Barn Painting Rescue

This commissioned oil painting was causing undue stress. First it was a dark and murky ranch house, then it became a barn, then the barn was in the wrong place, and pretty soon, I was doubting my ability to do the painting at all. I finally resorted to measuring, comparing my proportions to the photo, and using this neato tool to get the angles exactly right. 

Finally, I was able to begin the detailing that I love so much.

The sky needs another layer, there are more trees to put in, the grass needs a bit more detailing, and then there will be grazing cattle. 

I’ll show you the yellow ranch house rescue tomorrow.

You might still be able to order a 2023 calendar but they might be gone by now. (There were 3 left yesterday.) Unless I see you in person, it won’t arrive before Christmas. HOWEVER, it will arrive before January. Mineral King HIKES 2023

 

Fixing and Finessing

The customer requested grazing deer on the lawn. I tried.Placing and sizing the deer was just a guess, and after contemplating things, I decided they were just too small to be that close to the front. So, some grass grew over them. When the grass is dry, I will try again.

I removed the top step in the foreground because they just looked too “heavy” (big, taking too much space, competing with the house), and changed the color of the concrete. 

I added more branches on the left and grew the tree on the right.

Then the branches on the left sprouted leaves.

Next, the barn. In order to get the right proportions and angles, I worked on this upside down

I used the sky to shape the barn. 

I was mechanically following the photo without thinking about placement, and then I realized that it was too far forward on the canvas. Look at it and you’ll see what I mean.

So, beep-beep, back the barn up. 

Now this has to dry so I can recoat the sky, add some clouds, work on the background hills, and start making the barn look as if it is there to stay. Oh, and then add grazing cattle. I hope I can make them the right size in the right locations.

This calendar might be the right size for your location.

A very small handful of 2023 Calendars Available Here, $20 inc. tax.

Too Hard to See, Too Hard For Me

I told my customer that with a dark, blurry, murky photo that was lacking in detail, I would have to make a dark, blurry murky painting that is lacking in detail, and that’s not a technique I have mastered.

So she sent me a photo of a barn and asked if I could paint it instead.

YES I CAN!

Excuse me for shouting. What a relief! 

She also asked if I could add some grazing deer to the house painting. I was so relieved and happy about the barn that I said yes, in spite of not knowing what size they should be. People don’t know that artists don’t automatically know these things. The size is based on where they are placed, and now that I look at the beginnings here on the screen, I can see that these are looking small, like Little Bucky.

I also started adding in the branches that frame the house. It’s a shame to cover up those perfect clouds, but without those leafy limbs, the shadows don’t make sense. Those deer will need to be completely redone. At least the messed up deck on the right of the house is coming together, as are the details on the doors and windows. I don’t like the stairs or the rocks, but it could be the distorted colors on the screen that makes them look like periwinkle slabs. 

This dark and murky mess is going to become a barn.

Pippin doesn’t understand all the commotion. 

Never mind, he’ll just perch in the window and keep hoping that treats appear soon.

The paint was wet on the canvas and I had a bit of difficulty covering over the previous day’s mess.

So, I got it this far, then carried it into the house to dry more so I can continue. There will be cattle grazing in this one. 

I think this will turn out okay. Eventually.

And eventually, nay, SOON, I will run out of 2023 calendars.

Very few 2023 Calendars Available Here, $20 inc. tax.

 

Better When Scanned

This pencil drawing commission of a Mineral King cabin is finished. 

First, I went over the whole drawing with a giant magnifying glass and fixed everything that needed a bit of polishing.

Then, I scanned the drawing.

No matter how carefully I clean the glass on the scanner, there are always little black specks. No matter how many different ways I adjust the settings for scanning, there are always gray areas that should simply be paper white.

So, I clean it up with Photoshop Junior (Photoshop Elements).

Can you tell the difference? At this small size, it might be difficult to see the little improvements. However, I keep track of (almost) all my work, because I never know when I might need a good version for a calendar, some cards, some sort of advertising, to impress a potential customer. . . and to think I used to either make a photocopy or take a slide! 

Speaking of calendars, there are still some 2023 Mineral King HIKES calendars available here.

$20, including tax and mailing.

Juried Show Coming Soon

After my post called “Juried Or Judged?”, one might have gotten the idea that I don’t participate in such shows. In general, I don’t. Lots of artists develop a following by entering shows all over the country, paying entry fees, shipping art, paying to have it boxed and shipped back, hoping for prizes, hoping for sales, and likely, ending up discouraged and poor.

I don’t enter shows that are far away. I am a Central California artist, specifically a Tulare County artist who takes great pleasure and pride in finding the best things of this place I’ve called home for 63 years. (We may not qualify for a Trader Joe’s or a university or even for litter-free pothole-patched roads, but we feed the world and don’t you forget it!)

When there are local shows with nominal or no entry fees, shows that aren’t too much trouble to enter, shows that will keep my work and name in the public eye (where old and new customers can find me, because I came here to earn a living), shows that seek the type of work that I do (realistic subjects based in Tulare County), then I might be interested.

Such a show is coming soon. Artists are allowed to enter 3 pieces. It is juried because they have both standards and limited space. 

The last time I entered this show, my work was small and placed in a dark corner, which did not do it any justice. Many years later, my work is larger, brightly colored, and I have 7 pieces that I want to enter. I don’t know how to decide which 3 to submit. 

Maybe some of these will sell before the show; that’ll help me decide.

What is your Central California artist going to do?? Stay tuned. . .

