Trail Guy loaded the pickup (not the Botmobile — the fancy pick-em-up). I had already taken a load of paintings and drawings, and there also were large pieces propped up behind the front seat. We headed to Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery for a day of hanging art.
After spreading all the pieces around the gallery, figuring out a basic arrangement and groupings, we started figuring out how to hang the pieces. The system is a little bit of a challenge, but we were up for it.
Look at these wonderful friends! They made a big job, full of unknowns, into a fun day together.
This photo is to show you that there will be more than just original pencil drawings and oil paintings.
COMING SUNDAY
IMAGES OF HOME
Exeter Courthouse Gallery, 125 So. B Street
Opening Reception, November 14, 1-4 PM
You can read about me and my art in an article from the Visalia Times-Delta by going to the Mineral King District Association website; the article is “Recent Fires Don’t Deter Artist From Highlighting Tulare County Beauty”. Lisa McEwen is the most accurate writer/freelance reporter/journalist I have ever had the pleasure to work with.
Please excuse the interruption. “This just in”as the news folks say.
This is the link to view the article in the Visalia Times-Delta online “paper” today. I clicked on it, and it said “one free article left”, so I don’t know how it might behave for you.
After looking at Western typefaces, I started sketching. A sketch is not a drawing – it is a scribbly unrefined picture, a way to see an idea on paper.
The customers did not see this part – way too sketchy. There was a stack of paper of many more little sketches, but these just aren’t meant to be public. (I have my professional reputation here to consider, along with some pride.)
After doing these sketches, I spent some time contemplating and evaluating them.
To be continued. . .
In today’s Visalia Times-Delta online “paper” there was supposed to be an article about my art. Hang onto the link to check later. I was warned that their schedule was just maybe-ish.Visalia Times-Delta
When my customers told me that they liked Western type, I started digging through the internet to see what was available. In general, Western typefaces are very easy to recognize, but after studying them, I realized there are many variations. (Remember when I told you a list of the goofy names of some of the typefaces?)
Those websites selling typefaces allow you to put your info into them and see what it might look like. Here are a few:
This last one is the prettiest, and it has the surprising name of “Eastwood”. I don’t associate old Clint with the description of pretty.
Logo design is not my strong suit. (“Suit”? Are we dressing up here? Where does this word come from? Are we playing a card game, perhaps?) Occasionally, someone asks, and if I have a good idea and a feel for the business, I say yes. (2 previous examples: Mineral King Preservation Society and Lemon Cove Community Church.)
Some friends have operated their farm business since the 1980s without a logo. They are customers who have become friends through the years, and I had an idea for a logo for them.
They commissioned this painting and I thought it might look great as a logo, or incorporated into a logo design.
Instead of wanting to use the painting, they said they loved my pencil work, and they’d like the logo to have type with a Western feel to it. I asked the name of their business (it never came up in the past), and then I was off like a hot car with a teenaged driver.
Looks like this is the first post in a series. . . stay tuned.
Being on one’s own in a completely flexible profession is not always easy. There is no specific roadmap, operator’s manual, or industry standard and even if there were, it would probably not apply here in Central California’s flyover country. The only galleries in Tulare County are non-profit, run entirely by volunteers, most of whom are good-hearted individuals without training in such matters. Artists may have some training, but generally it was decades earlier, completely outdated, or just various bits gleaned from the highly diverse internet, where one can find anything, everything, and nothing.
This brings me to a boatload of questions about my upcoming show, Images of Home. Some answers have appeared since I initially wrote this post.
If the gallery is normally open on Saturday, will people be able to see the show the day before the reception? Nope, the gallery will be closed.
When will my show actually end? With December 25 on a Saturday, will the gallery be closed on the Sunday of that week? How about the following week? It will end on an as of yet unspecified date in January.
Will anyone actually come to the reception? Oh Crystal Ball, where art thou?
Should I have kept my art in Three Rivers in the art consignment store that is open many more days and hours than the Courthouse Gallery? Shoulda, coulda, woulda, prolly not, ain’t nobody knows nothin’
Is it “Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery”, “Exeter Courthouse Gallery”, “Courthouse Gallery of Exeter”? None of the above; it is Exeter Art Gallery and Museum Association
Why do I have so many questions? Do other people? Why is it so hard to find answers? Does anyone beside me actually care about these details? silence. . .
