I painted a yellow pear and used a reddish background. It didn’t sell when other pear paintings did. I did some honest re-evaluating.
Here is the Before and the After.
Before.
After.
If you prefer the Before, please don’t tell me. I am not mature enough to handle it. Thanks.
Sincerely,
The immature California Artist
I had a 5×7 oil painting of redwood trees in snow that I used to like. The longer it hung around and wasn’t sold, the less I liked it.
No problem. I have a paintbrush and I’m not afraid to use it!
Look at this weirdness:
Fear not. I have a plan.
But wait! There’s more!
Shocking, isn’t it? It will improve. I will show you. You will be pleased. (If you like poppies, that is.)
(with thanks to Jennifer at Jottings by Jennifer for the idea)
1. Your fruit paintings are done from just-picked, not grocery store fruit. 
Plum II, oil on wrapped canvas, $40
2. You’ve painted oranges at least 102 times.
Oranges 83, 14×11″, oil on board, framed in black wood, $250
3. You’ve painted poppies so many times that you’ve lost track.
California Poppy, oil on wrapped canvas, $40
4. You’ve painted Giant Sequoias so many times that you almost don’t need to look at photos of them anymore.
Sunny Sequoias VIII, 18 x 24, $450
5. It is too hot to knit, so you paint your yarn instead.
6. You get so excited about red leaves in the fall that you have to paint them.
Your turn! “You know you are a _____________ when. . .”
Pencil drawing for The Cabins of Wilsonia
Have you ever thought or said to an artist, “Gee, it must be great to have talent”? Or have you you ever said, “I wish I had talent like that”?
It’s all smoke and mirrors.
Actually, it’s not. It is practice, training, practice, rough criticism, more practice, a little success, practice, trial and error, practice, a little public embarrassment and yet even more practice.
Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book “Outliers” that it takes 10,000 hours of intentional practice with a focus toward continual improvement to become an expert at something. He’s not talking about mindless repetition.
Practice makes perfect. Erasers help too.
The harder I work, the more talented I become.
Practice, practice, practice. And, have a second more objective pair of eyes that is connected to a truthful mouth that is connected to a kind heart have a look at your work.
My Very Wise Dad told me of a concert pianist who had to practice 8 hours a day. When he dropped to 6 hours, he could tell the difference. When he dropped to 4 hours, his audience could tell the difference.
The only people who don’t learn to draw are the ones who quit drawing lessons too soon. Those who persist begin to think they have talent.
They might be right.
Sometimes people quit drawing lessons (or piano or ballet or drumming or guitar or knitting) because they don’t love it enough to practice as hard as talent requires.
Think I put enough cliches in this blog entry? 😎 Perhaps I need to practice my writing skills more.
Lake Kaweah is formed by Terminus Dam, about 10 miles below Three Rivers. When the lake is full, it reaches up into the lower end of town. When it is not full, there are lots of places to walk. The dam was built when I was a toddler, so I don’t remember anything prior to the lake. (My great uncle used to lament all the drowned flower seeds and I never understood what he was so worked up about.)
Instead of heading up higher into the hills today, we drove down to the lake. Everything was sort of dust colored, and yucky looking, so I messed with it a bit on the photos. This color junkie had to look hard for nice photos on this excursion.
Why am I showing you this stuff when I am a California artist? So that you can get to know me a bit, learn about where I live, and hopefully tell me what you think.
Not much to the Kaweah River right now. We sure do need rain.
This was once a swimming pool. Can you see a hint of blue tile around the edge?
Here is a closer view. I wonder where those people went when the Army Corps of Engineers forced them out of their home. That would be dreadful.
Michael saw this bridge from up on the highway and wanted to find it.
It crosses Horse Creek. I love older things that had style. Kind of weird to realize this sits completely underwater for months at a time, for almost 50 years!
Blushing Pear, 4×6 oil on board, with easel, $40
Maybe it is because I am an artist, or maybe because I am a California artist. Is it just me?? Help me out here, people!
Salt and Light, 11×14 oil on board, NFS
This California artist does more than just draw or paint. Sometimes she knits, sometimes she reads, sometimes she does both at the same time (if the book will lie flat).
Because December has had no precipitation, we were able to drive to Mineral King this week. I’ll share the photos today and tomorrow.
The same and yet not the same. Sigh. (See this)
My request for pruning the dead branches on the cottonwoods that stab into my photos was ignored.
A Cabela’s model and a representative for Terratrack were on the bridge.
We walked up to Crystal Creek.
