Please forgive the silence on the blog. I am working on a project that requires focus. The customer is away for awhile so I haven’t been given permission to tell about the project.
Samson can keep you company while I work.
Fruits, Nuts and Flakes
A friend said he disagrees with the idea that California is land of fruits and nuts. He said it is more like a bowl of granola: fruits, nuts and flakes.
I wonder why there is a correlation between flakes and artists. Artists have often been called flaky, and I work very diligently to blast that stereotype from my profession.
In my experience, it is contractors who are flaky. When I find a builder or a repairman who returns calls, shows up on time and actually calls when he cannot make it, I rejoice and spread the word. They are rare birds.
And here is a not so rare bird.
Hey, Rabbi Google (as we were taught to call it while in Israel), these are oil paintings – an orange, pomegranates, and a California quail.
Thoughts on Success in Art
I have 3 nephews. 2 of them are “creatives”, one an accomplished graphic artist supporting a wife and 2 children, and the other about to start his junior year in college as a music major. Might be performing arts, might be music theory. . . can’t remember exactly and embarrassed by asking him too often.
Music Nephew and I have been having an email conversation about “the arts”, and he mentioned how a musician friend of his gets in the way of his own success. I responded with something that I think you might enjoy, Oh Blog Readers (all 4 of you or so. . . maybe 6 or 7, but I still don’t know how to access or read the blog stats).
Most of us trying to make it in the arts are usually in the way of our own success. I’m gradually learning to redefine success. I know I don’t want to spend hours and hours on social media trying to build up a following, so I’m not – that’s success. I’d rather have real people that I know just happily following my blog and thinking of me when they have an art need – they do, so that’s success. I also don’t want to do the crazy hard work of building up a body of work that might appeal to galleries, which I’m not, so that’s success.
My life’s work is to discover and display the good things of Tulare County, a place I love to hate and hate to love. Sigh. Thus, the mixed ideas about success – I am portraying this place, but sometimes I want to live somewhere with a less hostile climate, cleaner air, and richer more educated populace.
If you made it to the end of this bloviation, you deserve a reward. Here, have a look at a successful pencil drawing of a bridge.
Weird?
Sometimes people think artists are weird.
I think everyone is normal until I get to know them.
I did a mental inventory of all the chairs in my house. (Is this weird? Never mind. Don’t answer that question.) As I moved from room to room, I realized that EVERY SINGLE CHAIR IN MY HOUSE is a salvage, a second-hand, a “sure, I’ll take that”.
A few weeks ago, Trail Guy and I were at a dump. (None of your beeswax, but thanks for your concern.) I saw a chair, and knew it was meant for me.
It was a mess, but a classic shape, sturdy frame, and just what our green room needs. The green room is a little empty, and I’ve been thinking about what might be good in there. This chair is just what I had envisioned.
I chose fabric that I thought would suit the chair (a vague blurry bit of it is in the foreground of the photo above) and took a few photos of the chair.
When my favorite upholsterers received the photos, this was the response: “This is a 1950 vintage chair. very popular because of the great lines and comfort. We can repair the back leg or replace. With a new cushion you will have a beautiful chair.”
How beautiful? I almost choked when he named the price.
The senior upholsterer said that when it is finished, it would be worth $1200! I told him I couldn’t afford a chair of that quality or value. Remember, I find my chairs in the dump! (or yard sales,other people’s garages or thrift shops)
I thought about taking the chair back home again, but realized I’d have to unload it. Then I’d think about it for awhile, adjust to the price, make arrangements to load it and take it back to Visalia.
It is a mess, but can’t you see the possibilities here?
Weird? Or resourceful?
It is so satisfying to find something of potential value, to salvage and repair, to find completely unique things, to own items with a story, to enjoy things that are lasting, timeless, and classic.
The upholsterer said it would last 25 years. I thought, “IT HAD BETTER!!”
Uh, does anyone want to buy a coloring book? One hundred coloring books? Or how about an oil painting? A really large oil painting, perhaps?
I’m in a show soon at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter. Bring your checkbook.
