I Have a New Friend

Glowing Pink, watercolor, Krista Fulbright

I have a new friend. Krista Fulbright is an artist, working in watercolor. She moved to Exeter from Missouri (or “Missour-uh”, as another friend pronounces the state) a handful of years ago.

We met at an event at Cache, and I was struck by her sincere sweetness. Sounds corny, but I mean it.

She initiated contact, asking to get together for plein air painting. I told her honestly that I don’t like this activity very much, maybe because whenever I paint this way people ask if I am planning on finishing the painting. Sometimes they say, “That doesn’t look like your regular work”.

Anyway, we had a good conversation, and her response to my declining her invitation was to laugh and say that she understood. She said that we could probably find something else to do together, and I said I was looking forward to it.

We emailed, talked on the phone, texted, and eventually made a plan to get together. She was wondering about reproducing her art, and I offered to share my scanner and knowledge of Photoshop Junior. This resulted in a fun afternoon together in my studio.

As Krista figures out how to earn a living with her art, we discuss different aspects of this squishy and nebulous type of business. I’ve been doing this full-time for 30 years, but I still don’t know much. Things that used to work for me just don’t any more. . . print ads (where??), mailing out postcards (at 51¢ per card just for postage?), art festivals (most cancelled), printing/packaging/selling notecards (who writes anymore??), selling at gift shops (almost all now closed). . . times keep changing quickly. (Anyone read Who Moved My Cheese?)

Together, we explore ideas and share information. I haven’t had many artist friends who are seriously pursuing a career of art. I know a lot of artists, several in cities with large populations, some who rely solely on Fakebook, and many who are hobbyists, or dabblers. Krista is serious, focused, and relentless in improving both her skills and her business.

Krista’s website is https://fulbrightarts.com. Her work is realistic and tight, a style that suits me. It is a privilege to call this hardworking, talented lady my friend.

A New Place to Sell

Sales of my art have declined. Is it the economy? I assume so, since sales are an economic transaction. The specific reasons are: one of my regular vendors was not open this past summer; another one relied on a now-closed adjoining restaurant for foot traffic; the third place relied on traffic to Sequoia National Park, which was closed until July 1.

What’s an artist to do?

Look for a new place to sell, of course.

St. Anthony’s Retreat asked for some of my paintings for their gift shop. This is close to home, a place where I have painted several murals, staffed by many friends, and is an active place in Three Rivers. It brings in people from all over the valley for various purposes, many of which are not actually Catholic. It is a beautiful place, very bucolic, and they have very good food too.

I worked with two friends there to decide what to put in the gift shop. This is what we chose:

Craig Ranch (on BLM land above St. Anthony’s)
Kaweah River (St. Anthony’s is visible on the hillside.)
Alta, Kaweah Lake, Lupine (visible to anyone traveling to St. Anthony’s)
Winding Kaweah, almost visible from St. Anthony’s
Redwoods, painted from the same reference photo used on a mural at Santa Teresita, St. Anthony’s youth center
Yarn! Because there was a knitter’s retreat setting up when I delivered the paintings. (Mama didn’t raise no fool. . .)

Whatever Happened to. . . (Five items to satisfy your curiosity)

  1. . . . the mural/graphics at the Three Rivers Historical Museum? You’ll have to attend the exhibit opening of Native Voices to see!

2. . . . the murals at the giant Catholic church in Visalia? After 13 months of much wrangling, negotiating, emails, phone calls, designs, rewriting of proposals, and rebidding, I withdrew my proposals. They’ll have to find someone else for this. (I’d show you my designs, but I don’t want anyone to kipe them.)

3. . . . the mural for a county library, mentioned back in August of 2022? Nothing. It was promised to me, then silence. A call to artists went out, I submitted my designs (because it expanded from one wall to two walls), then silence. The deadline for a decision passed (May 31), and the silence continues.

