In the Art World, people who really like an artist and buy more than one piece of art from her are called “collectors”. In my world, I call them “friends”.
A friend who has several of my paintings (and quite a few drawings too) asked me to help her figure out how to arrange them. Since she lives 250 miles away, I did this via the magic of technology.
She sent me a photo so I could see which 4 pieces she had and how she just put them willy-nilly on existing nails. (I won’t show that photo, because of my strong policies of protecting people’s privacy on the World Wide Web.)
I made up these vignettes for her. (Oops, sorry, “vignette” is Art Speak for little illustration.)
She has a favorite arrangement from these. Do you?
It probably depends on the space to be filled. And there are probably many other options too, but I didn’t want to overwhelm her. That would be rude to any friend, especially one who collects my art.
I set up the easel in the backyard of the cabin and worked on the painting from memory and the “visual notes” I had made the day before. That’s what Marty Weekly did, so I figured it must be a good plan.
Wait! He didn’t set up in my backyard; he took it home to finish in his studio. His plan was 2 sessions, using little examples of colors and textures that he placed on the canvas during his plein air session.
Not done.
Done, but not signed. I forgot to bring my signing tool.
The obvious Mineral King solution was to use an old square nail.
It made me happy to look out the window and see a plein air painting that I liked. Being familiar with the scene, having seen Marty’s way of tackling it, and adding the details I love all made the difference in my confidence and ability.
Of course, if it doesn’t sell in about 15 minutes, I will be questioning my confidence and ability.
And there was a third session to paint the edges.
There will be a fourth session to write the title on the back and add a hanging wire.
A fifth session will be after it is dry: scanning the painting.
But wait! There’s more: it will need varnishing.
Mineral King Valley, 11×14″, $300 (+tax – welcome to California)
After watching Marty Weekly paint, I caught the plein air bug again. I wanted to set up in exactly the same place, same time of day, and attack the same scene, using the methods that Laurel Daniel taught back in April.
Following Marty’s example a little bit, I painted 11×14, which is HUGE for plein air after doing 6×8″ paintings with Laurel.
I forgot my camera, so after painting for about 1-1/2 hours, I went back to the cabin to get it. What a hoot to walk away from a wet painting on an easel with a full palette just sitting out there in the elements. No worries because it was an extraordinary day.
This is how far I got in that first 1-1/2 hour.
It seemed to me that the distant mountains weren’t as pale as one would expect, so I took a black and white photo to check the values. Sure enough, not very pale. But what would you expect when they are only 6.5 miles if you don’t cut any switchbacks? I bet they are really only about 3.5 miles away.
Here is how it looked in color.
Trail Guy showed up and took a few photos of some friends that stopped by to check on the progress. (Yes, they are very tall people.)
See? I was actually there painting in Mineral King.
So was Trail Guy. (That’s my photo face, and yes I do wear dresses in Mineral King and yes I do wear them with my trusty Crocs.)
I like photos like this, showing the painting in the setting. (The clouds will NOT hold still so I have to make them up.)
I quit after about 2-1/2 hours, but, taking another lesson from Marty, I knew I’d work on it the next day.
Enough. Come back tomorrow for finishing the painting.
Watching Martin “Marty” Weekly paint plein air in Mineral King was a huge privilege and a great learning opportunity. It is one thing to take a workshop in Georgia, where everything is unfamiliar. It is another thing to watch someone paint a landscape that I know very well, so I can understand how decisions are made to include some items and simplify or ignore others.
Here are some of the many things that Marty taught me in the 3 hours we stood there together:
If your brush feels comfortable, try the next size up. (Why? I try to do this so that I get the painting finished in a timely manner, but I think Marty does this so he doesn’t get overly detailed.)
Cobalt blue with white mades a very accurate sky color.
All paintings look terrible in the beginning, even if you are as terrific as Marty Weekly!
Adjust the parts of your painting to suit you and make the best composition possible, while retaining the recognizable characteristics of the scene.
