Opening Night at Gray Matter

The show “Gray Matter”, consisting of pencil drawings by 3 of my advanced drawing students and me, opened on Friday evening.

This is the Brandon-Mitchell Gallery from the front, 117 S. Locust Street, Visalia, California. That is the county seat of Tulare County, in Central California where I live and work as an artist. (In case you are new to the blog. . .) 

Here is what you see when stepping through the front door.

And this is what I saw when I came through the back door before the people started arriving.

Maggie and I spent 3 hours hanging the 40 or so pencil drawings, grouping them in ways that made sense visually, lining up the tops ever so carefully, evaluating the spaces until we laughed aloud at our fastidious approach. It was so important to us to make this show just shine with the brilliance of our pencil work.

Kelvin began his art life with cartooning a chicken named Henrietta. He has cards, quilt squares and original drawings featuring her and the rooster Harold.  He even had cookies one time. . . This is all in addition to his very fine pencil drawings.

This is me with Kelvin and friends (newlyweds!) Melissa and Jeff. This was at the end of the evening, which was so busy and exciting that I didn’t take any photos. . .

. . . except for a magical moment when the light on the Post Office near by was just stunning. I ran outside as if it was truly important, abandoning my post, guests, and art. The Post Office is a work of art.

I didn’t get a photo of artist Maggie, but did catch Wendy (center) and her family in this blurry snap. I saw her husband across the gallery and thought he looked familiar, like someone I should know. Well, indeed – I have assisted Wendy in drawing him several times!

A good time was had by all, and the art looks wonderful. If you weren’t able to make it, there will be a second reception on Friday, June 2, 5-8 p.m. If you live anywhere near Visalia and like pencil drawings, I suggest you plan to attend. The work is really remarkable!

Pencil Show Coming Soon

A pencil show? Yes, an art show of only pencil drawings by 3 of my advanced drawing students and me!

Some facts:

Title: Gray Matter

Dates: Friday, May 5 and Friday, June 2

Location: Brandon-Mitchell Gallery, 117 So. Locust in Downtown Visalia (between Main and Acequia, west side of the street)

Time: 5-8 p.m.

Participants: Kelvin Farris, Maggie Meling, Wendy Miller, Jana Botkin

We are part of the monthly “Art Walk” in Downtown Visalia. There are many business and art studios that join in this regular event. This is something I’ve never gone to, so I don’t know what to expect. However, you can expect some wonderful pencil drawings, including these.

Abby the Calf, pencil drawing by Kelvin Farris
Farmersville Corner, pencil drawing by Wendy Miller
Pensive Pose, pencil drawing by Maggie Meling

A List and an Attitude

Here is a list about the vicissitudes* of my life; you may detect a certain attitude coming through. Tomorrow I will try to resume a more professional and detached approach to blogging.

  1. Samson caught his first rat! Yep, rat, not mouse. He played with it until Michael took it away. His cat food must be too tasty for him to consume a rodent.
  2. I updated the web page of The Cabins of Wilsonia so you can now look inside the book a little bit. There are arrows on the side of the book that take you to those interior pages. Or use the dots. Or is it my outdated browser on my outdated operating system on my outdated laptop that makes it appear this way?
  3. I no longer have a cell phone. What? You didn’t know I had one? Yes, a flip phone with a broken hinge served me somewhat for about 15 years. The Huge and Rude and Indifferent Phone Company offered me a replacement and said the old one would no longer work by the first of the year. I accepted the new phone, waited until the last possible minute, and called Huge&Rude to activate it. No problem. Done. Nope, not done. Called Huge&Rude again who insisted that I needed a passcode. A what? Can’t set it up over the phone, sorry, my apologies. Maybe via email? Oh guess what – they’ve had the wrong email address for me since 2001. My apologies, Ma’am, can’t correct the eddress without a passcode. You’ll have to go to a Huge&Rude store to set one up. I decided that I’d rather not continue with Huge&Rude, so I asked to cancel. Oh guess what – they cannot cancel over the phone but I need to visit Huge&Rude in person in order to set up a passcode in order to cancel. Why have a cell phone if there is sketchy service at my address and if I choose to not be available 24/7? No reason. I’m not driving 40 miles to stand in line at a store for 2 hours to get a passcode to cancel. 
  4. My laptop is on its last legs. I had to make a very expensive decision. I hope nothing gets interrupted or lost.
  5. This is getting unpleasant. Here’s a better subject: the Mineral King Room at the Three Rivers Museum will have its grand opening on Sunday, January 22, from 1-4 p.m. You can see my murals in person, listen to people talk about Mineral King, look at artifacts and learn about the mining and the Disney era, and eat and drink.
  6. UPDATE – and now I’m hearing that the various for sale pages aren’t working on the website. HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?? Somebody make it stop.

