Author: cabinart

Plein Air Painting in Three Rivers

Krista asked me to paint again with her at the airport bridge in Three Rivers on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Before I went, I hung out with Jackson a little bit.

He wasn’t very hungry because he let the gopher live. Didn’t even pounce.

I drove to the same place with its multiple No Parking signs.

This time, I had a tripod that the little cigar box pochade attached to. Gear management is one of the great challenges of plein air painting. I won’t be buying a $700-1000 easel set-up for plein air painting unless something really changes in my abilities and interests. But I will continue to experiment and try various arrangements.

My roommate in Monterey won this brush clip in a raffle and passed it to me. It’s pretty useful, but I only use one or two brushes when I paint plein air and don’t plan on needing more. I don’t like to own stuff that I don’t need, so I passed it to Krista, who is very determined to learn this method of painting.

With a tripod, I was able to stand to paint and use my stool as a shelf. The big wooden box was passed to me by a friend who changed his mind about wanting to paint, and it is a handy way to carry my stuff. It weighs more than I’d like, and it seems as if it opens backwards, so it may go the way of all excess equipment—into the hands of someone else who needs it. The verdict isn’t in yet.

This isn’t too bad, and maybe I will like it after fixing and finishing it in the painting workshop at home.

When the sun was off the scene, we started packing, and I turned around and saw this.

It’s all about the light. Always.

One thing that is happening to my abilities as a result of plein air painting is that I am noticing new scenes to paint, looking at sunlight instead of just the subject matter. Maybe this alone is worth the time, effort, and money spent on this adventure.

Simply Home

Bike Tree, 24×24″, $1400

Walking in Three Rivers in Autumn

Another set of days without the internet sent us on a walk in the middle of the day. When virtual life isn’t accessible, try real life.

The star of autumn in Three Rivers is the Chinese pistache tree.

Excuse me? This is indeed a peculiar sight.

The Remoria*l Building has tremendous Chinese pistache trees.

This is the largest flowering pear tree I know of. It is the first to bloom (usually mid February) and the last to turn in the fall. There are a couple of tiny hints of red near where the big cable emerges on the right.

Rumor has it that this former playground for children will become a playground for grown-ups. (You can’t see in this photo, but the sparkly thing I hung on the gate last week is still present.)

I commented to Trail Guy that the abundance of acorns is rather remarkable this year. He said, “Oh yeah? You ought to look behind our work shop!”

So, I did.

We hear them hitting the metal roof and rolling down at night.

Finally, here is the largest buckeye tree I know of. It turned bronze in late June, or maybe early July. These native trees run on a different schedule.

Simply Home

*Remorial is how our neighbor taught us to say “Memorial” when she was 9.

oil paintings Three Rivers

Complaining and Painting

Because this post is full of complaints, I will intersperse the verbal bummerations with nice photos.

We had a week when the internet went out 2 or 3 times a day on 4 days, and one of those days it was down all day long. This meant that neither the cell phone nor the landline worked. We also had an unscheduled half day without electricity and another day without power from 9:30-6:15. All of this took place during the week when I was preparing for my demo/talk How To Draw. In addition, I had people waiting for emails, with proofs, sketches, and price quotes to approve. It was also a week that I had set aside to make multiple phone calls to a tech service in order to repair and understand my wonky website.

Without power or internet, how does one print drawing exercises? or scan things necessary for handouts? or print one’s own notes? or let inquiring customers know you are not a flaky artist? How does one repair a website that one cannot access?

One waits. One uses a yellow legal pad and a pen. One waits some more. One composes emails and puts them in a folder called “Drafts”. One keeps waiting. One works in quiet, without tunes or podcasts. And one waits some more.

When the power came on, the printer wouldn’t print anything in color until I cleaned the heads about 6 times. Then I had to replace the ink, of course. I believe that printers were designed by ink companies. The next one I get will be a laser printer. I don’t know what that actually means, but people who have these say they are very reliable and use less ink. Everything uses less ink. EVERYTHING. (Excuse me, I need to leave this blog and order some more ink while thinking about it.)

