Four Finished Fruits

I know these aren’t just generic fruits, but the alliteration was too big of a temptation to resist.

“Half”, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $65
“Whole”, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $65
“Front & Back”, 4×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $55
“Navel”, 4×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $55

All these orange oil paintings are for sale at the Mural Gallery in Exeter, whose address might be 121 South E Street, and hours might begin at 11 a.m. but not on Tuesday, possibly not on Wednesday. Maybe you’d better call 559-592-3160 before just showing up, because clearly, I do not have solid information other than the fact that there is a boatload of great art in that tiny building.

Phew. Take a breath, Central California Artist.

More Orange Paintings, A Progression

These have more detail and are larger than the 4 small orange paintings I showed you last Friday.

That one is almost finished. It could be considered finished, but I don’t think it is as good as it could be. I’ll need to contemplate it for awhile.

This one will require quite a bit of drawing with my paintbrushes. I like to draw with pencils, and I like to draw with my paintbrushes when they cooperate.

It helps to see the shapes more accurately when things are upside down. This is not an option when painting from real life. Thank goodness I am a studio painter.

The blue bowl and its reflection will be a good challenge. I am really liking this one so far.

Not Enough Oranges

There is a marketing outfit for citrus, at least I think it is for marketing purposes. They have bought many pieces of orange-themed art from me through the years and are a pleasure to deal with.

Their annual banquet is coming up, and someone in the office asked me to lend them orange-themed art to decorate the lobby leading to the banquet room.

My 30+ years of experience tells me that my art won’t sell there. When the artist isn’t present and people are simply mingling, art does not sell itself. I am not invited to the banquet, and most likely I would decline the invitation. I have run out of the internal fire to schmooze and chit-chat in a loud room with the hopes of making connections that may or may not turn into work, and doing it in the town 30+ miles away at night when I am ready to park my patoot with a book and some knitting.

But this organization has been good to me, so if they want to borrow some art, my response is, “Certainly! How many pieces would you like?”

I took inventory and found 8 available pieces (one has to be borrowed from a gallery which is never open on the day when I am down the hill, but I will figure it out somehow). These are all similar scenes, and I decided that eight is not enough.

Here is a sample piece of my normal citrus scenes:

And here is what I need to paint, title, scan, and deliver DRY in time for the event:

This is a 10×10″ and a 6×18″, both a little different from my regular orange still-life paintings. Those regular ones sell steadily, but I bet most of the attendees to the banquet will have seen, bought, or received one of these already.

Four Starts, One Finished Oil Painting

All these paintings are small and will be for sale at the Holiday Bazaar, coming to Three Rivers on November 18 at the Three Rivers Remorial Building. (Yes I know it is “memorial”, but I learned to say it this way from my former neighbor, formerly a girl, currently a married woman.)

This one only needs the background. That will go quickly (unless it doesn’t). If it looks familiar, it is because I painted from the same photo on a mural at Santa Teresita.

These are all in progress.

What was the beginning of pumpkins is now becoming Lake Kaweah.

This will be Alta Peak with Moro Rock, a scene I can see when I stand on the bench that surrounds my chimney, one I have painted many times before. This time it will be from a combination of multiple photos.

Finally, this little 6×6″ painting went so quickly that I took zero in-progress photographs.

Say it with me now: “This looks better in person” and “I’ll scan it after it dries.”

Spider Webs on the Easels No More

There are actual spider webs on my easels after a summer off.

I didn’t take the summer off on purpose; there simply wasn’t any reason to add to inventory.

Now there are reasons to paint: the Holiday Bazaar will be November 18, St. Anthony Retreat has requested small paintings to sell in their gift shop, and the Mural Gallery in Exeter recently sold a few paintings.

These little beginnings await layers.

These sizes have been chosen, along with photos/subjects to paint. Most of the photos will be cropped or several images will be combined. I always feel the need to state this in case you think I am strictly following photos. I don’t have the ability to copy photos perfectly with those imperfect paintbrushes, and in The Art World, it isn’t considered a good thing to do that.