4. . . .my overgrown unmowed lawn? After the 5th summer of not mowing, hand trimming, transplanting, and fertilizing, it is looking quite nice. Now that it is mowed, I can see the gaps, and next year I will continue to transplant clumps as I find them at the back of the house where there used to be lawn.

5. . . . my gardening efforts once I started using an expensive humus, Deer Out, and milorganite fertilizer? Things look moderately better, although not magnificent. (Let’s remain in Realville, people!) This is the herb garden, fenced against deer, many plants with underground baskets against gophers, very poor soil, direct hot sun in summer, and zero sun in winter.

Any questions?

Painting Sequoia, Not Just Chit-chatting

Yesterday I mentioned several things that I have painted from Sequoia National Park. Want to see? Some have sold, and some are currently available. (Every once in awhile, I show items for sale because I am supposed to be running an art business here, not just chit-chatting to my friends.)

Crescent Meadow, sold
Tunnel Log, sold
Sunny Sequoias, oil on wrapped canvas 18×36″, $1200
Moro Rock, sold
sold
Sequoias in Winter, 16×20″, oil on wrapped canvas, $650
Alta and Moro Rock after a Storm, sold
Redwood Grove, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125

Progressive River Oil Painting

This oil painting of the river is inching forward. Remember this?

Here is a day of (interrupted*) painting in steps.


*Quickety trip to the next mural site to learn the best method to transfer pattern to wall; phone call to spray varnish manufacturer to ask how to deal with the continually clogging nozzle; writing an endorsement for my mechanic’s upcoming website; asking some friends to do the same; phone-tagging and texting to make an appointment to show my paintings to a new vendor; several long phone discussions attempting to keep the wheels on a project that seems to be circling the drain (that’s called a “mixed metaphor”); photographing and scanning completed paintings. . . all part of the business of art.

Pressing Pause

 

This photo is from May of 2022.

Mineral King is closed to the public this year. The Silver City Resort will not be accessible. Cabin folks are strongly discouraged from going up the hill.

NOTHING can stop Trail Guy and I from going up the hill to our cabin.

This poses a question: is it wrong to post photos of and chit-chat about a place that people aren’t allowed to go?

I don’t know how to handle this.

In addition, I seem to have accidentally retired. Actually, I don’t want to be retired, so let’s say I am on a sabbatical. I think this means a paid break for the purposes of learning new skills or doing research. However, I don’t earn if I am not working, and I am not researching anything, so “sabbatical” might also be the wrong description. I simply don’t have work right now, an odd situation that I have never encountered in all my years of self-employment as a Central California artist.

I need time to think, and I welcome your thoughts on this odd situation. Meanwhile, I will be pressing pause on my blog for an undetermined amount of time as I examine what might and might not be the appropriate method of blogging about this current phase of life as your Central California artist (and Mineral King reporter).

 

More thinking

There isn’t much to report on the Mineral King Road. Work is in progress, but there are People in Charge Who Make Important Decisions, and we are the little people not in charge, awaiting those decisions.

Meanwhile, I am in a holding pattern. Do I continue to draw and paint, without places to sell, building up a large body of work? Or do I just go pull more weeds? 

There is a show coming, but it is a Long Way Off (that’s how I am thinking of the show, capitalized, titled “Long Way Off”). I have been thinking, planning, digging through photos, wondering if there is a way to rework unsold pieces, or if I should just paint over the top, wondering if there are too many repetitious subjects, wondering if I am clever and creative enough to paint new subjects that people might want, or if I am clever and creative enough to jazz up the unsold pieces for Long Way Off.

In order to decide what to paint, I chose the subjects, then looked through my existing paintings to see what sizes were already done. I went through my numerous files of photos, and chose ones that stood out. I don’t know why they stood out, but I just went with my gut instinct. 