If you made it to the end of the list, you deserve a treat.15

Cruise, anyone? Wouldn’t it be nice to escape the rats, the Huge&Rudes, updates, and broken things?

Dream on.

Okay, here’s what I really think:

img_4913

Samson agrees, but he is a bit more attitudinal.

img_5049

*Vicissitudes is a fantastic word. It means “changes of circumstance or fortune, typically unpleasant or unwelcome”.

Save

Nice Day on the Farm

I didn't want to leave home in the morning, but we grownups have to face things.
I didn’t want to leave home in the morning, but we grownups have to face things.
Look how beautiful it is around the barn!
Pretty nice place to work. Don’t these folks have gophers and deer??
img_4832
This is the same view that I painted from real life and from photos in April 2015.
spring
April 2015

img_4843

This is all I saw of the baby animals. There were lambs but it took several people running around to catch them and I had to work instead of cavort with lambs.
This is all I saw of the baby animals. There were lambs but it took several people running around to catch them; I was not cavorting with lambs that day.
These folks are heading off to catch a lamb.
These folks are heading off to catch a lamb.
Wow, eh?
Wow, eh?
Oh yeah. I was working. Look at that merchandise with the afternoon sunlight!
Look at that merchandise with the afternoon sunlight!
And look at the light show in the afternoon light!
And look at the light show in the afternoon light!

Thus we conclude the boutiques, bazaars and shows for 2016. 

Isn’t “thus” a stuffy word? I don’t think it gets used much in conversation.

Save

A Different Type of Event

Tomorrow I will be participating in a different sort of event. It is part of 1st Saturday, Three Rivers. I will be with 3 other Kaweah Artisans in a barn at a farm outside of Three Rivers.

You can learn about 1st Saturday Three Rivers by clicking (or tapping if you have a “device”) on the words “1st Saturday Three Rivers. You go to Anne Lang’s Emporium to get a map, and on it is listed all the participants. Here is the link about the part where I will be, but you still have to go to Anne Lang’s to get the map – Mosley Farm

This is how the place looked in the spring of 2015. Come see it in December of 2016!

1509-mosley-barn

Save

Shows, Festivals, Bazaars and Boutiques

These are all words that mean schlepping my work and supporting structures to some place (usually with the assistance of Trail Guy), setting it up to look appealing, and standing around greeting people and selling them things. 

Not “selling” selling, just helping people acquire things they want to own or give away. I don’t want you to be afraid to come to one of these events!

It is a little bit hard to leave home on a sunny fall morning.
It is a little bit hard to leave home on a sunny fall morning.

November is the month of these events, and it is very important for artists who want to earn a living to participate. I meet interesting people, kind people, warm people, weird people, boring people, and see many old friends (who fit into the first 3 descriptions).

"But why must you leave?" "Because you eat too much, little Samson."
“But why must you leave, large Human?”
“Because you eat too much, little Samson.”

It’s all part of the business of art. People with real jobs who make art for fun can skip these events; this Central California artist cannot. Not complaining, just ‘splaining. (“Splain it to me, Lucy. . .”)

My little piece of real estate for 2 days at the Perfect Gift Boutique
My little piece of real estate for 2 days at the Perfect Gift Boutique
Sam McKinney's gorgeous gourds with afternoon light coming through the window.
Sam McKinney’s gorgeous gourds with afternoon light coming through the window.
Looking out over the room filled with Kaweah Artisans.
Looking out over the room filled with Kaweah Artisans.

On Saturday, December 3, I will participate in one last event for the season. I’ll tell about it on Friday’s blog post. This one will be different!

Perfect Gift Boutique

perfect-giftSomeone said this is our 16th 17th annual Perfect Gift Boutique (the same someone who made the little ad above). That is difficult to fathom. Must be having fun, because time is flying!

To get to the Three Rivers Arts Center, head east on Highway 198. After you pass the first commercial part of town (Post Office, grocery store, Quality Inn, Pizza Factory, etc.) go about another 1/2 mile. Cross the river on the North Fork bridge, and the Arts Center is the first building on your left. It looks like this:

arts-center

I don’t know the address and don’t know if Mr. Google will either, so you may have to find this using the old fashioned method of following directions and paying attention. Rough, I know, but sometimes that’s just part of living in rural Tulare County.

