News on Four Topics

Painting

I finished these two oil paintings, to be held in reserve for when the Mural Gallery in Exeter needs to be resupplied with citrus paintings.

Navels on the Tree I, 6×6″, $65
Navels on the Tree II, 4×6″, $45

Mineral King

The Mineral King road and recreation restrictions were scheduled to be lifted on Saturday, September 21. By now people who need to know will know for sure if that has happened.

This is how Mineral King looked in September of 2023. At the time of composing this blog post, I hadn’t been up there in almost 3 weeks.

The Book About TB

The TB book index problem is not repaired but we now have a plan. Instead of an index that can adjust itself to repagination, we will have a static index. This means that after the manuscript is formatted, I get to go through the index word-by-word and make sure the right page numbers are listed.

This is my favorite photo in the upcoming book. (Historic Saranac Lake Collection, 2022.4.6. (Courtesy of the Trudeau Institute)

2025 Calendar

Is it a good idea to show you the calendar now? They have arrived, are now for sale, and here is the part I am unsure of: they are a sneak peek into my upcoming show, Simply Home, which opens on October 19, a month from now. Wait, this isn’t truly a “spoiler”, because I have been showing you the progression of paintings for almost a year now!

2025 Calendar Front Cover — Simply Home, $25

The Mineral King road and recreation restrictions were lifted at 10 a.m. on Saturday, September 21.

Orange Oil Paintings, WHAT SHALL WE CALL THEM?

Liking this one, because it is oranges and a cobalt blue bowl
The bowl is more detailed here. If I hold it on a tilt, the wet shine doesn’t show.
Untilted, with a shine from being wet and more detail on the left-out orange.
The oranges in the bowl are improved here.
And I think it is finished, but of course it is shiny and wet. I’ll sign it after it is dry, then scan it. BUT WHAT SHALL WE CALL IT??
This is close to finished, but lacking contrast.
Much better, but WHAT SHALL WE CALL IT??

Obviously, I could use a little help with titles here.

“Oranges in a Blue Bowl” is too obvious; maybe I can think of a title that has to do with the fact that orange and blue are complementary colors. This means they are opposite one another on the color wheel—”complementary”, not “complimentary” such as “Oh my goodness, you are looking gorgeous today!”

Normally we think of ducks being in a row (WHY??), but I could call this “Citrus in a Row”. Nope, too obvious. “Citrus Variety” is boring.

Any ideas for me??

Four Finished Fruits

I know these aren’t just generic fruits, but the alliteration was too big of a temptation to resist.

“Half”, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $65
“Whole”, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $65
“Front & Back”, 4×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $55
“Navel”, 4×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $55

All these orange oil paintings are for sale at the Mural Gallery in Exeter, whose address might be 121 South E Street, and hours might begin at 11 a.m. but not on Tuesday, possibly not on Wednesday. Maybe you’d better call 559-592-3160 before just showing up, because clearly, I do not have solid information other than the fact that there is a boatload of great art in that tiny building.

Phew. Take a breath, Central California Artist.

More Orange Paintings, A Progression

These have more detail and are larger than the 4 small orange paintings I showed you last Friday.

That one is almost finished. It could be considered finished, but I don’t think it is as good as it could be. I’ll need to contemplate it for awhile.

This one will require quite a bit of drawing with my paintbrushes. I like to draw with pencils, and I like to draw with my paintbrushes when they cooperate.

It helps to see the shapes more accurately when things are upside down. This is not an option when painting from real life. Thank goodness I am a studio painter.

The blue bowl and its reflection will be a good challenge. I am really liking this one so far.

Procrastination, Not Anticipation

Remember that song by Carly Simon “Anticipation”? I was singing that in my head the other day, but instead of “Anticipation is making me wait”, the words were “Procrastination is making me late”.The day was both cold and beautiful. I worked in the house where it was warm, wondering if anything was important enough to be in the workshop or studio where it was cold. If I was going to be cold, it was more appealing to go for a walk.

So, I did.

Then, I painted.

This one needed the mid-range hills detailed and a crop of oranges added, along with a wind machine.

This one needs everything.

Oops. Now it is dark and cold, time to go back into the house for the evening.

Procrastination would only be making me late if there were deadlines. 

Painting While Waiting

The project manager for the mural job at the giant Catholic Church in Visalia called me. The mural portion is stalled until the niche project is completed. “Niche project”? I am not very conversant in Catholic, so she explained to me that there will be little compartments (niches) to put people’s ashes, about 2400 people’s ashes, in some granite thing called a columbarium. There are troubles with procuring both labor and materials, so I will just start some new oil paintings until further notice.

After choosing what subjects and canvas sizes, I assign an inventory number and put hanging hardware on the backs. I don’t know what other artists do; none have told me their particular systems, so I just made this up in March of 2006 when I started painting. It has served the customers and me quite well.

Seven of the eight canvases are ready to go; the eighth is in that unopened box from Blick art materials.That’s where I get most of my art supplies; in the beginning, many came from people whose mothers-in-laws used to paint.

After the hardware, I began with the base coat, just the skies first.

Next, I systematically did a very messy application of thin paint in approximately the right colors and places. This keeps little white spots of canvas from peeking through.

They all sort of look alike, and sometimes I got confused while following the photos with the odd titles on my laptop, along with the new inventory list. I’ve ordered printed photos for most of these, and when they arrive, I will secure each one behind its canvas in hopes of minimizing the confusion.

This is only five. Tomorrow, more on this topic of painting the best of Tulare County.

 

Favorite Subject, Favorite Month

With apologies to my long distance friends who live where there is real winter, I LOVE FEBRUARY! Along with this being one of my very favorite months (March and April rate very high), I love to paint orange groves with foothills and mountains in the distance. Two favorites, right here in Tulare County. (DON’T MOVE HERE because we are fat, undereducated, unemployed, and don’t have a Trader Joe’s).

I thought this one was showing great promise, wondering if perhaps it should be the scene I paint 18×36″ instead of this measly 6×18″.

Then I realized I used the wrong photo for this size canvas. They do all sort of look alike, and until I get them titled and more detailed, I am prone to making these mistakes.  So, I just smeared everything around to cover the canvas better.

Some of the wet paintings got hung on the board to dry.

Others got piled on the table so I could paint the edges a little bit, mostly just to use up the paint in the brushes and on the palette.

Still haven’t opened that big box. I’m waiting for all the photos to come, because I think that might lessen the chances of further mix-ups.

Next week, I’ll show you a few recent photos of why I love Tulare County so much at this time of year.