If you’ve crossed it in the summer, you may or may not recognize this view. It was flowing under the snow, but that curly looking part is frozen.
This man bravely tested the snow bridge over the creek, following the tracks of animals.
More tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel!
Mr. Communicator came for the ornament and brought his brother and Grandma! What fun – we could have all talked for hours. His G’ma grew up on the same street in the same town in Orange County where my G’ma and G’pa raised their 3 children. His brother flies for the Air Force, and Mr. Communicator? He works in finance on Wall Street! Ever met one of those guys before? I have, and both have been as genuinely nice as you could ever hope to encounter – nothing like the nasty stereotype. Of course, both of the ones I met grew up in Tulare County, Perhaps that is the difference. Enough chit-chat. Photographs are more fun than words.
Had to show the 2 ornaments together!
He is tall – I am not short. More American women are 5’4″ than any other height. Just sayin’.
Thus we conclude the conversation and saga of the Custom Christmas Ornament between Mr. Communicator (the customer) and The Artist (that would be California Artist Jana Botkin, in case Mr. Google is paying attention). Again, I ask you to overlook the size jumps because I really have no earthly idea how to force this blog to behave properly.
I almost typed a whole paragraph of excuses but got a grip!Goose is more defined, porch posts and arches show, sunburst is white, side wings have a roof, ribbon shows more, oval is in front door.When all this is dry enough, I’ll go over it again and tighten it up more and add more detail, and the first layer of the American flag.
Mr. Communicator:
I would have never accepted your excuses! You’ve done magic thus far so I expect nothing less than miracles! No pressure 🙂
It gets more amazing with every picture.
The flag will definitely finish it off. And I’m glad you kept the goose. I’m waiting to see who points out the goose, flag and ribbon first – Mom or Dad. They’ll be touched by the detail. You’ll finalize it all with your signature, right?
So glad your expectations aren’t too high – I might just collapse under the pressure. Be prepared – your Mom might cry. And I had thought I might sign it “Norman Rockwell”, but if you want my signature, your wish is my command!
Mr. C:
Don’t kill me. I noticed one small thing that had confused me and I only now put my finger on it.
If you continue to scrutinize the painting to this level, then we won’t ever finish! That’s because you will see that I have stylized and simplified much of what made that house so special.
Your life is safe. But now I am wondering if you are an artist yourself. Or an architect? Or an accountant, perhaps? Maybe a homicide detective?
Haha. I promise that is the last little change!
I swear this thing looks so much better in person! There all these reflections off the paint thicknesses in the photos that are just starting to tick me off! And please pretend with me as if there are stars and the correct number of stripes on the flag (eyes squinched shut, hands over ears, LA LA LA LA LA)Okay, tantrum over.Now that I am looking at the photo, I am making a small list of touch-ups.1. rafter tail from porch on the right (it was too wet this a.m.)2. show the bottom sill of the window directly to the right of the porch – got the far right one, but sort of lost it on the left.3. even-up the blackness of the windows – can’t tell if this is reflection problem, degree of wetness problem, sloppiness problem or no problem4. straighten up the left blue edge of the houseDo you see anything else?I know: you are a micro-biologist!
Ha. Now that we’re playing the “what do you do for a living” game, I’ll let you keep guessing. I’m certainly not brainy enough to be a micro-biologist!I love that you communicate like you’re a business woman and not an artist; you send lists and detailed updates!BTW, I wasn’t even going to count stars and stripes. I know you were joking, but I think you secretly thought I might! ;P And certainly, if this were a bigger painting, I would have counted and measured each stripe and star!With each email I keep trying to figure out if you are going to hug me or slap me when we finally meet and this is all over. The next week will be telling.See you soon!And I have been reading the blog. You’re quite the entertaining writer!
What a supreme compliment – “a business woman”! Always my goal to have a superior product AND to sell it well. Otherwise, I’d have to get a job, and I really don’t know how to do anything. Sigh. I can proofread pretty well, but no one cares about typos anymore except me. And with me it is sort of like Tourette’s, except instead of bursting out with obscenities, I shout “TYPO” in the most inappropriate places. My poor husband just can’t take me anywhere.But I do love writing and am having a blast with the blog. So glad you are enjoying it!Microbiologist brought to mind microwave (“How fast can you do this?”), microscope (“What is that little thing right there?”) and micromanage never mind. . . JUST KIDDING!!Now I don’t know if you will slap me or hug me!Okay, enough blather. I’ve got some items to fine-tune on an ornament, and all I want to do is read a bunch of blogs while sitting by the wood stove with my 3 cats.