Sometimes I try anyway, so there. I am not in The Art World; I am your Central California artist, using oil paint to make art you can understand, of places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.

Yes, there is a pair of pumpkins begun behind the 2 lake photos. Yes, you have probably seen both of the Sequoia scenes painted by me before along with the 2 lake photos. Okay, fine, yes, the Alta Peak/Moro Rock too. Not a problem, because new people will be looking at the new paintings.

I used up the paint on my palette to get a first layer down on the canvas.

Then I took another photo of the 2 that I am now considering to be finished. I added a bit more detail to the foreground grass on the buffalo, titled “Ed’s Herd” (because the buffalo herd belongs to Ed) and added a bit more sky under the sunset-colored (NOT FIRE!!) clouds, finally signing that one.

Back to the Easels and the Drawing Table

After several months of no work (i.e. lovely free time at the cabin without deadlines or guilt), work is beginning to trickle back into my days.

First, a pencil commission. (I still love to draw.)

This was the little sketch for the customer to approve or amend.

She made a couple of suggestions, and I scribbled a few notes for further verification.

This is a house I visited. Actually, I visited the people there, but the house really stuck in my memory as very attractive. It will be quite fun to draw.

I worked on the herd of buffalo for the upcoming show at CACHE, called “A Bovine State of Mind”.

It might be finished, but I will wait to sign it until I am completely sure there is nothing left to improve.

I remembered that the Holiday Bazaar in Three Rivers is coming November 18, 2023. This is the Saturday BEFORE Thanksgiving. It is time to think about beefing up my inventory of smaller paintings for this annual boutique at the Remorial Building. (Remorial, liberry, prolly. . . bet you can translate these words).

Yep, messy, but the first layers always are.

It’s great to be producing art again, both with pencils and oil paints!

Oil Painting Comparisons

Let’s compare some oil paintings: a 2006 version reworked, a 2010 painted again, and a painting begun to its midpoint.

I painted this in 2006; my friend (let’s call him Craig, because that is his name) brought it back to me upon my request. I wanted to rework it so that I wouldn’t feel embarrassed for taking his money 17 years ago.

It took awhile, but I found the original reference photograph. With limited (ahem, zero, actually) experience in painting scenery back then, I just did my best to match the somewhat gray and faded colors of the photo. I was successful in matching, which is one of the important lessons of learning to paint. However, now I like to substitute brighter colors.

Craig also asked me to repaint a 6×6″ scene that I had originally done in 2010. I was able to convince him to just trade me rather than keep 2 almost identical paintings.

Can you tell which is old and which is new? Probably not, so I’ll tell you: old is on the right, new on the left.

Then I decided to touch up the old so that I can sell it next year, assuming my places of commerce will be open and thriving again.

You probably can’t tell the difference in this photo. That’s okay, because I can and I know it is better now.

Finally, let’s look at a painting in its beginning ugly stages, and then enjoy it after it has been worked on a bit more.

I relayered the sky and clouds, worked on the trees, and began detailing the buffalo. (For some unknown reason, I worked from right to left on the herd, rather than my normal left to right.)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_5089.jpeg
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_5262.jpeg

I love to draw with my paintbrushes.

Progressive River Oil Painting

This oil painting of the river is inching forward. Remember this?

Here is a day of (interrupted*) painting in steps.


*Quickety trip to the next mural site to learn the best method to transfer pattern to wall; phone call to spray varnish manufacturer to ask how to deal with the continually clogging nozzle; writing an endorsement for my mechanic’s upcoming website; asking some friends to do the same; phone-tagging and texting to make an appointment to show my paintings to a new vendor; several long phone discussions attempting to keep the wheels on a project that seems to be circling the drain (that’s called a “mixed metaphor”); photographing and scanning completed paintings. . . all part of the business of art.