Drawing Because I Can

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Sometimes I draw simply because I love to draw. I try to hold back, because my flat files are full. When I have a good reason and know the drawing will not simply be stored in my files, then get outta my way.

(“Outta” is like “prolly” and “liberry”: words I like in spite of being an editor and a proofreader.)

An acquaintance did me a big favor, so I am drawing her cabin. 

I started several months ago, then set it aside because of paid work. My work priority order is this: 1. commissions with a deadline; 2. commissions without a deadline; 3. building up inventory of subjects that will prolly sell; 4. reworking paintings that haven’t sold; 5. whatever I feel like painting or drawing.

This one is considered to be Category #2. The customer isn’t commissioning me because she doesn’t know she is a customer. I am commissioning myself.

What does commission mean? That’s another topic for another blog post.

This is the drawing before I tackled it with Photoshop Junior to prepare it for eventual printing, which most likely won’t happen.

And this is after I converted it to grayscale and erased any errant lines or spots, most likely the result of a scanner screen that WILL NOT come clean, which is most likely the result of scanning paintings that aren’t quite dry, which is most likely the result of being in a hurry, which is most like the result of any number of unfortunate incidents such as not planning ahead, pulling weeds or taking walks instead of working, or choosing to draw something without a deadline instead of painting to build up inventory.

Where were we?

Oh. The finished drawing.

Now I am outta here.

Enjoying Life Before the Storms

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A day before the big storm, there was a brief time of sunshine. It lit up this germander, a drought tolerant shrub that looks great in spring and horrid in summer.

That evening, Jackson did not want to be put away. He decided to walk the other way and then attempt to catch his own dinner. I walked around the yard calling for him, and of course, he ignored me. However, I found him. Can you see his tail?

He was very intensely focused on some quail which feed around dusk, which is when we feed our cats.

Dude, I am watching you, and you are not going to catch a quail. 

He showed up at the front door looking for entry to the workshop where his dinner was waiting. Michael walked him over, and put him away for the night.

The next day was so intensely green and my leaning tree was in full bloom. (It’s a flowering pear, one of the earliest trees to bloom and one of the last to hold its color in the fall.)

Eventually I made it into the workshop (the cats’ safe place at night) to get a little painting done.

The first one is called Below Terminus Dam. I love this view in spite of it not having snow-covered peaks in the distance. Some years there are poppies on the distant hills; it is too soon to know this year because we are having a real winter.

This is the commissioned piece, now finished. (The right side looks darker because I am casting a shadow on it.)

This is the painting that was giving me trouble. I’ve decided that it is finished now.

This concludes today’s post about your Central California artist enjoying spring, her recalcitrant cat, her yard, and painting her favorite Tulare County scenes. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

 

Slowly Painting While Loving Early Spring

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet. These photos are from March 2, a brilliant and cold day.

A friend and I went for a walk. (This was before the big rains.) I realized that while this first photo is normal to us, it is probably peculiar to other folks. These boulders get moved to block parking spaces when Edison closes its beaches on busy weekends. This method of closing a parking area is probably unusual; I think it is innovative.

The river is flowing steadily but isn’t high because nothing above was melting yet.

The snow was sooooo low.

But the daffodils were bright, in spite of being slightly splattered with mud.

Enough. Get to work, Central California Artist!

This oil painting, an 11×14″ commission is coming together. No matter how difficult these seem at the beginning, if I don’t give up, eventually they get done in a believable manner.

“Nevuh, nevuh, nevuh give up” —good advice from Winston Churchill.

Aaaaand. . . More Orange Groves

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(More storms predicted for today and tomorrow, and if anything exciting happens, I’ll return to my post as photojournalist for you then.)

About Painting

Back in January I started eight new oil paintings of orange groves. I added a similar painting of oak trees with distant mountains (for the show Locals), and then someone wanted a painting of the groves with hills and mountains in a different size. That brought the total to ten paintings, all similar. Five are now completed (one sold), and other than the commissioned painting, there is no urgency or deadlines.

