Nice job, Mary! Thank you for all the years of drawing with me, and Godspeed to you as you begin an adventure in a new place! (P.S. Not sure exactly what “Godspeed” means, but it feels right here.)
ArtSpeak is what I call the pretentious vocabulary of artists. In my drawing lessons, and among my students, we have our own vocabulary.
I’ve recently begun using the word “embiggen”, simply because it makes me smile. One of my students asked if she should “smallen” something recently, and then another one said she needed to “outen” an edge.
Another student brought in a snow scene from an overcast day that she wants to do in colored pencil. We discussed the values (which is ArtSpeak for darks and lights). Usually we reserve paper color for the lightest areas, but the brightest snow isn’t going to be in sunlight on this drawing so paper color will be too white. I suggested that she keep it paper color, because by the end of the project, all the other colors will have “grubbified” the snow to the right color.
And don’t forget the time I explained to a student that she needed to “horizontalize her verticals.”
The most fun part is that we completely understand one another!
Penstemon, planted on purpose in my yard rather than a wildflower, but in spite of being a native, it isn’t really thriving.
Is it possible I didn’t learn anything in May? Or is it that I just didn’t keep track? (Who said, “You learn something new every day?”) What can I pull out of my memory from just the past 30 days? How about these 7 items:
I sold something on eBay for $20 and charged $5 for shipping. Someone in Florida bought it and it cost me $16.17 to mail (there is currently no UPS outlet in Three Rivers). EBay took their bite, and my net profit was $7.80. Ouch.
I went to the bank to do a routine transaction, or at least I thought it was routine. In the olden days, it would have meant interacting with a human behind a desk. This time it meant sitting at a desk, watching a human interact with a computer. Ouch.
While at the bank with high ceilings and echoey acoustics, I wondered why they feel the need to play annoying (too loud and echoey and irrelevant) pop music. I didn’t learn why, only that my tolerance for noise seems to be diminishing in direct proportion to the increase of noise in the world. Ouch.
A small number of vendors and low visitation at a local arts and crafts fair does not mean low sales. Un-ouch. 😎
After saying, “no more shows” (meaning entering juried and judged shows), I made 2 exceptions: entered the show “Seascapes” at the Exeter Courthouse Gallery, and plan to enter a show (untitled) at the Tulare County Government Plaza Building. Haven’t learned anything yet, except that maybe I am the living embodiment of the triumph of hope over experience.
Kittens are so much fun! I’ve always known this, but now we have healthy and well-socialized kittens instead of feral, rescued, or weaned-too-early babies. There is a difference, and this is a good litter.
Memorial Day used to be May 31. Now it is the last Monday of May, a way to mark the beginning of summer. Really??
Why does it matter what a flower’s name is? Why do I want to know? Why did it matter enough to me to spend 2 years chasing, photographing, writing, designing, and ultimately publishing Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names?
My first answer to that question is “inquiring minds need to know”.
My second answer (borrowed from a friend who said this to me once), “Well, of course it is important! Look at the first job ever given to the first human being!” (Yes, she spoke with exclamation points.)
My third and fourth answers are taken from a podcast I listened to recently. Someone was being interviewed about learning the names of the trees and frogs that she saw and heard every day. She said this (paraphrased by me): “Learning a name takes you from being an observer to being a participant.”
She also said, “Learning names makes you care more”.
If you bought a book or are thinking about it, what is your why?
100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $20, available here, Silver City Resort, Three Rivers History Museum, and from me or Trail Guy around town.
All 3 grays together – KitCarson, Georgia, and Undecided (because I am not going to name them so I don’t get attached. Hahaha)
Since April of 2008, I have been posting to this blog, in an irregular fashion at first (I knew nothing about blogging), and then consistently 5 days a week.
Current blog wisdom from the Internet-Know-It-Alls is that 5 days a week is too often. Since I am not seeking a multitude of “Likes, Followers, or Friends” (none of those words really mean what they appear to mean), current blog wisdom doesn’t drive much of what I do.
Instead, I have the distinct privilege of knowing most of my readers, or at a very minimum, having met them in real life. Some subscribe (the means for that is on the main blog page that gives excerpts from each post), some check in occasionally. All are welcome.
If you choose to subscribe, enter your email address. You will receive an email with a link to click or tap on to confirm your subscription. Then you will receive an email of the current blog post each time I put something on the blog.
Many of my readers aren’t very techie, and might be a little nervous to click on things. (If that is you, today’s Blog Idea might be a little too much for your careful self, but there is nothing to worry about because you can’t wreck my blog or your device by clicking here.)
See the little triangle to the right of the words “Select Category”? If you click or tap on that arrow, you will see a list.
My Blog Idea is that you can go to a particular category that interests you and see a whole lot of information on old blog posts. Some people only read my blog to learn about Mineral King, others read because they want to know about drawing or murals or oil painting or lessons or Three Rivers, and a small handful read my blog because they are related to me.