The categories are ag, the lake, the river, hills, Mineral King, Sequoia, trees, Hume Lake, Balch Park, Yokohl, and of course, citrus with foothills and mountains. In other words, everything I love about Tulare County (plus Hume Lake in Fresno County). In more other words, places I frequent, not too far away, close and close-ish to home, places I know.

There is plenty of time to figure this out. For all I know, the Long Way Off show might decide that I am passé, a has-been, and cancel the show.

I am not worried, simply curious about what might be next for my ever-changing art business.

Now I think I’ll go pull some more weeds.

Drawing and Thinking

The business of art is fickle, always changing. An artist can just make whatever she feels like making and hope it sells. However, if an artist wants to earn a living, she needs to pay attention to the ever-changing world of what people want, what they can afford. She also needs to pay attention to selling opportunities, another ever-changing set of circumstances.

For a handful of years, there have been three places that sell steadily for me. One was next to a popular restaurant, which has now closed, diminishing foot traffic by the gallery. Another is a seasonal store in the mountains, and it most likely will be unable to open this year due to a ruined road. The third is in a building which recently changed hands, the lease will expire so things will go month-to-month, and with Sequoia National Park being closed so long, the traffic in town has diminished tremendously.

This may or may not be connected, but I have no commissions.

The murals which I thought were in the bag have fallen into indecision on the part of the customers.

So, I am drawing simply because I want to.

I will continue to think, and continue to share my thoughts.

Sold in Spring 2023

If you are getting this post in your email, go to the internet and type in jana botkin dot net (type it in computer style, not the way it is written here).

Sales have been slow. I am not defining “spring”, precisely, and it isn’t over yet. However, I am not producing very much: just editing and formatting 2 different books, teaching drawing lessons, communicating occasionally with the folks on 2 different pairs of murals, and wondering if there will be any reason to paint towards selling at the Silver City Store this coming summer.

 

Lest you think I am bored, your Central California artist is never bored. I am yardening, meeting up with an old friend from high school, cleaning out closets and rooms at church, yardening some more, reading, knitting, walking with my neighbor, and yardening (in case you were wondering.)

Finding Information (Instead of Woo-woo Inspiration)

If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.

I was procrastinating (and yardening) in order to think. Sometimes procrastination is simply waiting for inspiration. If you are a person of faith, that is a time of waiting for the Lord to show the way through some of life’s more puzzling situations.

One of my puzzling situations was how to paint the mountains accurately on a commissioned oil painting when I didn’t have the right photos. Sure, Part A is in Photo A, Part C is in Photo C, but then Photo B doesn’t match or fit because it was taken from a different location or there is a tree blocking what I need to see.

I can fake mountains and foothills pretty well, but this particular painting is calling for accuracy. Well, actually, Mr. Customer is calling for accuracy in the mountains, and I fully understand and endorse his desire. The point of the painting for him, besides recalling a moment in time, is to be able to see specifically which peak is where. 

I had a good start, but there were some significant difficulties, such as what happens between Castle Rocks and Sawtooth. I could make a few white dabs, but when Mr. Customer and I try to name peaks, our efforts would be stymied by misleading information. (Heaven forbid that we participate in dis and mis information!)

The answer came while having lunch on Rocky Hill.

Let’s crop and enhance it.

Nope, this isn’t the span of mountains I am seeking. It’s in this photo, but those beeves are in the way.

I cropped out the cattle, messed with the exposure so the mountains were very distinct against the sky, and VOILA! (That is French for THIS IS WHAT I WANT AND NEED! Maybe. I don’t speak French.)

Was I seeking inspiration?

Maybe. People who aren’t artists think there is some sort of woo-woo inspiration thing that causes artists to do our thing.

I am more practical. There is beauty everywhere, subjects that would make great paintings, but as a professional, I have to take into account what my customers (and potential customers) want.

So, more than inspiration, I was seeking information, but needed help to find it, and then, right on time, the Lord provided. (If you are not a person of faith, you might credit “the universe”. That’s too woo-woo for me.)