This is the second plein air painting I did in Monterey. I set up in the shade by the path to Asilomar Beach (another struggle against that easel), and this time I was determined to do a better painting.
This painting gave me hope that I might be able to paint plein air. It also gave me time to decide to look for a trash can large enough to stuff the easel into.
After I got home, I retouched it and finished it to this level.
This one deserved to be signed.
SIMPLY HOME
Heading to Eagle Lake, 16×20″, $650
The show hangs until December 29 at CACHE in Exeter. Their hours are Friday 1:30-4, Saturday 10-4, Sunday noon-4. It includes about 50 paintings, 3 original pencil drawings, calendars, cards, coloring books, The Cabins of Wilsonia books, and a few pencil reproduction prints.
This is the first plein air painting I did in Monterey. We set up on Asilomar Beach, and I tried to concentrate on painting when I just wanted to put my feet in the water and enjoy the waves. Instead, I tried to paint while the waves kept moving and my easel kept fighting against me.
Then it was just too hot and frustrating to keep standing there, so I packed it up and took this back to my room.
After I got home, I retouched it and finished it to this level.
That’s odd—I still haven’t signed it. I wonder if I can make it better. . . maybe in another year or two. I’ll sign it next time I am painting.
2025 SIMPLY HOME Calendar, showing many of the paintings from my show of the same name. $25, and I will pay the sales tax (if you live in California) and mailing (if you order).
Most of Exeter’s businesses will be open for the annual Christmas open house evenings. I will be at CACHE from 5-8 tonight—will you? (125 South B Street)
SIMPLY HOME
You can see this painting in person tonight.
Honeymoon Cabin I, 6×18″, $195
The show hangs until December 29 at CACHE in Exeter. Their hours are Friday 1:30-4, Saturday 10-4, Sunday noon-4. It includes about 50 paintings, 3 original pencil drawings, calendars, cards, coloring books, The Cabins of Wilsonia books, and a few pencil reproduction prints.
For the first many years (how many??) of my art career, I only worked in pencil, with occasional forays into colored pencil. The detail, the precision, the accuracy, the requirement of strong contrast and composition—all of these things held my attention. Plus, pencils are easy to transport, use, clean up—simple minimal equipment is all that is required.
Despite my devotion to the humble pencil, I am a self-professing color junkie. Here are a few examples of colors in Three Rivers that recently have grabbed my attention.
Someone’s yard has the most brilliant Japanese maple around.
Those bright trees across the river held on until the last rain.
The enormous flowering pear is starting to color up, while mine at the studio has dropped all its leaves now.
The patterns of leaves against the wet asphalt added to the intrigue. (Easily amused, easily entertained)
I went through my yarn scraps and arranged these in the order that pleases me for a multi-colored scarf— ’twill be a gift for a friend.
Sage is blooming in this fantastic blue-violet color beneath the flowering pear at my studio, with its brilliant leaves now all on the ground.
See that piece of dried mural paint? It is a green which I used to think looked fake. When I dropped it on the ground, I was astonished to see that it is almost the identical color as the new weeds now sprouting, at least when they are in sunlight.
SIMPLY HOME
This might be the painting in the show of which I am the proudest . . . yes, I know that “pride goeth before a fall”. . . I hope this painting falls into the right hands!
ENTERING WHITE CHIEF, 12×16″, $387
*The show hangs until December 29 at CACHE in Exeter. Their hours are Friday 1:30-4, Saturday 10-4, Sunday noon-4. It includes about 50 paintings, 3 original pencil drawings, calendars, cards, coloring books, The Cabins of Wilsonia books, and a few pencil reproduction prints.
“Black Friday” kind of disgusts me. (I recognize the irony given the previous paragraph/ad). It overshadows Thanksgiving in the media, and it summarizes and epitomizes the commercialism and greed that taint Christmas. I have participated in Black Friday in the past by joining a group of artists for a boutique here in Three Rivers. It was fun for the visitors, most of whom were part-timers in town, staying at their second homes. I reached a point where the scuzzy state of the building where we held the boutique was no longer acceptable. (WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE IS NO WATER??) We borrowed some other locations for a few years, and when they were no longer available, it was a relief to let that boutique fade away.
