These are paintings that have been recently completed, and several have been delivered to their new owners. You have seen photographs in progress; here is the final finale, finalized, finally (all sold, but you know I can paint one again for you.)
Still Painting as if I Have a Show Coming
Yesterday I told you to come back if you wanted to see what else I am working on. Glad you could make it. I hope you aren’t too bored with my repetitious subject matter.
But first, LOOK! It rained early in the morning, and we took a short walk here in Three Rivers to see shades of blue and hills that we hadn’t seen in weeks.
Back to work: this is large for me, 18×36″. Because it is my current favorite subject to see, experience, and paint, I decided to do this for my own dining room. Then, I got asked to do a solo show at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery, and realized that the piece belongs in the show. 
This is at the stage where it feels too hard and as if I will NEVER finish.
However, I am an experienced oil painter and I know better than to listen to these feelings. Phooey to you, Pheelings.
There. Guess I told them.
Despite my sense of apprehension, this is coming along nicely, with more color and texture in the hills, a bit more detailing on the foreground tree, another layer on the distant groves, closer orchard and ground.
Because I plan to put this in the gallery, and because all pieces in the show must be for sale, I have two choices when it is finished: paint it again for myself when it sells, or price it at $10,000 so it won’t sell. Since I am a professional, not a hobbyist, I will simply price it in the normal fashion, based on size. I want to raise the price, because it will hurt a bit less to part with it if there are more pieces of green paper with dead presidents’ faces on them in exchange for the painting, but I will keep it at the standard price for this size BECAUSE:
I use pencil, OIL PAINT, and murals to make art people can understand, of places and things they love, for PRICES THAT WON’T SCARE THEM!
Excuse me for shouting. Sometimes I get a little overly enthusiastic about that tag line.
Most Favorite Art Subject
For awhile now I have told you that my favorite subject to paint is citrus against the foothills and the mountains. It is almost my favorite subject to draw in pencil too. It is right up there with cabins, (published an entire book about them here), old homes (recently drew this one) and the Oak Grove Bridge. (One post about it here).,
Now I am working on a logo design, and it calls for a drawing. (I gave you a little teaser about it here.)
Here it is in progress. I used every source I could find – photos on my computer, previous drawings, physical snapshots – and then proceeded to make up the leaves and oranges and grove.
This took much longer than a painting or a drawing of a cabin. I forgot how slow it is to place and delineate every leaf and orange.
Here it is almost finished.
And here is it after photoshopping out all the grayish background.
If/when the customers approve, I will add colored pencil: orange in the oranges on the left, yellow in the lemons on the right, and a little bit of green to the leaves.
Citrus Against the Sierra
Nope, not a sports event, but the subject that I like painting the most right now.
This one is 18×36″ and it is NFS. Do you know what that means? That is an old fashioned acronym, before “acronym” was a common word.
P.S. It costs a fortune to have a transplant, and while insurance covers much, there is much more that it does not cover. If you feel generous and inclined to help my friend, Rachelle, this is the best way to do so: HelpHopeLive.Org
More Citrus Paintings
This 6×12″ oil painting. . .
. . .held my interest more strongly than the 6×18″ of a Sequoia tree. I am having a thing for these pictures of citrus against the hills.
It is now drying, so I started another one, this time 18×36″.
Yeppers, upside down. This one feels huge, there is no deadline, and I really think it will look excellent in my dining room. Dining area — it is just an area, not a separate room.
What is it about these scenes that floats my boat? They are truly a source of inspiration to me right now. But, as a nod to a popular piece of advice, I’m not going to overthink* it. I’d rather paint.
*Have you noticed the popularity of this? The word “overthink” keeps appearing in book titles and songs, and now of course, in people’s speech patterns (along with “literally” when “figuratively” is meant, and “at the end of the day”). Who starts these fads??
P.S. It costs a fortune to have a transplant, and while insurance covers much, there is much more that it does not cover. If you feel generous and inclined to help my friend, Rachelle, this is the best way to do so: HelpHopeLive.Org
Starting and Ending
I started a new citrus painting, much like a recent one (that is still too wet to photograph well.)
Really, it is different from the other one. . . see?
Citrus sells steadily in Exeter at the Mural Gallery, so it is good to always have another one ready to go.
Finished and delivered this one: SHHHH, IT IS A SURPRISE! And yes, I know the scene is cobbled together from places that aren’t together in real life.
Creeping Incrementalism
“Creeping incrementalism” sounds like the frog in the frying pan. In the case of this Central California artist, it is the way I am currently approaching paintings. Maybe if I just paint in increments, telling myself along the way that I can just do a little and quit any time, then at least a bit of progress will happen.
Whattsa matta??
Sometimes I don’t want to paint. I’d rather be in the house knitting or in the studio drawing or in the yard raking leaves. If I approach work with the attitude of Just Do A Little For Now, then maybe I’ll get involved and forget that I don’t want to be there.
Why don’t I want to paint? This might be a question for a licensed therapist, or a life coach, or a sympathetic friend to figure out. Never mind for now. Let’s have a look at paintings that are improving in small creeping increments. (Creeping? Why this word??)
- The Cabin Scene (shhhh, it is a surprise!) a commissioned oil painting
- The Citrus Row, which obviously needs a better name.
Geraniums, because I like this
Today’s featured painting at Anne Lang’s Emporium (and these look much much better in person than on screen):
Told You So
Last week I told you that I don’t like the pumpkin painting in progress. Paintings in progress aren’t often inspirational, but this one didn’t seem hopeful at all. Something about the arrangement of things or the colors just wasn’t ringing my bell.
A friend brought us a bag of various citrus fruits. It was an AHA! moment for me, so I arranged them on the kitchen table in various formations. (This could be worthy of several paintings.)
This is going to work. . . told you so!
Today’s Anne Lang’s Emporium featured painting
Little Boutique in Lemon Cove
Happy Birthday, Jim! (We’re still in the Fs. . .)
Ever been to Lemon Cove? If you’ve gone to Sequoia from Visalia, you’ve passed through it. I think of it as Lemon Curve. . . a few curves on the highway, and you are outta there.
There’s a little boutique at the Lemon Cove Womans Club (yep, that’s the real spelling) on Saturday, October 20, called the Harvest Boutique, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. The Womans Club is on Highway 198, and it looks like this (if you first vacuum all the color out of life):
For the boutique, I’ve painted some new small citrus oil paintings, 4×6″ and 6×6″ (priced at $50 and $60 plus 8% California sales tax). Although this is LEMON Cove, there is more than one type of citrus art here, and please take note of the highly creative titles.
Oranges, Completed, Sold and Delivered
That last step after the photoshop thing only shows a subtle difference, but I wanted you to know that the business of art includes thinking ahead toward how a piece can be used besides just selling the original.
And the original is sold and sent! That makes me happy for three reasons: it is going to someone important to me who will truly appreciate it; it won’t be languishing in a drawer while I dither about whether or not to get it framed; it produced an income (not all speculation drawings sell).