Yes, there is a hidden heart in every picture, even this one. I did my best to not have to draw cotton, but the customers (plural – there was a committee) requested it in spite of my explaining that it would be boring to color. So, I drew cotton, lots and lots and even more!
The coloring books are not yet ordered, but when they are, I’ll add them to the website, under the For Sale, then Books, then Coloring Books. There will be 20 colorable pages, and the price will be $15.
Thank you, Tulare County Farm Bureau, for the opportunity to draw the agriculture of this place that feeds the world!!
Like it or not, 2017 is coming in a few months. Why wouldn’t one like it? Because one may have not gotten used to 2016 yet. Why would one like it? Because a new calendar is coming.
The Bridges of Tulare County
Back cover of 2017 calendar The Bridges of Tulare County
This idea came from the show that celebrated 100 years of the National Parks. I realized that my art is heavy in the subject of bridges, because they combine the best of scenery with architecture.
There aren’t very many picturesque bridges here in the fly-over country of California, AKA Central California. Thus, some of the bridges appear more than once.
The calendar includes oil paintings, pencil drawings, and one colored pencil drawing. My favorite, the Oak Grove bridge, shows up many times. It is my calendar and I don’t have to be fair and balanced. (I hope you share my bias.)
With all the work on coloring books this year and not too much time to draw or paint, I contemplated not bothering with a calendar. Then 3 different people asked me what my calendar was going to be this year, and that’s all it took to convince me to make one.
Some of these you may have seen before, and others are new, specifically created for the calendar.
The Bridges of Tulare County, 2017 calendar – not yet ready to be ordered, but coming soon.
When deciding what to draw next, this particular subject seemed like a good compromise of my theme of Tulare County and what I want to draw because I want to draw it.
Strawberry fields have become a common sight in our area over the past 10 years or so in the springtime. That makes this drawing qualify as Tulare County art, yes?
Using colored pencil for extended time periods hurts my wrist. This little bit of color is possible without injury, and it is very pleasing to see one item in color. Not every picture has a place for color, but this was an easy decision.
I have 3 nephews. 2 of them are “creatives”, one an accomplished graphic artist supporting a wife and 2 children, and the other about to start his junior year in college as a music major. Might be performing arts, might be music theory. . . can’t remember exactly and embarrassed by asking him too often.
Music Nephew and I have been having an email conversation about “the arts”, and he mentioned how a musician friend of his gets in the way of his own success. I responded with something that I think you might enjoy, Oh Blog Readers (all 4 of you or so. . . maybe 6 or 7, but I still don’t know how to access or read the blog stats).
Most of us trying to make it in the arts are usually in the way of our own success. I’m gradually learning to redefine success. I know I don’t want to spend hours and hours on social media trying to build up a following, so I’m not – that’s success. I’d rather have real people that I know just happily following my blog and thinking of me when they have an art need – they do, so that’s success. I also don’t want to do the crazy hard work of building up a body of work that might appeal to galleries, which I’m not, so that’s success.
My life’s work is to discover and display the good things of Tulare County, a place I love to hate and hate to love. Sigh. Thus, the mixed ideas about success – I am portraying this place, but sometimes I want to live somewhere with a less hostile climate, cleaner air, and richer more educated populace.
If you made it to the end of this bloviation, you deserve a reward. Here, have a look at a successful pencil drawing of a bridge.
Marblefork Bridge, pencil on paper, 11×14 framed, currently hanging at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter.
One might think that this Central California artist’s favorite color is orange. One would be wrong, but one would be forgiven for making that assumption.
Due to her continual paintings of oranges and poppies, this would be a logical guess. But, if one thinks about Central California and what we are known for here in Tulare County, then one would come to an understanding of the apparent excessive use of the color orange.
Here are the latest oil paintings in the continuing saga of this Central California artist’s representation of the best of Tulare County.
Poppy #46, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $60
Poppy #45, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $60
Poppy #44, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $60
Orange #126, 10×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $175
These paintings are all available through this link: oils
This commissioned oil painting of the Oak Grove Bridge is signed, sealed and delivered.
On Monday, February 8 at 6 p.m., there will be a public meeting at the Three Rivers Memorial Building concerning the future of this bridge. A hearing? Something about the planning commission? Not sure exactly of all the bureaucratic wording, but whatever it is, I will be there. (Lord willing, the Creek, etc.)
In addition, we are invited to send “comments” (does that mean opinions? suggestions? protests?) to a Jason Vivian by February 1. Here is a link to an explanation that includes Jason’s eddress. Click this.
Next week I”ll show you what I wrote.
Meanwhile, I have 2 more bridge paintings to finish.
What is a “boutique” anyway? It isn’t a bazaar. Is it like “luncheon” as opposed to “lunch”?
The dictionary uses the words “sophisticated” and “specialized” to explain a boutique. (Nope, didn’t look up bazaar – I saved that for you.)
Sophisticated? Me? har har har har har. . . I’m from Tulare County, a Realistic Regionalist from Ruralsville.
Specialized? Yeppers. I specialize in Tulare County images. Nikki specializes in high-quality hand woven items. Karen specializes in clay mono-prints (hunh?? Guess you’ll have to come see for yourself.) Anne specializes in lathe-turned wooden items. Sam specializes in gourds. We are specialists!
Stocking Stuffer Boutique
Saturday, December 6, 2014
11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
41831 Sierra Drive (at the downstream end of the Kaweah Commonwealth Bldg.)
Another Three Rivers art event, on First Saturday Three Rivers!
The 2015 calendars titled “Beautiful Tulare County” with my current best paintings that fit the format (can you say “run on sentence”??) are available.
These are my best oil paintings. Sort of. My best oil paintings that fit the calendar format and fit the months. Sort of. The best blend of my best oil paintings that sort of fit the calendar format and sort of fit the months.
It is called “Beautiful Tulare County”. (Stop laughing – there is lots of beauty in this rural place in Central California and it is my job to find it and paint or draw it!)
$15, includes tax and mailing to you!
Want one? There are several ways to get one.
1. Use this Paypal button and your Paypal account.
Last year it was a calendar of photography. (I was too busy drawing The Cabins of Wilsonia to paint.)
This year it will be a calendar of oil paintings.
It will be called Beautiful Tulare County. If that sounds like a joke, stop being cynical! There are beautiful places and times of year around here. It is my business to find those places and times, and then to share them with you.
The calendar’s pages will not be precisely seasonally correct. They will be close, but summer is a dominant season around here, so those types of paintings will be dominant in the calendar.
Waiting for the price from the printer (NOT the book printer!!) and the estimated time of arrival before making them available for purchase. I’ll make it an easy price, a round number that includes tax and mailing costs.
