I tried to oil paint last Friday but the greenery and wildflowers overcame my sense of duty. So, Trail Guy and I drove up North Fork Drive to the end.
My palette was ready to go.I worked on Sawtooth a little.After telling Trail Guy that I’d heard the flowers were great up North Fork and staring out the window a bit, he said, “Let’s go now!”
The road was longer, rougher, narrower than I remembered and all very worth the drive.
The last 3.5 miles are unpaved.This is Yucca Creek at the end of North Fork Drive.That’s one narrow little footbridge over a massive old culvert pipe.Wowsa.The yellow flowers are called Madia.Heading back down has a view of Ash Peak with a blooming yucca and bush lupine.Looking over the edge down to the North Fork makes one glad to not encounter any oncoming traffic on that narrow road with no turnouts.Poppies are yellower in the wild than in my yard.The poppies on the hillsides are what gave California its name of “The Golden State”. (Bet you thought it was the gold rush)I love Fairy Lanterns, AKA Satin Bells. Pink isn’t my favorite color, but it is rare enough in nature that it stands out.
After we got back home, I painted a little bit more. There is this commissioned oil painting of Sawtooth for a very patient customer, and it would be good to make progress.
Sawtooth’s shape is improving, and it is acquiring colors and texture.
Then, I got distracted again and thought that wildflowers would look great on a 6×18″ canvas. Can you see the possibilities here? (Put on your rose-colored glasses with me!)
Remember the commissioned oil painting of Sawtooth? I do, really, I do. Please don’t worry, DV!
It looked like this after the first painting session.Now the sky and upper half of the painting has another layer that is more dramatic, which means both the colors and contrast are stronger.
It was a rainy overcast day, and by the time I got to the Sawtooth part of the painting, the light was too poor to mix colors accurately. That wasn’t very important on the first layer, but it is increasingly important as the layers build.
So, I moved on to a Kaweah Post Office commission. SD asked me to paint another Kaweah Post Office IX for her. This one is number IXV. It should be XV, but I didn’t number one of my earlier Kaweah Post Office paintings. That happens a lot around here.
Kaweah Post Office IX was painted in 2013; its twin will be painted in 2018 with a few adjustments. It will be a fraternal twin, rather than an identical one.Gotta start somewhere. . . Don’t worry, SD. I’ll paint until you are thrilled with the results!
As I was painting, I realized it would be helpful to see the one this was modeled after, because maybe this wasn’t the actual photo used for that one. Yea for a laptop.
A decent start.Added to the drying rack (who is back there making all that noise??)
I think that “take two” is movie talk. Since I only see a movie in a theater about once every two or three years, this is only hearsay. But we are here today to have a look at easel time, because I really did plant my feet in front of the easel. Several patient people are waiting for their paintings and might be getting worried that I have quit painting.
First, we have a Kaweah Post Office painting with a wonky-looking roof (Thank you, Nikki, my former drawing student who learned to see truth and speak truth, because drawing accurately is seeing accurately.)
Kaweah Post Office XIII as painted in 2015.
In the interest of self-preservation and professional dignity, IT WASN’T THAT FAR OFF! But it was off enough to warrant a patch-up. Besides, the flag is floating, and I am surprised that I forgot to put in the flagpole. (Maybe that’s why this one hasn’t sold. . .)
Using my angle finder tool, I corrected the angle and drew it on in yellow paint.I corrected the roof, added a flagpole, added tiny white dots to the flag, and corrected all sorts of things. Where was the quality control when I painted this the first time??Lots of work ahead at the easels, thanks to a couple of weeks of distractions, interruptions, events, trips, and plain procrastination. Where shall I begin? With the smallest and easiest one. . . easing into easel time here. . .
Next!
If I can’t be out there walking in it, I’ll just stand here and paint it. Someone who came by during the studio tour asked if I’d email her a photo of this when it is finished so she can decide if she’d like to buy it. I said, “Sure, but if someone shows up to pay for it first, they’ll get it and I’ll paint it again if you’d like it.” A bit awkward, but it would not make sense to put a painting on hold and lose a sale when there is no commitment.The road is clearer in this one, although only slightly. The greens in the photo are overly bright, so while painting, I look out the window and do some correcting to the color.Three drying. Notice the shingle siding on my studio next door? 😎
“Solds”? Is this really a noun? It is my world. Clearly the 6×18″ size is hot right now. Good thing I just ordered more canvases that size. I have several new ideas to paint in that format, so stay tuned.
All those paintings of Mineral King over the past several months erased the subject of Three Rivers from my mind. When I got reminded that I hadn’t yet reserved my booth for the Redbud Festival, I also remembered that people might want to see some Three Rivers subjects during that little show.
This popular shape and size is perfect for Moro Rock and Alta Peak and good practice for a possible mural of the same scene (still only in the conversation stage). This painting clearly needs many more layers.Not sure how it will be to paint all this grass. I will put a bunch of wildflowers in it instead of the few that appear in the photo. The green time of year here is almost wonderful enough to balance out the seemingly endless dry brown hot months.
All those paintings of Sawtooth completed over the past several months, and someone wants a different size?
