Dabbling, Puttering, Inching Forward

This is a scarf, knit for a friend. The colors reminded me of her, and I couldn’t decide between 2 different yarns, so I got both. It is really a dark burgundy, but both the camera and the computer lie.

None of our three cats are allowed indoors. Oops. Is that Pippin in the living room again?

Stop puttering and get to work!

I have two 10×20″ oil painting commissions to complete and mail before Christmas. This is tricky to accomplish unless I put down the camera, put down the knitting, and plant my feet in front of the easels.

It might be tricky anyway, because the photos are less than stellar, less than clear, and full of murky indiscernible things. 

After getting the beginnings of both those oil paintings accomplished, I retreated to the studio for a bit of forward motion on the commissioned pencil drawing.

Inching forward. . . 

Artistic License On a Pencil Drawing

Asking for a commission

Someone contacted me about visiting my studio, along with visiting Mineral King to find the cabin where her dad spent time as a child. I put her in touch with the current owner of the cabin, and then let her know that I accept commissions and can draw the cabin for her to give to her dad.

Gathering photos, making sketches

She was very happy with that idea, so she sent a few photos, the current cabin owner sent more, and I took a few too. Then I worked up different sketches for her to choose from. She chose A, and asked that I draw it 11×14″ instead of the original 9×12″ size chosen.

Beginning the drawing

I had a day without many interruptions, a day to just park in my studio and draw. That has become a real treat in November, consistently my busiest month. 

Instead of printing out photos or ordering good quality prints from Shutterfly, I chose to work from the photos on my laptop. That is now a regular method; it is a real bonus to be able to greatly enlarge a photo for the details.

After a full day at the drawing table, this is what I had.

Taking artistic license

There is a bit of artistic license being taken here, with permission from my customer, of course. In the olden days, I felt bound by reality, enslaved by the photos, and handcuffed by indecision when I ventured away from exactly what was there in person and appeared in the photographs. These days I feel a lot more freedom. Is it because of needing and learning to make things up with oil painting? Is it because I have so much more experience? (I’m kind of old-ish, being well ensconced in the S’s.)

Whatever the reason, the process is enjoyable and challenging. It makes me feel like a real artist instead of a copy machine. 

Calendars

2023, Mineral King HIKES, still available here: Calendars

To see the back of the calendar, you will need to click/tap on the link. 

 

Art Emergency

A long time customer has regular art emergencies. She is Important, and works with Important People. Sometimes those Important People suddenly retire, and then she needs a custom pencil drawing on fairly short notice.

For clarification: she was a friend long before she became Important, but all my friends are important to me. The friendship factor is what keeps me saying yes to her when she calls with an art emergency.

Previous pencil drawings for art emergencies

 

 

The beginnings

The request appeared one month before the piece was needed. The photos arrived about a week later. Since I didn’t take the photos, I don’t feel free to publish them. They were downright scary, but I am a professional, and I managed to suppress my fear (although I whined to my drawing students, warning them to NEVER say yes to projects like this–small size, design complications, poor photographs, tight deadline).

Here it is in progress. This is when I decided that 9×12″ is probably too small to be cramming in this many scenes, particularly with this many tiny windows. (Two years ago I decided that 8×10″ was too small.)

I felt fairly certain that the recipient of the drawing doesn’t follow my blog (our paths have crossed a few times, but he has been Important since I was a kid, so friendship isn’t a factor here.)

Finished!

I was able to finish the drawing in a timely manner, and even was able to deliver it.

Congratulations on a long a fruitful career, 31 years of serving the City of Visalia, Mr. Important Person!

 

 

Odd Job Accident

Little Bucky was patiently waiting his next coat of paint in the painting workshop.

When he was dry enough, I flipped him upside down so I could paint the underneath parts. However, I forgot that one of his antlers was not attached to his head. It fell out.

I photographed it, texted Ignacio, and confessed.

Little Bucky was a little dismayed, but he appeared to be used to only having one antler.

Phooey. Why did I say yes to this job??