No one finishes on location; almost every plein air painter knows there will be finishing required in the studio.
Turpentine from the hardware store is good enough – no need to pay for overpriced art supply turpentine.
There is a brush cleaner available from the hardware store that will salvage any dried-out brush (I can’t wait to try this!)
Try Permanent Rose instead of Alizarin Crimson for one of the mixing reds. (Why? I have this color, so I will find out!)
The sky can be finished in the studio, along with the various vegetation in the foreground. We talked about Goldenrod, Sage, and Asters, which are all present in September; he made visual reminders. We also talked about the stream, getting at least the lay of the land so there is a sense of the stream.
I am looking forward to seeing the finished painting! Since the intended recipients are friends of mine, I will ask to see a photo, and hope I can show you.
Marty and discussed the weirdly shaped juniper. The light on the edge of it was compelling, and he decided to put it in, but not the same size as it is in real life. The trouble with that scene in real life is that there are 4 trees, all in a line, all the same height and evenly spaced. If it were painted that way, it might look like a sad little orchard rather than a natural scene.
When he added the light on the edge, the tree came alive (not literally on the canvas but you know what I mean, yes?)
We discussed the Honeymoon Cabin. Marty didn’t know what it was, and his wife and I convinced him it was important to include, especially because the painting is to be a wedding gift for a couple who knows Mineral King.
He worked his way down into the lower reaches of the painting, which looked like a daunting amount of real estate to me.
We discussed the snow patch on the side of Vandever, which is important enough to have a name – Bearskin. It is often speculated about during the summers as we wonder how long the snow will last. The addition of Bearskin made it necessary to add the remaining snow right below Farewell Gap. He also added in Falcon Peak, which is really just the headwall of White Chief Canyon (to the right of Vandever).
Marty also did some reshaping and tightening up of the accuracy of some of the shapes. Because he paints in a loose and impressionist style, this surprised me. But, his scenes are always recognizable, so of course he wants the shapes to be correct. We talked about the top of Vandever, which wasn’t visible from where we stood, and I was able to tell him that the top is jagged and it is taller than West Florence on the left side of the gap.
We discussed the vegetation, and he made some visual notes so he would know how to finish things later in his studio.
On Monday, I’ll tell you some of the many things I learned from watching Martin Weekly, master plein air oil painter paint in Mineral King.
As Martin Weekly set up his painting, I stood in the shade of the juniper, took photos, and just listened and watched. As a Questioner, I bit back many questions, and waited for him to either talk to himself or to address me directly. He shared a tremendous amount of experience and information, which I wrote down when he was finished for the afternoon.
The second roughed in sketch.
Blocking in begins.
There is great comfort in knowing that even the work of a master begins looking scribbly and worrisome.
See those bright orange dots? That is the way Marty checks his values (the darks and lights) because orange is a strong middle value. He can compare any color to see if it is darker or lighter, because a painting needs all the different darks and lights to be good.
This is the scene we were viewing, but of course our eyes take in so much more when standing on location than can be captured by a camera lens.
Marty sees colors differently than I do.
We joked about how paintings look so dreadful in the beginning stages. I always say, “Best viewed from the back of a fast horse”, and he said, “Might look good at midnight with the lights out while wearing sunglasses”.
To the right side of the scene is a weirdly shaped juniper tree and the Honeymoon Cabin. I wondered if he would include those 2 signature items that tell exactly where we are.
It was time for sky so the top of the peaks could be defined. Marty uses a different color of blue than I do for skies, and I thought it was perfect! Why haven’t all the various instructors I’ve had ever mentioned Cobalt blue for skies?? Everyone else swears by Phthalo or Cerulean blue!
We talked about the weird juniper, and Marty thought about it. He decided to not have any trees shooting up above the line of the peaks. This was a concept I never considered; I thought if you made the trees too short, the perspective would look wrong. Not so when Marty does it!
Martin Weekly, AKA Marty, is a master plein air painter and a friend. Recently he painted in Mineral King, and I had the privilege of watching over his shoulder.
