My 2-1/2 month show, Simply Home, at CACHE is almost over. I’ve done my best to show you all the entire exhibit so that if you live far away, you can see my entire current body of work.
Here are the final three oil paintings.
My 2-1/2 month show, Simply Home, at CACHE is almost over. I’ve done my best to show you all the paintings, and now I have 2 blogging days remaining with three paintings left to show you.
That worked out pretty well, except I didn’t show you the three pencil drawings.
What’s an artist to do?
How about the three pencil drawings today and the three oil paintings tomorrow?
Most of Exeter’s businesses will be open for the annual Christmas open house evenings. I will be at CACHE from 5-8 tonight—will you? (125 South B Street)
You can see this painting in person tonight.
The show hangs until December 29 at CACHE in Exeter. Their hours are Friday 1:30-4, Saturday 10-4, Sunday noon-4. It includes about 50 paintings, 3 original pencil drawings, calendars, cards, coloring books, The Cabins of Wilsonia books, and a few pencil reproduction prints.
Last week I did some sketching and designing for a very difficult pencil commission. It is breaking a hard and fast rule that I have set for myself, but I can’t figure out how to say no and still help the customer. It’s too scary to show you right now. . . more will be revealed. . .
Then I painted hard. How hard?
I painted so hard that my brush snapped. That’s a first for me in 18 years of painting.
These two paintings got moved into the house near the wood stove to dry. There’s more to be done on both, but I am spending my week working on my presentation for How To Draw.
Tuesday, November 12, 6:30-7:30, I will give a demo/talk called How To Draw at CACHE. Contact me if you are interested, because seating is limited and there is one more spot.
CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.
Last week was a rough one for tech. My blog croaked, which led me to realize that my entire website was AWOL. This led to many phone calls, and a large expenditure. Then, when I had things working again, thanks to Rowland, Mario, Eva, and Ken Joe Sam (Really? No, really??), we had a day without internet, cell service, telephone, or teevee. (I didn’t miss that last thing.)
So, I painted, after spending a bit of time in the studio making plans and taking care of administrative tasks. Those necessary parts of an art business are too boring to tell you about.)
This painting is either 11×14 or 12×16, but I don’t remember. I am painting it so that if someone needs to take a painting from Simply Home, I will be able to put something in the hole.
This lighthouse painting, done mostly plein air, still needed to be finished in the painting workshop. (I draw in my studio and paint in the workshop, because painting can get messy.)
It will look better when it is scanned. This was photographed with my inferior phone camera. And as always, it will look better in person.
These three turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself, which I just did.
Don’t be scared; these will also turn out well.
CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.
How To Draw is the title of my upcoming talk/demonstration at CACHE, Center for Art, Culture, History—Exeter!
So many people have an interest in drawing, but it is often assumed that it is a talent which either you have or you don’t.
Is typing a talent? Is driving a talent?
Nope. All these things can be taught, and they can be learned. Sure, some people will type 25 wpm and others will type 90, because people have different interests and aptitudes. Some people will become bus drivers and others shouldn’t be given licenses, but all are driving.
Some people have had awful experiences with artists posing as teachers. (I had one of those who told me, using these exact words, “Just because you can draw doesn’t make you an artist.” Well, just because you can use words doesn’t meant you can communicate well either, so there.) I want to help those folks.
Some people are learning to paint but aren’t happy with the results. If you don’t know how to get your shapes correct, don’t know anything about perspective, can’t see proportions, and don’t understand values, of course you won’t be happy with the results. I want to help those people.
Some people just love to learn new skills. I want to help those people too.
Do any of these descriptions fit you? Want to come to How To Draw?
P.S. It is free.
The week in Monterey was a great enjoyable time, and also a real learning experience. So many beautiful things to paint, it almost didn’t matter if we drove anywhere or just stayed put.
Plein air has never appealed to me, and it was stinkin’ hard, but I think I got better as the week progressed. I don’t love the process or the results enough to invest in a good easel/tripod set up (those run $700-$1000!) I’m still not convinced that it improves one’s skill; maybe it does if plein air is the preferred style, but honestly, I look at those paintings by people who are a Big Deal and think that someone needs to find a good optometrist.
So, I am fully committed to being a studio painter. It is good to have decided who I am, finally, at age 65, after 18-1/2 years of oil painting. Maybe someday I’ll get a wild hare and try to paint quick, thick, and sloppy slick (but I may not sign those).
However, I don’t consider the time spent painting plein air as a waste of time. It taught me a way to paint a little bit faster, how to focus more on the composition, that my easel was a major annoyance, and now I have the ability to paint plein air, should anyone ask me to do so (more for the process than the product).
You may have heard me profess my love of the beach in the past a time or two. I ordered a stack of snapshots of the beach and waves, along with some smooth 5×7″ boards (called “gessobord”) to practice painting waves and beach scenes. IN THE STUDIO!! FROM PHOTOGRAPHS!
BECAUSE I AM A STUDIO PAINTER!
So there.
Today’s post is a bit behind reality, a peek into what happened before the show was hung or opened.
When I got home from Monterey, I had to dive into getting all my work together to deliver to CACHE, the gallery hosting my solo show, “Simply Home”.
More than anything, I wanted to detail and finish those 10 plein air beachy paintings. Alas, even when one is a certified grown-up, one does not get to do just what one wants to do. Part of being a real grown-up is being trustworthy, responsible, and following through.
Phooey. So, I boxed up everything, and with Trail Guy’s master’s degree in packanology, we loaded the good pick-em-up truck, and delivered it all to Exeter.
When we got home, I faced some unfinished canvases.
First, there is the fact that Kaweah Arts has sold out of the tall paintings of sequoias and has been waiting for at least one for several weeks. This still is not quite finished here because it needs a signature, the edges painted, to dry, and then it needs to be scanned.
Another painting has been on hold for awhile. Initially I was going to push to get it done for Simply Home, until I realized that if a customer insists on taking home a purchase, I’d better have something ready to plug into that hole.
I started this painting in June.
It seemed daunting until I mixed up the colors and realized that I can DRAW with my paintbrush, using PHOTOS instead of standing outside wishing that the water would just hold still for a pair of minutes.
Yes indeedy, I am a studio painter and probably always will be.
Among the 100 or so folks in Monterey at Fall Color Week, there were fantastic painters along with rank amateurs: my work fell solidly in the middle. I am a studio painter, and this whole thing stretched me. I could go on and on about what I learned, but I suspect that if you are not an artist, it will cause you to click off this page, maybe (horrors!) even unsubscribe (but ask me privately if you have questions about the value of plein air painting).
And then there are my paintings. I did 10 total, but only showed 8 of them in the room where we placed them each evening.
And thus we conclude our long series of blog posts “Plein Air Painting in Monterey”.
Now we can return to our regular blogging topics, and maybe I’ll actually finish some of these paintings to where I might confidently put them up for sale.
Here is today’s painting, done in the studio (because I was NOT going to carry my bad easel 4 miles), for Simply Home, a solo show at CACHE.