2023 Calendars Available Here, $20 inc. tax.

 

 

Five New Little Orange Paintings

5×7″ oil paintings of navel oranges on panels, sitting on a mini wooden easel have been selling well at Exeter’s Mural Gallery. One sold, the buyer requested another, and the gallery asked for 2 more. Those sold immediately, and the gallery requested more.

You can see the beginnings here on this post from earlier in November. 

I painted five more, moved them into the house to dry, and forgot about them! They were on a piece of cardboard on top of a cabinet that was above my eye level. They were certainly dry enough to scan when I remembered them.

These sell for $60 each at Exeter’s Mural Gallery. They look better in person, because in spite of a good scanner, the colors are never quite right on the computer screen. (You might have heard that here before.)

Calendars

2023, Mineral King HIKES, still available here: Calendars

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

Better When Scanned

 

Completed Oil Paintings, Scanned as Promised

These are the recently painted oil paintings of Mineral King and Three Rivers scenes, along with some poinsettias.

Honeymoon Cabin I, 6×18″, $165

Mineral King Alpenglow, 6×6″, $65

Mineral King Nature Trail, 6×6″, $65

Still River at Sunset, 8×10″, $135, SOLD 

Summer Hill, 8×8″, $108

Alta & Moro After a Storm, 6×18″, $165

Poinsettia 1 and Poinsettia 2, 5×7″, BOTH SOLD

Calendars

2023, Mineral King HIKES, still available here: Calendars

Gotta keep that back hidden from The Most Faithful Blog Commenter so you will need to click on the link to see it. 

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!

 

 

Two Odd Jobs

By “odd jobs”, I mean unusual requests from people simply because I might be the only artist they know. I am also an artist who tells the truth (“Nope, can’t do that!”), doesn’t overcharge (“I’ll aim for 3 hours at $30/hour and if the job isn’t finished, I’ll call you for Plan B” —Reply: “Only $30 an hour??” — me in my head: “Phooey, the last time I quoted a job at that price, the person said I was too expensive!”), and returns phone calls (“Send me photos and I’ll let you know if I can do this”).

Odd Job #1

This was a request to paint a sign for the Baptist church on the backside of a church member’s own sign, a traveling sign to be used if the church sets up a booth or an exhibit at a community event, such as the upcoming bridge lighting. 

The job required a great deal of measuring, sketching on paper, taping, guessing, writing with blue chalk, then erasing and rewriting, all before painting. I am not a sign painter, so this will best be viewed from the back of a fast horse when completed. I didn’t set up the final version to photograph for you because I did NOT want the paint to run. (Besides, I didn’t want anyone else to ask me to paint a sign.)

Odd Job #2

Ignacio brought me his small resin deer to paint. It was really hard to guess an accurate price, so we decided that I’d paint the front, and if I hadn’t used up his budget, then I’d paint the back. If the budget was used up, then the back would simply be a solid brown color.

I scooted the deer to the edge of the workshop, opened the doors for better light on a cold and overcast day (we went from summer to winter in about a 2 day time period this year), and started messing with colors. He isn’t pinkish in real life; thank you for your concern for Little Bucky’s masculinity.

I wasn’t sure of the colors – where it is light, where is it dark, etc., so I turned around to see.

Yo. Could you please rotate for me so I can see your tail?

After tossing a few acorns to get this doe to rotate, I was able to see the colors on the backside.

Thanks. You can go now.

Then I worked on Little Bucky until my hands got too cold, my nose ran, and I couldn’t rotate him without smearing paint. The face will have to wait, as will the odd pieces of resin at his feet, along with his ears, tail tip and antlers.

Do artists in other places get asked to do these odd jobs? It might just be the privilege of being an artist in the small rural foothill town of Three Rivers in Tulare County.

Lazy Listicle of Distracted Thoughts

  1. The acorns have been raining down from the live oaks in our yard and attracting herds of deer. One morning Trail Guy counted 16 in the driveway. (Deer, not acorns)
  2. This painting needs a title! Any suggestions?
  3. These 2 5×7″ oil paint on panel paintings are drying. There are 3 more, but these are days of distractions,  falling acorns, broken things, a rush pencil commission, RAIN, and yet another odd job.
  4. This big guy was focused on acorns and water. There is a tub on the other side of that rock that the deer come to (and the turkeys and the cats. . . probably some others we don’t know about). Such is life in Three Rivers in rural Tulare County.
  5. My wonderful webdesigner gave up two hours on her day off to begin figuring out what keeps going wrong with my website. This was her only day off in the busiest week she has had since pre-Plague. There are still some mysteries, but it is mostly functional at this time.
  6. Many years ago a former neighbor gave me this juicer. This year it wouldn’t work, AFTER we picked a 5 gallon bucket of pomegranates. Someone told me about a repair shop in Goshen, so I navigated my way to Breck’s in a ferocious rainstorm, and they gave me hope. Now my hope is that it can be repaired quickly, because in spite of not paying for it initially, at $90/hour, I will be paying for it now.
  7. In spite of November being my busiest month, I spent a day on my tookus, watching a live workshop of many demonstrations of art realism. During the boring ones (I KNOW how to draw!), I packaged notecards. During the other sessions, I took notes.
  8. I also took photos. This is how the light looks on one of my studio windows in the afternoon.

P.S. I might have knitted a little bit too. . . it wasn’t Zoom and no one could see.

P.P.S. (that means PS #2) I hit a skunk on my way home the other night. Didn’t know it until I got home. Felt something, but didn’t smell it until the car was in the garage. Well, yippee skippee. A skunk is easier on a car than a deer.