The first day of painting on the sequoia panel was way too hot, with the sun pounding on me and drying out my palette. The second day of painting took place inside the workshop with the doors closed and the swamp cooler roaring. I didn’t think there would be enough light, so I set up the ott light floor lamp. Maybe it will all look wrong when it is seen in pure daylight. . .
The sky needed a second coat, and while working on it, OF COURSE I slopped paint over onto the tree and all the foliage.
Next I reworked the ground. The paint didn’t dry nearly as fast as when the bright sun shone on it. (duh)
The lower left greenery in the background came next, then foliage on the big tree, the lower right greenery, and finally, the wood on the tree.
Finished, photographed in low light.
Finished, photographed with the doors opened.
This is approximately 54-1/2 X 23-3/4”. It’s kind of heavy, and it has hanging wire on the back.
Do you think that $450 is a good price for this? The smaller ones sold for $250. I didn’t measure them, but am guessing they were in the neighborhood of 18 X 36”.
Someone needs a business manager around here. . . perhaps an administrative assistant. . . then this would need to be priced at $900 in order to pay him.
The panel isn’t made out of sequoia wood; the panel is made out of ?? wood, and I am painting a sequoia tree on it. Sequoia gigantea is the official name for the redwood trees in Sequoia National Park, not the redwoods of northern California, called Sequoia sempervirens. Those are tall; ours are thick.
Two wooden panels with sequoia trees sold quickly this summer. I poked around in the garage and found a larger panel with a sky blue background already painted on it. It seemed too big, but then I figured, “Why not?” After inquiring with the manager of the Silver City Store whether or not she had room, she said to paint it and bring it up the hill.
I opened the big doors to the painting workshop and propped the panel against my two easels. This was great in theory, but the morning sun is very strong and very hot on this area. Oh well, I’ve soldiered through heat many times in my life in Central California, AKA The Central Valley, AKA the San Joaquin Valley. Let’s just git-‘er-dun!
Here is the sloppy beginning.
Shade is creeping down the top of the panel, providing hope that perhaps I didn’t begin too early in the day.
Never mind. I was hotting to death out there, so I went back to the house for some cold water and a cooling break. Even the deer were smart enough to be in the shade, and I was too hot to yell, “GET OFF MY LAWN!” (Yes, that is my lawn, which is more like a meadow since, per my request, it doesn’t get mowed all summer in the hopes that it will become thicker; it might be working, now in year 5 of this unconventional landscaping approach.)
Slightly refreshed, I returned to the job and painted until I couldn’t stand the heat anymore. Besides, I had a lunch date with 3 friends in Three Rivers, which is a bit of a big deal to me. Eating out isn’t a regular part of my life.
Infomercial
My friends chose the River View. It has been about 7 or 8 years since I was there, and it is now on owner #3 since then. It always puzzles me to see how crowded it is, with cars lining the road, more cars than it seems they will have tables and chairs for. A driver needs to creep very very slowly past that place, because of the great crowds. Well, River View AND Reimer’s Candies. . . almost next door to one another.
We ate outside, where there were misters, fans, and shade. It was noisy (the fans). The food was fine, but it wasn’t Sierra Subs or Tony’s Taverna. The service was good. And I was shocked by how expensive lunch was—I spent $26 just for me. A turkey melt (I ended up pulling off the non-descript white bread and setting it aside) with sweet potato fries, the only fried food I like. Had to really load up on vegetables later that day.
Yikes. No wonder I don’t eat out much. (Sierra Subs is my go-to choice in case you were wondering.)
Thus we conclude this infomercial for eateries in Three Rivers.
Trail Guy nailed some boards together for me several years ago, and I painted redwood trees on them. We got on a roll, and he pounded a few more of these panels together, but sales slowed and I moved on. We were cleaning out an area in the workshop and 2 of these appeared. I delivered one to Stem & Stone, where it adds attention-getting eye-appeal to the store front.
Screenshot stolen from Stem & Stone’s Instagram
The other needed some reworking. It was made from fence pickets. I painted a single tree in the middle, and it looked as if someone with a vee-shaped mouth took a bite from the top. Alas, I took no photos of the previous awkwardness.
Feel like watching paint dry? Here you go:
Greatly improved.
P.S. It’s not a mural, but I did use mural paints instead of oils.
Today’s post is a bit behind reality, a peek into what happened before the show was hung or opened.
