Tulare County | Cabin Art

Painting Mineral King

In anticipation of a busy selling season this summer at the Silver City Store, I am painting like fury to have inventory. If I can get enough small pieces finished ahead of time, then I can return to painting larger Tulare County scenes for the solo show in the fall at CACHE in Exeter.

The most popular scene, assembly-line style for the base coats. Fret not: they will be detailed individually, and I won’t have all of them on display at the same time.

All of these are in various stages of completion, contributing to a sense of chaos and indecision as to how to proceed. It’s just part of the process when one chooses to be a factory, churning out many paintings of the same scenes.

These 6×6″ will be ready to go, once dried, scanned, and varnished.

Clockwise from upper left: White Chief, Alpenglow on Farewell Gap, View from the Bridge, Sawtooth.

This one was easier the second time I painted the scene. I’m a little reluctant to look at it side-by-side with the first version in case I decide this one is A. better or B. needs more work.

Finally, I started a 20×24″ painting of a scene shared with me by a drawing student. It looks like a weird abstract in the first pass over the canvas, but you trust me, yes? And you probably recognize the scene in the second photo here.

This one is going to be challenging but very satisfying. I messed with the photo to make it look more like we want to remember the scene rather than just accepting what the camera says. It really is a classic Tulare County vista.

More Better Than Befores

Better. Comb Rocks in the Distance, 10×10″, $200

Better. Heading to Farewell Gap, 8×10″, $145

Better. Redwood & Dogwood II, 6×12″, $145

And thus we conclude our tour through paintings of Tulare County, better than before. I think one must see the paintings in person to properly appreciate the subtle improvements

Now if you will please excuse me, I have a commissioned pencil drawing to begin.

Tomorrow: Pennsylvania Dog in Pencil

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Better Than Before

While at the Redbud Festival, there was plenty of time to sit and study my paintings. I put on my mental critic hat, and made a list of adjustments that would improve my paintings.

Whaddya think about the improvements on these typical Tulare County scenes? Betcha you can’t even tell the differences.

Tomorrow: More Better Than Befores

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Sequoia Oil Paintings

Sometimes I write things about Tulare County that sound rude; they are simply the truth.

However, in addition to the fact that we are all fat, poor, undereducated, and have bad air, we have SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK!

Here are four Sequoia oil paintings, drying in the sun on the driveway in front of my painting workshop building.

So, I paint Sequoia trees. Every time I go to Sequoia, which we simply refer to as “The Park”, I look for good trees to photograph. Then, I paint from the photos. As time passes and the experiences mount up, I am more able to make up trees. The photos guide me, but then I just pants it. (Did you know that “pants” can be a verb?”)

Big Tree Trunk, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×12″, $145

Sequoia Gigantea IV, 6×18″, oil on wrapped canvas, $190

Sequoia Pair II, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×18″, $190

And remember, here in Tulare County we are fat, diabetic, uneducated, unemployed, and without a Trader Joe’s, although we now have an Aldi’s and a Sprouts. . . moving up in the world.

P.S. All three Sequoia oil paintings are available to view and to purchase at Kaweah Arts in Three Rivers, now located in The Dome, just downstream from Reimer’s Candies.

Tomorrow: Better Than Before

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Eight on the Easels

Eight WHAT on the easels?

So glad you asked! Eight oil paintings of Mineral King are on my easels. Sometimes they are on a table, sometimes they are in my hands while I paint.

After putting a base coat on the canvases to bury the white, I painted skies on all eight.

Three are the same scene, the most popular Mineral King subject of the Crowley family cabin in front of Farewell Gap. And now that the skies are in and I am seeing it on the computer, it is apparent that West Florence peak (the left side of Farewell Gap) on the 10×10″ painting isn’t high enough. That will be an easy fix.

Are you counting and recounting and wondering if I have forgotten basic arithmetic?

Here are the other two. I started them awhile ago but set them aside to paint some redwood trees.

