More leaves, maybe a few more oranges, and definitely some orange blossoms are all that is needed to complete this little improvement project.
Tulare County’s Best Getting Better
Tulare County’s Best
Whenever I have a show, no matter how many pieces sell, I bring home the rest and wonder why they didn’t sell. Then I think about the ones I’ve had the longest, pieces that I have improved on each time I show them again. How can I make these pieces better?
I did this scene as an 8×10 to test it out. It was the beginning of my phase of painting orange groves with hills and snow-covered mountains, which coincided with my beginning forays into plein air painting. This type of scene embodies the best parts of Tulare County—rural, citrus, foothills, snowy Sierra.
It was fun, but of the quality that caused my dearest and closest (and most honest) folks to ask if I was finished with it. So, I touched it up again, and it Is better. But it still hasn’t sold.
In spite of this little painting’s lack of success, I still love this scene. I painted it again, this time 24×24″. (Sometimes I actually do paint what I love instead of just what I think might sell.)
Now we’re cooking with gas! Brighter colors this time, because as I develop my skills and “voice” as a painter, I gain more freedom to exaggerate and embellish (but within reason, because I am still a leading citizen of Realville).
Three shows in good galleries (well, come on, I know this is Tulare County, so they are non-profit galleries rather than big city pushy money-hungry galleries) and it hasn’t found a home.
Think, think, think, AHA!
First, let’s try a little better living with technology, and tiptoe into the AHA. Using Photoshop Junior, I combined Tulare County’s Best II with a detail from a more recent painting of the same genre.
What do you think now? (almost said, “How do you like them apples?”)
Yeppers, Tulare County’s Best will get even better.
*NFS means Not For Sale, because it isn’t finished yet.
Navels in the Orchard
Navels in the Orchard is actually just navels on canvas, another oil painting of Tulare County citrus.
I painted the details working from the back to the front, which means first I painted the items which are the farthest away from the viewer.
Usually I wait until the painting is dry to photograph it. But look at the weather —the sun wasn’t shining, making the wet parts sparkle.
Orange Paintings Sell Better Than Pomegranate Paintings
Since Exeter’s Mural Gallery (121 South E Street) is reopening (TODAY!), I have a renewed interest in painting oranges.
The painting on the left is untitled, so for now I will call it The Painting Formerly Known As Turning Leaf. (I thought that Turning Leaf was a good painting, but apparently I was alone in my opinion.) The painting on the right is also untitled, currently known as The Painting Formerly Known As An Unsold Pomegranate. (Ditto my thoughts on that pomegranate painting.)
Easel place swap!
Not good enough yet.
Better, but photographed with an unsightly wet shine.
Therefore, I did not photograph The Painting Formerly Known as a Pomegranate.
Instead, I started a new painting. Painting oranges reignited my enjoyment of the subject, so this time I really started whooping it up with a 10×10″ canvas.
I’m going to really like this painting (until I change my mind and retouch it.)
P.S. These won’t be in the Mural Gallery just yet. They need to get finished, dry, titled, and scanned.
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.
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.
Green and Orange
Poppies and oranges are two of my most popular subjects. Orange and green, green and orange. Orange is yellow and red; green is yellow and blue. I’m getting more relaxed about the specific shades of each, focusing more on values, which is Artspeak for darks and lights.
This painting will take awhile, because I want it to be perfect. Do I always say that? Prolly not. I’m not a perfectionist. It takes discipline to keep returning to the same painting over and over when I just want to cross it off my list and keep going on to the next one. BUT, I have learned that it is better to be a little annoyed during the process than embarrassed later.
This one has been very fun. It seems finished now, but chances are that I will see small things to correct once it is dry.
Finally, this one has orange trees that are green but the ones on the right are really wet and shiny.
This is an excellent example of how to not photograph a painting.
All three paintings show the beautiful parts of Tulare County at the prettiest time of year. When these are finished, I will begin one in the fall season. It won’t be orange or green.
Progress On My Favorite Subject
For the past few years, my favorite subject to paint is orange groves with hills and mountains.I’ve had a large (for me) painting in progress in a time-out for awhile. In that bonus week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, I worked on it.
First, I photographed it, studied it on my laptop screen, and circled the parts that were not up to snuff (weird cliché, whose meaning I do not know).
I started with the mushy rows in the red oval. It’s all wet and shiny, so these photos may not appear to be an improvement.
The orange oval was next, and I kept expanding the area around it.
The upper right corner was next. I ignored the pink, yellow, and light green ovaled areas, because I am the boss.
Now let’s look at the painting as a whole.
The usual excuses for photography that doesn’t do justice to the verbal explanations: low light, shiny paint, photographed with inferior phone instead of camera, and of course, there are many areas remaining to be detailed. I can’t tell you that it will look better when it is scanned, because it is too big to scan. But I can tell you that it looks way better in person!
Better Painting
After I took a plein air (on location) painting workshop, I tried to incorporate some new techniques into my normal studio method of painting. I didn’t like the results, and apparently, no one else did either, because those paintings didn’t sell.
This one in particular was troubling, because I thought the subject matter would overcome any difficulties.
After goofing off for weeks, I decided to warm up to painting by improving this little loser.
Better sky
Better snow
Better distant mountains and hills
Better Painting
When it is dry, I will scan it so we can all scratch our heads in bewilderment about how I could have ever thought the painting might sell in its earlier state.
Guess I was blinded by love for the subject matter of Tulare County’s best features.
P.S. I didn’t mess with the orchards or wind machines because they look fine.
Locals, at CACHE, Part 3
If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet.
“Locals” is the name of the current exhibit (i.e. show and sale of art) at CACHE, the new name for Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery and Museum. It stands for Center for Art, Culture, and History in Exeter. THE RECEPTION IS SUNDAY, 2-4 PM.
I began my recorded talk about this oil painting, “Groves, Hills, and Mountains” like this:
“A few years ago I became obsessed with the way that orange groves look against foothills and distant mountains. I took many photos and borrowed from friends, and began painting those scenes.”
Slowly Painting While Loving Early Spring
If you receive these posts in email and the pictures in the post don’t show for you, tap here janabotkin.net. It will take you to the blog on the internet. These photos are from March 2, a brilliant and cold day.
A friend and I went for a walk. (This was before the big rains.) I realized that while this first photo is normal to us, it is probably peculiar to other folks. These boulders get moved to block parking spaces when Edison closes its beaches on busy weekends. This method of closing a parking area is probably unusual; I think it is innovative.
The river is flowing steadily but isn’t high because nothing above was melting yet.
The snow was sooooo low.
But the daffodils were bright, in spite of being slightly splattered with mud.
Enough. Get to work, Central California Artist!
This oil painting, an 11×14″ commission is coming together. No matter how difficult these seem at the beginning, if I don’t give up, eventually they get done in a believable manner.
“Nevuh, nevuh, nevuh give up” —good advice from Winston Churchill.