I have noticed that if reading my blog on a cell phone, the category list doesn’t appear. There must be a way to see the list, but that is beyond my current abilities.
This is the list of categories of blog posts. Some of the posts fall under more than one category. The number in parentheses is the number of posts within the category. If you click on a particular category, you will be taken to those posts.
“General” is a category automatically assigned if I have neglected to uncheck that box while posting. If I had nothing but time on my hands, I’d go back through the list and change the categories on those posts, but I’d rather be showing you how to enjoy the blog or telling you about current events in the life of this Central California artist. (But wait! What category does this post belong under??)
THANK YOU, BLOG READERS, NO MATTER THE REASON FOR SHOWING UP HERE! (unless you are trying to sell me something like fake brand-name purses or sunglasses or your “grow-your-subscriber-list” services –all y’all can just go bother someone else)
Still piling together at 6 weeks, but very very active.
I can’t tell them apart from just their faces yet.
This might be Georgia. She looks like Samson when we got him. Same family line, but new blood from the papa.
The Perfect Gift Boutique at the Three Rivers Arts Center, November 2007
There are several different kinds of shows for artists to participate in.
The elegant type at an art gallery – a dress-up indoor event, usually with wine and hors d’oeuvres, often shared with other artists and usually preceded by a postcard mailing. These range anywhere from a nice opportunity to a Big Deal, depending on how shiny the floor is and how far apart the art is spaced on the walls. There is no entry fee, you have to be invited to be a participating artist, and the gallery keeps a percentage of the sales.
The arts and crafts fair. These tend to be outdoors, have an entry fee, and attract all manner of folks. Some are looking to spend money, and some are just looking to spend a little time. The sales can vary with the weather, the amount of publicity, or just economic times. A show can be wonderful one year and a dud the next, and it is hard to predict in advance.
Setting up art at some sort of an open house, a reception, a dinner or an annual meeting. Unless the artist is the featured speaker, I have found these to be a waste of time. Exposure is only important for a little while when starting out; after a while, a person can die of exposure. (We need sales to stay alive.)
As a regional artist, I do local shows, so I know a high percentage of the folks who visit. It is like a reunion/party combined with being tuned in to people who actually want to buy something. There is a balancing act between chit-chatting too much and missing sales as a result, or just zeroing in on potential customers and not having time for friends.
The items that sell well vary from year to year. Back in the 1990s, it was all about cards and reproduction prints. Learning to oil paint in 2006 opened up an entirely new avenue. A few years ago, coloring books were the hot item. This year at the Redbud Festival, Mineral King Wildflowers was the star.
And look at my booth 10 years later than the photo above:
Perfect Gift Boutique, November 2017
Gilligan or Ginger? (at 6 weeks they are venturing outside)
Sometimes I have the overwhelming need to share some beauty with you that is not of my making. (I hope you know me well enough to not take that sentence as if I believe all my art is beautiful. Gotta stay real and humble here.)
What is this new-to-me wildflower, across the road and downstream from Reimer’s (the candy store in Three Rivers)?
So glad you asked! It is Globe Gilia.
The plant I pilfered a cutting from last summer in someone else’s yard is in bloom!
The Jerusalem Sage is in bloom!
The Spanish or French Lavender is in bloom; I’m inclined to think of it as Red-Violet rather than Lavender.
The Rock Rose is in bloom!
Look at the Honeysuckle! Too bad you can’t do a scratch-and-sniff on your screen.
One of the many pencil drawings from The Cabins of Wilsonia
Yesterday I told you of some good ideas that came to me while I was organizing my storage shelves. Today I will tell you of two that aren’t complete. They are good ideas in terms of how to spend my time and energy with my art business, but will take more thinking on how to bring them about.
The Cabins of Wilsonia came out in December of 2014. Many of the 200+ drawings have sold, but many remain available. It is time to offer them at a deep discount, and then shred the remainder. They are doing no one any good in storage. Now I need to figure out how to best reach the people who are most likely to want the drawings. Keep thinking.
Sequoia Natural History Association used to be the name of the outfit that stocks the ranger stations and visitor centers in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The name changed, the director I knew retired, and now I don’t know who to talk to about buying my prints and cards to sell in the Parks. They are doing no one any good in storage. Keep thinking.
Crescent Meadow, 11×14″ reproduction print, wildflowers colored one at a time, one after another after another. . .
Redbud Festival is coming soon!
The kittens are getting quite busy at 4 weeks old. They tried canned food and spent a fair amount of time walking in it. It was too gross to photograph. You’re welcome.
Lately I have preferred to work in silence instead of listening to podcasts, music, or the radio. I seem to need lots of quiet in order to think. I don’t have an agenda; instead, I just let the thoughts roam freely, and sometimes good ideas show up.
