A Little Painting on a Big Painting

 

English is a strange language. In the title, the first “painting” is a verb; the second one is a noun. This makes for a fun title, and perhaps it incites a bit of curiosity on the part of you, O Blog Reader.

I painted “Yokohl Oak” in 2020 and showed it in two separate solo gallery shows. People liked it, particular local bike riders, who told me, “Hey, that’s the Bike Tree!” To me it was simply a beautiful oak tree along Yokohl Drive, and I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to recognize it if I drove past it again.

Alas, it didn’t sell. I put it in the 3 other galleries that regularly and steadily sell my work, and it didn’t sell. One astute friend told me it was lacking in my normal amount of detail. Really?? This looks excessively well-detailed to me.

Oh. He meant on the tree itself. It is too smooth for an oak tree. My drawing students agreed when I took it back home for a touch-up. I often run things past them, because they always tell me the truth. Besides, it lets me know if I am teaching them to be discerning, to truly see things accurately.

This got called “The Bike Tree” by a few different people, so I figured I’d just go with that theme.

Then I started adding more texture to the bark on the tree.

After that, I tried to photograph it.

The light was wrong, making shiny spots and making the color wrong. I rotated it multiple ways, cropped it, edited it with the photo program on the laptop, and finally decided it will have to wait to be photographed another time. 

In the meantime, this is the new and improved “Yokohl Oak”, after I did a little painting on this big (24×24″) painting.

P.S. Yokohl is the name of a valley in the foothills just east of Exeter in Tulare County. For awhile, there were big plans to turn the area into a self-contained town, but the combination of local protests and drought shut that down.

If you came here for Mineral King news and are disappointed, you can check the Mineral King website to see if anything new has been posted.

 

A Little Bit of Design “Work”

 

“Work” is in quote marks because this was simply a gift for a friend. She has had just one too many cars come flying up her driveway instead of following the curve of the road and is ready for a gate.

I drew a few ideas, then we looked at them together. She picked one she liked the best, and together we worked on it, adding a tree here, a rock there, moving a line, adding a line. Then we looked at her second favorite and did more of the same.

First favorite:

Second favorite:

After studying them, the second favorite became The Favorite. I sent it to the gate builder, and next we will learn if it is a design that he can build. I think some parts might need a bit of modification for strength. I also wonder if perhaps I shouldn’t have used the back side of something printed (but I bet you can’t read it).

It will be thrilling to see this as an actual gate.

We did get things a little bit backward, because if her driveway is so wide that it requires a double gate, we will have to redesign it. 

She mentioned to me that gates in Three Rivers are so interesting that she has thought they might make a fun calendar. I have often thought it would be possible to do a photo (or drawing or painting) book of the gates here, and simply call it “A Gated Community”. 

It might be fun. Speaking of fun with gates, check out this photo.

If you came here for Mineral King news and are disappointed, you can check the Mineral King website to see if anything new has been posted.

Drawing and Thinking

The business of art is fickle, always changing. An artist can just make whatever she feels like making and hope it sells. However, if an artist wants to earn a living, she needs to pay attention to the ever-changing world of what people want, what they can afford. She also needs to pay attention to selling opportunities, another ever-changing set of circumstances.

For a handful of years, there have been three places that sell steadily for me. One was next to a popular restaurant, which has now closed, diminishing foot traffic by the gallery. Another is a seasonal store in the mountains, and it most likely will be unable to open this year due to a ruined road. The third is in a building which recently changed hands, the lease will expire so things will go month-to-month, and with Sequoia National Park being closed so long, the traffic in town has diminished tremendously.

This may or may not be connected, but I have no commissions.

The murals which I thought were in the bag have fallen into indecision on the part of the customers.

So, I am drawing simply because I want to.

I will continue to think, and continue to share my thoughts.

Two bird stories

Bird Story #1

I am working on a book, doing the transcribing, editing, and book design. This is for a friend of a friend, and the book will only have 25 copies, distributed to the friend’s friends. The friend of a friend’s friends.

Never mind.

The book is a collection of stories over ten decades of an extraordinary life. The writer and I have only spoken on the phone once, after I published her first book. By “published”, I mean everything: transcribing, arranging the stories into an order, editing, choosing photos and editing them with Photoshop, proofreading, helping someone to write a foreword, formatting the interior, designing a cover, writing the synopsis (“blurb”) for the back cover, sending it to the printer, proofing it for the umpteenth time, getting it printed. It was fun!

She doesn’t email or text, so when I have questions, I write her a letter, and then wait for the response. This is a slow but good way to communicate, because if one forgets what was asked or answered, the information can be found on a tangible piece of paper.

There are a few references to birds, and a poem about birds is included. So, as a surprise for the writer when she receives her book, I am including a drawing of a bird above the poem. Why not? I love to draw!

The process of shepherding a book from typewritten pages to an actual book is complicated, challenging, and very rewarding. It is a privilege to be able to do this kind of work, especially for such a remarkable person.

Bird Story #2

The title of this post is “Two birds”, so here is the second bird story (no photos).

Pippin was carrying a scrub jay in his mouth while another one was squawking overhead. I grabbed little Mr. Orange Bob Square Pants, shook him, and the bird fell out of his mouth and flew away. Sorry, Buddy. Birds, no. Rodents, yes.

Loser to Best

This little painting was a loser because it wasn’t good enough for anyone to part with his hard-earned dollars, despite the fact that my works sells for prices that won’t scare anyone.

It is titled “Tulare County’s Best”, and although it shows what I believe to be the best that our rural Central California county offers, it wasn’t my best work.