The urgency is self-imposed on the commissioned painting. As I prepped the canvas, I realized that I didn’t know which view of the mountains my customer was interested in. So I sent her these two photos (she is the photographer but I am the painter) and then put a thin layer of paint on the canvas (too boring to photograph).

Since my palette was loaded with the right colors and I had the biggish brush in hand, it seemed like a good time to begin layering paint on the 18×36″ that I was hoping to keep for awhile.

While slopping it on, I realized that maybe I want a different scene than the one I painted for myself last time. No rush; the space in my dining room is currently occupied by a painting of redwood trees.

Next, I moved to this 6×18″ with the blocks of groves that are confusing.  I repainted the sky, distant mountains, and foothills.

The groves are confusing because I have not been following the photograph or the advice I give to my drawing students: “Draw the dog before you draw the fleas.”

This means figure out the larger parts before putting in the details. So, I covered over most of the lines of the groves, got out the photo, and started to pay attention. It isn’t that I have to follow photos because they are the only right way to paint; I have to follow them in order to understand how to make those blocks of trees look believable.

This feels like slow going, perhaps because it is. When I draw, a day flies by. When I paint, it crawls. Maybe someday with enough experience this will change. Meanwhile, tick, tock, tick, tock. . .is it lunchtime yet?

Quick Day, Quick Draw

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The very fastest days are the ones spent in my studio, drawing with pencils, listening to podcasts. It took me about 2 hours to do this drawing. . .

NOT!* Just felt like it because there were so many interesting podcasts to listen to. And, because I love to draw. (have I ever told you that before?)

We will miss our UPS driver when he retires. And we will probably learn to really like the new one. 

*A long time ago I had jobs where I would work the entire day, then look at my watch and see it was only 9:30 in the morning.

Pencil Commission

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Has anyone ever had an unpleasant UPS driver? I think they must all be screened by personality before getting hired. If they are high energy, extroverted, optimistic, friendly, and have a good sense of humor along with a great memory, then they are candidates to drive those big brown trucks.

My UPS driver will retire soon, and he likes my art. He knows about my art because our buildings have murals on them, he delivers supplies to me, and I often greet him with a paintbrush in each hand.

He has the privilege of delivering to Sequoia National Park, and has taken some fun pictures of his truck surrounded by beautiful scenery. He wants a pencil drawing of his truck in one of these scenes, and has been sharing ideas with me for a few months. 

Recently, we figured out the best combination of brown truck with Sequoia scenery. Because the photos he shared with me belong to him, and because I don’t know the rules of a huge company like UPS, I will only show you my beginning sketches.

This is okay, but could be better. Trail Guy and I discussed the possibilities, because he actually has a very good sense of composition. (And zero desire to learn to draw or paint, so don’t even suggest that to him). We agreed on a solution.

Mr. UPS is good with either idea, but this one is definitely the winner.

He has no deadline, but it is nice to draw in my studio with reliable heat so I dove in quickly. Stay tuned. . .

Two Drawings, Mine and Someone Else’s

Hers

A drawing student brought in a photo she had taken, a challenging choice for a beginner. I tell my students, “Pick something you love, because you will be looking at it for a long time”. She loves this scene and worked very diligently. 

This is the result of her labors, and I think she did a wonderful job! (I removed her name because she didn’t ask to be on the World Wide Web, and I didn’t ask her permission.)

This is how it looks after I’ve photoshopped it for reproduction purposes, in case my student wants to have copies or cards printed.

Mine

For about five years, I have been working with a writer on a book about tuberculosis. It began as a local story about the TB hospital in Springville (here in Tulare County). When he started researching, the story grew into a different book, a massive project. Through it I have learned much more than I ever expected about “the white plague”, as opposed to “the black plague” (both of which refer to skin color associated with the disease, not race, so no need to get your knickers in a twist.)