Busy Week Ahead
Today I want you to see the list of things I hope to take care of this week. It will relieve you of any illusions of an artist just happily creating under amazing peaceful inspiration. (That’ll teach me to run off to Israel for 2 weeks when there is work to be done!)
- Finish preparing the manuscript of Trail of Promises (final edits) and email to the printer. (Remember that I am now also an editor and dabbling in book shepherding due to my “vast experience” with The Cabins of Wilsonia.)
- Wait for the paper proof of the cover and hustle it to the author for approval.
- Package up an order of notecards and hustle them to the post office.
- Prepare a deposit and hustle it to the bank.
- Scramble around to find mats and frames for pencil drawings that pertain to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks for a last minute exhibit.
- Spend time writing a few sentences to accompany every piece.
- Email the images and the prices, sizes and “paragraphs of inspiration” (WHAT?? I thought it would make a nice card or print to sell in the parks!! Is that “inspiration”??)
- Finish the Exeter coloring book designs – title page, front cover, inside front cover, inside back cover, and back cover, color the covers, scan everything, email it to the printer (hence the reason for the hustle to the bank – gotta pay for these things in advance)
No painting or pencil drawing this week. Just lots of hustling around. Anyone want to order a coloring book? Some notecards? I’ll be going to the post office.
What Does A Central California Artist Do?
Are you wondering how an artist in a place like Tulare County (Central California – there is a huge area of our state that is rural, and it is my job to record and share the good things about this area) can find work to do?
How about a list today:
- Teach 5 hours of drawing lessons a week, 3-5 people in each class.
- Sell coloring books.
- Plan for and draw another coloring book (Anyone want to guess the subject?)
- Finish the 24×30″ commissioned oil painting of a Three Rivers house
- Begin and finish 3 oil paintings for the upcoming Redbud Festival (May 7-8)
- Gather and price the items to take to the Redbud Festival.
- Take coloring books to the Post Office, and check supplies at the Three Rivers Mercantile, which has sold more than 2 dozen so far. (Told you we are rural!)
- Figure out when to get with a web designer so she can figure out why the shopping cart on this website won’t provide me with the mailing address when people place orders.
- Figure out how to put a better subscribe button on this blog that comes with a freebie so that people will want to give me their email address so I can notify them (you?) when the new coloring book is ready. (Have you guessed yet what it will be about?)
- Compose and send an email newsletter to my subscribers to remind them of Redbud Festival (May 7-8) and tell them of the new coloring book.
First one to guess and tell me either in the comments will win a free coloring book of the new design!
Thus we conclude a little peek into the work of a Central California artist in rural Tulare County. Not your typical definition of “artwork”.
OH! #11! – BLOG!! GOTTA BLOG!!
WAIT – THERE’S MORE! #12 is reorder the first coloring book, “Heart of the Hills”. You can order one here.
Remember When Life was Simpler?
Life used to be simpler. We have gizmos, devices, technology now that is supposed to make our lives easier, but think about these things:
- Remember when your phone didn’t follow you everywhere, demanding continual response?
- Remember when you could just go to the doctor and get help without filling out reams of papers, and wondering if you would be able to afford the visit?
- Remember when you didn’t have to know the name of medicines and their possible side effects?
- Remember when you just ate food and didn’t think about glycemic index, cholesterol, gluten, veganism, or happy chickens?
- Remember when you had never heard of identity theft?
- Remember when people didn’t cuss on TV or talk about private body functions and then try to sell medicine for them?
- Remember when you had never heard of a “carbon footprint”?
- Remember when you never considered whether something was organic or local or sustainable?
- Remember when you could have a lawn without feeling guilty about it?
- Remember when a fire in the fireplace was a normal guilt-free way to add warmth and comfort to a cold evening?
- Remember when you only needed a password if you were playing a spy game with a friend? Something common, like “open sesame”?
- Remember when “carbs” were called “starches”?
- Remember when the only thing you backed up was your car, and you did it by putting your arm across the back of the seat and actually turned your head instead of watching a little television?
- Remember when you could ride in the back of a pick-up? Or drink from the garden hose?
- Remember when there were drinking fountains and no one carried around expensive bottles of water? You drank when you were thirsty, not when you needed to “hydrate”. . . “Hydrate”?? What is the matter with everyone?
