Painting Sawtooth on a Very Hot Day

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July is very hot in Tulare County, unless you are at elevation. One hot afternoon, I was not at elevation; however, I painted elevation. This did not help the temperature. Neither did the swamp cooler, but it was more comfortable after I blasted my head and face with a hose. (Yep, got hosed.)

Remember this mess? Probably not, because I haven’t shown you yet. This is yet another oil painting of Sawtooth, this year’s winner of Most Popular Mineral King Subject Matter. (for the whole year, but not yet for the Silver City Store, which is selling steadily for me this summer, yet again, thank you Silver City Resort!)

I had an unexpected block of time on a hot afternoon, and after a bit of procrastination, followed by a pep talk (“DON’T BE SUCH A WUSS! YOU USED TO DO FARM LABOR IN THE SUMMER, YOU LILY-LIVERED SQUISHY-MINDED HOT-HOUSE PLANT!”), I went to work.

This is 12×24″, because I was out of 18×36″ canvases. It is destined for the Silver City Store, where  an 18×36″ painting of Giant Sequoias currently hangs, aptly and cleverly titled “Big & Tall”. My cowboy logic tells me that this painting is more likely to sell in that location.

P.S. I highly recommend blasting oneself on the head with cold water from a hose on a hot afternoon. It made it possible for me to work until the light was too poor to see, once my bangs stopped dripping in my eyes.

Links to other posts about painting Sawtooth:

  1. Department of Redundancy Dept.
  2. Lots of Sawtooths (Sawteeth? Nah)
  3. Almost finished with the Sawtooth paintings
  4. You just won’t believe this one
  5. Back to Sawtooth
  6. Really Painting Sawtooth Again

Really Painting Sawtooth Again

If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not; it isn’t a problem I know how to solve.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

I really am painting Sawtooth again. In fact, I finished the painting.

Clear, enlargeable photos, along with an operational swamp cooler, good podcasts, and nothing difficult hanging over my head made it easy to just git ‘er dun instead of looking for excuses to stop because it was too hard. Oh wait—must be experience that created the momentum.

See the South Fork Estates sign through the easel? That odd job is completed, which is why there is nothing hanging over my head. 

Here is the progression: I have finally learned how to scan and photoshop this size of painting in spite of it being too long for my flatbed scanner. When combined with Photoshop Junior, I can patch the 2 scans together.

This is not that; this is too wet to scan. But, it is finished!! Only took me seven times to get comfortable enough with this scene to be able to stretch it into a 6×18″. 


Are You Really Painting Sawtooth Again?

If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not; it isn’t a problem I know how to solve.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

Yeppers, another Sawtooth oil painting. Sawtooth is visible from the flatlands of Visalia on a clear day and is the signature peak of Mineral King. It has recently become the most popular of the Mineral King subjects that I paint, and a few weeks ago, someone commissioned another version of the “Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint” view. This is number 8, and the first one in the ratio of 1:3 (6×18″, vertical).

As usual, I started with a scribbly base, and then put in the sky, working my way closer and closer to the front.

Suddenly, I was confused on all those mountain ridges, so I dropped into the stream to pick apart the rocks. I photographed the stream in order to see the rock formations at higher water, before the seasonal growth obstructed my vision. I don’t understand water flow well enough to convincingly make this up.

This represents an afternoon of work, trying to perfect the detail on the first pass, knowing full well that I will need to make corrections as the other parts get completed. And then those “other parts” will need to be corrected.

It would be satisfying to spend as much time on every painting as I am on this one. But paintings don’t require the level of detail that pencil drawings do, it isn’t cost effective, and for the most part, my customers don’t even recognize that level of intense detail. (Not everyone is as near-sighted as I am, albeit it with strong cheater-readers these days.)

Links to other posts about painting Sawtooth:

  1. Department of Redundancy Dept.
  2. Lots of Sawtooths (Sawteeth? Nah)
  3. Almost finished with the Sawtooth paintings
  4. You just won’t believe this one
  5. Back to Sawtooth

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!)

Lots of Sawtooths (Sawteeth? Nah)

Painting the same complicated and difficult picture multiple times doesn’t seem to make it any easier. But, since I have done it before, I know I can do it again (and again, and yet again).

This is the 16×20″ version.

These are the two 11×14″:It takes some discipline to not get too far ahead on each one. Even if I am on a roll, I have to move to the other 2 canvases to repeat a successful rock, tree, texture, or stretch of water. When all are finally finished, I will evaluate each part, decide which painting is the best in that area, and then bring the other two up to the level of the best.

P.S. Who’da thunk that the plural of “Sawtooth” would be “Sawtooths?”