These have new skies now, but I didn’t rephotograph them

Here are the redwood trees, in case you have forgotten. Or maybe you needed a reminder that Sequoia gigantea is the same as redwood. (We also call them The Big Trees around here in basic low-brow Tulare County type language.)

I wanted to show off my Sequoia gigantea paintings. Just a little. It might be called “marketing” or “advertising”, possibly even “bragging”.

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Just a Regular Work Day

Well, not exactly regular, because it involved gathering paintings from Kaweah Arts and pricing them for the Redbud Festival. But that is all part of the business of art in the life of your Central California Artist.

I started 3 new sequoia paintings so that Kaweah Arts has back stock.

Then it was time to drive to Kaweah Arts to collect paintings that might sell at the Redbud Festival. I gathered all except one, because it was hanging on a hanger that I couldn’t figure out how to operate.

I piled all the paintings according to size and attached price stickers. No matter how I do this, they don’t stay on. I did it anyway, because someone(s) else would be minding my booth for me on Sunday and I wanted it to be easy for them. Sunday mornings at the Redbud Festival have historically very low attendance, but it would be wrong to leave my booth unattended while I attended to my responsibilities at church.

This doesn’t look like very many, does it? There are about 30 here, stacked on the desk.

Something happens when I am seeing them all together and studying them up close and in good light: suddenly, none of them look quite good enough. Sigh. I hate that.

It was a beautiful day, and I worked with the studio door open.

Then I painted some more until it was time to set up for Redbud.

The plan was to get all the structures in place and then take the paintings and other merchandise on Saturday morning. It was so very windy that we just unloaded the display pieces and headed home. I didn’t take any photos of the wind for you.

About the paintings: if I mix up and paint each color across three paintings at once, it goes a bit faster. It’s a continual struggle to not spend too much time on paintings, because the prices have to be sensible for the tourists, and the stores keep 30%. I often hear that my prices are “too low”, but it is good to be realistic about Tulare County. Besides. . .

I use pencils, oil paintings, and murals, to make art that people can understand, of places and things they love, for prices that won’t scare them.

California Artist oil paintings Three Rivers Tulare County art

Better than Before, New and Improved

“Old and Improved” is a bit more accurate than “New and Improved”. If something is new, how can it be an improvement??

Here are three more paintings that I have made better than before. In the time since I first painted these, I have gotten better at painting. (“Better” means “better in my opinion”.)

This is Sunny Sequoias, 18×36″.

This is Big & Tall, also 18×36″.

Oak Grove Bridge #28, 24×30″

I wonder what I will think of these “improvements” in another 5 or 10 years. Chances are you can’t see the differences, compounded by the photographic variances.

Oh well, you can just rest assured that I am working hard at making my fall show at CACHE be the best it can be, showing off the beauty of Tulare County to the utmost of my ability.

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Before and After, New and Improved

As I study some of my paintings and live with them, I see ways to make them better. So, I touch them up to improve them.

Just another peek into the work of a Tulare County artist, bumbling along here in Central California. Sometimes you just can’t tell on a computer screen because they photographed differently. Guess you’ll just have to trust me.

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Polishing up a Few Paintings

As I plan for the solo show at CACHE in autumn, there are a handful of paintings that I want to improve. Finesse. Polish. Tweak. Pick your word.

Clover Creek Bridge: I’m not sure why it hasn’t sold, but all I can conclude is either that it isn’t quite good enough, or nobody cares about this subject.

My default in a situation like this is to add more details.

It’s better now. Good enough to sell? Time will tell.

I love this scene! It’s one of the earlier pieces of my obsession with orange groves, foothills, and snow-covered peaks, titled “Tulare County’s Best”. Why hasn’t it sold?

I changed some of the colors and tightened some details on Alta Peak, along with making it stand out a bit more.

Maybe this one will find its new home in the fall. (Unless you want to buy it now. . .)

I painted this one with the intention of enjoying it in my dining area for awhile before putting it in the gallery (the show isn’t until mid-October). After living with it for awhile, I saw a way to make it better. So, back to the easel.