Really Big Oil Painting of Classic Mineral King

The day finally came to finish this painting. Well, not entirely finish, because after I photograph a painting, I usually see a long list of things to fix or change or improve. I don’t know why this becomes evident when looking on a screen; it is also true for my drawing students and other friends who paint or draw.

The tall trees were the next thing to paint, and I decided it was time to go in search of my floor easel for larger paintings. We have a lot of storage space, and it wasn’t easy to find or retrieve this thing. But, it was worth the effort—tall easel=ease of painting but ease of locating.

I cleared off the table where an easel usually sits. Whoa, I have a lot of brushes.

Then I lowered the painting so I could sit on the stool and still reach the top. I used to paint standing up. My feet used to not be numb. I’m thankful I can still paint at all.

Stop procrastinating, Central California Artist! You have a large painting to complete, so chop-chop!

First, I redid some of the background details (not so as you’d notice in these little photos, but I didn’t want you to think I was just sitting there.)

A tree grows in Mineral King/Three Rivers/on canvas.

And another tree grows.

Shrub and water time.

Now the canvas is covered. Time to let it dry.

I wondered what it looked like in real sunshine so I carried it outside for a photo. It isn’t signed and the edges aren’t painted, so it didn’t matter that the easel cast a shadow on the top.

Let’s have a little fun. . .

I think this is fun. Simple pleasures. . .

Before I put on my metaphorical critical hat, I just want to enjoy the sense of almost completion of this 18×36″ oil painting of classic Mineral King. I wonder if it will sell at Silver City, sell from my website, or hang on until the solo show in October at CACHE. . . more will be revealed in the fullness of time.

18×36″, oil on wrapped canvas, suitable for framing or ready to hang as is, Classic Mineral King, $1500

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.

Back to Business – The Redbud Festival!

I’ve been telling you about Texas so eagerly that I almost forgot to tell you about the Redbud Festival. It is traditionally on Mother’s Day Weekend. This year it will return to the Lions Roping Arena in Three Rivers. I haven’t participated in a few years, but this time your Central California artist will be back, Lord willing, the Creek, etc.

Oil paintings, notecards, coloring books, Mineral King Wildflower books (very few remaining), and of course Wilsonia books will all be available for purchase in my booth.

Screenshot

Bumbling Along With One, Almost Finishing Another, and Finishing a Third

Your Central California artist bumbles along on one Tulare County oil painting, almost finished another, and finished a commission. Let’s start with the bumble.

The differences are subtle between the before and the after version. In the after version, the lower left corner makes more sense, and there are more branches on the trees.

Before
After

A neighbor-friend stopped by to bring her recyclables because we share garbage services. She works alone at home as I do, and sometimes we just visit for awhile, perhaps our version of hanging out at the water cooler. (Pay no attention to those garbage cans.) She expressed an interest in my current projects, and when I showed her my challenging painting, together we came up with a couple of ideas for improvement. I will continue to bumble along on this difficult painting.

But wait! I made two more adjustments, and then photographed it more carefully. My neighbor approved, which gave me hope. (There will be more adjustments, corrections, and added details.)

I thought I was finished on the Lower Dry Creek Road oil painting. However, the closer fence posts might require some wire. On the other hand, I might not be capable of such minuscule detail. It still needs a signature and the edges to be painted.

Better detailing and color on the golden hills, the dam, the trees. Cattle, fenceposts, wildflowers, done. Maybe I can put in wire on the fence. Maybe I can do a little brain surgery while I am it. . . not feeling capable of wire. . . will it matter?

Better detailing, stronger colors, and a signature now done on Sawtooth #34, a commissioned oil painting for JL’s son. This one is only photographed, not scanned, because it is wet.

Hopeful Beginning and Messy Middle

If you receive this in your email and want to see the photos, click on the title.

When I begin a new painting, there is a sense of “oh boy, this is going to be great!”

When I am in the middle of a painting that doesn’t seem to be improving, I encourage myself that when I can add the details, it will improve. It’s just the Messy Middle.

Here is a look at a hopeful beginning: this is a rose grown by my brother-in-law that just slayed me with its beauty. I took a photo thinking it might be helpful to one of my drawing students, but then I was captivated, captured, mesmerized, gone-zo. (See? hopeful!)

While I worked on it, the painting of the road hovered and lurked in the background, grousing, “What about me? When is it my turn again? HEY, Central California Artist, aren’t you supposed to be getting me ready for a show? Hunh, hunh?”

It was sideways on the easel so that I could visually follow the tip of my brush for more accuracy. I flipped the photo back vertical so you won’t hurt your neck.

Layer by layer, leaf by leaf, branch by branch, I think it is getting better.

Is That All You Did Today??

