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
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!
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?”)
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
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.
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”.
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. . .
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I have a few more to puzzle over and figure out how to improve. But, I’m in Texas right now, so the other Tulare County paintings will have to wait.
I mentioned a few days ago that there were just a few details remaining to finish three oil paintings of Tulare County’s prettiest places.
The painting factory at my address is up and running at a steady speed.
A few weeks ago, I went to Tulare. As usual, I chose back roads. There were orchards in bloom, greenery everywhere, and snow on the Sierra Nevada. There is often snow there but it isn’t always so visible from the flatlands. (Smog comes down the Altamont Pass from the Bay Area and collects in the Central Valley.)
Agriculture is the biggest industry in Tulare County, and there is more to ag than citrus, although you might not know that if you look at my art. I don’t get out very often, so when I saw this field of some kind of grain (prolly for cattle to eat or perhaps for dairy cows) with the silos and the mountains beyond, I pulled over.
The end of the day has low light, so I took it outside to get a better photo. The color is weird on the silos and buildings, not just because of the low light, but because the mountain blue/lavender paint got mixed in. That is a risk of painting wet into wet. (Sometimes I live out on the edge, painting wet into wet or pulling over on the side of the road for photographs.)
All that remains is to get those mountains right and correct the color on the silos and buildings. I left off a giant house because it didn’t seem important. I’m the boss of my painting, not the photographs or reality (unless it is a commissioned piece).
P.S. There won’t be any wildflowers.
We left off with this painting of a fabulous view from a special place in Tulare County at this stage. Everything remaining to finish falls under the category of Drawing With My Paintbrush.
Whether drawing or painting, I often turn things upside down in order to see the shapes accurately. If things are right side up, our brains talk to us about what we think we see. If we flip things over, we are forced to study the shapes and proportions as they really are. So, this method was helpful in copying the shapes of the mountains correctly.
Next, the valley below needed detailing. I didn’t try to make it exact, because no one cares. (It ain’t the Sierra!)
I added more detail to the closer hills, then put in the oak tree on the right.
Finally, I put more detail and contrast on the rocks.
It isn’t signed because after all the greens dry, there will be some wildflowers. Never miss an opportunity to put in wildflowers!