Author: cabinart

Learning to draw, Chapter Thirteen

Collages are some of the most difficult pictures to plan. One begins with a selection of photos. There are so many decisions to make! Horizontal? Vertical? How many parts? Images touching each other, overlapping or with spaces in between? Which one should be The Big Deal? Use circles or ovals within the space? The best way to start is with sketches, called “thumbnails” because of their small size. I hated doing those in college because I usually only had one good idea, and it was such a waste of time to try to conjure up a page full of second and third best substitutes. Maggie had this idea for months, letting it develop in her mind’s eye and gathering the photos. It is turning out beautifully!

drawing lessons

confessions of a Color Junkie, part 3

Purple, or “violet”, as it is more correctly called, is a color I haven’t liked very well most of my life. A few years ago, something changed, and I began to crave periwinkle, that almost blue shade of violet. Think lupine, brodeia, dutch iris. . . Someone told me that as we age, the cones in our eyes see purple better than when we were young. Oh-oh – is that the reason? (Brings to mind that poem “When I am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple”.) While on our photo trip over Yokohl, I was knitting a sweater in that wonderful bluey purple color; I actually asked Michael to stop next to a lupine so I could hold the sweater out the window and compare the colors. I was thrilled to see they were an exact match! (You just never know what will set off a color junkie.) I have found that to be a difficult color to mix, working only with the primaries, that has been a difficult color to mix. I finally asked Diana Moses Botkin about it, and she advised me just to buy a tube of violet! Wow – if she says it is okay, it must be! Just one other thing – I’ve noticed many men refer to burgundy or maroon as “purple”! I wonder why. . . can’t get a helpful explanation other than “It looks purple to me!”

Sweater colored lupine (ok, I might have messed around with the color in this photo!)

Periwinkle, the plant (also known as the dreaded invasive vinca major)

color obsession periwinkle

Color Junkie, continued

Lavender and I have a history. My older sister had a lavender dress that I thought was Absoloootely Beyoootiful, and I couldn’t wait for her to outgrow it. After about a zillion years, I finally made it to 3rd grade, and the dress was finally mine. I tried it on, stood in front of Mom’s full-length mirror to admire myself and was horrified to discover that my skin looked yellow! T I ran from the room, yelling for Mom! She said, “My goodness! Looks like lavendar isn’t your color!” It was a terrible moment, one that sealed a poor opinion in me toward lavender and its stronger cousin purple (or more correctly known as “violet”). Since then I’ve learned that anyone can wear almost any color. It is the shade that matters, the hue, the variation. That particular shade had too much red in it, and still makes me look like an advanced case of jaundice. Put me in a shade with lots of blue, and the compliments fly my way. Lavender, violet, purple, lilac – there are many names for this color.

Lavender, the plant

Lilac, the plant

color obsession lavendar

True confessions of a Color Junkie

A few months ago I was at Creekside Yarns, knitting with April and getting some help with a project. As we sat there together, I kept seeing the bins of sale yarn and they were bugging me. Finally I told April that I just HAD to organize the yarn by color. She just looked at me for a moment, and then said, “Color Junkie.” WOW! THAT’S IT! I am a Color Junkie! After she outed me in that small but momentous revelation, all the evidence of being a color junkie is surfacing in my memory. Here is the first one: as a kid, I remember lying on my bed just contemplating the colors in the bedspread. Suddenly I was totally captivated by the blue – it just mesmerized me with its beauty. I jumped up, ran to find Mom and tell her. Lacking an understanding of my Color Junkie beginnings, all I could think to express was this: “My favorite color isn’t pink anymore – it’s blue!” I’m sure she was puzzled what brought it all on; I’m thankful she just kindly listened. Here is a look at part of my blue obsession:

favorite flower

a painting subject I couldn’t resist and will probably paint over and over

my kitchen floor

chair in my herb garden

blue color obsession

Commissions in progress

Commissions are a great part of an art business. I get to paint knowing the customer is standing there with open arms and a check! It is wonderful to simply paint what floats my boat; it is just as wonderful to paint knowing someone really wants the piece. Here are some of the current projects:

More on Yokohl Valley

Looks ever so slightly Montana-ish to me.

This calls for a bicycle to follow the road!

This one definitely wants a picnic.

Another Morning Walk

Because the redbud wasn’t fully out yet, I had to return to BLM land yesterday. Here is the only photo that really shows the across-the-canyon display:

It isn’t paint-able for me – but perhaps a abstract painter or a weaver (HEY NIKKI, you listening??) might find inspiration here. Of course, I could always get yarn in these colors. . . of course, I could always get more yarn!

Exploring further afield

Instead of confining my adventures to Three Rivers and Mineral King, I went into Yokohl Valley. Not sure if this beautiful place will survive because of the plans of Boswell to create a new town. The building up of Orange County in my childhood horrified me – it looked less rural every time we visited Grandma or Grammy. It would break my heart to see that happen here in Tulare County. Yes, I know everyone has to live somewhere; please, let it be somewhere else! Michael came along as my driver so I could fill my eyes and decide where to stop without causing wrecks. We worked the first layer of the road along with a wee bit of trespassing over the course of 2 days. The flowers were fantastic. It is hard for me to compose shots of just hills and grass; my better pictures involved fences, trees and/or flowing water. Here are a few ideas for upcoming paintings:

Tulare county yokohl valley

Morning Walk in Three Rivers

A mile above my house is a beautiful place which goes by many different names: Case Mountain, Salt Creek, Craig Ranch, and BLM. I call it the last one, which, if you are not a Westerner, you might not know means “Bureau of Land Management”, which is under the Department of the Interior. But enough blah, blah, blah – you probably came here for the pictures.

Earl McKee keeps his horses here. In the morning before the sun hits, they have a little convention that looks like they are frozen in place. It was chilly!

The other JB and I were headed into the sunshine.

There are 2 seasonal waterfalls up there.

Did you know “cataract” is another word for waterfall? The dictionary says it is “a large waterfall”; I wonder if “large” refers to volume or height.

The variety of wildflowers was stunning, and I am rather proud of knowing the names of all these. I’m content with photos; JB wanted some to press and dry. Reminds me of my great Aunt Mary, who lived in Three Rivers when I was young. She made beautiful stationery with dried wildflowers and taught me their names.

We walked for a little over 3 miles before having to turn around. The only consolation in cutting our walk short is that the Redbud aren’t yet in bloom and give us a reason to return soon.

BLM land Case Mountain Craig Ranch Salt Creek Three Rivers

Learning to draw, Chapter Twelve

This comes from a borrowed photo but it is cropped beyond recognition. Cropping is a great way to focus in on the part of a subject that causes your heart to sing! Pam is creating a piece for her dining room. She is learning that many of the principles of graphite apply to colored pencil. She is also learning this: really good colored pencil pieces take 3-4 times as long to produce as graphite!

drawing lessons