Painting with Jackson

Jackson is our least friendly cat. He just comes around if he needs or wants something (not that he can tell the difference between needs and wants.) He is the most likely to ignore curfew and then come yelling around the bedroom window late at night when he wants to get into the workshop.

I painted later than usual one evening, and Jackson decided it was time for dinner. He would not be ignored. At least he didn’t bite me on my donkey. He has done that many times, the little big brat.

Doesn’t he have gorgeous stripes?

I started a new painting after putting several photos together on Photoshop Junior to see if my idea would work. Yeppers, I think this will be a winner, and I’m confident enough to paint it large (as I define “large”) —16×20″.

This is a painting that I work on in my head when I am out walking (or in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep.)

I was so absorbed in this painting that Jackson resorted to vandalism to get my attention.

This scene has been tempting me for quite awhile, but I kept waiting for something. What? Maybe until I had more experience, more confidence, more ability. Or maybe I was waiting until I knew there will be a solo show to prepare for.

I painted a smaller one from the same viewpoint a few years ago as a thank you to the farmer who allows us to glean oranges (and take photos) in his groves.

He doesn’t read my blog, so he won’t say, “HEY! The new one is better than mine!” (even though it will be.)

Yes, I enlarged the mountain in the distance because I am the boss of my picture and this is the way I like it. it is either Maggie Mountain or Moses. I am voting for Moses, which is further north than Maggie.

Steadily Oil Painting

How many paintings can I work on at one time?

ONE!

How many can I have in progress at the same time?

As many as I have space for.

How many are drying in the house at the time of this writing?

Six!

But how many are you working on right now?

Just four.

Will this painting ever be finished? It has now been improved a little bit more.

Before
After

Maybe this one is ready to sign! All the edges will take awhile to paint too, but maybe the actual scene is actually finished. Actually!

It looks pretty good in person, if I do say so myself. Yep, just said it.

This is fixin’ to get some real paint so it can look like more than a mist of its future self. The green hill in the distance is the other side of the close green hill in the painting above.

It looks tiny here, but in reality, it is 16×16″.

These poppies are really fun. I put it off for awhile because it seemed too hard, too fussy, too small. I was wrong.

This little field of poppies (6×12″) only needs a bit of drying time and some final touch-ups. Well, that plus signing, edges, drying, scanning, and some varnish.

And the steady progress of building up a body of work of Tulare County oil paintings continues, in anticipation of the solo show at CACHE in late fall, 2024.

Recently (ish) Sold Paintings

Seeing a collection of paintings that has sold provides fuel to keep me painting during a season of slow sales. This is a season of producing; November-December was a season of selling.

Painting Steadily at Many Stages

Sometimes people wonder if I work on more than one painting at a time. Yeppers, for sure! Today’s post is a look at several paintings at various stages of completion.

This one is getting close to completion. I like it better with each new iteration.
This will go quickly. I mean the painting process will go quickly; selling is an unknown in terms of speed.
The poppies look good but the painting needs more. . .
. . . lupine and popcorn! Now it is drying in the house.
The Four Guardsmen, as you head up to Giant Forest.
This will definitely need another detailed layer.
8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, The Big Trees, FINISHED!

There are more in various stages, but this is enough for today. Thanks for stopping by.

A Mess of Deer and Three Paintings

Trail Guy and I took a walk. As we were approaching home, this is what we saw.

After this excitement (plus the usual mess of turkeys in the yard), I went into the workshop to work on three paintings. One needed finishing, one needed more detail, and one needed the first layer.

This one got some wire on the fence, a signature, another cow, and the edges painted. This is a photo taken with the phone, but when it is dry, I will scan it for a more accurate representation.
The leaves and oranges on the front row might be finished. There are orange blossoms on the tree at the far right, but the idea of adding them to the rest of the row was a bit daunting (boring, actually).
I bet you can figure out what this 16×16″ canvas will be. Almost looks like a watercolor at this stage.

Returning to My Favorite Subject

Orange groves, foothills, and mountains remain my favorite subject to paint. (It used to be the Oak Grove Bridge, and who knows what it will be next?)

I painted this to hang in my dining area, but put it on my website and then, lo and behold, it sold! (off the website—I didn’t open my front door to customers)

No problemo—I just started another painting.

Then, I just left it on the easel for months.

After starting all those small paintings for Kaweah Arts, I finally went back to this painting. If I don’t get it finished soon, suddenly it will be October and then it will go to the solo show and then it will sell without ever hanging in my house first! The urgency. . . !!

Details, details. All those close trees needed details. Of course, once I’ve put all those leaves on, the oranges will need more color or shaping. Then I’ll decide to add blossoms. After that, the ground will need some debris. Next, I’ll decide to put cows on Wutchumna (the hill). Maybe all the distant rows will need refining, the hills reshaped, the mountains improved. . .

Never mind. How about starting another one?

I do love me some orange groves in the foothills with the Sierra in the distance. These subjects are a real benefit of life in Tulare County. (But DON’T move here. It is in California, where people are leaving in droves. Wait—what is a “drove”?? Aren’t people leaving in U-Hauls?)