He set up in a place that wasn’t highly visible to the public, although we did have a few observers who watched briefly (and one who asked some annoying questions when he was trying to concentrate, which is just part of the job.)
Marty set up his easel at a place and time that he scouted on the previous day.
See? Barely visible.
He set up his supplies and began painting. I was astonished to see that his methods and materials are completely different from that of Laurel Daniel, an equally accomplished painter who taught the workshop that I attended in Georgia in April.
His palette contains colors I’ve never seen used before instead of the primaries, as I learned from several sources.
His canvas is HUGE compared to what Laurel uses in the field, and he referred to it as “small”!
He began by toning the entire canvas with burnt sienna mixed with turpentine; Laurel uses linseed oil and doesn’t “tone” the canvas.
He began drawing the scene with the same color; Laurel blocks it in with a mixture of burnt sienna and french ultramarine.
I was greatly reassured when he had to do the outline several times and completely erased it once. This guy is truly a master, and to know he also doesn’t always get it right the first time gave me hope.
Come back in two days for more of my session with Marty.
Soda Springs is about 1-1/2 mile from the bridge in Mineral King. This was a walk, and I wore my Crocs to prove it. (We took nothing but photos, left nothing but footprints. Aren’t we groovy?)
We had this view of Timber Gap at our backs.
Bigelow Sneezeweed remains my favorite yellow flower.
Arnica? Meh.
Things are beginning to dry out. If you look beyond these asters, you can see the wall that leads down to Soda Springs in the distance.
There were still lots of hidden gems among the grasses.
I didn’t think of putting my feet in the water. This is because they didn’t hurt, wearing my trusty and well-loved Crocs.
Soda Springs flows down into the creek, which is the East Fork of the Kaweah River. Yeppers, it is that rusty puddle that continues to bubble to the surface.
Sulphur Flower is so named because of the color. I didn’t stick my nose in it, but doubt if it smells like sulphur.
It turns a beautiful rust color as it is finishing its season. (I think this is Sulphur Flower but I couldn’t swear. Trying not to, anyway.)
Wire Lettuce has the weirdest name and is a basic shade of pink that is uncommon among Mineral King wildflowers.
There were 2 sizes of Sierra Gentian, but my favorite, Explorer’s Gentian, wasn’t yet in bloom unless you really poked around carefully in the tall grasses.
The Baby’s Breath was very thick on the northwest side of the Crystal Creek crossing.
100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $20 including tax. Available here Also available at the Three Rivers Historical Museum, Silver City Store, from me if I put them in my car, or Amazon.
The season is quickly moving toward fall, but I am still chasing wildflowers in and around Mineral King.
On the way up the hill for Labor Day weekend, we stopped at the water trough at Redwood Canyon, where I was thrilled to see Scarlet Monkeyflowers!! Red flowers are rare in nature, and I’ve seldom seen these. Now I know they are end-of-the-summer flowers, and I’ve spotted them in another place along the Mineral King Road (above Trauger’s at a seeping spring, in case you are wondering.)
This is just so you can see where they are/were located.
This was there too, without any flowers, but the hint of color in its leaves tells me it must be Something Cool.
There are Coneflowers at my neighbors’ cabin. They are native and wild, but I’ve mostly seen them at cabins in Mineral King. Sometimes you can find them around the Tar Gap parking lot too.
The neighbor has a very good section of Bigelow Sneezeweed too.
Speaking of neighbors, this little genius said, “Mommy knows a lot, Daddy knows a lot, but Mr. Botkin knows everything!”
Goldenrod is very profuse this year, a normal sight for late summer.
Asters are also a common late summer sight.
Glacial Daisy, I think, unless it is a washed out Aster.
All of the flowers were found in the vicinity of the bridge, from where this classic photo was taken.
One day soon I will return to posting about art. The flowers won’t last forever!
100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $20 including tax. Available here Also available at the Three Rivers Historical Museum, Silver City Store, from me if I put them in my car, or Amazon.
