Two Large (Not Too Large)

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Large One

Remember this mess?

It’s getting incrementally better.

It seems as if the paint dries more slowly on Masonite board than on canvas. Of course, that could be the result of ongoing winterlike weather.

Large Two

What is this elongated canvas for??

It is for the sketch on the bottom!

Mr. Customer has a memory of seeing snow covered Sierra from Highway 198 on a brilliant day in January of 1969, a year similar to this year in precipitation amounts. We have been exchanging photographs and discussing ideas for several months, and he has decided on a 12×36″ painting. It is a pleasure to be painting more of my favorite scenery, the quintessential* Tulare County scene, for someone who appreciates it as much as I do!

*purest, most characteristic, ultimate

Petite Poultry Paintings

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It was a little too dark for painting well. But these petite poultry paintings could be painted by holding them in my left hand, tilted toward the window for better light while painting. 

I added a second layer to each one.

Then I did my favorite part: drew the details with a tiny paintbrush.

From there, they got moved to the living room in the house with the wood stove for drying. They will look better when scanned (after they dry, of course), because there is that bothersome shine to wet paint which makes photographs look inadequate.

Cluck I, Cluck II, and Cockadoodle-doo, completed!

Cluck I, Cluck II, and Cockadoodle-doo

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This rooster oil painting hung around for awhile. Almost immediately after it (finally) sold, someone requested another, along with 2 little square paintings of hens.

That’s a fairly good beginning. These won’t take too long to complete, and then I can return to the odd job.

Odd Job Begun

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My current odd job is simply a painting of a mountain landscape. The odd part is that I am painting it 16-3/8″ x 29-7/8″ on a piece of Masonite.

After Trail Guy cut it, I covered it with 5 or 6 coats of flat white housepaint, sanding between each layer for a smooth surface.

Meanwhile, I studied the two photos, provided by the customers.

Neither one is the right proportions. Each has its own good points, so I combined them into a rough sketch, the proportions of the window opening and board. This is what I sent to the customers for approval.

The customers were very happy, so I sketched it onto the board.

Then, I put a very thin first layer over the white primer.

When that is dry, I will continue layering, building up color, tightening up detail, until eventually I won’t be able to think of any way to make it better.

Then I’ll do the usual finishing steps: sign, photograph, varnish.

Because I know you want to know, all I know is that this is somewhere north of Lake Tahoe. 

Locals, at CACHE, Part 3

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“Locals” is the name of the current exhibit (i.e. show and sale of art) at CACHE, the new name for Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery and Museum. It stands for Center for Art, Culture, and History in Exeter. THE RECEPTION IS SUNDAY, 2-4 PM.

I began my recorded talk about this oil painting, “Groves, Hills, and Mountains” like this:

“A few years ago I became obsessed with the way that orange groves look against foothills and distant mountains. I took many photos and borrowed from friends, and began painting those scenes.”

Locals, at CACHE

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How’s that for a mysterious title? 

“Locals” is the name of the current exhibit (i.e. show and sale of art) at CACHE, the new name for Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery and Museum. It stands for Center for Art, Culture, and History in Exeter.

I qualified to show in Locals in spite of never having lived in Exeter because my studio was there for 9 years. 

There wasn’t a limit to the number to be entered. Normally in a group show each applicant is limited to 3-5 pieces, so I entered five. 

Then we were asked to record ourselves talking about each piece, so that visitors who bring smart phones and ear thingies can scan the scribbly square and listen to artists. 

The piece above is Kaweah Oaks Preserve, painted specifically for this exhibit. (If the title of the show is “Locals”, it stands to reason that the art ought to be locally themed).

Here is a little bit of what I said in my recording about the painting:

“Kaweah Oaks Preserve is a place we all just get used to passing without really noticing anything in particular. Driving home on Highway 198, I was surprised by how clearly Alta Peak shows from Kaweah Oaks Preserve. I snapped a few photos through the windshield, then did some photoshop work to see if anything might be useful.”

Enjoying Life Before the Storms

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A day before the big storm, there was a brief time of sunshine. It lit up this germander, a drought tolerant shrub that looks great in spring and horrid in summer.

That evening, Jackson did not want to be put away. He decided to walk the other way and then attempt to catch his own dinner. I walked around the yard calling for him, and of course, he ignored me. However, I found him. Can you see his tail?

