Finding Information (Instead of Woo-woo Inspiration)

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

I was procrastinating (and yardening) in order to think. Sometimes procrastination is simply waiting for inspiration. If you are a person of faith, that is a time of waiting for the Lord to show the way through some of life’s more puzzling situations.

One of my puzzling situations was how to paint the mountains accurately on a commissioned oil painting when I didn’t have the right photos. Sure, Part A is in Photo A, Part C is in Photo C, but then Photo B doesn’t match or fit because it was taken from a different location or there is a tree blocking what I need to see.

I can fake mountains and foothills pretty well, but this particular painting is calling for accuracy. Well, actually, Mr. Customer is calling for accuracy in the mountains, and I fully understand and endorse his desire. The point of the painting for him, besides recalling a moment in time, is to be able to see specifically which peak is where. 

I had a good start, but there were some significant difficulties, such as what happens between Castle Rocks and Sawtooth. I could make a few white dabs, but when Mr. Customer and I try to name peaks, our efforts would be stymied by misleading information. (Heaven forbid that we participate in dis and mis information!)

The answer came while having lunch on Rocky Hill.

Let’s crop and enhance it.

Nope, this isn’t the span of mountains I am seeking. It’s in this photo, but those beeves are in the way.

I cropped out the cattle, messed with the exposure so the mountains were very distinct against the sky, and VOILA! (That is French for THIS IS WHAT I WANT AND NEED! Maybe. I don’t speak French.)

Was I seeking inspiration?

Maybe. People who aren’t artists think there is some sort of woo-woo inspiration thing that causes artists to do our thing.

I am more practical. There is beauty everywhere, subjects that would make great paintings, but as a professional, I have to take into account what my customers (and potential customers) want.

So, more than inspiration, I was seeking information, but needed help to find it, and then, right on time, the Lord provided. (If you are not a person of faith, you might credit “the universe”. That’s too woo-woo for me.)

 

 

 

Three Versions of the Favorite Scene

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

Version One

Mr. Customer gave me permission to show his 12×36″ commissioned oil painting in progress on the blog.

Version Two

This 10×20″ oil painting has been hanging around (literally), waiting its turn at the easel. It is just part of the series I began back in February to build up the inventory of my favorite subject in a variety of sizes and shapes.

Hmmm, I think I may have overdone the size exaggeration of Castle Rocks.

Version Three

This 18×36″ oil painting is one that is destined to hang in the dining area of my house, IF I ever complete it and IF it doesn’t sell (because I can always paint another one).

Thus we conclude eensy progress on three oil paintings of the best things about living in Tulare County in the spring, after a wet winter, when there is snow on the mountains, fruit on the trees, green on the hills, and gratitude and happiness in my heart.

Somewhere North of Tahoe, Explained

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

By “Somewhere North of Tahoe, Explained”, I mean the painting, not the location. Having received permission to show you the photos supplied by the customer, I thought you might like seeing what I had to work with and the final outcome, all together in one post.

The first photo is too dark but has a dramatic sky, snow on the distant peaks, and the meadow portion is green. The second shows better detail so that I can understand the landscape.

Both appear to have been taken using a wide-angle lens. This means that distant mountains seem farther and smaller than they probably look in person. 

Neither photo is the same proportions as the final painting needed to be.

Since both photos seem to have been taken from the same spot, I figured the log must be an important element. I can tell that the close shrubs are sagebrush, and the distant shrubs across the meadow are probably willows.

Most of my guesses are based on having painted similar scenes of Mineral King, but because they are guesses, I did this sketch for the customers to approve, or improve so it suited their vision.

I got lucky on two counts: 1. they liked everything; 2. they weren’t scared off by the scribbly sketch.

You saw all the steps; here is the gussied up photo when it was dry enough (and sunny enough) to take one for my records. (For some reason, the meadow appears fluorescent here, but fear not, it looks fine on the painting).The painting was picked up by the customer on Saturday. She sent me this photo of it in place.What a terrific solution for a window that looks out onto someone else’s cobwebby wall!From this:

To this:
. 