Ignacio suggested superglue, so that’s what I did. I also asked him if he still had the other piece from when it broke previously so I could glue it for him. He didn’t, and asked if I could make him a new one!

When I said, “From what?”, he replied, “Wood”. I reminded him that I am not a carver, but work in pencil, oil paint, and murals. 

Maybe I should have added superglue to the list.

 

Painting As If I Have a Deadline

After finishing three more 5×7″ oranges on easels, they sold within days. The director of the Mural Gallery asked for more, so I set up an assembly line to get the first layer on the panels.

That was sloppy business. I prefer to work with exact, tight, precision, so I moved back into this 8×10″ painting of a typical Three Rivers scene, and got serious about making it as accurate as possible.

Then I got a call from a man for whom I had done an odd job this summer. He has a deer, which has faded from the sun, and wondered if I could freshen it up. He was able to provide a photo of it when it was new, which will help me get this done right. I said yes, and then we had to figure out how in the world I would charge him for this odd job. He told me what he paid for it initially, we figured out how much he was willing to spend, I told him how many hours that would cover, and then we made a plan. I will paint one side only, keeping track of my hours, and if there is enough time and money left in the budget, I’ll paint the backside. If not, I’ll just paint the backside plain brown, no detail. 

The cats aren’t a fan of this guest in their safe room. I expect they will adjust soon.

Painting in Order to Sell

Farewell at Dusk, 10×30″, oil on wrapped canvas, $500

There is an ongoing topic among artists about whether or not it is right to paint in order to sell. In general, the two schools of thought are:

  1. Do Your Own Thing And Express Yourself And If Nothing Sells At Least You Haven’t Sold Your Soul
  2. You Are In Business So You Had Best Please The Customers And Be Grateful They Like Your Work Enough To Part With Their Hard-Earned Dollars

It is clear that I belong in School #2.

Paint it out

Sometimes I paint something because I love it, and then I have to paint it out because no one in the local market of buyers agrees. The recent conversion of a river scene to sequoia trees is a prime example.

Paint it again

Sometimes I paint something that sells, so I paint it again and it sells again, and so on and so forth. Here is a recent example of that situation. Six times? Seven? I lost count. Because it was so popular, I painted the most recent version in hopes of selling it at the Silver City Store this summer. (Nope. . . is it waiting for you?)

Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint IX, 12×24″, oil on wrapped canvas, $550

Paint what I love

And the best of all is when I paint something just because I want to, and then it sells. But sometimes that feels disappointing because I wanted to keep it. (So what’s the problem? Just paint it again!)

Paint it better

Sometimes I paint something, it doesn’t sell, and then I have to figure out why not. I did that with this painting of redwood and dogwood, and it sold very quickly after the do-over. (I was tempted to name it Red Dog but knew that was a loser from a marketing standpoint.)

The challenge with every scene, but particularly those I’ve painted many times is to make it the absolute best I can every time. No auto-pilot, no “phoning it in”, no sleep-painting. Focus, focus, focus. 

As I often tell Nancy of Kaweah Arts, “I came here to earn a living, and I’d rather repaint a scene that bores me than be a waitress.” 

The best way to not be bored while repainting a popular scene is to continually challenge myself to find a way to make it the best I can. Because. . .

I use pencil, oil paint, and murals to make art that people can understand of places and things they (not me) love, for prices that won’t scare them (but allow me to continue eating).

Oranges in Oil

We are in fall, and oranges are a winter crop. But I have to keep a little ahead of the seasons with my paintings so that I am ready when the customers are.

The aloof Jackson jumped down after briefly inspecting my work. 

After finishing the two Kaweah Post Office do-overs, I returned to some oranges.

A customer/friend (If your friends won’t do business with you, who will?) bought a 5×7″ oil painting of oranges that sat on a mini easel, then emailed me to ask for a second one. These will be gifts for two of his family members at Christmas, so I could paint the same scene again or make something compatible.

