Getting Real About Oil Paintings

Did you think I’ve spent the last weeks just driving and walking around, marveling at the river, snow, rain, and Samson in the water?

Nope. I’ve been oil painting every workday. See?

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The 2 oil paintings of Sequoia trees are drying, along with the blacksmith shop. (The Commissioner likes it!!)

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And, what is this? Sometimes when a painting doesn’t sell, I turn it into something else. This used to be a field of red tulips. No one cared except me. 

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Hi Samson. Stay out of my palette.

People in my life care more about Sequoia trees than tulips.

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Whoa. What is this? It used to be a field of red and yellow tulips. I hope people in my life care more about pomegranates than tulips. I thought briefly about painting all the fruits that begin with “P” – poms, pears, peaches, plums, persimmons and maybe even a pumpkin. A pumpkin would be large and weird with those others. And what would I name it? “Ps”? I could throw in a quince and call it “Ps & Q”. . . never mind.

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Hi Samson. Like your new perch? Stay out of my palette. That concrete block is holding down a box over the phone because you have knocked it off the hook too many times. 

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Part of the business of art is being honest with myself. I have to ask hard questions and face the answers. Why doesn’t a particular painting sell? Maybe it isn’t good enough, or maybe no one cares. I have to face facts and paint things that sell. Otherwise, I might need to get a job.

Sequoia painting

Sell, Sequoia Tree, Sell. I really don’t want to paint this one out. Paint it over? Paint over it? And don’t worry, this isn’t finished.

Never mind. Back to the easels. . .

 

Painting My Favorite Bridge

My favorite bridge is the Oak Grove Bridge on the Mineral King Road. I’d link you to previous posts about it, but things aren’t working very well on my website right now. Besides, I already talk too much and take up too much of your time. Current “wisdom” on blogging is to only post once a week. My head would blow up if I did that.

Here is the gradual, incremental, snail-paced evolution of a messy canvas into a commissioned oil painting. 

IMG_5113 IMG_5114 IMG_5115 IMG_5116Thanks for stopping by and listening and looking. 

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

Samson wanted to help.

IMG_5119 IMG_5120I wonder if he got any white paint on the tree?

Gotta See it in Person

The old Kaweah Colony blacksmith shop went away in a flood in 1997. I remember that flood because we were house hunting in Three Rivers during that time. It was interesting to drive around and see washouts and high water marks, but I wasn’t aware of the Kaweah Colony blacksmith shop. 

I’ve been painting from this old photo.

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The background is invisible in the photo, but that’s no excuse for leaving part of a painting blank. This necessitated a field trip.

These photos look like a mess but show me how to fill in the missing parts. Sort of. Real life is so messy. Scenery often involves tangled gray, green and brown matter.

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These photos weren’t enough. For one thing, I was in the wrong location. When I went back to the right place, my camera battery was dead, so I did a sketch. It wasn’t complete enough, because the tree to the right of the building remained a mystery. I can see the trunk and main branches, but what are the leaves doing??

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It was raining the afternoon I needed to know. I went anyway. This time I took 2 cameras and an extra battery and a parka.

Here is the tree, missing a few branches. Can’t see the leaves because there aren’t any, but I can tell it is an oak, and I get an idea of the tangled gray, green and brown shapes behind it.
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These are the 2 sycamores to the left of the shop. These photos helped immensely with detail. All the photos taken in the rain helped. 

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Finally, I think I may be finished with this commissioned oil painting. I sent this photo to the commissioner (doesn’t that sound official? The man actually owns a tire shop or 2. . . I wonder if he’d like being referred to as “Commissioner”.) 

Kaweah Colony Blacksmith Shop

I hope The Commissioner thinks I am finished. If not, I’ll make the adjustments that he requests. That’s how commissioned oil painting works. But, maybe he’s gotta see it in person too. (I KNOW “gotta” isn’t a word, just like “prolly” isn’t, but sometimes a writer’s gotta say what she’s gotta say.)

Simple

Painting the Oak Grove Bridge is anything but simple. After two more hours on the current oil painting of my favorite bridge, it looks like this:

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I spend a ton of time sorting out the shapes under the bridge. No one really knows or cares if they are exactly right, so I’m not sure why I spend so much time on them. I think it is so everything will fit. What if I leave out an important rock?

The colors and textures don’t matter at this stage. I just concentrate on getting the proportions and angles right, and try to get close in values (the darks and lights).

Seeing those rocks and parts of water is tricky. The shrubs keep growing and obstructing the views. The water is reflective, so it appears as simply white in places on the photo. 

I’ve stood on the bridge and stared at the rocks and water, and it seems completely different from what is in the photo. I might be a bit simple.

This doesn’t have to be perfect, just believable. I’ve drawn and painted the Oak Grove Bridge so many times that it seems I ought to be able to stop using photos. I can’t. It is possible that I am a bit simple.