This year I spent half a day refreshing the mural on the water treatment plant in my neighborhood, an imminently more satisfying venture than heading down the hill into the fog and the crowds to spend time and money looking for things that no one in my life needs or wants. (Not judging you—just stating the facts of my simple life.)
Yellow is the quickest fading color, so many of the greens have turned blue in the past 5 years. Some of those greens may have been mixed using a yellow that lost its high-lightfast rating (which I learned about when I tried to reorder that yellow.)
My before and after photos were terrible. It is almost impossible for me to take comparison photos when in sunlight because the camera screen is too invisible to be able to see and take the same angles. And even this last photo of the finished mural isn’t a good comparison because the light has changed.
You’ll have to trust me that it has improved.
Have a look at Alta Peak. When I went out into the road to view the mural from a distance, this is what I saw behind me.
In spite of my lack of helpful before and after photos, this picture of Alta Peak lets you know that the mountain in the mural is accurate.
It was a much more satisfying way to spend the day after Thanksgiving.
WAIT! I WENT BACK THE NEXT DAY AT THE SAME TIME AND TOOK THIS PHOTO FOR YOU!
Now, let’s look at before and after, side-by-side (11/29/24 on the left, 11/30/24 on the right). The differences are subtle, but I like it better now.
SIMPLY HOME
*The show hangs until December 29 at CACHE in Exeter. Their hours are Friday 1:30-4, Saturday 10-4, Sunday noon-4. It includes about 50 paintings, 3 original pencil drawings, calendars, cards, coloring books, The Cabins of Wilsonia books, and a few pencil reproduction prints.
FRONt of 2025 CALENDAR, $25 (I will pay mailing and sales tax)
Amor Towles in Table for Two, a book of short stories, had a line that caused me to think, and talk to other friends my age: “After the age of sixty-five one wishes to travel less, eat less, own less.” Maybe point one and point three, but I’m not sold on point two.
2. My How to Draw presentation at CACHE was great fun. 22 people, one hour, lots of talk, one exercise. People really enjoyed themselves while learning and spending an entire hour without a screen in hand. Prolly ought to start charging. . . (I mean charging money, not charging devices).
3. I’ve spent the last month working on my website—learned to back it up, to “purge all caching” in order to correct behind the scenes mistakes that occur when developers change things, to show all the art for sale instead of just showing 9 pieces. Some expert said I have too much data and need to rebuild the entire site and to pay for more storage and that it can’t be backed up properly because of the excess data. I think that is what she said; it was hard to understand her.
4. I read an article on 9 brain challenges by Mike Donghia, a blogger at This Evergreen Home. The list includes things like travel without GPS, memorize important facts, strike up conversations with strangers, use your non-dominant hand, and shop without a list. I do these things! I couldn’t find the list on his site: I read it in The Epoch Times.
5. Did you know that there is no mail service or delivery in the Dominican Republic? Good thing they have the internet so I can text my friend there. We had to make plans for our coffee date, something we do for a catch-up session whenever she comes home.
6. I relearned how much I enjoy the town of Exeter. I loved having my studio there in the building owned by my friend Seldon Kempton. We worked together on the mural team, and it was just a joy to be downtown surrounded by can-do people. It’s been good to be working at home too, to be off the road. . . a big fat car wreck caused me to rethink studio space in Exeter in 2001 and then build my studio at home.
7. “Pulchritudinous” means physical beauty. What a goofy word! Might be hard to remember.
This is me on a recent walk with two pulchritudinous friends (one is behind the camera).
8. Trader Joe’s balsamic vinegar comes in this sweet little bottle that is just right for giving a tiny bouquet of flowers or for rooting basil. I love that balsamic vinegar, and whenever I am in a town that has a TJ’s, I buy several. Been feeling confident about the wise nutritional habit of using vinegar to fight against glucose spikes, but then. . . I FEEL SO BETRAYED AND STUPID! Why? BECAUSE THEY ADD SUGAR TO THEIR BALSAMIC VINEGAR!! Of all the nerve—balsamic vinegar is naturally sweet and some people just say it IS sugar (to which I respond SO WHAT? IT’S VINEGAR!) But now I am thinking that stupid Trader Joe’s, Betrayer Joe’s, can just stay out of Tulare County! We fat diabetic ignorant poor folks don’t need you adding to our sugar problem. Do you hear me, TJ’s?!!