I painted a new scene twice, then did a third one. All of these will go to the Mural Gallery in Exeter, and my customer/friend can choose the one he prefers. I hope he chooses one of the ones I painted twice (“one of the ones”?? Someone find me an editor!) or else there will be twin paintings at the Mural Gallery.

Started one on a board.

Started two more on canvas panels.

Finished all three, now drying, waiting to be scanned.Done, done, and done. (except for the scanning part)

Oranges are a HUGE crop in Tulare County and a great seller for me. At one time I thought I wanted to grow them; now I am quite happy to simply paint them.

 

Facelift, Figuratively Speaking.

The heat backed off a little and two places that sell my work requested more. 

I started with the river painting do-over. It sat on an easel with its buddy non-selling river painting. . .and got a facelift. . .…but we will wait until the bruising subsides and the stitches get removed.

I mean we will wait until it is dry enough to be scanned before doing an actual comparison.

Custom Art Means Accepting Commissions

I accepted the job of painting a custom sign for a cabin owner. This is a larger version of one that I did 10 years ago, one that fell apart from being out in the weather.

He asked me in July, and the summer got hot, as summers do in Tulare County. Because he wasn’t in a hurry (bless you, Mr. Customer!), I just piddled along, and then stopped for a few weeks when it was just too hot in the painting workshop. 

Suddenly, the heat quit, so I returned to the project.

It is a little bit too hard for me, so there is a fair amount of thinking, trying, erasing, waiting, and trying again. Here are the steps.

I am working from the old sign and don’t remember what the source was for this Norse god of winter, named Ullr.

I changed the border color from yellow to a more pleasing yellowish green.

A little bit at a time, because this is just difficult.

What is so hard? Seeing the proportions correctly, getting the oil paint and brushes to behave, figuring out where to place the border decor.

This time I will include some wildflowers. Mr. Customer and I discussed lupine, so there is more thinking involved in size and placements.

Finally, I am happy with the results, as is the easy-going customer.

P.S. Recently someone else asked me to paint another strange and unique sign, with blurry and uncertain reference photos and calligraphy. This time I had the good sense to turn down the job. An artist has got to know her limitations.

New Mural at Mooney Grove Park

About two and a half years ago, I worked on several murals on the outside of the Tulare County Museum at Mooney Grove Park on the south side of Visalia, California. Each day when I finished painting, I walked around that giant park of a zillion trees. As a muralist, I am always aware of blank walls, and I counted 7 concrete block restrooms, all painted white, all with multiple walls screaming for murals.

I photographed several of the buildings, photoshopped some of my paintings onto the plain buildings, then wrote up a proposal to present to a committee that meets 4 times a year. I also wrote a letter and asked to be on the next meeting’s agenda.

Then, The Plague struck. No response to anything I requested, no followup, nothing.

A few months ago, the Arts Consortium invited artists to submit five designs apiece, each proportioned to fit a 4×8′ horizontal mural. Five artists would be selected to paint a mural on a restroom. I submitted 5 ideas, and included my photoshopped versions for their visualizing convenience. (Always make it easy for the customer!)

Eventually, I got a congratulatory email saying my painting of the North Fork had been selected for one of the restrooms. Not my favorite, but I have painted and sold this scene about three times, so it seemed like a good candidate for a juried situation.

Next, I got instructions that all the muralists would be painting their restrooms on the same weekend, from a Friday through a Monday, and would be finished on that Monday, no exceptions, so there. 

I looked at the weather, saw that Friday would be 104, contacted the nice man at the Arts Consortium and asked for a postponement or to be fired.

Being reasonable, he agreed that paint dries too fast in those conditions and went to the committee making the decisions. 

We were then allowed to pick our own four day block to paint, and I chose September 21-24.

The forms began flying back and forth, along with a visual to remind me which painting had been selected, and a photo of it on “my” restroom wall.

Excuse me??

All-righty-then! So, I will be painting Yokohl Creek, which might indeed be my favorite. (GREEN!!)

Supposed to begin tomorrow, but many of the project details have been fluid, so time will tell. . .