Okay, I’m back, $48.70 poorer.

Eventually, I was able to get everything printed and scanned in time for the talk. Eventually, the emails went through. Eventually, I was able to make one phone call to repair one thing on my website. I also got a bit of painting done on one disrupted day before it got too dark to see.

From this:

To this:

To this, when I finally decided it was too cold to leave the door open, but too dark with it closed.

Thus, we end today’s complaint session with a vague sense of productivity and thankfulness for autumn beauty and electricity and internet and telephones.

Simply Home

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.

Plein Air Painting in Three Rivers

For about 2 years, my friend Krista has been asking me to paint with her in Three Rivers. Last week we had an entire day without electricity, phones, internet, so it seemed like a good time to leave home and paint outside. Besides, it is always a pleasure to hang out with a friend, especially outside on a nice afternoon in our scenic foothill town.

I thought about places to paint, and it is tricky when every shoulder of the road is marked with NO PARKING signs. I decided that I didn’t care, and if anyone wanted to tow Fernando away, we would have a conversation about it, and it would turn out just fine. (Our sheriff is an artist.)

This view shows the curve on the right side of the road as it heads to the bridge.

This view shows the tall sycamore trees on the left.

I wanted both, so did a sketch to see if I could squish them both in. Good thing you know that I can draw, or you might be a little worried about the quality of this sketch.

Here is my substandard plein air equipment, perfectly functional for my limited interest in this method of putting paint on canvas.

Here we go, another sketchy messy beginning.

The light changed quickly, and then all the color was gone.

That’s fine, because I took the painting as far as I could figure out while painting on location. I just don’t understand how to smash all sorts of details together; maybe someday I will, but I can’t imagine that I would like the results. I think I will like this painting after reworking it in the painting workshop at home.

Krista and I had a great time together; it is very likely that we will do this again.

Simply Home

Silage, Silos, and the Sierra, 6×12″, $145

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.

oil paintings Three Rivers

The Hour of My Usefulness

Last night was my presentation “How To Draw” at CACHE, the gallery and museum in Exeter. This was more of a talk than a demo, about a subject upon which I could bloviate for hours. Alas, it was just one hour, 6:30-7:30, because I know people’s attention spans are limited. Besides, I was missing dinner.

There were about 20 men, women, and children, all attentive and interested. I told brief stories, showed examples, explained the steps I use to draw, explained tools I used, and handed out one exercise for people to try. Everyone drew! I love helping people draw, and I think everyone had fun. Nope, I know everyone had fun!

The funniest moment was when I was standing behind a couple of participants, looking at their work, getting ready to advise on a small matter or two, when I felt something weird. Twice. I said, “Hey Dwight, something just dripped on my head!” Dwight is the president of the gallery board, and he quickly moved to the end of the room and climbed a ladder to the roof! Charlie is a board member, and he was right on Dwight’s tail. (They both got some drawing done in spite of the disruption.)

THANK YOU! I truly felt useful last night.

P.S. It was free. If anyone asked about how to pay me, and one did, I said to donate to CACHE. If you were there and are wondering the same thing, donate to CACHE. (Something has changed on my website AGAIN, and I cannot find the tool to make the link to CACHE be clickable in this post. https://cach-exeter.org)

SIMPLY HOME

Lower Dry Creek Road, 12×16, SOLD

drawing drawing lessons pencil drawing

Trying to Work in Three Rivers

It started out to be a fine day. The time change was over, my neighbor and I had a good morning walk, the election was behind us (phew, what a stressor that has been), and I had a list of phone calls to make, my website to keep repairing, some sketching/designing to do, and of course, paintings to finish. On top of that, there was planning to do because of a scheduled all-day power outage the following day.

I reworked the Asilomar beach path. This was my second painting during my week of plein air painting, and it is one I liked, probably because the scene held still, as opposed to those manic ocean waves.

Tucker was enjoying the sunshine and keeping me company (this cat LOVES me).

