cabinart | Cabin Art

Learn, Schmearn

I accidentally took black and white photos on a day full of beautiful bright natural colors. This became an opportunity to learn how to use the colorize tool on Photoshop Junior (actually Photoshop Elements).

I am not impressed.

Let’s try it with another photo.

Better, but still nothing to get excited about.

Now I will use the tool to adjust color.

This isn’t very good either.

What did I learn? That if I mess up and accidentally take black and white photos, it is a waste of time to try to make them look natural.

How about if I just stop messing up when the pictures are important?

Good idea.

Not on Purpose

Remember in the olden days when we took photos and didn’t see them until our film got developed?

We have gotten used to looking at them instantly, which is great in theory, but what happens when you are outside in the bright sun and cannot see the screen? Cameras rarely have eyeholes, and the ones that do are small, blurry, inadequate, scratched, or just dirty.

Additionally, if you cannot see the screen, you cannot see the controls on the screen. Sometimes this creates accidents.

A little over a week ago after a storm (not the snowstorm), everything was so beautiful that I laid down my paintbrushes and headed out with Trail Guy to see some natural beauty. The wildflowers!!

THEN, without knowing it, I had a camera accident.

How would I know? I couldn’t see the screen. When I put on some glasses and moved into the shade, I realized that the color was absent, so I randomly pushed the controls until color appeared again.

This flowering pear is the first to bloom in the neighborhood (mid-February) and the last to lose its color in the fall (sometimes late November). This photo might have looked okay in black and white.

It took quite a bit of button pushing when I got home to restore the normal settings. I don’t know how it switched to black and white and doubt if I could make it do that again, at least not on purpose.

Now I am going to experiment with something called “colorize” on Photoshop Junior. This is an opportunity to learn.

Seven New Oil Paintings Available

These seven oil paintings are now finished, dry, scanned, and available for purchase.

“Purchase” sounds so fancy; these paintings are ready to buy. (Is that better? Don’t want to get above my raising here.)

Navels, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×12″, $125 plus California sales tax IF YOU HAVEN’T MOVED AWAY YET

Poppy 59, oil on wrapped canvas, 4×6″, $50 plus 8% California sales tax

Poppy 58, 4×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $50 plus you know what

Poppy 57, 4×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $50 plus you know what

Poppy 56, 4×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $50 plus you know what

Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint VII, 6×12″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125 (plus 8% if you still live in California)

Craig Ranch, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125 plus you know what if you live you know where

Any questions? Maybe the comment feature is working on this blog post. If not, we are probably friends in real life so you can email or call or lean out the door and yell or wave me over on the road or talk to me after church on Sunday. Lots of options for connecting.

Nose to the Grindstone

Doesn’t that sound uncomfortable? What if you also had your shoulder to the wheel, put your back into it, and were toeing the line? How would you get anything done?

Fortunately, I only have to plant my feet in front of the easels. None of these photos do justice to either painting, but when they are finished, dry, and scanned, they will look better. Then when you see them in person, you will really like them.

How’s that for an abundance of confidence?

Finally finished this 8×10″ of the Craig Ranch. It is shiny and wet, not a good look.

Then I began a painting of a subject that I really love to see in person and to paint.

The base coat colors are wrong, but I did begin building the mountains correctly. White dries the slowest of all the paint colors, so this will need to rest awhile before I continue with the mountains.

Schizophrenic Weather

Recently I have been enjoying the green, wildflowers, and daffodils, sharing them with you all.

Wednesday morning, February 23, this was how our yard looked.

I heard a radio announcer say, “The Sierra is celebrating much needed snow”. I’m unsure how a mountain range “celebrates”, but I know we are very very thankful for any and all precipitation here in Three Rivers. Probably in all of California other than the upper north end of our bizarrely diverse state.

It is too dark to photograph snow around here. It only looks great when the sun comes out, but the snow disappears almost immediately.

Trail Guy has such a soft spot for Pippin.

My flowering pear is in bloom at the same time we get snow? THIS is why I love February!

The yard doesn’t look quite as sittable as usual. I’ll just stand—thanks for asking.

Irrelevant?

Due to an unfortunate series of events, I cancelled drawing lessons the first two weeks in February. The third week, my first class of the day cancelled me. Well, not really. Out of 7 members (in theory/on paper) only one student could attend.

Hmmm, are drawing lessons becoming irrelevant? Am I?

I love helping people learn to draw. I used to give lessons 3 afternoons a week, with 3-4 classes, each one containing 4 members, along with a long waiting list.

It isn’t that way anymore.

Everything changes. Figuring out how to make an art business viable means continually adapting to the changes.

Eventually, it will cost me more to go down the hill ($5/gallon for gas, rent and insurance at the gallery, and my time, which is a squishy thing to place monetary value on) than I earn from my students. But how can I justify raising my prices if there is no waiting list?

Meanwhile, I will keep helping the people who show up.

Here is an irrelevant photo of a cat whose name* I have forgotten because it was only semi-civilized and disappeared before we were able to get to know it.

*Was this Butch (abbreviated tail)? Or O’Reilly (bold and fresh)?

Enjoying Spring

Please forgive me if you do not live in Central California, for having the gall to refer to February as “spring”.

The deer are fine as long as they are mowing the “lawn”. (This used to be a real lawn, but we stopped watering it quite a few years ago so now it is only “lawn” if we have rain.) Here’s Tucker, the narcissus smasher.

I am thankful for the rain that we have received while still enjoying the sunshine.

Productive Painting

You know that I haven’t painted too much this year. The green and orange paintings were a start. Then I got a message about a larger painting that sold, and suddenly I felt energized to paint again. (That painting will appear at the end of the month in a post about sold paintings).

So many artists have way too much inventory and continue to crank out paintings without regard to potential sales. I have a real aversion to too much stuff. When things aren’t selling, I evaluate the paintings to determine if the quality just isn’t there, or if interest in that subject has waned, or maybe I just don’t have quite enough exposure—a likely explanation in this time of no art festivals and boutiques. Sometimes I retouch a painting; other times I paint over the top with a new subject.

If a subject is popular, I will paint it often.

Currently, the most popular subjects are citrus, poppies, and Sawtooth.

Are these finished? Maybe, maybe not. If not, they don’t need a lot more work.

My Favorite Month

Life hasn’t been all bad. February is my favorite month and it is beautiful in Three Rivers. There is always something good happening on my needles. Well, maybe not always good, but every project is another example of the triumph of hope over experience. Tucker remains my favorite cat. (Sorry, Jackson and Pippin, but not very.)

We have spring flowers in our very sittable yard. Would you look at all those mailboxes, just waiting for someone to fill them with thank you notes!!

Plus, we had a little bit of rain and some snow, both highly appreciated.

Not Working Much

You have probably discerned that I am not working much these days. Yesterday I speculated that I might be lazy. Perhaps I am just tired. Lately life has brought some speedbumps, difficulties, interruptions, and responsibilities. Let’s just look at a few pictures and maybe a little commentary without getting too personal or bleeding in public. (No pen puke here).

Author: cabinart