Lupine
A nice lady (with great taste) bought a poppy painting during the Studio Tour. She requested a lupine painting to go with it. Here you go, Connie! (see you at the Redbud Festival and I promise not to sell it to anyone else first)
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:
Big words
People often confuse the word “consignment” with the word “commission”. May I help? Consignment: agreement to pay a supplier of goods after the goods are sold. Commission: to give an order for or authorize the production of a piece of art. I’d like to add a third word here: “conversation”. It means an exchange of words. I learned a long time ago not to count my chickens before they are hatched, although that is still my greatest talent! (also known as “optimism”) For the first several years of my business, I used to get so excited after someone said he’d like me to do a drawing for him. I was counting eggs, chickens and dollars, forgetting that until money exchanges hands and there are photographs on the table, it was simply c o n v e r s a t i o n. However, it never hurts to think about those conversations and tentatively plan. A lady emailed me to say she’d be coming to the studio during Studio Tour and she hoped I had some paintings of Fiesta ware. I don’t, but have been looking for a reason to paint some. I know that she did not commission me and hasn’t committed to buy anything. That’s okay, because I’m eager to do this subject matter. If I do a good job but it doesn’t suit her, someone else will probably want it! Here are the beginnings of three new paintings (probably best viewed from the back of a fast horse, or perhaps without corrective lenses at this point):
Oh, look! There are 2 Mineral King paintings – what a surprise! 😎
In Progress, Spoken For – Kaweah Post Office
A few months ago, I painted the famous Kaweah Post Office. This is up the north fork of the Kaweah River, and is the smallest operating post office in the United States! Really! The folks who live near it and use it insist that they don’t live in Three Rivers but in Kaweah, and since they do have their own zip code, I suppose it is true. However, the town of Three Rivers claims the Kaweah Post Office as its landmark. Regardless, it is cute as can be and always sells when I paint or draw it. It sold as an 11×14 in November; someone stopped me in the Three Rivers Post Office (Where else for such a request??) last week and asked me to paint it again.
Here it is in its beginning stages.
Here it is a little later. Incidentally, all realistic artists either work from photos or they lie about it. (This is a quote from Jack White, my painting guru)
Recalculating
Ever use a GPS to help you reach a destination? If so, you have experienced what happens each time you choose to go a different route than the Talking Lady instructs. She says “Recalculating, recalculating!” That is exactly what I do with the prioritization of paintings in progress. Have a look at the current list:
- Secret unrevealed large and urgent project
- 6 tangerines for a real estate guy who sells ag property and likes to give art as a thank you to his clients. (This is 6 different paintings, not 1 painting of 6 tangerines!)
- 14×11″ Sunny Sequoias
- 2 8×10″ paintings of poppies
- 4 4×6″ paintings of poppies
- 8×10″ oranges as still life
- Oak Grove Bridge
- Clover Creek Bridge
- Pumpkin Hollow Bridge
How do I prioritize? If there is a paying customer, it goes high on the list. If there is a deadline, it goes high on the list. If it is tiny and I can work on it at The Art Co-op, it gets painted on Thursdays, in order of priority. The “spec” paintings are arranged in order of the shows coming up and how I am guessing (an educated guess of course!) they will sell at particular places. When one or a group gets finished, you know what I do? I recalculate, of course! 😎
a completed Sunny Sequoias in the ongoing series
a completed poppy for an upcoming show (click on to enlarge)
a completed orange for Mr. Ag Property
Nine One One, part two
Here is a Yokuts shelter. From the diagram that the author provided, I had to ask if these were little Christmas trees made of thatch! She gave me an explanation, so hopefully the drawing will clear up any sort of confusion as to the nature of these little structures. The book will be titled The Sierra Before History: Ancient Landscapes, Early Peoples. It is by Louise Jackson and will be out this spring. The book still might be available through the publisher, Mountain Press http://mountain-press.com/index.php.
Art Nine One One
Ever notice that the initials of Nine One One are NOO? That is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the words, “I know this is short notice but. . .” Saying “NOO!” would be bad for business. People come to me because I have something they need, and it would cut down on many business opportunities and mess up my hard-won reputation for being a non-flakey artist if I just automatically said “NOO” to these requests. So, I listen to the request, ask for the exact time the piece is required, think about my existing obligations and commitments, ask for specific expectations about the job, and say yes or no based on reality, rather than first instinct. An Art Emergency came to me last week – 2 illustrations for a book on the people of the Sierra. The author was notified by the publisher that the deadline for going to press was moved, and she couldn’t find decent photos of Miwok and Yokuts shelters. She had blurry photos and a diagram, and neither was adequate. She asked me to create drawings – “I know you are busy and this is short notice, but. . .” Since she is a very dear friend who has helped me in more ways than I can ever count, I truly wanted to help her. Besides, have I mentioned how much I love to draw? So, I did the drawings, and this is the first time I have ever confidently made up something without adequate photos and LIKED the results!
These are Miwok shelters made of bark.
Art Emergencies
You’ve learned about odd art jobs such as quilt patches and umbrellas (and NO, I DON’T WANT TO PAINT ON AN OLD SAW!) Now, I bring you Art Emergencies. This is where someone comes to you and says “I know this is short notice but. . .” Generally speaking, 30% of the work that comes to me is an emergency. Granted, there are no true emergencies outside of birth and death, and “poor planning on your part does not create an emergency on mine”. However, poor planning on the part of a customer often creates nice jobs for me. And, to be fair, sometimes Art Emergencies are not a result of poor planning but the result of a surprise as in “Joe Bag-of-Doughnuts just announced his retirement and we need a nice personalized gift for him right away!” Here is one from a couple of years ago:
If you are wondering about it, it was for a retiring Visalia City Council member and all the elements of this collage mean something to him. And no, he isn’t Joe Bag-of-Doughnuts; he is more akin to Joe Box-of-Oranges!
Odd Job
A dear friend, B, is a very accomplished quilter. She is also a true Mineral King person. Check out this quilt she made:
In case you need a tour guide, this is a view of Sawtooth, with Monarch Falls and the East fork of the Kaweah River. B was not pleased with Monarch Falls as it appeared in fabric form, so she requested a painted quilt square to replace it. Took some real planning! We walked to the view, I did a sketch, we laid out the quilt and I sketched it in place on tissue paper over the top of the quilt. Then I cut a piece of fabric, taped off the seam allowance, and coated it with gesso. Then, I lost it for awhile. After I cleaned out a closet, it reappeared, and I painted it as B and I planned.
This shows it just lying on the quilt without being stitched (hence, the white border). I actually mixed paint to match part of the fabric! Isn’t this a cool idea? Isn’t B an over-the-top quilter?