Sometimes, while painting in Three Rivers, in Tulare County in Central California (not LA, not San Francisco – NOTHING like the stereotypical California), I am just minding my own business, painting along, staying calm and focused, and then stuff happens. Smoke? I smell smoke. Hmmm, there are ashes. . . that’s worrisome. I don’t hear […]
Home Improvement
A dear friend manages vacation rentals. A few years ago, she was asked to take on a home that needed a ton of loving care, and she had to provide it on not just a shoestring, but a frayed shoestring. (This means she had almost a zero budget.) Because we love to do projects together, […]
Fall Shows Ahead
Last year I couldn’t do any shows in the fall because I spent the entire year drawing for The Cabins of Wilsonia (WHEN WILL IT BE HERE???) This year I am painting again, because paintings sell best at shows. Truthfully, cards, tee shirts, and calendars sell best, but if one is an artist, one needs pure art […]
Another Fine Subject of Central California Art
Call me butter – I’m on a roll. Did you know butter is good for you? Yep. Everything we learned about animal fats and saturated fats is probably wrong. But that’s for a different blog. This blog is about what a Central California artist finds to paint in a place like Tulare County, the 3rd […]
A Question Artists Don’t Like
The question that most artists don’t like is this: Will you donate a piece of artwork to My Good Cause? And then it is followed by something like “You can write it off on your taxes” or “It will bring great exposure”. The answers to the follow-ups are “Only the cost of the materials” and […]
A California Artist Paints (Without Benefit of a Crystal Ball) in Tulare County
The Redbud Festival is coming soon. First weekend in May this year, and at the Memorial Building in Three Rivers, which is a new location. As usual, I have no idea what to expect in terms of visitation or sales. A crystal ball certainly would be useful. Oh well. Guess I’ll just paint a combination […]
Your Opinion Sought
Greetings, oh Gentle and Faithful Blog Readers. Last year I printed a calendar of paintings. This year I have only been working on The Cabins of Wilsonia drawings and a few commissioned paintings. I don’t have any new paintings for a calendar. On my computer there are 21,500 photographs. With the help of my husband’s honest […]
The Pause That Refreshes
Sometimes I find myself procrastinating, resisting what I know needs to be done, finding other things to do instead, stalling, and in general, wasting precious time. Why? Tired, I think. A cure seems to be to take a day off. Not just a day to catch up on chores, but a day to refresh. “The […]
My Amazing Friends, Chapter One
The word “amazing” is overused these days. It is often pronounced “uh-MAY-zing” and has taken the place formerly occupied by “awesome”, pronounced “AHHH-sum”. My uh-MAY-zing and Oh-so-wise Dad was bothered by the description inflation of “awesome”. He said that very little was truly awesome, short of God or his (God’s, not Dad’s) handiwork. I’ve grown […]
Some Studio Artists Paint from Photos
Did you know that some studio artists paint from photos? I paint from photos. They provide ideas, inspiration, visual guidance and instruction. I paint from photos that I take. Sometimes I adjust them on my computer. Sometimes I have other people shade my lens, hold branches out of the way or manipulate the scene […]