A Day at the Easels

Forrest’s Dream Cabin was ready for more work, so I flipped it over in order to reach the mountainside at the top of the 30″ canvas.

After finishing the mountainside, adding more detail to the distant chapel, straightening out the roof, adding more stilts and a railing, I put in a few windows and turned the lights on inside. Suddenly, I froze and was assaulted with “Yikes, this is too hard”, and “What do I think I am doing here??”

The cure for that is to go pull weeds.

Then I moved on to an oil painting where I KNOW the subject matter*.

That’s more like it. I know what I am painting and can just start at the beginning and finish at the end. With Forrest’s Dream Cabin, I am just fumbling along, so it is slow, requiring much thought and time. Forrest is not in a hurry, is appreciative and easy to work for.

Here are two last thoughts (visual thoughts): *Mineral King, of course

Forrest’s Dream Cabin Flipped

Last time I showed you this oil painting commission it looked like this:

In this session, I began working on the water, first measuring to be sure the horizon line is horizontal. Then I repainted the water. This erased the hint of stilts that the cabin was resting on; now it is floating. 

I kept studying the photo until I discerned a hint of shadows and reflections from the cabin.

Then I started adding more detail to the snow covered trees. 

This is how it looked at the end of the painting session. As I add the detail, I realize that much is hidden in shadow or behind undefined blobs on the photo.

So I turned to the Duck! looked up the name of the lake on DuckDuckGo and found many photos to study for better detail. Turns out that this version has been flipped horizontally. Forrest doesn’t need me to copy the photo exactly because he is looking for a particular feeling that the scene evokes. However, I do need help to put something in place of vague black blobs, so I will just inch along, making decisions with each indistinct item and area.

Pippin is also flipped.

Forrest’s Dream Cabin Again

The title of this commissioned oil painting is Forrest’s Dream Cabin, so it is imperative that I move it from nightmare to dream status. Here is the next painting session of step by step improvement.

  1. Sky first, painted upside-down for easier reach.

2. The colors on my palette look so dull.

3. Water next. I could reach this part right-side up.

4. Mountain and foreground branches

5. I want to start drawing with my paintbrush on the cabin detail, but I think the water and background mountain will need more layers first.

The colors are so much duller on screen than in real life. Forrest said, “it’s like a ghostly cabin is emerging out of the scene, nice!”

P.S.This is not a houseboat; it is a cabin on stilts in a lake in Northern Italy.

Forrest’s Dream Cabin

My friend/customer/web designer Forrest requested a large painting of a cabin. He searched for several months, until he came up with a photo that he declared to be “IT”. Alas, he was not the photographer, and I just can’t be copying people’s work without permission. 

No no no no, I can’t copy no more, I’m scared of waking up in the courts. No thank you, please, it only makes me freeze (with fear), and then it makes it hard to face the Lord.

Forrest contacted the photographer and got permission!

So, I started. He said it would be fun to see the progress, and I decided to include you all in on the fun. I also told him to not be scared, because they all start out ugly. Forrest’s Nightmare Cabin, perhaps.

Yeppers, it is sideways. Easier to reach the top of this 20×30″ commissioned oil painting. Remember, 

I use pencil, oil paint, and murals to make art that you can understand, of places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.

(except that the beginning stages might scare you.)

Told You I Was Still Painting

Lest you worry that I am spending too much time taking walks, visiting friends, admiring daffodils, and weeding my baby poppies, here is some evidence of forward motion toward completing the paintings needed for the upcoming show Still Here at Arts Visalia in April.

Lots of detail, little buildings, random trees, empty lots, all the hard-to-see and hard-to-paint things remain.
Commission, as last seen
Commission, almost complete.
This Springville Ranch has been waiting patiently for more paint.

All finished except for the drawing of detail, my favorite part.

It was getting dark, so it was hard to see the right colors and the detail. Plus, the cats were ready to reclaim their home/jail/safe space for the night.

More on the Gift Exchange

As a thank you gift for a gift of oil paints, brushes, and an easel, I am painting a Karmann Ghia.

No, not painting a car, making an oil painting of a Karmann Ghia.

This is for a former drawing student, and because my students and I always tell each other the truth about our art, I asked him to tell me if the painting was finished. 

In the photo he sent to me, there was a piece of chrome missing from the door. I wasn’t sure what he was referring to, so I took a close up photo of the door on the painting to ask.

He replied with another photo of the car. (I deleted it before remembering that you might want to see it.) 

Aha! I fixed the painting.

This received approval, but I told him that I think oil paint is so wobbly compared to pencil. It is. The canvas has texture, the paint doesn’t often flow smoothly, and the brush hairs go rogue. But I keep trying to make my paintings look as good up close as they do from the back of a fast horse (or across the room).

I touched up the sky, brought the painting into the house to dry, and then scanned it.

Karmann Ghia, 8×8″, private collection

Another one of my drawing students asked me why I painted it so small. BECAUSE IT IS FREE! Besides, when you give someone a piece of art, it isn’t wise to assume they will love it as much as you do or that they might have space for something large.

Gift Exchange

One of my long-time drawing students took as many art classes as he could cram in for several years at the local junior college. (Sorry, not sorry – “community college”) He completely immersed himself in art until suddenly, he was finished. Done. His interests moved into mechanical subjects, and currently he is immersing himself in all things automotive.

A few weeks ago he asked me if I’d like to have his oil painting supplies. REALLY??  Yes, please! What a generous gift!

So, I decided to paint a gift for him. 

It isn’t quite finished because it needs me to draw with my paintbrush in order to reach the level of detail to do justice to his Karmann Ghia.

Yes, I still have paintings to finish for my upcoming show, Still Here. 

But, in spite of those necessary paintings for the show, I am still. . .

. . .using pencils, oil paint, and murals to make art that people can understand of places and things they love.

Collaborative Drawing

A former drawing student lost her cabin in the Creek Fire this past summer. I asked her if I could draw it for her; she said yes and sent photos.

This former student participated in an art show a few years ago, along with 2 other advanced students and me. I asked those 2 others if they wanted to join me in drawing the cabin, and they both said yes. We all really like our friend and wanted to express our sympathy.

It took awhile to figure out what to draw, how to fit it together, who should draw which part, and even how to sign it. 

It took awhile, but we did it! Our friend was very touched, particularly by the fact that we each had a part.

 

Cabin Painting in Stages

You’ve seen most of these photos before. I am showing them again so you can see them all on the same page in order of progression on this painting. Besides, it will help me to see them all together because then I will know I have actually accomplished something.

A few more details (including the flag and porch railing), painting the edges, signing, and then maybe this will be finished. 

Making art people can understand of places and things they love for prices that won’t scare them.

Slow-poke Cabin

“Slow-poke” is a weird old word that probably has a good story behind it. This cabin isn’t a slow cabin; the painting of it is slow. Wait, no, the painter is slow. No, not slow–the painter is painting slowly.

Good Grief Charlie Brown.

I added shutters to the windows and door, changed the color of the cabin, began the dreaded lattice, added some dirt, tightened up the steps, began detailing the windows, changed the skyline and the forest in the background, and then needed to go have a smoke.

JUST KIDDING! I’ve never smoked anything in my entire life.

Isn’t it peculiar how the colors differ so greatly in different times of the day? When the painting is finished and dry (at this rate in another several months, GGCB), the scan should show the truest colors.

Using pencil, oil paint and murals, I make art you can understand of places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.

(But sometimes the process might scare you.)