Somewhere North of Tahoe, Completed!

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

 

My drawing students and I have all experienced an odd phenomenon: we can look at a piece of our art and think “DONE”, and then look at a photo of it either on a camera or on a screen, and see everything that isn’t quite right. 

While studying the painting in the photo above, I made a list.

  • fix dark halos around sage
  • sage needs shadows on the ground
  • more splinters and cracks on log
  • better shadow on ground by log
  • shadow by log clump of sage
  • add light stems to sage
  • more gravel by log
  • bump up the ridge so not so straight
  • smooth out clouds on the right (some strong edges need to be softened)
  • tree on right looks unnatural – needs a bit more darks, and make the light parts more consistent
  • Fix 2nd tree on the left. The darks aren’t right – connect them? Add some light on the left side?
  • Finish sage on the bottom left of painting and the bottom right – missing details
  • slightly greener grass in meadow
  • dark patches added to meadow

That’s a long list, but each item is a small maneuver.

While I was engaged in this exercise, the customer emailed to say they are coming to town on the weekend, and no rush, but will it be ready? 

YES, IT WILL!

Have a look as it progressed to completion. These are tiny corrections, so you may not be able to discern the difference between before and after that list of details was finished.

 

This last photo is signed. When it is dry, I will spray varnish it and take the best photo I can. 

I have been communicating with the wife; this place, somewhere north of Tahoe, is special to the husband, who took the reference photos. I wonder if she has been showing him the emailed progression photos.

 

 

Seven More Photos of Progression

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

The session began with the commissioned oil painting in an odd size on Masonite board looking like this. 

I planted a tree on the left and indicated where 2 small trees would go next to the larger one.

The distant shrubs got a bit more details. Maybe. Maybe I was just licking the painting with the brush at this point.

The pair of smaller trees has some form now. Trees are growing in the distance on the right side.

Now there are definitely trees with definition on the right side, definitively.

Now I have started cleaning the various greens from my paintbrush by spreading them on the lower shrubs, which I am sure are sagebrush. This place might be similar to Mineral King in elevation, because it shares many characteristics.

Now the meadow has more paint, and the log has more details.

I am starting to really like this painting, which I have decided to call “Somewhere North of Tahoe”. Too bad I didn’t get my donkey in gear earlier this morning or I could have this painting finished now.

 

 

Odd Job, One Layer After Another

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

This painting felt too big and too hard, so I broke the process down into steps. First, I decided that the sky couldn’t be beyond my abilities, and I mixed up the blues.

It didn’t seem beyond my grasp to shape the tops of the distant peaks.

How hard could the rest of the sky be?

Not wanting to waste the blue paint, I used it up on the 12×36″ commissioned oil painting without a deadline (THANK YOU, DM!)

I’ve painted plenty of clouds before, and they are very forgiving. That seemed like a good next step. Just mix some gray, and put it where the clouds might be darker, then put white on the bright places and smooth the two together. 

By this time, I was cold and wanted to go in the house. Instead, I turned on the stereo and put in a couple of CDs that I used to love but haven’t thought about in years. With Selah singing to me, I tackled the mountain with all its detail.

The music was going, and I forgot about being cold, forgot about wanting to go inside, forgot about thinking it was too hard, and I painted as if inspired, because maybe I was.

Time flew, I was having fun, and when it was time to quit for the day, I didn’t want to. However, the two CDs were done, and my knees hurt from standing so long.

Selah helped so much that I ordered a new CD from them. (2020 was the release date of “Step Into My Story”; sounds new to me). Yes, I put actual Compact Disks on an actual stereo and listen to it through actual speakers, actually. Why wouldn’t I? I have these items and they work beautifully. I can crank the volume without injuring my ears, and sing along without injuring anyone else’s.

Two Large (Not Too Large)

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

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

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

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

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet. 

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

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

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.