I Painted So Fast That My Camera Died

OF COURSE THAT WASN’T THE REASON! But look what my camera started doing when I was in the midst of my painting marathon.

Houston, we have a problem.

Ick, you all know how I feel about shopping – all those confusing almost alike products, decisions, too many details, too many choices.  I just skated by with my inferior phone photos for awhile. It is an iPhone 7, and it hasn’t lived up to my expectations. However, I do not dive quickly into things, so I imagine that I will make it work for at least another 10 years or so. (Remember, I went 2 years without a cell phone at all, I drive a ’96, bought my only purse in ’95, and my wallet in ’79. Wanna make somethin’ of it??)

Where were we. . . painting fast, a painting marathon, a painting factory. 

My new friend Kelly showed me a fabulous sunset over Farewell Gap on her phone (hmmm, I wonder what model she has), and then offered to share it with me so I could paint it.

I put the first layer on so that it was obvious where the shapes and the general color would go, then I put it outside to dry in the 102 degree weather and went back inside, grateful for the swamp cooler, to finish this little gem.

When it was finished, I put it outside, and then thought it would be a hoot to photograph the drying paintings in front of their big brother. (Simple pleasures for simple people).

Back to Kelly’s sunset. I haven’t done a ton of sunsetty cloud colors, so I mixed to sort of match the photo and then just decided to make sure the colors made sense, but didn’t overpower Farewell Gap in intensity. (See? Too many decisions wore out my ability to go online and choose from 70 cameras that all look alike.)

SOLD!  But that’s okay, because I can paint another one for you. Remember. . .

I use oil paint, pencils, and murals to make art you can understand of places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.

P.S. I found a camera at a place called B&H, with identical controls to the one that croaked. It arrived within a week, and IT TAKES BETTER PHOTOS!! (better photos than the old one did before it turned pinky-purple).

Painting 9 to 5, What a Way To Make a Living

Almost finished with 4 new ones. The swamp cooler was okay, and am I very VERY thankful for generous neighbors with a swimming pool.

As always, they look WAY BETTER in person. But by the time you are reading this post, the paintings might be already sold!

Selling Quickly, Painting Quickly

No time to post – gotta paint!

MORE!

GO GO GO!

STOP SHOUTING, JUST PAINT.

Sorry. Summer is more than half over and I have to strike while the iron is hot on these Mineral King oil paintings. Last summer started late because of the plague and ended prematurely because of the fires. This summer there is no time to waste. 

Odd Job Times Five Continues

Painting on spheres the size of a tennis ball definitely qualifies as an odd job. Painting five of them means the odd job provides lots of opportunities to practice. 

I photographed each ornament after putting the next segments on them. This has to be done in parts, because wet paint on a complete sphere is a messy situation. After seeing these photos, it is clear to me that I need to be doing this in better light rather than at the end of the day when the light is low. 

This time I had the foresight to attach a wire, dig out the clothespins, open the ladder, and clip each ornament to the clothesline/pulley arrangement above the easels and painting tables. (Trail Guy assembled this so our friend who grows lavender would have a place to dry her bunches a few years ago).

There was paint left on the palette, and it is a shame to waste paint. It will keep overnight, and it does okay in the freezer for awhile, but I was heading up the hill and wouldn’t have a chance to use the paint before it got too tacky. So, I got out a photo of Mineral King and a 6×18″ canvas, figuring I could stretch the scene into a panoramic format.

Upside down forces me to evaluate the shapes correctly, not that it matters when I am distorting a scene to this degree. You can see that the colors are wrong. However, those are the colors that were left on the palette, and it really doesn’t matter for the first layer.

I can make this work. But first I need to finish the Large Important Oil Painting and make better progress on those five ornaments. Unless, of course, one of the four places that sells my work calls for more Mineral King paintings.

9 Steps on a Custom Painting, Chapter 5

That’s a title change from the story of a large and important commissioned oil painting, but the saga continues as I build up the layers of paint and try to figure out how to make this worthy of “large and important” as a description..

Here are some thoughts and explanations as I bumble along. (The numbers don’t correspond to the photos.)

  1. The first photo has bright morning sunlight at the bottom; I wish I knew how to duplicate this sort of contrast with paint.
  2. As always, I started with the farthest items first – sky, then distant peaks, foothills next, citrus grove, etc.
  3. The mountains are from a photo I took north of Ivanhoe, which isn’t too much different from the view seen from this place between Lemon Cove and Woodlake.
  4. I moved the barn higher, which might have been a poor decision. The light and shadow on the roofs of the barn look pretty good.
  5. I have some confusion as to how to arrange the trees, because I am working from photos of differing viewpoints plus envisioning whatever makes sense from my previous experiences painting citrus groves.
  6. When I took the photos, there was a wildfire putting a dull haze of smoke over the colors. I am exaggerating the brightness because it makes for a more pleasing painting.

Now it needs to dry awhile. Next, I will correct things that are not believable, correct colors, tighten up details, and then wait for more drying so I can add more details, wait for more drying, add even more details. . .