Tiptoeing Along on Several Oil Paintings

Why tiptoeing? Because it feels slow and careful at this stage, like I am just feeling my way along, trying to be as careful as possible.

First up, Sawtooth, the commissioned oil painting.

Second, rebuild the Kaweah Post Office, also a commissioned oil painting.

Third, plant some grasses. (Oil paint grasses, not fescue or bermuda or dichondra or Kentucky bluegrass or. . .) There was more progress made, but the phone call came that it was time to rescue Piper from the vet, where he got civilized this week. $192. No such thing as a free cat. (Samson cost $132 – he was in better shape to start with.)

Sawtooth got its front ridges painted.

Then I flipped it over to paint the bottom and begin the greenery.

This one had its skyline just too rough, with things not the right heights. So, I repainted the sky, using it to shape the mountain tops.

This was begun all wrong, wrong, wrong.

Better now. Miles to go before I sleep. . .

I mixed up 3 shades of green and began building background. While doing this, I increased the sizes of the blooms and added many more.

April Distractions in Three Rivers

I tried to oil paint last Friday but the greenery and wildflowers overcame my sense of duty. So, Trail Guy and I drove up North Fork Drive to the end.

My palette was ready to go.

I worked on Sawtooth a little.

After telling Trail Guy that I’d heard the flowers were great up North Fork and staring out the window a bit, he said, “Let’s go now!”

The road was longer, rougher, narrower than I remembered and all very worth the drive.

The last 3.5 miles are unpaved.

This is Yucca Creek at the end of North Fork Drive.

That’s one narrow little footbridge over a massive old culvert pipe.

Wowsa.

The yellow flowers are called Madia.

Heading back down has a view of Ash Peak with a blooming yucca and bush lupine.

Looking over the edge down to the North Fork makes one glad to not encounter any oncoming traffic on that narrow road with no turnouts.

Poppies are yellower in the wild than in my yard.

The poppies on the hillsides are what gave California its name of “The Golden State”. (Bet you thought it was the gold rush)

I love Fairy Lanterns, AKA Satin Bells. Pink isn’t my favorite color, but it is rare enough in nature that it stands out.

After we got back home, I painted a little bit more. There is this commissioned oil painting of Sawtooth for a very patient customer, and it would be good to make progress.

Sawtooth’s shape is improving, and it is acquiring colors and texture.

Then, I got distracted again and thought that wildflowers would look great on a 6×18″ canvas. Can you see the possibilities here? (Put on your rose-colored glasses with me!)

Planning a wildflower oil painting.

More Easel Time

Remember the commissioned oil painting of Sawtooth? I do, really, I do. Please don’t worry, DV!

It looked like this after the first painting session.

Now the sky and upper half of the painting has another layer that is more dramatic, which means both the colors and contrast are stronger.

It was a rainy overcast day, and by the time I got to the Sawtooth part of the painting, the light was too poor to mix colors accurately. That wasn’t very important on the first layer, but it is increasingly important as the layers build.

So, I moved on to a Kaweah Post Office commission. SD asked me to paint another Kaweah Post Office IX for her. This one is number IXV. It should be XV, but I didn’t number one of my earlier Kaweah Post Office paintings. That happens a lot around here.

Kaweah Post Office IX was painted in 2013; its twin will be painted in 2018 with a few adjustments. It will be a fraternal twin, rather than an identical one.

Gotta start somewhere. . . Don’t worry, SD. I’ll paint until you are thrilled with the results!

As I was painting, I realized it would be helpful to see the one this was modeled after, because maybe this wasn’t the actual photo used for that one. Yea for a laptop.

A decent start.

Added to the drying rack (who is back there making all that noise??)

Starting Over Again With Sawtooth

All those paintings of Sawtooth completed over the past several months, and someone wants a different size? 

Yep. No problem. I am an artist, and artists make art. Here are the beginning steps of the commissioned oil painting of Sawtooth:

First I assign an inventory #, title the piece and attach a hanging wire.

Second step is to prime the canvas, or “tone” it as another artist names it. That was even more boring than Step #1, so this photo is showing the paint from the tubes and the colors I mixed to begin the painting.

Painting from back to front means that the blue sky strips go on first.

Then some clouds, and the realization that it would be helpful to crop the photo to a square.

More clouds and the beginning of Sawtooth’s shape.

The angle looked too steep on Sawtooth’s right side slope, so I pulled out my angle finder tool. It was a little tricky to take this photo so I am not holding the thing correctly here (vertical needs to be vertical, not tipsy). I’ll recheck the angle in the next layer.

At the end of the painting session, everything had a first coat of paint.

Wow, it is time-consuming and interruptive to photograph the steps in this much detail. But, this customer has become a friend and likes seeing the progress. I’ve heard from others that seeing the process is interesting, so here we go. . .