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Since I find this destructive creature perpetually amusing, I must be a bit simple.

On the Easels

Samson is eager to participate.
Samson is eager to participate. He is the opposite of helpful. I have commissioned oil paintings to do, and no one requested Samson’s paw prints.
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All the colors look different in the bright morning sunlight.
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Good progress today on the hill behind, the sycamore bark, the background trees and the wood on the shed. It will need about 3 more layers of ever-increasing detail. Leaves on the trees will improve this painting, hiding awkward spaces. When in doubt, add a leaf. (Ask Adam and Eve about this.)
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The Sequoia tree paintings are finished and drying.  The 2 upper paintings look overexposed because of the bright light coming in the window, not because I painted them with wimpy colors. (I know you were dying to know but are too polite to comment.)
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This painting of the Oak Grove Bridge has been waiting patiently for some attention for almost a month while I painted another mural in the museum and attended to a whole mess of administrative tasks.
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Now the background above the bridge is looking good. It might even be finished. When I began the background below the bridge, I had to readjust the arches. That’s fine; I have plenty of practice. It is part of the fun of painting the Oak Grove Bridge.
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At the end of the day it is dark outside and dark in the painting workshop. That, and the Ott light, accounts for the bluish coloring to this photo.

3 Mineral King Paintings in Progress

I’ve been inching along (more accurately, “layering along”) on the 3 largish Mineral King paintings. With colder temperatures, the oil just isn’t drying quickly enough to make much progess.

Here is Farewell Gap with a few more layers.

Here is White Chief with a few more layers:

And here is Sawtooth with a new sky:

Growing Sequoias With Paint

Ever heard of growing Sequoia trees with paint? It’s figurative, not literal. Unlike the new (wrong) use of the word “literal”, I mean that I am figuratively growing trees. As in a figure of speech. . .

Please excuse the detour. Words mean things, and sometimes people need to be reminded, although I believe my blog readers are exceptional people, exceptionally smart and aware of reality. Otherwise, why would you all choose to read a blog by a realist? img_4986

This one is finished. It needs to dry, get scanned, varnished and added to inventory on my website. I can’t remember the title (Sequoia Number Something or Sunny Sequoias Number Something) and can’t turn it over to check the title while it is this wet. img_4988

Yikes. This is so ugly with only its first layer. You can see I have begun on the left side, which also happens to be farthest away.

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I think it could use another layer of detail, but it will have to wait until it is dryer. “Dryer”? Isn’t that a machine for drying clothes? Maybe I mean “more dry”. Anyone know a good editor??

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And this one is also ugly with only a first layer. I’m learning not to despair after only one pass over the canvas. It has only taken 10-1/2 years of painting to understand that ugly happens for a much longer amount of time than the fun part.

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Layer by layer. . . this one will also need more detailing and some color correcting.

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Here are all three, progressively more complete as you see them from upper to lower.

 

 

Sequoia Oil Painting in Progress

I returned to painting Sequoia trees while I waited for more information on the Kaweah blacksmith shop and for it to dry a bit.

After helping the color bullies my advanced drawing students with their paintings of Sequoia trees, I wanted to paint my own. 

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This was the first time I have painted since we got Samson. (painting these the same day I began the Kaweah blacksmith shop). He was very busy, but didn’t attack my feet or the paint brush, or tip over the turpentine, or run across the palette.

I got this far:

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Helping my drawing students with their Sequoia oil paintings helped me with mine.

Thank you, Color Bullies, Advanced Drawing Students!

Forgive Us Our Trespasses

Sometimes when I need to get photos or see stuff, I trespass. Been doing it my whole life, I confess. Forgive me my trespasses. . .

Are these the same two sycamores as in the sepia photo from 1996?
Are these the same two sycamores as in the sepia photo from 1996?
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These 2 sycamores have more space between them, but is was 20 years ago when this was taken.

Recently I went trespassing up the North Fork of the Kaweah, looking for the site where the Kaweah blacksmith shop sat. I have a photo from 1996, but the flood of 1997 probably changed the scene. Besides removing the blacksmith shop, it probably changed the route of the river there.

Why does it matter if I have a photo? Because I can’t tell if there are hills behind or if the river should show a bit or what to fill in with between the sycamore trees. If I can’t see it, I can’t paint it. Very well, that is.

Empty canvas, upside down photo.
Empty canvas, upside down photo.
No thanks, Samson, I don't need any help. Doesn't he look sweet? He isn't.
No thanks, Samson, I don’t need any help. Doesn’t he look sweet? He isn’t.
Building a painting probably isn't as scary as making sausage, but it certainly is daunting.
Building a painting probably isn’t as scary as making sausage, but it certainly is daunting. Hard to believe that things begin this rough, but yeppers, that’s the way I paint.