9. Ghost Town Living by Brent Underwood is an excellent memoir, which is my favorite genre of book. I highly recommend it. A friend recommended it to me, and I got it from the library.
10. Tim Cotton Writes is one of the best blogs on my short list. He recently wrote “Unhappiness Has No Permanent Address”, in his inimitable style of folksy wisdom. I highly recommend reading his work.
11. Did you know that the word “shortening” comes from the fact that when you add fat to flour, it shortens the gluten strands? Gluten is what makes dough stretchy, so when you knead it for bread it develops those strands. If you are making pie crust, you don’t want to make it stretchy and tough; hence, you add shortening (and don’t overhandle it). (Learned from The Frugal Girl).
*The show hangs until December 29 at CACHE in Exeter. Their hours are Friday 1:30-4, Saturday 10-4, Sunday noon-4. It includes about 50 paintings, 3 original pencil drawings, calendars, cards, coloring books, The Cabins of Wilsonia books, and a few pencil reproduction prints.
I’m going quiet for a little while. Nothing to worry about, just ready for a break. I’ll be back.
No image from Simply Home today, just a few final photos of fall in Three Rivers. (Check CACHE‘s website for hours, and visit the show if you are so inclined, because the paintings ALWAYS look better in person.)
This is the view looking east from in front of the Mural Gallery & Gift Shop. See the awning straight ahead? That is on the third location where I had my studio in Exeter.
While at the Mural Gallery for my November shift, I painted. My goal was to be productive in between customers by completing some of the plein air paintings from the week in Monterey.
Worked out pretty well.
I liked these enough to sign them. When they are dry, I will show the before and after versions.
This one is better, but I can’t wait to put a railing on the bridge and bark on the sycamore trees.
As I was moving everything out to my car, I looked east and remembered many reason I always loved being in Exeter: tractors in downtown, the water tower with EXETER on it, seeing Sawtooth and Homer’s Nose, trees with fall color, the Post Office, all visible from where I used to have my studio.
One of the three places my studio was in Exeter was in the second story of this brick building, which houses the terrific store Rosemary & Thyme.
One last view in case you didn’t get enough photos today.
SIMPLY HOME
OAK GROVE BRIDGE #28, 24×30″, oil on wrapped canvas, $1800
The show hangs until December 29 at CACHE in Exeter. Their hours are Friday 1:30-4, Saturday 10-4, Sunday noon-4. It includes about 50 paintings, 3 original pencil drawings, calendars, cards, coloring books, The Cabins of Wilsonia books, and a few pencil reproduction prints.
Those words all describe my recent blog posts. I haven’t shown you any work in progress, only the pieces hanging at CACHE in my solo show “Simply Home” until December 29. (Have you been yet? Live too far away? I can ship paintings. Just sayin’. . .)
So, let’s enjoy a few more autumn photos from Three Rivers, taken before the storm. Chinese pistache trees remain the star in the landscapes; flowering pear is the champion outside my studio.
SIMPLY HOME
Sawtooth XXIII, 18×24″, $850
UNTIL DECEMBER 29, CACHE, 125 South B Street, Exeter, California
CACHE’s hours are posted on their website under the “Visit” tab. Scroll to the bottom and look on the right side.
Right now I have 2 pencil commissions that both seem a bit too hard for me.
One is a collage, combining multiple photos into one cohesive piece of work. I have done this many times. BUT, these are photos that aren’t fitting together very well with lots of little fuzzy-faced people in them. A hard and fast rule is to Never Draw A Face Smaller Than An Egg. Somehow I got confused as to what this job would entail, and it is growing in difficulty. I’ve done 3 versions now, along with a sample of what the fuzzy faces are going to look like. Nope, not going to show you. Yet.
The other is a single scene, compiled from multiple unrelated photos. What makes this so challenging is figuring out what size each item needs to be in relation to the others, and where they need to be place to make the scene believable. This was so tough that I used Photoshop (the Junior version). Not going to show this either.
So, today we are going to escape into some fall photos. We had lingering heat this fall, then WHAM! It got cold and the colors got bright.
SIMPLY HOME
Swinging Oak, 12×16″, oil on wrapped canvas, $275
CACHE‘S hours are different each of the weekend days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and posted on their website under the “Visit” tab—scroll to the bottom and look on the right.
