Orange You Glad You Live in California (or Sorry That You Don’t)?

group of citrus oil paintings in progress
Morning sun in the summer dries oil paintings quickly.

Orange you glad you live in California? Or perhaps you aren’t so glad – the state is way over its head financially, we have both sales tax and state income tax, our gas is almost the most expensive in the country, and it is stinkin’ hot.

But we can grow oranges, and we can paint them. That’s what California artists do who get calls from realtors who sell lots of citrus orchards. Blessings on you, Oh Realtors of Good Taste.

In case you were wondering, my favorite color isn’t orange. Besides, it looks terrible on me. Not my color. Maybe that is why it is fun to paint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Squeezing Out Some Citrus (Paintings, that is)

A good customer requested 14 paintings of citrus. He specified a certain number of Tangerines (aka Clementines or Mandarins), Lemons and Navel oranges.

Among the excitement of replacing paintings burned up in a cabin fire and replenishing the stock at the Silver City Store, I’ve been squeezing out these paintings.

Come on! You KNOW that was cute!

Tangerine oil painting by Jana Botkin
Tangerine, oil painting on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, private collection
Tangerine oil painting
Tangerine, oil painting on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, private collection
Lemon oil painting
Lemon, oil painting on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, private collection
Lemon oil painting by Jana Botkin
Lemon, oil painting on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, private collection

Blog tutorial

Lemons VII, oil on wrapped canvas, 8×10

If you are on my email list, about every week or 2 you receive an email from me. It mostly says hello and this is what is in my blog and here is the link. People ask me about these emails when they haven’t heard for awhile. Some people don’t read my blog unless I resend the link. People also ask questions about how to access certain posts or if I have ever written about a subject.

  1. If you would like to be on my personal notification list, you can email and ask, or you can use the Artist button at the top of the page and click  “Contact The Artist” . I might be able to figure out myself how to add one directly to my blog, but I’d rather be writing or painting or drawing or anything else!
  2. If you would like to receive automatic notification each time I post, look to the left of this entry. Scroll down if necessary. See the thing that says FEED ON? (No clue what that means but it doesn’t mean lunch is coming, sorry.) Underneath, see Posts RSS? click on that. It gives you a place to enter your eddress (isn’t that a clever word?); then, each time I post, you get an email from WordPress with a clickable link to my blog.
  3. If you would like to learn about a particular subject, you can scroll down to Categories and click on whatever subject piques your interest.
  4. If you missed an entire month and would like to catch up, you can scroll down to Monthly and click on the month you’d like to read.
  5. If you are looking to read other blogs but don’t know where to begin, scroll down to Blogs I Follow and click on any of them. Each of those blogs may have its own “blog roll” with clickable links to other blogs. This is a great way to find interesting reading material and learn of new subjects. I find other blogs to be great sources of information and inspiration. For example, I recently read a blog about blogs. It said lemons are cheerful and welcoming. Really? Do you feel cheered and welcomed? I hope so!

Thanks.

Class dismissed.

Over And Out

The show, Images of Home, is over, and I’m out of these paintings. The museum tells me that was a very good response. If you feel disappointed because your heart was set on one of these, I can paint any of them over again. Won’t be exactly the same, but it will be close. (There I go again, being pushy. Sigh. Sorry.)

My high school buddies with whom I had lunch on December 31 will undoubtedly recognize several of these, since they helped me choose the subject matter. Thanks, Redwood Rangerettes, because many of the ones you chose SOLD, as you can see!

You can also see that Sequoia trees and oranges were very popular. Hmmm, guess I’m a California Artist!

(In case you are wondering why this post looks like Captain Obvious put it together: Mr. Google Who Knows All likes to have words that match the hidden words that help him to find me. So, the silly labeling is for Mr. Google.)

Thank you for putting up with this techno-jive-stuff.

Mostly, thank you so much for taking the time to attend the show, read about it here, and buy my paintings. Without all you all, I might have to be a waitress or a secretary, so I deeply deeply appreciate you! And get this – it WASN’T all my friends and relatives because they felt sorry for me – there were some people I’ve never met who bought my work! ISN’T THAT WONDERFUL??!!! (deep breaths, calm down, breathe. . . .)

This posting is so long that I will take tomorrow off. You can read this one again, or maybe go through the archives. Or, maybe just lie down from exhaustion at all the information presented here.

Yokohl Valley

Oranges

Mineral King

Kaweah Post Office

Orange

Sequoia Trees

Sequoia Tree

Sequoia Trees

Orange You Glad!