Then the power went out. WAIT, WHAT?? It’s not tomorrow yet.

A friend from about 2 miles below me said it was out for her too. She was driving down the hill and reported that there was a fire at the dam. (Turned out to be more in Lemon Cove than actually at the dam.)

It wasn’t dark out, so I worked on the Marble Fork Bridge painting for awhile, using enlarged photos on my laptop for details until the battery needed charging.

Life in Three Rivers: Within one week, the internet went out for a day and thus, no phone either. Without internet, no cell phone for me because we have no signal. Then we had a scheduled power outage, but it went out a day earlier. Currently we have road construction causing 10-15 minute delays in town.

At least our water hasn’t gone out in awhile.*

Simply Home

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.

Today, 6:30-7:30, I will give a demo/talk called How To Draw at CACHE. The spaces are all full.

*WROTE THAT TOO SOON. A DEER BROKE A HOSE BIB, WE STARTED WASTING WATER AT A RATE OF 6 GPM, SO WE DREW SOME WATER AND SHUT OFF THE MAIN. THE PLUMBER WASN’T AVAILABLE, AND EVENTUALLY TRAIL GUY FOUND A WAY TO BYPASS SOMETHING, BLOCK SOMETHING ELSE, AND GET WATER BACK TO THE HOUSE. Excuse me for shouting. This has all been so annoying.

oil paintings Three Rivers

Veteran’s Day, Chapter Two

When thanking the Veterans you know, embrace this observation from Army Veteran Charles Province:

It is the Soldier, not the minister, who has given us freedom of religion. It is the Soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the Soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to protest. It is the Soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial. It is the Soldier, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote. It is the Soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.

Honor the Veterans

Walking in Three Rivers

Walking isn’t as easy as it used to be. I walk shorter distances more slowly than I used to, wearing Crocs instead of these shoes, which I now have listed on eBay.

Until the time change, my friend and I walked in the dark. Sometimes it felt adventuresome, as if we were getting away with something. On the days when her schedule isn’t tight, we still go 4-5 miles, although that’s nothing compared to when we trained together for a 1/2-marathon. Still, we are happy that we can walk and can do so in places without traffic, traffic lights, or sidewalks.

One day recently, Trail Guy and I poked along our street where he pointed out a peculiar sight on our neighbor’s lot.

Not real, mighty peculiar, and completely without an explanation.

I found a small sparkly on the ground, which I ended up securing to the fence of the former day care at the Presbyterian Church.

While admiring the view from the Catholic church, I wondered what the bright red was in the distance. It most likely is a truly spectacularly bright tree. We weren’t so fortunate when we chose our own Chinese Pistache trees, nor when they created volunteers on our lot.

I’ve always admired this barn across the highway, and being November, I also admired some red trees in the distance.

Walking more slowly and going shorter distances does increase one’s awareness of the surroundings. That is a good trait for an artist to cultivate.

P.S. Yeppers, two churches in our neighborhood, neither one “ours”.

SIMPLY HOME

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.

Tuesday, November 12, 6:30-7:30, I will give a demo/talk called How To Draw at CACHE. It is full.

CACHE drawing lessons Exeter gallery oil paintings Three Rivers

Hard Drawing and Painting Hard

Last week I did some sketching and designing for a very difficult pencil commission. It is breaking a hard and fast rule that I have set for myself, but I can’t figure out how to say no and still help the customer. It’s too scary to show you right now. . . more will be revealed. . .

Then I painted hard. How hard?

I painted so hard that my brush snapped. That’s a first for me in 18 years of painting.

These two paintings got moved into the house near the wood stove to dry. There’s more to be done on both, but I am spending my week working on my presentation for How To Draw.

IMPORTANT

Tuesday, November 12, 6:30-7:30, I will give a demo/talk called How To Draw at CACHE. Contact me if you are interested, because seating is limited and there is one more spot.

SIMPLY HOME

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.

CACHE CACHE gallery commission pencil drawing oil paintings