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.
Feeling fruity around here lately. A month or 2 ago, I painted this to decorate a banquet for a citrus marketing outfit.
A friend who has bought more of my paintings than anyone else saw this. She said, “If it doesn’t sell at the event, I want it!”
I took the painting to her, and she said, “I’ve been thinking. . . could you change one of these to a pomegranate? And include both kinds of persimmons?”
I said, “Sure, I can do that!”
Then I brought it home, thought it over, and decided to do a new piece for her. I dug through my fruit photos, looking carefully at the lighting and angles. Then, unlike my normal approach, I drew it out.
This is going to be good—colorful and well planned.
The other fruit painting I recently painted as a gift, I did without any real planning. I just pantsed it, trying this and that with paint, having fun with color.
I like it, and so does the recipient. Yeah, yeah, it probably would have been better to plan it. Sometimes I just rebel.
P.S. Good thing I painted a new one because the original, Citrus Row, sold at CACHE’s Holiday Fair!
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.
I really meant to paint. I started detailing this piece.
But holy guacamole, look at this day!
My walking buddy and I spotted some white rocks beneath the bridge. They got heavier as we got closer to home but we made it. 
I added them to my little eccentric project to be arranged later. The iris are starting to appear above the soil now.
Then I went back to work and finished this 10×20″ oil painting of Tulare County’s finest scenery.
Next, I went back to this 10×20″ painting.
Doesn’t look like much, but it was a little progress. Remember, no deadlines, no upcoming shows, no commissions, just the beautiful month of February in Tulare County.
Are all these posts looking alike to you? (That’s a rhetorical question, one that I don’t want to hear the answer to.)
I decided that this 6×12″ painting is finished. “Citrus and the Sierra #forty-eleven”, perhaps?
Time to put more layers on the 12×16″. Normally I paint back to front, meaning I start with the parts that are farthest away in real life. This day I started with the closest items instead.
After putting detail on the closer trees, I moved to the row of trees that is next, trying to make the perspective look believable.
That looks right to me now.
So Tucker and I sat back and studied the painting. It caused me to do more work on the mountains, not photographed yet because you prolly won’t know the difference. Yes, I wrote “prolly”. The green hills need a lot of attention too. Oops, one of those trees looks like a fuzzy green ball. 
I have a feeling that I will be working on this one for awhile.
This 12×16″ unfinished painting has been spoken for, so it is taking precedence over the other unfinished paintings.
The printed photos arrived from Shutterfly. Sometimes it is easier to paint from the laptop; sometimes it is easier to paint from printed photos. I haven’t evaluated why this is so. I do know that it is really difficult to photograph the shiny print.
Here you can see that the mountains are taking shape. I might keep adding layers, tightening up the detail to match the photo even more. But, in painting, the things that are farthest away are supposed to have less detail than the things that are closer. On the other hand, the most detailed areas are where your eye goes first in a painting.
What is more important—the Sierra Nevada or the citrus groves?(Don’t answer that unless your initials are MBW)
Those green hills have a lot of details, but I am not planning on counting the distant oak trees or boulders.
This is enough for this layer today.
The correct colors were mixed up, ready to go on the palette, so it was efficient to use the paint for the next canvas. This one is 6×12″.
The day ended with a fistful of paintbrushes to wash. For a couple of weeks, instead of washing them each day, I just wrapped them in a plastic bag and put them in the freezer. Eventually, I run out of the brushes I like and then the brushwashing vacation ends.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GLB!!
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.
When I began these paintings, navels were still hanging on trees, and the blossoms began. Orange blossoms are my favorite scent. Suddenly, orange blossom season was almost over, and I hadn’t touched these 2 small paintings.
They are now available at the Mural Gallery in Exeter. 6×6″, $60; 4×6″, $50 (PLUS TAX, OF COURSE!) The Mural Gallery doesn’t have a website; it is at the park with Exeter’s first mural, next door to the Wildflower Cafe.
Speaking of Exeter’s first mural, here is the beginnings of a similar painting, another painting of my favorite subject.
This one will be fun. It is a commission, and I know I can do it because I painted the same scene a few years ago as a 16×20″. Or maybe 18×24″. I’ve slept since then (and painted many similar scenes).
P.S. The paintings are NOT scratch ‘n’ sniff.
On Friday I delivered some notecard packages to the Mural Gallery in Exeter. Manager Cindy told me of good sales of paintings there and said someone bought an 8×8″ oil painting of a poppy. That someone also requested the same size of an orange and another of a pomegranate. I asked a few questions, then went off to the Courthouse Gallery for a day of gallery-sitting and painting.
A little later, I heard from Cindy that the customer is from Barcelona, Spain, and will be returning there shortly after Christmas. That’s cutting things a little close, especially since I may not be going back down the hill before then.
When I looked in my crate of supplies, I saw an 8×8″ canvas with a photo of an orange lying on top of it. Hmmm, I wonder. . .
So, I started a new painting of an orange.
Because I have painted more oranges than I can remember, I was able to veer away from the photo but keep it believable. Of course, I had my painting friend with me to point out any areas of weakness.
I bypassed a few steps here: no wire on the back, no layering, no drying, no scan, no varnishing. But it will dry, Cindy will deliver, and our customer from Spain will go home with 2 paintings in her luggage!
As a full time artist, it is automatic to notice subjects that might make good paintings. Experience helps me recognize these subjects, and it also helps me to recognize potential.
A friend gave me three pears, and before I took a bite or put them in the fridge, I recognized their potential as a painting subject. So, I set them up in various ways on 2 different surfaces and took a few photos. The variation in color is more noticeable now than in person, and it was that variation that first caught my eye. (Why do we say “caught my eye”? I have 2 eyes and am fairly certain that you do too.)
Since I have stopped doing boutiques, fairs, and festivals, there hasn’t been much call for “kitchen art”. But, I still gather reference material because one just never knows what might be coming next.
After photographing the three pears, I returned to the two orange groves. (Orchard, grove, same thing.)
(E, is the ground looking rough enough for you yet? Fear not – the painting will keep getting better!)
I am using quite a bit of artistic license here, making this painting into something I would want to hang in my dining room because I want to hang it in my dining room. But I am going to put it in the Courthouse Gallery show in November and December with a reasonable, non-scary price-tag of $1200 instead of $10,000.
It is a little hard to tell the difference between the second 2 photos of this painting. For the curious reader, I don’t remember how long I worked on this before taking photo #2; there is 1/2 hour between #2 and #3, and another 1-1/2 hour before #3.
Then my neck tied itself into a pretzel, so I put plastic film on the palette, moved it to the freezer of the little fridge that we bought from that horrible big box store (the freezer isn’t freezing anymore, but why would it? The fridge is 3 months old already. . .), and headed back to the house to wash my brushes.
P.S. I also went to the bank and Post Office today, lest you think all I do is photography and painting. It’s all part of the business of art.