling for several months. That sequoia was recent, but the balance of foliage wasn’t right, so it joined up with all the Focus/Fix/Finish crowd.

I was so focused that I didn’t take any “After” pictures; when they are scanned, I’ll show you a couple of them.

Time for another Sawtooth. This is #67, an 8×10” since one recently sold in that size.

These all got finished, and will have their turn outside to dry so that I can scan, show you, and deliver. But I must remind you that EVERYTHING looks better in person (except celebrities.)

Somewhere in Oregon

These paintings of rural Oregon scenes were high on my list of Want To Paint, but rather than go to a retail establishment that caters to visitors to Sequoia National Park, they will get framed and then be part of my upcoming show, Around Here, and Sometime a Little Farther, in August at the Tulare Historical Museum and Gallery.

I wonder if I should title it “Somewhere in Oregon”.

Then this one could be called “Somewhere Else in Oregon”.

New Paintings, Local

I painted these two Sequoias one day, then set them outside in the sun and breeze to dry. They dried quickly enough to be scanned and delivered to the store two days later.

Sequoia Gigantea XXI, 6×18”, oil on wrapped canvas, $195

Sequoia Gigantea XXII, 4×12”, oil on wrapped canvas, $175

The smaller of the two is a new size to me. I found these canvases while in Oregon. They are probably available somewhere in my county here in Central California, but since I only go to The Big Town of Visalia to either see my mechanic or grocery shop, who knows?

The proprietor decided to accept both paintings. The smaller of the two sold off the counter before she could even hang it on the wall, before I even made it back home!

I guess we know what I’ll be painting next.

Two Starts, One Finish, One Start-to-Finish

Translation of the title: I started two new paintings, finished one painting, and completed one in a single painting session (called alla prima in ArtSpeak, which means you layer wet upon wet).

With a sequoia painting in the queue but not wanting to waste paint in non-sequoia colors on the palette, I chose to begin another little beach painting. Why not? I have the boards, and the colors were just waiting to be used. (Fret not—this will look good eventually. I made it really small here so you wouldn’t get scared. I’m thoughtful that way.)

A sequoia gigantea painting sold and needed to be replaced quickly at Kaweah Arts, because this is Sequoia Selling Season here in Three Rivers.

Another painting hasn’t garnered proper appreciation, so rather than just wait indefinitely for the right customer, I will turn it into something else. What else might that be? The Honeymoon Cabin in Mineral King, the little museum of the Mineral King Preservation Society.

Finally, here is our alla prima painting, another speedy piece of work because one sold and needs to be replaced quickly at the Silver City Store.

The paintings were all painted during a not-too-hot day when the swamp cooler was adequate, while knowing very hot weather was coming, perfect for quick drying. Paintings need to be dry before getting scanned (duh), and they need to be scanned (or photographed at the very least) before delivered to stores and galleries. This is particularly important when one paints the same scenes over and over and over. . .

A Little Painting Session

Recently, I had to leave Three Rivers at 10 a.m. This presented two choices: A. waste time until 10, or B. paint for an hour or two before leaving. Being the responsible mature adult that I am (oh hush, you!), I wisely chose B. Creating Tulare County-based paintings is what I do; wasting time is normally not what I do (or want to admit to doing here on the world wide web.)

After viewing this on my screen while it was still wet, I decided it needed some leaves.

It looks better in this photo because the previous photo was taken at the end of the day. Morning light makes better photography conditions in the painting workshop.

That’s better. When it is dry, I’ll scan it and maybe remember to show you.

There was paint left on my palette and time left on the clock. It is prudent to always have a 6×18” sequoia painting ready for Kaweah Arts to sell to the thousands of visitors who pass through our town on their way to see Sequoia National Park’s sequoia trees AKA redwoods AKA the Big Trees. (These are sequoia gigantea, not to be confused with sequoia sempervirens, which are coastal redwoods.)

Yeppers, I worked from a black and white photo and began the painting upside down. I can fake these trees, so I can certainly guess how this snowy scene might look in summertime.

I started this one differently than usual. I “drew” it on the canvas rather than completely covering the canvas with thin sloppy paint.

It’s a little sloppy, but this was as far as it got when my internal chronometer said to make like a tree and leaf. Or was that to make like a cowpie and hit the trail. . . such colorful images and language from that internal chronometer.

Drastic Do-over in the Painting Workshop

A friend of mine sells agriculture real estate. When I used to waste time on LinkedIn*, occasionally I’d see a photo of his and ask to paint from it. That’s where I got this painting, Springville Ranch.

Apparently, no one else shared my interest in this subject or my happiness with the colors.

Bye-bye, Springville Ranch.

This got worked on flat on a table because the easels were all occupied with other wet paintings. Large ones.

This painting session was to cover the old paint and get the shapes mostly drawn in. When this layer dries, I’ll mix more accurate colors and DRAW WITH MY PAINTBRUSH (because that’s how I like to paint, you ArtSnobs, so there.)

The painting will go to Kaweah Arts, where Nancy steadily sells my paintings that pertain to Three Rivers and Sequoia.

*A few years ago, I quit LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. I read a few blogs and am getting to know people from all over the country that way, and have even had a few sales from it, which is more than I can say for those social media sites. Much more enjoyable, and less time wasted. I tried and quit Facebook in a three-week time span in 2012.

Finishing Tasks in the Painting Workshop

The reason I refer to “the painting workshop” instead of “the studio” is because I paint in a different building than where I draw. The drawing studio came first, and when I began oil painting on March 8, 2006, it was imperative to keep that mess away from my pencil drawings. It still is imperative; the operative word here is “mess”.

After spending several weeks working on large-ish (large for me means it won’t fit on my flatbed scanner) paintings, there were many little tasks to complete. Each painting needed a title and inventory # on the back, hardware for hanging, a signature, the edges to be painted, and a good photograph.

For these larger paintings, I put them outside on an easel in the sunshine, and then do my level best to take photos with my PHD* camera, which has a screen that doesn’t show up in bright sunshine. Operative word here is “level” —try to hold a tiny camera perfectly parallel with a painting when you can’t see the screen.

Someday I might buy a grownup camera again, but one of my guiding principles in life is “The more stuff I own, the more stuff breaks” (and needs maintenance, storage, cleaning, battery charging, and for Pete’s sake and for crying out loud, STOP GETTING LOST ALREADY!) My PHD is doing fine for now, so I’ll just push onward. Thanks to Photoshop Jr., I can make this work.

Trail Guy came into the workshop with a maintenance-man sort of aura, so I told him that it was time to reupholster my chair again. The duct tape from the last reupholstery session was no longer satisfactory, so he used gorilla tape this time. Classy, eh? The stool came from an abandoned artist studio where some jerk refinanced his place, then took the money and ran. Some friends of mine bought the property from the bank, and I had the good fortune to comb through and claim what I needed. Back then I stood to paint, but thought it would be a useful stool in the workshop. Now I sit more often (stupid peripheral neuropathy).

Tomorrow I’ll show you a few more finishing tasks.

*Press Here, Dummy