Save

Donation Bloviation Part Two

These are thoughts first published on my blog on November 13, 2013

st
Pencil drawing of a bridge over the St. John’s River in Tulare County. Perhaps today it is a bridge over the troubled waters of donation requests.

1. Some of those “beg-athon” events are really fun for the community and anticipated with happiness.

2. I’m not the only artist who is worn out from being asked to give away my work.

3. Artists can request that bidding begin at a minimum price, which will help them maintain some dignity and their work to retain its value.

4. Should other donors be paid for their contributions, such as hair salons, motels, restaurants, retail stores?

5. Does donating help their businesses?

6. Are they able to write off anything on their taxes?

7. Are they tired of being asked too?

8. Is there another way to raise money for good causes instead of through donations and auctions?

9. Is it possible for the non-profit to say “We’ll pass on that donation because it doesn’t represent you well and it won’t bring in money for us”?

10. Some members of the public sincerely anticipate a piece of art from their favorite artists, and it causes them to want to participate in the auctions.

Tomorrow I will share a letter from an artist friend that she sends to organizations that request donations.

P.S. Here are some photos from Saturday’s bazaar. It was a very good day!

My 10x10' piece of real estate for the day.
My 10×10′ piece of real estate for the day.
Before the show, some of the vendors check out each other's booths.
Before the show, some of the vendors check out each other’s booths.
Before the show, I like to enjoy the temporary quiet.
Before the show, I like to enjoy the temporary quiet.
There was about a two minute lull between visitors, and I enjoyed this view out of my very large window.
There was about a two minute lull between visitors, and I enjoyed this view out of my very large window.

Donation Bloviation

This is a reprint from November 6, 2013. Clearly the subject of donations is large in my thoughts during November.

Pencil drawing of bridge over the Tule River in Tulare County. Today, perhaps it is a bridge over the troubled waters of donation requests.
Pencil drawing of bridge over the Tule River in Tulare County. Today, perhaps it is a bridge over the troubled waters of donation requests.

When non-profits want to raise funds, they hold dinners or tastings and have silent and live auctions to go with these events (called “Annual Beg-athons” by author Matt Gleason in the Huffington Post on 6/8/11). Typically, the first people they contact to donate items to their causes are artists.

Why artists? Why not dentists, lawyers, gas stations, pharmacists??

There was a year that I donated more than I sold. (Hmmm, someone might possibly benefit from a business manager here. . .) The next year, I began reading what other artists had to say about the matter, and as a result, I developed my own list of reasons for artists to not donate and a few for them to continue donating.

REASONS TO NOT DONATE:

1. An artist is only allowed to write off the cost of the materials.

2. Donating depletes inventory that is usually made by hand, involving enormous amounts of time.

3. Art work at these events usually sells for less than its full value.

4. If an artist develops a reputation for giving away work, those who previously have paid full price feel ripped off.

5. If an artist develops a reputation for giving away work, the buying public may begin waiting for the events instead of spending money with the artist.

6. If an artist gets tired of donating, she may begin donating second-rate work and damage her reputation. An artist friend once told me, “Just give them your bad stuff that won’t sell anyway.” Yikes, is that what is happening?? That’s not good for the organization, the artist’s reputation or the recipient!

REASONS TO DONATE (and some are pretty poor reasons):

1. An artist loves the cause and want to help.

2. An artist wants to reduce inventory.

3. An artist wants exposure (which is a myth in terms of building a business.)

4. An artist feels guilty and wants to “give back”. (What did he take in the first place??)

If you are part of a non-profit, you might rethink this common idea that artists are the best ones to approach for donations.

Here is an idea for non-profits: Ask to buy the work. The artist can sell it to you at a discount, you can write off what your organization spends, and you can begin the bidding at that price. Anything you receive above that will be profit for you, and none of the Reasons To Not Donate will happen.

Finally, here is a letter I’ve borrowed from New York Times writer Tim Kreider on the subject:

“Thanks very much for your compliments on my art. I’m flattered by your invitation to donate a painting or drawing or print or package of cards or to paint a mural. But art is work, it takes time, it’s how I make my living, and  I can’t afford to do it for free. I’m sorry to decline, but thanks again, sincerely, for your kind words about my work.”