When I got home from Monterey, I had to dive into getting all my work together to deliver to CACHE, the gallery hosting my solo show, “Simply Home”.
Photo by Liesel Lund, my roomie
More than anything, I wanted to detail and finish those 10 plein air beachy paintings. Alas, even when one is a certified grown-up, one does not get to do just what one wants to do. Part of being a real grown-up is being trustworthy, responsible, and following through.
Phooey. So, I boxed up everything, and with Trail Guy’s master’s degree in packanology, we loaded the good pick-em-up truck, and delivered it all to Exeter.
When we got home, I faced some unfinished canvases.
First, there is the fact that Kaweah Arts has sold out of the tall paintings of sequoias and has been waiting for at least one for several weeks. This still is not quite finished here because it needs a signature, the edges painted, to dry, and then it needs to be scanned.
Another painting has been on hold for awhile. Initially I was going to push to get it done for Simply Home, until I realized that if a customer insists on taking home a purchase, I’d better have something ready to plug into that hole.
I started this painting in June.
It seemed daunting until I mixed up the colors and realized that I can DRAW with my paintbrush, using PHOTOS instead of standing outside wishing that the water would just hold still for a pair of minutes.
Yes indeedy, I am a studio painter and probably always will be.
Simply Home
CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.
Groves, Hills and Mountains, oil on wrapped canvas, 10×20″, $450
Summer lasts a little bit too long for my liking. In early July, I was tired of it. That is an unpopular view, and I accept my status as a weirdo in this regard. However, I soldier onward in the heat, thankful for the inadequate swamp cooler in the painting workshop, and the inadequate wall unit in the studio. When I am finished painting for the day, I stagger into the house and cool off in the most totally excellent central air conditioning.
Sometimes I go walking in the mornings with my good friend. Occasionally we see a garbage bear.
Then I come home and paint.
I added wildflowers to the 8×8″ oil painting of Franklin Falls in Mineral King. They are mountain pride, arnica, and Indian paintbrush. Although they were not in either reference photo, I’ve seen them all at Franklin Falls. Being the boss of my painting, I took artistic license. Here it is, drying on the wood pile stack.
Having finished the smaller paintings destined for the Silver City Store, I returned to building up a body of work for the October-December show at CACHE.
Like most of what I have chosen to paint lately, this isn’t easy. Look at my reference photo, taken from inside the car. Traffic stopped briefly so at least it is focused.
The working title is Keep Right. Although that is very good instruction to drivers heading to Giant Forest in Sequoia as they approach the Four Guardsmen, I am doubting my ability to make the sign look good. Besides, we live in times when people tend to be highly sensitive, spring-loaded in the offended position, so out of deference to those folks, I will think of another title.
Or you can think of another title. . . I’m not easily offended, and love to hear good ideas from my tens of readers, most of whom are friends in real life.
I wasn’t kidding when I said it was hot. Look what happened while I was painting.
Wow. What a sensitive little snowflake. It was only 103° that day.
Tall narrow canvases with oil paintings of Sequoia trees sell steadily, so I paint them steadily.
Sentinel Tree, 6×18″, $165
This one is modeled after the Sentinel Tree, in front of the Giant Forest Market, now a museum. I say “modeled after”, because I no longer feel the need to duplicate every branch as it appears in the photos. I don’t charge enough to paint that slowly, and frankly, no one cares. This painting is destined for Kaweah Arts, which sells sequoia tree paintings very steadily for me.
After a chunk of time away from the easels, I was very happy to return.
First I got to finish the fruit painting that will be a gift. (I will be GIVING it, not “gifting” it.)
This is wet, photographed here in the box I used to carry it into the house to dry.
I started this quite awhile ago, working from a photo shared with me by one of my drawing students. The ferns had been nipped by frost, turning them golden.
Although I am working from a photo, I am rearranging the trees. Here is a photo of the photo, which I am looking at on my laptop while painting.
My hope is to make those ferns perfect. Just perfect. But there is lots to be painted before I get there.
The new paintings won’t be at the Gift Fair but there will be plenty of merchandise to choose from.
The ArtSpeak word for slowly building paintings with layers is “glazing”. You’re welcome.
This might be finished. The photo on the left was taken in the afternoon; the one on the right was taken the next morning. I’m hard-pressed to tell you which is more accurate.
