We painted today on a huge private estate that belongs to heirs of the Reynolds family, which was fabulous. It was also kind of muggy, but we were brave plein air warriors.
This time we were on our own to choose painting sites, one in the morning and a second site in the afternoon. Laurel patrolled, offering help throughout the day.
No one roughs it here.
I stood under this pergola to paint. Shade was a requirement.
This scene was my task.
In progress (maybe I will show you the ugly steps down the road but not tonight)
Oh no, she fell over again while critiquing my painting,
The finished painting
My next choice
Now what have I done to my blog?? Sigh.
The beginning
Here is the finished painting, I am too tired to continue with this one finger typing and bloggery misbehavior.
Both of these paintings were rectangular, not square, but I am quite inept at blogging on this little device–the normal controls aren’t showing up.
Tomorrow is the third and final day so we will continue next week.
Leaving for a trip involves lots of preparations. Whether or not there are specific deadlines, there is a need to finish things. This is mostly due to not knowing what else will be stacked up when I return.
Besides, if I am learning to paint plein air, maybe I’d better finish all my working-from-photos-in-the-studio paintings because what if I hate them all when I get home?
These paintings have been varnished and are drying.
These paintings are all that remain to be finished in the big goal of 32 new paintings.
These are actually finished now, but I didn’t photograph them in their final state for you.
Scout is waiting for me and I am waiting for our grandkitties.
This one is finished now, and very very wet. Will I hate it when I return because I will be completely sold out to plein air painting?
SCOUT HAD 3 LITTLE TABBIES and 2 GINGERS! THEY ARRIVED ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 5. 2 TABBIES HAVE TAILS, THE REST DO NOT.
This is the small stash of some supplies I for the workshop. The rest have been ordered and now I need to learn to pack them correctly. We have been also instructed to bring a few photos in case it rains so we can paint indoors. See? Studio painting is okay! Take that, you Plein Air Snobs (one of which I hope to NOT become)
To top it off, I discovered that I thought I had mailed 5 Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names but I didn’t actually send them. What a goof. I am sorry, and you know who you all are because I emailed you and then sent you your delayed orders.
And, FINALLY, my business phone is working again. I wonder how many missed calls; there was no voice mail the past 4 weeks, so I’ll never know. The number remains the same as the previous 17 years. (It is on my contact page.)
I might need a secretary. Or a nap. Or some calming knitting.
In yesterday’s story beginning, we learned that I liked the beach and reading. Where are we going with all this?
I also loved to draw and figured that when I grew up, I’d live at the beach and be an artist who painted. Instead, I live near and sometimes in the mountains, and I used to only draw. I also paint now, but this has never felt as good as drawing. Doesn’t matter, because I can learn to paint better.
When I began painting, a painter I admire a lot told me that although he is a studio painter, it is very important to learn to paint “plein air”. This means to paint on location rather than from photos. I thought, “Ick, no thanks”. I may have said that very thing, and he responded that it really helps an artist develop skill.
That was in March of 2006, and I did try plein air painting on four occasions. It was much harder than I imagined. I didn’t enjoy the experience (such terrible incompetence on public display) and the results did not please me. I had to do a lot of work in the painting studio afterward to turn them into paintings that I was willing to sign.
Painting plein air in Mineral King in 2007
Painting on location in Three Rivers in 2011.
Painting outside in Three Rivers in 2015.
Why am I telling you all this? Come back tomorrow.
One morning this week as I set up to paint, I looked at several of the paintings that I formerly thought were finished. They looked sort of empty.
Nice, but something is missing.
Why did I think the tree was unnecessary? I begin painting all conifer trees with a vertical line to locate them and to build the foliage in an upright pattern.
Better!
‘Twas empty, now better.
These next two look almost the same. I used the same photo, but one is 8×8″ and the other is 6×6″. I don’t have enough skill to do two identical paintings, only two that are very similar. Are you shocked?
When I show paintings in progress on my blog, they don’t cause people to comment. Comments are fun for a blogger, show that people are reading and care enough to say something, and provide a way for a bit of interaction. When I talk about places I walk or hike and show photos, the comments come in more often.
Funny how that works – it is more enjoyable for my readers to see where I walk and what I see than to watch paint dry.
So, today there will be a little bit of drying paint, and a little bit of scenery.
2 in progress
3 drying
Since switching to Spectrum, there is no longer a telephone in the painting workshop (or in my studio, but that is a very long, annoying and boring tale). So maybe it is time to erase the phone #s on the chalkboard. But this is long and boring and annoying, and I’ve promised you other photos.