It was my best plein air work at the time, because I was new to that style of painting.

But plein air painting isn’t my best work. 

Shut up about “best”!

I repainted it, and here it is, now deserving of its title.

Tulare County’s Best, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125

OF COURSE IT LOOKS BETTER IN PERSON.

Painting in Silence

One day we had no internet. This also meant no cell service (because we don’t have cell service at our house the cell phone works off the wifi) and no landline. So no podcasts, just concentrating on the current painting in silence.

 

I remembered my stereo and popped in a CD when I got tired of my loop-di-loop thoughts. Just sat and drew with my paintbrush and listened to music while painting this classic Tulare County scene for the Long Way Off show.

 

New Motivation to Paint

After goofing off for most of the month of May instead of painting and drawing, I found a new motivation to return to the easels: a solo show to prepare for! It’s a long way off, but I want it to be the best work I have ever done. 

An orange grove painting is supposed to be destined for the dining area of my house, but since I hung this painting of Sequoia trees, there isn’t an empty space nagging at me. However, it might be good in the Long Ways Off show, and I’ll need to paint many larger paintings, so it is TIME to go back to work.

This is how it has looked for months. (I cleaned off the spider webs for you.)

Better sky and distant hills first. 

Then I began working my way forward.

 

When I got to that distant curving road, I flipped it over to better focus on the correct shapes.

Finally, I was tired of mosquitoes and my knees hurt, so I sat down to work on the dirt. 

There are still miles to go. I actually took twice as many photos as you see here but deleted every other one so you wouldn’t fall asleep.

Things learned:

  1. Morning light in the painting workshop is better for photographing the work.
  2. Mosquitos are a real hindrance to concentrating. 
  3. After not painting for weeks, my knees hurt after standing a few hours.
  4. With the doors opened for better light, sometimes my photos blow onto my palette.

I wonder how long this new motivation will hold. That show is a long ways off: October 2024. 

 

Sold in Spring 2023

If you are getting this post in your email, go to the internet and type in jana botkin dot net (type it in computer style, not the way it is written here).

Sales have been slow. I am not defining “spring”, precisely, and it isn’t over yet. However, I am not producing very much: just editing and formatting 2 different books, teaching drawing lessons, communicating occasionally with the folks on 2 different pairs of murals, and wondering if there will be any reason to paint towards selling at the Silver City Store this coming summer.

 

Lest you think I am bored, your Central California artist is never bored. I am yardening, meeting up with an old friend from high school, cleaning out closets and rooms at church, yardening some more, reading, knitting, walking with my neighbor, and yardening (in case you were wondering.)

How I Finished the Oil Painting Commission

My blog seems to be back to normal, so if you are receiving my posts via email and can’t see the photographs, tap here to go to the blog on the internet.

The large oil painting commission has taken quite a bit of thought and time. It feels very important to make it the best I possibly can. This is difficult for a non-perfectionist, whose main drive is to complete projects rather than do things perfectly. However, as a grownup, I am capable of overcoming my natural bent when it is the right thing to do.

I photographed the painting while it was upside down on the easel.

Then I flipped and cropped the photo, enlarged it to fill my computer screen, and studied it.

This is a weird phenomenon, one observed and used by my drawing students and me. Things often look fine until you see a photograph on a phone, camera, or computer screen. Suddenly the flaws appear.

The result of my study session is a red oval around each part that didn’t look quite right.

Then I mixed up the right colors and began making minuscule corrections. My plan was to photograph the corrections for you, but all wet paint was shiny and looked terrible in the photos. So, never mind that plan.

I lifted it off the easel to sign it and saw that the bottom looked terrible.

Then I looked out the painting workshop door and felt happy in spite of the little hitch in my git-along.

 

Here it is on the easel, ready for the official photograph. In spite of looking tiny in this setting, it is way too big for my scanner.

Wait! You haven’t seen the edges yet!

Finally, paint the bottom of the canvas, and the painting is finished. (Still wet)

I think you need to see it in person to truly appreciate this commissioned oil painting of my current favorite scene of Tulare County to paint for the very patient and accommodating Mr. Customer.

 

Finish the Painting, You Slacker!

My blog seems to be back to normal, so if you are receiving my posts via email and can’t see the photographs, tap here to go to the blog on the internet.

For weeks I have been showing bits and pieces of this slowly emerging commissioned oil painting of what I refer to as the best parts of Tulare County.

One day I decided to stop dabbling and just finish it. Then my neighbor texted me, and when I looked up, I saw her across the street. We haven’t talked for awhile, so I went over and pulled weeds with her while catching up. Then there was this, that, and another thing before I remembered the day’s resolution: FINISH THE PAINTING (YOU SLACKER).

Eventually I realized that most of what remained was details, in other words, drawing with my paintbrush, which is my favorite part of painting.

However, there was still some difficulty in diving in, due to the nature of the fakery on the canvas. I wasn’t trusting my own experience to make the hills and groves look believable. 

What’s a Central California artist to do?

Pick up her brushes and begin, that’s what.

Here is the day’s progression of baby steps, tackling one section at a time (without stopping to pull weeds for about 5 hours straight).


The last step was to paint the edges.

After the painting is dry, I will flip it over and study it further. If there is nothing else left to do that will make any improvement, I will sign it, photograph it, and spray-varnish it. I will consult with the very patient Mr. Customer about a title, write it on the back, and pass it along to its new home.

There! That wasn’t so hard, was it? (Says The Slacker with a slight twitch. . .)