All these paintings will eventually be for sale at the Silver City Store, unless they sell here first.
Five New Mineral King Oil Paintings
Painting Mineral King
In anticipation of a busy selling season this summer at the Silver City Store, I am painting like fury to have inventory. If I can get enough small pieces finished ahead of time, then I can return to painting larger Tulare County scenes for the solo show in the fall at CACHE in Exeter.
The most popular scene, assembly-line style for the base coats. Fret not: they will be detailed individually, and I won’t have all of them on display at the same time.
All of these are in various stages of completion, contributing to a sense of chaos and indecision as to how to proceed. It’s just part of the process when one chooses to be a factory, churning out many paintings of the same scenes.
These 6×6″ will be ready to go, once dried, scanned, and varnished.
This one was easier the second time I painted the scene. I’m a little reluctant to look at it side-by-side with the first version in case I decide this one is A. better or B. needs more work.
Finally, I started a 20×24″ painting of a scene shared with me by a drawing student. It looks like a weird abstract in the first pass over the canvas, but you trust me, yes? And you probably recognize the scene in the second photo here.
This one is going to be challenging but very satisfying. I messed with the photo to make it look more like we want to remember the scene rather than just accepting what the camera says. It really is a classic Tulare County vista.
Sold in Spring: 17 Paintings, 3 Pencil Drawings
Sales were slow last year, mostly due to the fact of my three selling locations either being closed or taking a big hit of one sort or another.
This spring, things broke loose, opened up, took off. Have a look! (I may have forgotten some, because I fell out of the habit of keeping track.)
It was the usual blend of citrus, poppies, redwood trees, and Mineral King, with two of the river during peak run-off season. I do have a few other subjects, but these continue to be the most popular. The largest size painting was 11×14 10×30″; most of the buyers were either getting gifts or souvenirs. And people buy paintings of what they have experienced, so I do my best to keep things seasonally appropriate.
The pencil commission of the dog was from some old friends, and I am so touched that they still think of me when they have an art need. (“Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold.”)
The pencil commission of a cabin was the biggest thrill, because it came from a stranger who found me through the internet, and a thrill because drawing cabins in pencil is my strongest skill, the thing I enjoy the most. Paintings sell better, so I will continue to paint. One day I might actually have confidence in my abilities in that department. Always practicing, always learning, and hopefully, always improving. . .
Tomorrow: Nine Things Learned in May
Drawing a Pennsylvania Dog in Pencil
Pencil Pennsylvanian? Pennsyl Pennsylvanian? Pencil Pencilvanian?
Never mind.
His name was Elvis, and some friends of his former owner commissioned me to draw him.
All those inferior progress photos were taken with an inferior phone camera. Here is the finished drawing, scanned, photoshopped, ready for delivery.
More Better Than Befores
And thus we conclude our tour through paintings of Tulare County, better than before. I think one must see the paintings in person to properly appreciate the subtle improvements
Now if you will please excuse me, I have a commissioned pencil drawing to begin.
Tomorrow: Pennsylvania Dog in Pencil
Sequoia Oil Paintings
Sometimes I write things about Tulare County that sound rude; they are simply the truth.
However, in addition to the fact that we are all fat, poor, undereducated, and have bad air, we have SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK!
So, I paint Sequoia trees. Every time I go to Sequoia, which we simply refer to as “The Park”, I look for good trees to photograph. Then, I paint from the photos. As time passes and the experiences mount up, I am more able to make up trees. The photos guide me, but then I just pants it. (Did you know that “pants” can be a verb?”)
And remember, here in Tulare County we are fat, diabetic, uneducated, unemployed, and without a Trader Joe’s, although we now have an Aldi’s and a Sprouts. . . moving up in the world.
P.S. All three Sequoia oil paintings are available to view and to purchase at Kaweah Arts in Three Rivers, now located in The Dome, just downstream from Reimer’s Candies.
Tomorrow: Better Than Before
Eight on the Easels
Eight WHAT on the easels?
So glad you asked! Eight oil paintings of Mineral King are on my easels. Sometimes they are on a table, sometimes they are in my hands while I paint.
After putting a base coat on the canvases to bury the white, I painted skies on all eight.
Three are the same scene, the most popular Mineral King subject of the Crowley family cabin in front of Farewell Gap. And now that the skies are in and I am seeing it on the computer, it is apparent that West Florence peak (the left side of Farewell Gap) on the 10×10″ painting isn’t high enough. That will be an easy fix.
Are you counting and recounting and wondering if I have forgotten basic arithmetic?
Here are the other two. I started them awhile ago but set them aside to paint some redwood trees.
Here are the redwood trees, in case you have forgotten. Or maybe you needed a reminder that Sequoia gigantea is the same as redwood. (We also call them The Big Trees around here in basic low-brow Tulare County type language.)
I wanted to show off my Sequoia gigantea paintings. Just a little. It might be called “marketing” or “advertising”, possibly even “bragging”.
A One-Person Oil Painting Factory
After the Redbud Festival, it took awhile to rearrange everything in the studio and the painting workshop. I returned many of the paintings to Kaweah Arts, but not all that I had “borrowed”.
While sitting in my booth at the Redbud Festival, I had a lot of time to assess my paintings. I made lists of what to change, correct, or improve on eight of them.
It didn’t take long to do those little improvements. I’m not showing you the before and after because they are too wet to scan; besides, why would it be advantageous to point out all my errors? It was just a small matter of darken this, lighten that, brighten something else, add a branch or two, adjust some color for greater realism or to make it more appealing.
Feeling much better about those “old” paintings, I returned to the small sequoia paintings. The goal is to complete enough so that Kaweah Arts has some back stock. So far, sequoia paintings are the most popular subject, and I am happy to keep producing them.
Next, I will return to painting pieces for the Silver City Store (on the Mineral King road, four miles below the actual Mineral King valley) to sell this summer. I have great high hopes, because the resort was closed last summer, along with the entire area. However, the road will be under reconstruction and there will be some closures. In theory, it will open for Memorial weekend. In reality, we shall see what they actually choose to do. There is supposed to be a schedule, but it changes almost daily.
I’m running a one-person factory of oil paintings of scenes local to Tulare County
Better than Before, New and Improved
“Old and Improved” is a bit more accurate than “New and Improved”. If something is new, how can it be an improvement??
Here are three more paintings that I have made better than before. In the time since I first painted these, I have gotten better at painting. (“Better” means “better in my opinion”.)
This is Sunny Sequoias, 18×36″.
This is Big & Tall, also 18×36″.
Oak Grove Bridge #28, 24×30″
I wonder what I will think of these “improvements” in another 5 or 10 years. Chances are you can’t see the differences, compounded by the photographic variances.
Oh well, you can just rest assured that I am working hard at making my fall show at CACHE be the best it can be, showing off the beauty of Tulare County to the utmost of my ability.
Before and After, New and Improved
As I study some of my paintings and live with them, I see ways to make them better. So, I touch them up to improve them.
Just another peek into the work of a Tulare County artist, bumbling along here in Central California. Sometimes you just can’t tell on a computer screen because they photographed differently. Guess you’ll just have to trust me.