Yep. No problem. I am an artist, and artists make art. Here are the beginning steps of the commissioned oil painting of Sawtooth:
First I assign an inventory #, title the piece and attach a hanging wire.Second step is to prime the canvas, or “tone” it as another artist names it. That was even more boring than Step #1, so this photo is showing the paint from the tubes and the colors I mixed to begin the painting.Painting from back to front means that the blue sky strips go on first.Then some clouds, and the realization that it would be helpful to crop the photo to a square.More clouds and the beginning of Sawtooth’s shape.The angle looked too steep on Sawtooth’s right side slope, so I pulled out my angle finder tool. It was a little tricky to take this photo so I am not holding the thing correctly here (vertical needs to be vertical, not tipsy). I’ll recheck the angle in the next layer.At the end of the painting session, everything had a first coat of paint.
Wow, it is time-consuming and interruptive to photograph the steps in this much detail. But, this customer has become a friend and likes seeing the progress. I’ve heard from others that seeing the process is interesting, so here we go. . .
Thank you for returning to see the next set of seven Kaweah Post Office oil paintings. Shall we commence our tour of the growth of my painting skills through the capitalistic exploitation of an innocent elderly landmark? (That would have cracked my Dad up – is anyone else out there laughing along?)
Kaweah Post Office VIII. Obviously, the little post office was popular in 2012. This one was bought by a celebrity who occasionally comes to Three Rivers. That isn’t as a big of a deal to me as the fact that a stranger bought my work!Kaweah Post Office IX was painted in 2013.Kaweah Post Office X was painted in 2014. It might have been the first one sold to raise money for the new roof. I think it is wrong to see this much sky behind it, because there is a steep hill back there.Kaweah Post Office XI is my favorite so far. This was done in 2015, specifically to help with the new roof. Another lying sky.Kaweah Post Office XII was also painted in 2015, also painted for the roof repair. But shouldn’t there be a little sky showing off to the side? This is another thing I forgot to check when I was there in person. Frankly, I don’t think anyone else cares!This one is simply titled Kaweah Post Office. I lost the sequential numbering momentum, so that means that #13 is actually #14. Does anyone care? Too bad I didn’t skip #13, like ships and some apartment buildings do. And yet another lying sky. . .Kaweah Post Office XIII was also painted in 2015. It is currently available at Anne Lang’s Emporium in Three Rivers or from my website. 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125 plus tax (unless you buy it from my website which STILL is unable to charge sales tax for some irritating and unknown reason).
And thus we conclude our tour of my endless depictions of the Kaweah Post Office, popular landmark in Three Rivers, but not where I get my mail, in case you were wondering.
Kaweah Post Office, first painted in 2009 with three years of painting under my belt, no confidence in my ability to paint architectural subjects and not a ton of experience in photographing my work either.
Every time an oil painting of the Kaweah Post Office sells, I paint it again.
Kaweah Post Office II, painted in 2010 (Where is the flag???)Kaweah Post Office III, painted in 2011Kaweah Post Office IV, painted in 2010, getting really elaborate with my details as my confidence and skill grows.Kaweah Post Office V, complete with the cigar Indian on the porch, also painted in 2010.Kaweah Post Office VI, 2012 (must have taken awhile for the previous one to sell)Kaweah Post Office VII, also painted in 2012
That’s a lot of oil paintings of the Kaweah Post Office. But wait! There’s more! Come back tomorrow and see the second set of seven.
Occasionally I have a chance to teach a handful of people what little I know about oil painting. I have only been painting for 12 years, so while I feel qualified to share what I know, I don’t think of myself as a qualified oil painting teacher.
There are 3 women about 2 hours away from Three Rivers who have been learning to oil paint by various methods and by painting together. They invited me to teach them what I know. One was my dear friend, The Captain, who successfully painted a pomegranate with me about a month ago.
This time we painted poppies, each person working from a different photo, but all mixing similar colors and tackling the project in the same order, but at differing individual speeds.
We squeeze out our double primary palette colors and mix up three shades of the background greens.
We draw the approximate shape of the poppy on the canvas, rotating the canvas and photo to view all the shapes from every angle and learn how to erase.
The background gets painted first, working first with the darkest colors and moving lighter.
We mix 3 shades of orange for the poppies.
We paint the poppies.
We let it dry overnight (only sort of dry – this is oil paint!) and then repaint the background for better coverage and more detail.
We repaint the poppy for better coverage and detail.
We evaluate one another’s paintings, congratulating the others on their success and belittling our own efforts (sad, but true).
We exclaim over the fun, the success, and say that we need to do this again. At the end of day one’s painting session.
One day a week or so ago, I painted in the morning and drew in the afternoon. This is what it looked like:
Piper was needy. He is resting his little head on my arm, not biting me the way Samson did.Felt compelled to paint this view again; 4 days later a friend/customer/collector emailed to ask if I had this view available; turns out he wants it to be 16×16″, not 6×6″. Good thing I have practiced this view many times.This is a popular size and shape, so my last canvas of this size became Sawtooth #29.Finished? Sawtooth definitely fits this shape of canvas nicely.
Then I moved into the studio. It was a sunny day, so I raised the blind and saw this:
Hi Mike, the carpenter (not to be confused with Michael, the Trail Guy)Here is another drawing in progress for the 2019 calendar.The plan is to put a little color into this drawing of oranges. Can’t be considered an authentic Tulare County artist unless I include oranges in my rotation of subjects.
And thus we conclude another workday in the life of this Central California artist.
