While I was growing a tree, this was happening outside the painting workshop.
A Tree Grows
Little Boutique in Lemon Cove
Happy Birthday, Jim! (We’re still in the Fs. . .)
Ever been to Lemon Cove? If you’ve gone to Sequoia from Visalia, you’ve passed through it. I think of it as Lemon Curve. . . a few curves on the highway, and you are outta there.
There’s a little boutique at the Lemon Cove Womans Club (yep, that’s the real spelling) on Saturday, October 20, called the Harvest Boutique, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. The Womans Club is on Highway 198, and it looks like this (if you first vacuum all the color out of life):
For the boutique, I’ve painted some new small citrus oil paintings, 4×6″ and 6×6″ (priced at $50 and $60 plus 8% California sales tax). Although this is LEMON Cove, there is more than one type of citrus art here, and please take note of the highly creative titles.
The Rest of the Sequoia Oil Painting Saga
SS brought me this oil painting:
I thought it was this one:
Then I thought it was this one:
I can’t find the photo that I used to paint any of these, so I have to rely on my experience of painting Sequoia trees to just improve the painting.
Here it is wet on the easel; is it improved? I think so. Will SS? I like it much better. The questions are still unanswered, but the painting is now finished (until someone else brings it to me from another antique store in another 10 years?)
The Story Behind a Painting
Sequoia trees are one of my biggest subjects to paint. Well, duh, they are the biggest trees in the world. But that’s not what I mean – I paint Sequoias over and over and over.
A few weeks ago a girl whom I will call SS called to say she found a Sequoia oil painting by me at an antique store. (Here in Tulare County, “antique store” can sometimes be a euphemism for “junk store”, or if you are a bit more refined, a “thrift shop”; only the truly hip think of “repurposing outlet”, and probably no one in Tulare County.) SS just wanted to know if it truly was mine, if it had been altered in any way, and what I thought.
She read me the inventory # on the back, and I found it in my extensive files of oil painting photos.
First thought: ‘How embarrassing!” Second thought: “I paint better now, so may I borrow it back and improve it?”
I spent too much time trying to find the photo I used to paint this, but it has vanished. Why?? Where?? Who knows?
As I was composing this blog post, I discovered that in my extensive photo records, I have the wrong title on the photo. The painting is this one:
Or is it??
This is what SS brought to me:
It’s not the same either! When did I paint this? Where is the photo? Did I decide that after using it 3 times, it was time to retire the photo? Did I lend it to someone? What happened to the photo of the painting?
The inventory # on the back does not match the inventory # in the files of photos! And, it was a paint-over from another oil painting that did not meet my standards. The edges were not painted because I framed it. I never frame them any more and haven’t for years.
“Years”, she says, as if she’s been painting for decades instead of since March 8, 2006.
The saga continues. . .
On the Table and the Easels
In progress on my drawing table and on the easels:
Turned on the Swamp Cooler
What sort of stupid-sounding blog post title is that?
An honest one. I paint better when I am not overheated, and in spite of the calendar having turned to autumn, the swamp cooler in the painting workshop is still in use. I painted better this session than the last one because I was more comfortable.
Several of these still need a signature. That is easier when the paint is dry.
In Progress, Pencil and Oil
It was still hot last week. I painted awhile in the workshop but didn’t turn on the swamp cooler. Probably should have. Painted slowly, quit early.
I retreated to the studio and turned on the air conditioner. While listening to interviews with the very smart and entertaining Mike Rowe, I began this pencil commission.
I love to draw.
Painting With Distractions
There are a few small fall shows coming up beginning in October, and I don’t have any small paintings for these venues. I have large Mineral King paintings, but this is not what typical customers are seeking at boutiques, festivals and fairs.
Hence, I pulled out some photos and began planning new small oil paintings. There will be 3 on 5×7″ boards which sit on miniature easels, 3 4×6″ and 3 6×6″ oils on wrapped canvas. All will be citrus. For now. Let’s see how things go here. . . if I finish these, I might do a few pomegranates too.
Then I heard one of my favorite sounds.
Oh boy! My new walking shoes are here! I took them into the house, thought about trying them on, reminded myself that I was supposed to be working, so I had to parent myself: “Try them on when you are finished painting and go back to work NOW”.
Because these tiny paintings don’t sit on my easels, I hold them in my left hand to paint. Or I lay them flat on my rolling thing (it has an art name but I can’t remember what it is).
However, there was another distraction.
Tucker was very needy, but willing to sit still on my lap so I worked around him.
More rough beginnings, but that’s okay. It is hard to concentrate when there are new shoes and kitties who need me. Besides, I was tired from getting up early to walk fast and far in the dark in worn out shoes. (A goathead went right through the bottom last week!)
I came into the studio to get some work done, to post to the blog, to cross things off my inventory list that have sold recently, to sketch a little. . . you know, just the normal art business tasks.
This time Scout was very needy. She will not sit still, licks my hand and arm and bites my watch, steps on the computer, and changes position every few seconds. 
I had to smash her down with my hand so the laptop could photograph her. (Wow, my hand is scary looking. Someone please tell me that it is the Photo Booth application or I might go into shock.)
Another Oil Commission Begun
A friend of Trail Guy’s family has been in touch with me via email, and we have been enjoying our correspondence. She recently decided to commission me for an oil painting and 2 pencil drawings, all related to the Silver City Store*. After a great deal of communicating, sending photos, clarifying, and just discussing things, it was time to begin.
First, the oil painting. The oldest photo we could find was from 1985. It is later than her time there, but certainly closer in appearance than how it looks today.
Good thing that she knows I can paint, because the beginning always looks very rough. This will take many layers because of the vast amount of detail.
*The Silver City Store is 4 miles below the Mineral King valley. People stay in nice chalets, smaller store cabins, or in private cabins, and they stop there for burgers, pie and (we hope) for oil paintings.
New Beginning
Isn’t that title redundant? Probably. Every time I begin, it is on a new project.
A thoughtful mom bought a painting of an iris for her daughter named Iris.
She has another daughter named Camille and requested a camellia for her. Luckily, I have a good photo of a camellia in bloom, remembered the month it blooms, and only had to look through the February photos of 10 years to find it. Maybe it is even more lucky that Customer Mom liked the color and lighting and angle!
This will dry and then I’ll be able to detail it, my favorite part.