The author came to me initially for some drawings for the Springville book, and upon further discussion, hired me to edit for him. We are finally reaching the end of the main text and are now gathering appropriate illustrations.

He couldn’t find a good photo of Virginia Poe (wife of Edgar), so he asked me to draw her from a rather gruesome photo (or painting?) taken shortly after she assumed room temperature.

Are you properly horrified? This fits with Edgar Allan Poe’s writings, doesn’t it? I haven’t read his work, but I learned plenty about him through the process of assisting with the writing of this book. I’ll stick with modern writers for my fiction.

Meanwhile, I think the background needs a little bit more work.

Okay, all better now. I also remembered to sign the drawing. 

 

 

Solds in November and December

Today’s post is a visual list of pencil, colored pencil, and oil paintings, some commissioned, some sold through galleries, some to people getting in touch via email, and from the one show that I didn’t do. You have probably seen all of these, but not in one big whack that makes me feel all puff-headed and successful.

Painting With Gazelle Intensity

Because of missing two weeks of work, the two oil painting commissions became a rush job. I had one week to get them from the sloppy first layer to finished.

The yellow ranch house needed a tiny bit of finessing, a signature, the edges of the canvas painted, and then it needed to dry. I was so focused on that last day of painting that I forgot to take any pictures of the process. 

The barn needed another layer of sky, another layer of grass, some cattle, more finessing, a signature, painted edges of the canvas and to dry on the same schedule as the yellow house.

Because the sky was so empty, I supplied it with some clouds. In addition, a tree grew on the left, a shrub on the right, and the barn got a bit of tightening up. I had to resist the urge to draw in every ripple on the corrugated tin. It’s a PAINTING, not a pencil drawing!

Cattle—distant? Yes. Closer? Yes.

More grass with visible details was needed in the foreground, along with a few more cows. 

Again, I was so rushed and focused that I didn’t take photos of the process. I had to get this thing into the house so it could dry in time to be shipped.

So, here is the result of a week of painting with gazelle intensity.

DONE ON TIME (dried, varnished, packed and shipped!)

And once again, the gazelle-like painter outpainted the cheetah-like clock.

Happy Boxing Day! Did you box up your extras to give to the needy today? That’s why it is called “Boxing Day” in the UK.

Rescuing A Ranch House Painting

The ranch house painting was stressful. it was a manageable project, but definitely pushing the limits of my abilities.

The Difficulties

Some photos, even though they are clear and have good detail and light, just don’t have the right information. This one had giant up-close tree branches that were making shadows, but looked disproportionate. The deck off to the right was confusing and hidden by trees that didn’t look good enough to paint because they were too big. The customer requested grazing deer. The canvas proportions didn’t match the photo, but cropping would eliminate the important front steps.

On top of that, there was the looming deadline. Trail Guy asked me why I didn’t charge a rush fee, and then I remembered: it wasn’t a rush until 2 weeks of my working time were stolen by a virus.

What’s a Central California painter to do?

The Solutions

Technology to the rescue: I used Photoshop Junior to size and place the deer on top of the painting (on my laptop, not on the actual painting). The result is a little too disturbing to show you, because the deer photos are in sharp contrast to the mushy looking painting and I don’t want you to join Team Doubt (of which I serve as captain).

Those steps, ugh. When in doubt, I resort to drawing with my paintbrush, a big no-no in The Art World, but I am painting for real people, those who “may not know art but know what they like”. (My kind of peeps)

Those steps, better now.

The deer challenge begun, according to my results with Photoshop Junior.

Hey, Bucky!

Those distant deer.

While I was painting distant deer, there were close deer on the other side of the window.

Okay, this will work.

The deer need brighter stronger colors. And there needs to be some grass blades softening the harshness of those all-important front steps. 

I think I am going to be able to sign this one without too much future embarrassment. (There is usually embarrassment about earlier work if one is growing in one’s skill.)

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