- Remember when you wore sneakers for every activity?
- Remember back before you had heard of “plantar fasciitis”, “carpal tunnel syndrome”, “irritable bowel”, “acid reflux”?
- Remember when you got home from vacation, and all you had to do was collect the mail at the post office?
Yeah.
That’s why people like to color. It returns us to a simpler activity that we enjoyed in simpler times. It requires no special skill, no guilt, no medical terminology, no technology or user name.
This is why I made a coloring book. Easy. Simple. No password required.
Heart of the Hills: a Three Rivers and Sequoia Coloring Book is available at the Three Rivers Mercantile, Kaweah River Trading Company, Three Rivers Historical Museum or here.
That last one probably will require a user name and password. If you see me around, I’ll have a few in the trunk of my car. We can do business that way. Simple.
$15 each plus tax. Easy.
Took Some Time Off
Did you miss me? I missed you. I think of you as The Blog, and without knowing exactly who or how many you are, you, The Blog, keep me accountable. You keep me working, when it seems as if I am just slogging along, trying, trying, trying, does anyone care or notice, I’m just working, working, working, does it matter?
Thank you, The Blog!
January has been quite eventful so far. Here are a few things, some related to the career of Central California Artist for cabinart, and some just the stuff of life.
- After doing 4 little boutiquey shows in November and December, I was really tired. It caused me to rethink the wisdom of signing up for the Studio Tour this spring. I decided against participating in 2016.
- Some scumbags came onto our property in the early morning and we watched them steal our trailer. They were caught and our trailer was returned. The first photo is what I saw through the rainy window of the Botmobile when we went to retrieve it. After being awakened by rude intrusive upsetting noises at 4 a.m., one tends to take strange photos.
- Rain and snow! Look at all the white on the mountains in the second photo! The lake has been drained in anticipation of more precipitation.
- Fog. Look at how the dam on Kaweah Lake is holding back the fog. This is how it looked as I drove down the hill to resume teaching drawing lessons. My classes are FULL! I love to teach people how to draw.
- I am becoming an editor, currently editing both a novel and a work of non-fiction. I AM AN EDITOR AND AN ARTIST, and very happy about both of these careers!
- I have 3 murals coming up. It takes awhile to bid, sketch, and come to a full understanding of what the customer wants, especially when the customer isn’t quite sure. I will keep you posted.
- 2016 marks eight years of blogging, 23 years of full time art, 22 years of teaching people how to draw, 10 years of knitting, and in October, 30 years of marriage. Never you mind how many years of living, or of living in Tulare County, the place where I am A CENTRAL CALIFORNIA ARTIST. (Just had to say that in case Mr. Google is trying to find me; he might have forgotten me in my time off.)
My Favorite Bridge
I have a favorite bridge. I love to draw and paint architecture, and the bridge over the East Fork of the Kaweah River (on the Mineral King Road) is one of the most beautiful architectural structures in Tulare County.
Currently it is in jeopardy with 4 alternatives for repairing or replacing it.
I don’t want to think about it. Instead, with my fingers firmly placed in my ears while shouting “LALALALALALA”, I continue to paint it.
First, I drew it on the canvas. Can you see it on the white canvas here?
Next, I put a light wash on many of the areas. I ran out of time (November is my busiest month and I squoze in as much painting in little sessions as possible) so not everything is covered.
Next, I began painting with strong colors and thick paint. Why strong colors and thick paint? Because I feel strongly about the bridge and think those who want to replace it are thick.
So there.
Around here, we call it The Oak Grove Bridge. I don’t know what those who want to replace it call it. I call those people “them”. Or “Them”.
This is an 11×14 oil painting on wrapped canvas. The edges will be painted so it won’t need a frame.
Sigh. Trying to be brave here.
Thankful
Here is a short list of things for which I am thankful today.
Rain that is turning the hillsides to green!
A strong healthy husband who can replace our roof.
A group of women friends who packed 84 Operation Christmas Shoebox boxes to share with children around the world.
Snow on Alta Peak.
A friend to help on the roof, and a new roof!
Fantastic fall color, suddenly and everywhere.