I am, because I got an order for 12 paintings of oranges. There are a couple of realtors who specialize in ag property. Whenever they sell an orange grove, the buyer receives one of my paintings. Isn’t that just the best idea? Thank you, Diana, for thinking of it and suggesting it to Matt, and thank you, Matt, for agreeing with Diana! Oranges are just the most fitting symbol for central California, and this California artist from Tulare County is the daughter, granddaughter, niece and grand-niece of many orange growers.

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Style

#11 in the series “Thoughtful Thursdays”

Several months ago, I showed a few of my paintings to a gallery owner.  For the first time in my five year and three weeks painting career, I was told that my paintings don’t have enough detail, that they look as if done plein air. That is French for “on site”, which also translates into “I’m painting as fast as possible because the light won’t hold still and I can’t possibly be careful at this crazy pace”.

This description shocked me, because I love detail! Pencil and the detail possible with that humble instrument have held my attention since 6th grade. I’ve even been accused of “drawing” with a paintbrush. How could someone possibly think my paintings are lacking in detail?

I strive for accuracy in my paintings. My favorite way to paint is to add layer after layer until every last blade of grass is visible. This degree of thoroughness is virtually impossible to attain, both with my emerging (a polite way of saying novice) skills and the need to finish a painting in a timely manner.

The most commonly known and identifiable styles of art are abstract, realism, surrealism, impressionism, primitive. Abstract does not show recognizable objects and is also called “non-objective” art. (Thank you, Captain Obvious!) On the opposite end is realism, which shows things as they appear in real life. Surrealism presents strange subjects as if they were real. Impressionism is lacking in detail because it is all about color and light: I remember how to identify this style because it looks as if the painter didn’t have time to truly study his subject but needed to leave the right impression. Primitive art is childlike with no visible understanding of perspective or proportion.

In addition to level of detail and texture of paint, style is also defined by subject matter and the use of light and color.  A Vermeer is recognizable by the subject of a woman at a task near a window using primary colors and a certain quality of light. Monet was known for his water lilies, Van Gogh was known for his irises and sunflowers, and Botkin is known for her oranges!

One of the reasons it is important to establish a style is to receive commissions. This happens when one’s style is recognizable and consistent. If an artist is tinkering with many styles, a potential customer won’t know if a technique can be duplicated or if it was a fluke.

As I achieve greater proficiency with paint, brushes, and canvas, I’m hoping that my true style emerges. I’m hoping for the detail of Rockwell with the light of Vermeer and the brilliance of Bierstadt!  When my paintings are as consistently recognizable as my pencil drawings, I will know that my style has been established.

I can help with that!

2 comments I hear from people over and over are “I’m out of wall space” and “I’m trying to be careful with money”. Here are my responses to the first: “You can rotate your art” or “Look! Small paintings on little easels look nice on a bookshelf, lamp table or fireplace mantel!” To the second, “Look at these little bitty paintings, hand-painted ornaments and packages of cards – all $20 or less!”

Here are a few more 4×6 oranges in progress – they sit on easels and are $30 each

And these little bitty paintings are $15 each:

So are these ornaments:

Growth, part nine (In which I betray my pencil people)

http://www.artcalendar.com/home.asp Art Calendar is a very helpful business magazine. My favorite writer is Jack White, to whom I refer occasionally as my “guru”.   Three plus years ago the magazine carried an article by him that bluntly stated pencil was almost a guarantee of poverty and oil was the road to success. After I came to and remembered to breathe, I began considering this. It took considerable conversations with my husband, other artists, God and myself before I was willing to even picture myself painting. (To quote my friend S, I had “anal myopia” – just couldn’t see my arse going there!) There were many signs that it was the logical next step, and many offers of help. After a number of attempts to find a teacher, I gave in to Jack’s wisdom that there is not a thing wrong with being “self- taught”. The truth is that I have been taught by friends, books, videos, lots of practice and 2 teachers whose classes I quit halfway through!

These are some of my earliest oranges.

pict0007.jpg

These are from a few months ago.

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I suppose if you could see both in person or if my photography was more consistent, you could see the difference in the level of skill. But, here’s a bit more myopia for you, in these photos I can only see the difference in my signature!

Growth, part four (Venturing into color)

 just_picked.jpg

Just Picked – colored pencil – 18 x 21″ – $550

Just when I thought I “had it made” and was settling in to The One Way To Do An Art Business, several of my students wanted to learn colored pencil. In high school, my friend Lisa thought watercolors were for babies, and I had the same opinion of colored pencils. First, I had to find a new attitude toward colored pencils; second I had to learn to use them correctly. This happened through books and the Colored Pencil Society of America. They offer seminars and workshops that are phenomenal in their variety and scope  – this is a wonderful organization. http://www.cpsa.org/

orange_juice.jpg

Orange Juice – colored pencil – 11 x 14″ – $200