How will I decide which “occasional Fridays” to be at the gallery? I will be there four consecutive Fridays from 11-3 beginning November 26.
How shall I publicize those Fridays to interested parties? Good question. . .
How can anyone think with the neighbor’s dog barking incessantly? focus focus focus on the task at hand
Why doesn’t the neighbor care? Or answer emails or return phone calls? If we decided to sell and move, would we have to disclose the barking dog to the buyer? Some folks just are not community minded
And you thought all I did was sit around and draw or paint all day! This self-employment as an artist is harder than it looks. Let’s just contemplate something peaceful to calm ourselves as we wait for more to be revealed in the fullness of time.
Yokohl, oil on wrapped canvas, 10×20″, $350
Images of Home
Exeter Courthouse Gallery (Is this the right name?)
125 South B Street, Exeter, California
November 14 – December 30 (Is this the actual closing date?), 2021
Opening Reception – Sunday, November 14, 1-4 p.m.
I know the title of the show is correct, as is the address and the date of the opening reception. Now, what am I going to wear? Should I get my hair cut? Why do we say “hair” when it is all of our hairs that get cut?
I need a cigarette.
WAIT! I don’t smoke! Never have, never will.
If you see me out in front of the gallery pulling weeds, just be polite, okay?
Oil paintings generally happen on an easel; acrylic mural paint goes onto panels of scrap wood resting on some sawhorses. What’s “the Big Chair”? Glad you asked. Keep reading.
Sawhorse Project
Kaweah Arts requested a panel with a single redwood where the entire tree is visible. I have 2 different sizes of these panels, and instead of waiting to hear which size the customer wants, I will paint them both. These sell steadily to people passing through while visiting Sequoia. Eventually, The Park will be reopened, and those customers will resume stopping by Kaweah Arts while on their way to The Park.
I don’t think this is quite finished but I was running out of daylight.
On the Easels
These were on the easels. The top one is a bit of a do-over and the others are just the first pass over the canvas. They will help resupply Kaweah Arts after I rob them of the large paintings to take to the Courthouse Gallery for the show Images of Home.
These are ready to be varnished.
The Big Chair
A friend makes these giant redwood Adirondack chairs; I painted an indoor mural to earn a few of these. This one was in the perfect position to hold 5 paintings while they dried in the sunshine after I varnished them. Can’t even see the chair, can you?
Okay, here comes the announcement. I hope it doesn’t become invisible to you from too much repetition.
After thinking over the title Heart of Rural Tulare County, I wasn’t satisfied.
I looked at the original coloring book, Heart of the Hills, and realized that this one needed to be Heart of the County.
That’s the ticket! My Shadow Consultant agreed, after suggesting a couple of tiny adjustments.
The idea to do this came quickly, and the retail places that sell my work want it in time for Christmas. That’s why most of the drawings are gleaned from the previous coloring books, compiling them into a broad portrait of the county’s rural places. I thought you might need to know that. It is sort of like buying a “Best of” album from your favorite music group, and then you either say, “Oh I love this song” or “Wait, I already have this”.
Like all the previous coloring books, each page has a tiny hidden heart.
The reasons for choosing this drawing for the cover of my new coloring book of rural Tulare County were because it is representational of the subject matter, appealing, and has enough blank space for words.
I looked at the previous coloring books and did a draft for the cover. These things don’t fall into place for me in one shot – I have to think things over, and usually send them to my Shadow Consultant in Bellingham who has a great eye for design. Ooh, weird, there’s that single “eye” again, just like when something “catches your eye”.
Good enough to know that things will fit here. I got out my colored pencils, put on a good podcast, and dove in.
When you are listening to something good, even simple mundane tasks like coloring go quickly. I think it was Mike Rowe’s podcast. Great vocabulary, intriguing stories, nice voice, excellent sense of humor.
I don’t think this is quite finished but I was running out of daylight.