Large Important Oil Painting, Chapter 4

Are you wondering why I asked the library to pay a 1/2 deposit on the commissioned oil painting? I have learned that if a place or person doesn’t pay a deposit, sometimes they disappear. Not often, but it has happened enough that I believe in the importance of a financial commitment on the part of the customer. With a place like the library, someone could change jobs and then the newcomers have no idea what took place. (I didn’t get to year #27 as your Central California artist by making the same mistakes more than once, no twice, wait, . . . never mind.)

I asked the librarian if she wanted to see photos of the painting in progress; she politely declined. I asked if I could show them on my blog; permission was granted.

Upside down forces me to see the proportions and shapes. The first layer is very thin, loose, nay, downright sloppy.

It’s okay. I know what I am doing. (It’s about time, eh?) It has been awhile since I reminded you that:

I use pencils, oil paint, and murals to make art people can understand of places and things they love for prices that won’t scare them.

Large Important Oil Painting, Chpt. 3

This commissioned oil painting is important, because it is for the library, because it is dedicated to the memory of someone loved by her family, and because all my custom art is important.

It will be 18×24″, which is large for me. Not the largest oil I’ve painted, but certainly larger than my usual small works that sell steadily to visitors passing through, larger than most of my commissions (remember, we are poor in Tulare County), and large enough to put in the many details that the customers are requesting.

In order to be sure that I understood what the librarians wanted (and I am guessing they showed the family who donated the money for the painting), I had to do a sketch. I also had to do the sketch in order to see if I could fake all these details into something believable. Believability is what I aim for, because real life is messy and there are rarely photos that tell what we remember, or what we wish was there.

THEY LIKED IT!

I had quoted them prices for their requested 24×36″, but they chose 18×24″. I told them the price for this size, they requested an invoice so they could send me a check for half, and instead of waiting for the check, I ordered the canvas and started painting.

Next week Chapter 4: the beginnings on the canvas.

Large Important Oil Painting, Chpt. 2

You were left with a cliff hanger yesterday, probably wondering how you would be able to sleep last night.

When I asked the librarian what was meant by “incorporating books”, she showed me this commissioned oil painting from my blog last year, scenery with backpacks, and said to put books in, the same way I put backpacks in this painting. Here is that painting in progress, and you can read the final posting on the job here. Completed Commission

It felt like a daunting request, so I drove to the property, went up the driveway as if I had been invited, and took some photos, one overheated morning, when the light was all wrong.

The stone wall held promise. I could stack some books there.

(Remember Reading Rabbit? I used to post about books I had read. Why did I stop? Too many other topics, and besides, if people didn’t like the books I liked, they might quit reading my blog, saying I had gotten too political or too religious or some other sort of terrible offense. Can’t have that now, can we?)

This is going to take some thought. Next, I will show you the sketch that I did to show the librarians. Sketches are vitally important when doing custom art, because most people aren’t able to visualize.

Next chapter – the sketch.

Large Important Oil Commission

This will be a long story, told in multiple chapters. 

Because I have been an artist for a long time in the same county, often people think of me when they need an artist. This is a good thing, because even if I am not the right person for the job, I often know who might be.

Someone from the county library emailed me, looking for a portrait artist. Nope, not me. The library received a donation in memory of a patron and wanted to hire someone to paint or draw a portrait of the woman. Nope, not me. I could tell that the poor librarian did not even know the right questions to ask, so I called her and gave her a rather detailed set of instructions about how commissions work, what questions to ask, what to expect, and a couple of names of artists who might be available. Nope, not me.

I followed up the phone call with a summary, and included samples of my work, both pencil and oil, and of course I sign all business emails with my website address. I made it abundantly clear that I don’t accept commissions for portraits, but should they change their minds, I would be very happy to work with them on this project.

A few weeks later, they decided, yeppers, me, because scenery instead of a portrait would be just fine with everyone concerned. The instructions were vague, so I pushed for more information. They provided a few photos of the ranch owned by the family, and requested that the painting include books. Say what?

WAIT A MINUTE!  I recognize that barn!

Remember this pencil drawing? Probably not. I did it in March of 2013. 

I took this photo back when I was looking for the right way to show off this area:

it is an odd-looking barn, which makes it memorable.

Okay, where were we? To be continued. . .

 

7 New Oil Paintings, 6 of Sequoia

In one day! That’s because only the fun “gravy work” was remaining on 6 of them, you know, the part where I get to draw with my paintbrushes, which were behaving well that day.

The 2 on the easel just needed the edges painted and my signature. The 2 little Sequoias needed better colors, more detail, edges, and signatures.

Being a frugal person, I didn’t want to waste the remaining oil paint on my palette, so I made the impulsive decision to paint this meadow. There is a large painting of Crescent Meadow that is garnering much attention at Kaweah Arts but the price is scaring customers. So, maybe this little one will satisfy that itch.

Here are all the completed paintings, drying in the painting workshop, which won’t take long in the 100 degree days of July, here in Central California. Top to bottom: 2 sequoia paintings (6×6″ each), Crescent Meadow (maybe) (6×18″), Moro Rock (8×10″), Tunnel Log (ditto), Kaweah Post Office (ditto), Giant Sequoia (6×18″).