When I photograph my paintings on the easel in the painting workshop, I am often appalled by the state of the storage shelves behind the painting. What am I storing? Why is it such a mess? If the things aren’t useful, why I am keeping them?
Last week I went through those shelves, moving things that seldom get used to the upper levels, consolidating things, and evaluating their usefulness. I had some thoughts while doing this task, some new, some old.
Many of my art supplies and materials have been given to me. This makes me want to give things to other people, to be as generous and helpful to others as people have been to me. A cautionary thought occurred: I should be careful to keep mental boundaries in place, so that I don’t start just handing out my work. Good idea!
The 4×6″ paintings that I have been doing recently usually are priced at $50. I will be calling them “Show Specials” and offering them for $40 at the Redbud Festival. I’m not splitting with a gallery or a gift shop at that event, so why not? It is fun to offer something new and learn the response. Good idea!
After making an ordering mistake several years ago, thinking I was getting 12 2×2″ canvases and instead of getting 12 packages of 5 each for a total of 60, it is time to be finished with those. They are hard to paint, because I have to hold them in my left hand, and the opening in the back is much smaller than my fingers are able to squish. So, I will be painting quick Mineral King scenes, and offering them as a Show Special when I do the art show and sale at the Silver City Store this summer. Good idea!
There will be 4×6″ original oil paintings at the Redbud Festival, priced for $40 each instead of $50. SHOW SPECIAL!
A friend wanted to hear my thoughts on plein air painting, so I wrote to her about it. Several other friends said they hadn’t known what the words meant until I started my detour down that road. (Or maybe it will become my main road. More will be revealed in the fullness of time.)
Plein air means “open air”. (Thank you, Dan!)
There is a snobbery in the art world, an attitude that real artists paint plein air. Studio artists? Meh, anyone can do that. I had a college professor who belittled those of us who signed up for photorealism studio painting; I quit at 1/2 a semester because he didn’t teach what he dismissed as “smoke and mirrors”.
Plein air is difficult for several reasons, including bugs and weather. There are no boundaries to the scene that ultimately will be enclosed by specific borders. Artists have to be able to see and decide what they plan to paint, ignore what they will not paint, and arrange those things in a pleasing manner. In order to “erase” the unnecessary details, they squint so that nothing remains except dark and light masses. When mixing the colors, the artists come up with an average color for various areas. They simplify textures, and memorize light when it appears in order to put it in at the end. And, it is assumed that a plein air painter will finish the painting “alla prima”, which means in one session.
An aside about the art world: why the extra languages? Plein air is French; alla prima is Italian. Go figure.
In order to finish something alla prima, one has to work very quickly and finish an entire painting within 3-4 hours. Artists who are honest will tell you that many paintings are finished in the studio later. This is possible even without photos, because very little is done with tight detail. The proportions are usually in place, so it is probably just values (the darks and lights) and color correcting that happens later.
The art world loves to throw around the term “painterly”, which I have concluded simply means “messy”. Since I was 8 years old, I have worked hard to see details, to have distinct, clear edges to things, and I find it completely counterintuitive to purposely blur things. But, I am willing to learn, to try, to improve (but how will I know if I have improved or if I have added more details than are allowed?)
Painting plein air is a great skill for several reasons:
Sometimes I need to paint quickly.
There are many people who like the softer, blurrier paintings that lack detail but focus on shapes and colors.
I live part time in a National Park, where being able to paint quickly could be a great business opportunity.
Since taking the 3 day workshop in Georgia 2 weeks ago, I have been able to produce many paintings. (I haven’t shown them all to you.)
So, my conclusion is that the skills are very valuable and that I will practice them: painting quickly, focusing on good composition and correct colors (not entirely perfect, just colors that look right together in a scene). Some of this will be done while looking at a scene in person; some of it will be done looking at photos. I won’t be able to paint like Laurel Daniel, but I can paint more simply than I have in the recent past and still add enough details to retain my own “voice” (and some dignity).
MAY MEANS THE ANNUAL REDBUD FESTIVAL IS COMING THIS MONTH!
The summary of what I learned in April doesn’t seem to fit my normal end of month list. A paragraph will suffice.
Uncle Tucker, the guardian
In April I learned how to plein air paint. I also learned to use a cell phone, how to navigate the world of travel that is now dependent on cell phone ownership, usage, and competency, and that a green lizard in Georgia is actually called an “anole”. I learned that a small cat can have 5 kittens, that a cat with a stump of a tail can have tailed cats, stumpies, and rumpies. (We don’t know yet if the “rumpie” is healthy. Stay tuned.)
So, here is a beautiful and dramatic photo for you (because it was a beautiful and dramatic month) and tomorrow we will resume our adventures in plein air painting.
