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.
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.
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.)
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. . .
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:
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.
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.
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. . .
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″).
I’ve told you that sales have been brisk. Let’s look at the pieces that have sold recently and REJOICE! I haven’t included commissions or the large panels of Giant Sequoias. I might have even forgotten a few.
I have no false illusions about becoming a Big Deal, or that this is “The New Normal”. It is a surge, and I appreciate the business. When stores sell my work, they don’t tell me who bought the pieces, so I don’t have a way to personally thank anyone. Thus, this blog post (which might also be a bit self-promotional, but then it IS the blog of my art, and this IS how I earn a living.)
THANK YOU for reading, for buying, for liking my work and my words.
That was a confusing title. I was in Mineral King, painting non-Mineral King subjects. The heat in Mineral King is less uncomfortable than the swamp-cooler situation in my painting workshop. Sometimes in the past when I have been painting non-Mineral King subjects while in Mineral King, people have asked why I am not painting Mineral King. The answer is because there is a check, a customer, a gallery, or a store waiting for these particular paintings. (And, would you like to commission me to paint something here in Mineral King? This can be easily arranged.)
It is a little difficult for Joe Bag-of-Doughnuts from West Undershirt to accept the reality of art as a business. I do my best to educate him.
Moving on. . . here is how it looks to be painting non-Mineral King subjects while in Mineral King.
None of these are finished, all needing more details, edges painted, signing, and I have to pick some bugs out of the sky of the Moro Rock painting.
The wet paintings go on the stairs inside the cabin until time to take them home to be finished.
It isn’t ideal, but we make it work. I am very happy to have a place to sell my paintings and grateful to Nancy at Kaweah Arts for her terrific work on behalf of Three Rivers artists.