Why, yes, indeed it is.

Wait, nope, I spent yet another hour on the phone with someone whose main phrase was, “Yes Ma’am”, as she tried to figure out AGAIN why my new phone won’t work. Or wait, is it the new SIM card? Perhaps it is the new provider?

See a pattern here? It is the word “new”.

STOP WITH THE CHANGES AND UPGRADES AND UPDATES ALREADY!!

Okay, where were we. . . oh yes, in the day’s accomplishments and forward progress at the easels.

Neither of these paintings are finished, but they are both much closer than the last time you saw them.

The base of the tree was beginning to look good.
Not good enough yet, but much closer.

That Sequoia is called the Sentinel Tree and it is in front of the building formerly known as the Giant Forest Market. Now it is the Giant Forest Museum.

The difficult thing about this commission wildflower piece is keeping the edges of the poppies slightly blurry so that the brodiaea AKA Blue Dick really jumps out.

I love this kind of detailed realism, even if it does take (almost) all day. And both of these subjects are exactly what one would expect from a Central California artist. All that is missing is some oranges.

Hmmm, I am sort of like country music with my three subjects: redwood trees, poppies, and citrus. (Country music’s three subjects are cheatin’, drinkin’, and storytellin’.)

Wait, I also paint Mineral King, cabins, single oranges, entire groves, the foothills with mountains in the background, various views of the Sierra Nevada, Three Rivers, and whatever else people are interested in hiring me to paint.

Phew. Thought for a moment I was gittin’ real simple-like.

See? I did more than just be on hold and paint. . . I did me some thinkin’. Real high-quality thought.

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).

 

Hot Day in the Orange Grove

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. Just another hot day at the easel, painting another orange grove.

Is it an “orange grove” or an “orange orchard”? We tend to call it “orange grove” or “orchard”. Some people call it a “ranch”, but I have yet to see any cattle in an orange grove. 

Commissioned Oil Painting

The swamp cooler kept me at the easel working on this commissioned oil painting until early evening. Growing leaves takes some time, particularly on a 16×20″ custom oil painting.


Reference Photos

In spite of being a familiar subject to paint, the piece is a challenge due to the melding of multiple scenes in multiple lights with multiple sizes and perspectives. My goal is consistency, believability, and of course, beauty. Always beauty, along with as close I can get to truth while fabricating the scene.

Here are a few of the dozen or so photos that I referred to. (Not showing the children because I respect people’s privacy here on the World Wide Web).

I love this photo. If I could have figured out how to put the children in this one and have the sizes all make sense AND be large enough to paint some detail, I would have used this one.

The painting still needs orange blossoms, and might need a wind machine. And because I believe it depicts the best part of Tulare County*, I will probably keep polishing it, drawing with my paintbrush, not wanting to quit.

Good thing there isn’t a deadline.

*I asked Ecosia (a new-to-me search engine instead of DuckDuckGo) to find me information on “the best of Tulare County” and it went to the Exeter Sun-Gazette, an article about Tulare County leading the nation in illiteracy. Sigh.

 

 

Painting Mineral King, Chapter Nth

If you read this blog through an email subscription on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

In the summer, I paint Mineral King scenes, over and over and over. Thank you for showing up anyway.

Hi Tucker. I wasn’t talking to you, but you are always welcome anywhere I am.

Aspens grow in Mineral King. I don’t think they would survive down the hill in the heat, but they are native to Tulare County at higher elevations. Can you tell that this little square will be a picture of aspens?

Can you tell now?

Here are two more 6×6″ oil paintings, photographed with a phone rather than a camera, and too wet to scan at this point. I think people are getting cautious with spending again, so smaller paintings might sell more quickly than large ones.

There–now you can see that these are aspens.

All will retail for $65 plus that dastardly California sales tax unless you live in a less golden state. Alas, I am a Central California artist, a regionalist from California’s flyover country, and high tax is part of this place. 

Familiarity Breeds Comfort

If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not; it isn’t a problem I know how to solve.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

“Familiarity breeds contempt” in some cases; in the context of my oil painting endeavors, familiarity breeds comfort. “Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint #8” is signed, sealed, and delivered, another commissioned oil painting in the archives.

This means I can move into another comforting subject, one that I love to paint, although this one has its own challenges. This oil painting commission came with much freedom. The customer didn’t care what orchard as long as it is oranges, wasn’t concerned about the foothills, and after much conversation (“Really, you must care about something specific here!”), he decided that Sawtooth and Homer’s Nose made the most sense for the visible peaks. His focus is the children, and he provided good photos.

If I were a loosey-goosey painter, this would be close to finished. Alas, I am a painter who loves detail and when this dries, I will begin drawing with my paintbrushes on this Tulare County classic view.