He was very intensely focused on some quail which feed around dusk, which is when we feed our cats.

Dude, I am watching you, and you are not going to catch a quail. 

He showed up at the front door looking for entry to the workshop where his dinner was waiting. Michael walked him over, and put him away for the night.

The next day was so intensely green and my leaning tree was in full bloom. (It’s a flowering pear, one of the earliest trees to bloom and one of the last to hold its color in the fall.)

Eventually I made it into the workshop (the cats’ safe place at night) to get a little painting done.

The first one is called Below Terminus Dam. I love this view in spite of it not having snow-covered peaks in the distance. Some years there are poppies on the distant hills; it is too soon to know this year because we are having a real winter.

This is the commissioned piece, now finished. (The right side looks darker because I am casting a shadow on it.)

This is the painting that was giving me trouble. I’ve decided that it is finished now.

This concludes today’s post about your Central California artist enjoying spring, her recalcitrant cat, her yard, and painting her favorite Tulare County scenes. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

 

Whooping it up on the Canvases

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The customer told me which mountains she wishes to see in her 11×14″ painting. So I started.

Sky, mountains, foothills, indication of distant groves, indication of closer groves. Then, it was too wet to continue. This might be an excuse; sometimes when painting these scenes, I hit a place of thinking it is too hard and that I can’t do it. (pathetic, no?)

So, time to move to the 18×36″ painting.

Working on a new sky layer gives me an opportunity to think about what I want to do here.

I think I want some overhanging branches, loaded with oranges. This means I have to make up some stuff, move some trees, bringing in some closer ones. And why not? I made up the snow-covered mountains in the distance. If I am painting this to please me, then yippee skippee, I can just go hog wild and really whoop it up.

I sure do know how to live, eh?

Happy Birthday, Little Sister!

Aaaaand. . . More Orange Groves

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(More storms predicted for today and tomorrow, and if anything exciting happens, I’ll return to my post as photojournalist for you then.)

About Painting

Back in January I started eight new oil paintings of orange groves. I added a similar painting of oak trees with distant mountains (for the show Locals), and then someone wanted a painting of the groves with hills and mountains in a different size. That brought the total to ten paintings, all similar. Five are now completed (one sold), and other than the commissioned painting, there is no urgency or deadlines.

The urgency is self-imposed on the commissioned painting. As I prepped the canvas, I realized that I didn’t know which view of the mountains my customer was interested in. So I sent her these two photos (she is the photographer but I am the painter) and then put a thin layer of paint on the canvas (too boring to photograph).

Since my palette was loaded with the right colors and I had the biggish brush in hand, it seemed like a good time to begin layering paint on the 18×36″ that I was hoping to keep for awhile.

While slopping it on, I realized that maybe I want a different scene than the one I painted for myself last time. No rush; the space in my dining room is currently occupied by a painting of redwood trees.

Next, I moved to this 6×18″ with the blocks of groves that are confusing.  I repainted the sky, distant mountains, and foothills.

The groves are confusing because I have not been following the photograph or the advice I give to my drawing students: “Draw the dog before you draw the fleas.”

This means figure out the larger parts before putting in the details. So, I covered over most of the lines of the groves, got out the photo, and started to pay attention. It isn’t that I have to follow photos because they are the only right way to paint; I have to follow them in order to understand how to make those blocks of trees look believable.

This feels like slow going, perhaps because it is. When I draw, a day flies by. When I paint, it crawls. Maybe someday with enough experience this will change. Meanwhile, tick, tock, tick, tock. . .is it lunchtime yet?

Painting my Obsession

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I thought this painting was finished and was about to scan it when I realized it was missing something important.

Snow covered mountains in the distance! White is the slowest color to dry, so it will be a week or two before this one is ready to scan.

This one needs definition in the distant groves and detail in the foreground branches. 

I am just making stuff up now. As long as it is believable, it’ll do.

This will take awhile, lots of painting sessions to try this, that, and something else.

Saturday night, remember to spring your clocks forward because Daylight Saving Time begins. It isn’t saving any daylight, merely shoving it an hour later so that mornings are dark again. There is talk of making it permanent, but those who think that is a good idea aren’t thinking ahead to waiting until 8 a.m. to see any daylight in the fall and winter months. I say leave the time right where it belongs and quit jerking us around.

So there.