Seven New Oil Paintings, Assembly-line Style

When Kaweah Arts closed in early January for a couple of months, I retrieved all my paintings. Kaweah Arts sold well for me in its three year span despite serious hardships: a plague, a fire, another fire, and a flood, each one leading to the closure of Sequoia National Park, which meant the flow of visitors to Three Rivers ceased. I went through my records of sales, and came up with a list of sizes and subjects that sold the best.

The average price was $145, and the most popular subject was sequoia trees, Sequoia gigantea, AKA redwoods (the common name) or “big trees” (local vernacular). Two other popular subjects were mountain range views and poppies.

I gathered seven blank canvases from 8×8″ ($100) up to 6×18″ ($165) and then went to my oh-so-lovely newly organized photo files. The efficiency. . .!

After pairing the photos with the right canvases, I then did some preliminary sketching. This isn’t something I normally do, but in the interest of painting quickly, this seemed like a prudent move. (Remember, I also need to produce 20-30 larger paintings for the solo show in October AND paint for the Silver City Store, which sells well for me in the summers when Mineral King is open to the public.)

Next, I did the boring tasks of assigning inventory numbers, and putting the hanging hardware on the back. (This is the sort of task that makes me wish I had an apprentice or an intern.)

All-righty, then! Let’s start with the assembly line style painting of the first layer to establish where colors will go and to cover the canvas.

Painting back to front means starting with the sky. The order of colors and placements doesn’t really matter at this stage, but it is wise to practice good habits whenever possible.
Green next, just using whatever is on the palette, but occasionally making dark/light adjustments.
Browns and oranges, same color family, plus yellow.

Looks like seven little messes that vaguely suggest what they will become, but with almost 18 years of oil painting, this is no longer alarming to me.

I hope you are not alarmed either. This is the most efficient way I know to paint, and these seven paintings will be finished, signed, dry, varnished, and scanned by the time Kaweah Arts reopens in March.

It’s all part of the business of art. (Just in case the Art World is checking in and judging my use of photos, let me explain that I took great care in composing those photos and have taken great care in cropping, blending, adjusting, and arranging the parts of each one of these paintings. So There, because working from photos is not wrong.)

Bumbling Along With One, Almost Finishing Another, and Finishing a Third

Your Central California artist bumbles along on one Tulare County oil painting, almost finished another, and finished a commission. Let’s start with the bumble.

The differences are subtle between the before and the after version. In the after version, the lower left corner makes more sense, and there are more branches on the trees.

Before
After

A neighbor-friend stopped by to bring her recyclables because we share garbage services. She works alone at home as I do, and sometimes we just visit for awhile, perhaps our version of hanging out at the water cooler. (Pay no attention to those garbage cans.) She expressed an interest in my current projects, and when I showed her my challenging painting, together we came up with a couple of ideas for improvement. I will continue to bumble along on this difficult painting.

But wait! I made two more adjustments, and then photographed it more carefully. My neighbor approved, which gave me hope. (There will be more adjustments, corrections, and added details.)

I thought I was finished on the Lower Dry Creek Road oil painting. However, the closer fence posts might require some wire. On the other hand, I might not be capable of such minuscule detail. It still needs a signature and the edges to be painted.

Better detailing and color on the golden hills, the dam, the trees. Cattle, fenceposts, wildflowers, done. Maybe I can put in wire on the fence. Maybe I can do a little brain surgery while I am it. . . not feeling capable of wire. . . will it matter?

Better detailing, stronger colors, and a signature now done on Sawtooth #34, a commissioned oil painting for JL’s son. This one is only photographed, not scanned, because it is wet.

Commission, Cat, Correction, Challenge

Someone, let’s call her JL, bought this 8×8″ painting, “Hiking Mineral King” at Kaweah Arts as a Christmas gift for her son.

He loved it and requested a second 8×8″ painting to go with it for his birthday. JL isn’t familiar with Mineral King, so I made a couple of suggestions. The son chose Sawtooth, based on this painting that I sent to JL.

I must have made that one up because there is no such photo. As a result, I spent a big part of a day making it up again, looking at a handful of photos. (The photo on the right does NOT have a waterfall—that is a reflection.)

After this dries, I will work on more details, polishing and finessing. I need to hustle my bustle, because there is a definite delivery date.

Tucker stayed with me for most of the day as I painted.

On the same day, I spent a fair amount of time studying this painting.

Can you tell any difference now? I can, muy poquito.

This painting reminds me of one I did several years ago, one that was definitely a large challenge for me in 2015 (might still be). I just kept guessing, layering, correcting, and slowly improving it. It is now one of my paintings that I am most proud of.

Painting Early Summer on a Winter Day

Dry Creek Road is one of Tulare County’s gems. At the bottom of this country road, there are cattle, irrigated pastures, wildflowers in spring, and views of layered hills (beer cans too, but we will ignore those). This painting combines several of these elements, and depicts late spring when a hint of green remains while summer’s golden hues are emerging. I used two different photos, and combined the pieces that best represent this route in my 60+ years of driving it. (Fear not—the first 16 years I was just a passenger.)

sky first
farthest hills next
moving closer, working forward on those hills
closest hills
all the greenery

By the time the painting was this advanced, the cold was advanced on my feet. I brought the painting into the warm house to dry, and the next time I work on it, I expect to draw a few details with my smallest brushes.

P.S. Is that Terminus Dam back there? Yeppers, it is!