The top of Blossom Peak as seen from a friend’s driveway. I want to go there but don’t know a good route. Besides, I have waited a bit too long. The grasses are tall so they hide the footing, and the snakes might be out. Next January, perhaps?
The 2 left points of Blossom. It has 3 parts as you can see in the next photo.
Like the power lines? Phone lines? Whatevs, the point is to see the 3 points.
Looking upstream on the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River.
Looking downstream from the same bridge.
Just loving the green with the fiddlenecks and popcorn flowers.
That was just a regular Three Rivers walk on a popular road for walkers. A friend who lives below Blossom Peak had neck surgery and has to walk a certain distance each day in a flat place. She got tired of circling her house, so I brought her to a flat place near my house to get in her steps. The pace was much slower than my regular morning walks, the light was much brighter, and it made everything look even prettier than normal.
There. Aren’t you glad you made it through the paint drying session?
Here are a few of the most recently completed oil paintings, mostly of Mineral King subjects. They are all oil on wrapped canvas, ready to hang without a frame, and the price doesn’t include sales tax. Each one is now listed on my oil painting page.
Oak Grove Bridge XVII, 6×18″, $150
Alpenglow on Alta, 6×18″, $150.
Eagle Lake I, 6×18″, $150 (This isn’t the first time I’ve painted Eagle Lake, but it is the first time this year.)
Juniper I, 8×10″, $125 (Not the first time I’ve painted this juniper, just the first time this year.)
Honeymoon Cabin I, 8×8″, $100 Not the first time I’ve painted the Honeymoon Cabin, just the first time this year. (Is there an echo in this room??)
I recently read O Pioneers by Willa Cather. Can you tell by the title of this post? I’m glad I finally read it, enjoyed it, but wouldn’t gush about it to others or call it a “must read”.
With all the spring beauty, it is a little bit hard to keep my feet planted in front of the easel, but I press onward. Currently I’m listening for the second time to The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg while I paint, and that helps keep me working. (Very good book)
The trees in the foreground look as if a fire has gone through the neighborhood, so I added detail.
These are all finished. Trail Guy still thought the top painting of Alta Alpenglow looked fire-ravaged, so I added more fuzzy things to resemble some foliage. Probably just looks like mistletoe now.
These are also finished. That makes 16 of 32 finished, mostly Mineral King oil paintings, halfway through my stack (in case you didn’t want to do the math).
I like this – Trail Guy and Young Trail Girl, releasing a fish back into the stream.
So very tiny. . . I’ll need to work on it further, if the 2-hair brush and my magnifying glasses hold up.
This is a relief after the tee-niny-eensy people.
None of these are finished, but they are close. Maybe I’ll be faster on my next painting day so that my mean painting boss will let me go outside.
In looking through my photos to choose new Mineral King subjects (or new approaches to old subjects), I kept going back to a photo of some fisherpeople in the stream. Finally I decided to narrow it down to the parts that matter and try it on a vertical 6×18″ canvas.
You can see the first pass within this jumble of paintings in their embryonic stage.
Top down is the same as back to front in this painting. This works out well for me, since I “draw” with my paintbrush, often resting my hand on the painting. Many painters use a “mahl stick” to rest their hands on, but I paint too small for this to be of any help. Besides, I don’t like extra stuff, gear, tools, things. The more stuff I own, the more stuff breaks and gets lost and fills up my brain and life.
Slowly crawling down the canvas.
After all those greens, it is fun to put in blue for the stream.
This is as far as I can go until things dry. I’m unsure about the fisherpeople. The largest one is about 1/16″ high on the photo and appears to be riding a bike. That can’t be right. So I will probably look through my photos and see if there is one of Trail Guy or Trail Girl (I haven’t told you about her) that would be better. Trail Guy used to take Trail Girl fishing so she could hold the fish and talk to them before she released them. She is grown up now and we miss her something fierce, but she has a real job and doesn’t live in her parents’ basement. That’s good, I guess.
This represents a typical day at the easels for me, working on a few paintings, hanging out with my cats, taking a break to go see the river from the Dinely Bridge which crosses the middle fork of the Kaweah River here in Three Rivers.
I tightened up some details and began working on the Oak Grove bridge on the 6×18″ painting.
Then I switched to the other Oak Grove bridge painting.
Scout may be contemplating impending motherhood. Look at the pretty orange stripe that runs down from her eye. It will be fun to see what her babies look like.
Upstream view of the Kaweah River during a string of storms.
Downstream view. I love this kind of lighting – dark sky, bright sun, clarity.
This is a memorial bouquet which gets changed regularly on the Dinely Bridge: flowering quince, daffodils and rosemary approximate the three primary colors.
