Hmmm, this is all so weird. I will refrain from sharing my opinion about the government shut down, because people come to this blog to be entertained and inspired. Discussing a difficult and divisive subject could possibly be entertaining, but I doubt if it would be inspiring.
Have a look at a painting of a familiar, comforting scene in Mineral King. Feel inspired. Feel entertained. Don’t worry, be happy!
Mineral King Autumn, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $95, sold
Last year I did an oil painting of a standard Mineral King scene, Farewell Gap. It didn’t sell.
No big deal. I took it to shows and put it on my website. It didn’t sell.
What gives? I took it back to the Silver City Store this year and everything has sold so far except that painting.
Finally, I showed it to my friend Tall Cathy, who has been going to Mineral King her entire life, which is about 10 years longer than my life, plus she started at an earlier age. (i.e. Tall Cathy is a bona fide Mineral King Expert.) I asked her, “What’s wrong with this painting?”
She said, “Little Florence is too low”.
I said, “Shoot. I was afraid of that. Guess I’ll take it back to the studio and redo it.”
Little Florence is the peak on the left side of Farewell Gap, and it is lower than Vandever, which is the peak on the right side. Sometimes when you see it from a place other than the bridge, it looks very much lower. With 20,713 photos on my computer, I’m not going to look for the exact one I used for the painting. You can see the concept here:
Aside from the fact that normal people don’t lie in the grass to take photos, this is not the normal way that normal people view when they normally view Farewell Gap from the bridge. (There – have I successfully destroyed the word “normal” for you?)
Here it is in its new and improved version. Last year I photographed my paintings. This year I scan them. The color isn’t true either way. Look at the heights of the peaks – this is more of what people expect when they think of Farewell Gap.
Do you agree with this?
When I worked exclusively in pencil, a drawing had to have contrast. My friend Debbie used to say, “Remember, black is your friend.” She was right.
Without contrast, a drawing is flat, plain gray and boring.
Paintings can sometimes get away with not very much contrast. They don’t look great, but the color distracts from the lack of value range. (Values are the darks and lights – “value” is a good Artspeak word to know.)
But, I am very aware of contrast and value because of my pencil days.
I painted this little canvas of Timber Gap in Mineral King. It didn’t look very good to me.
I converted the photo to black and white which confirmed my suspicions of not enough contrast.
There really weren’t enough lupine either, but that’s not the main problem.
Have a look at the redone painting in black and white.
Neat trick, eh?
Here is the finished piece in color.
Timber Gap, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, $50
Maybe they are hard with one too.
I’ve been getting the message from several sources that my prices are too low.
My subject matter is Tulare County, and most of my customers are here. Because we are poor, fat, undereducated, breathing bad air, and accustomed to frugality, I price my art work accordingly.
Common art marketing wisdom says that if your prices are too low, people will not value your work.
Common sense says that if your prices are too low, you will stay poor.
Contradictory common sense says that if your prices are low, you’ll sell more and more people will buy your work and then you will raise your prices and have a following who are willing to pay your new prices.
Common sense is uncommonly confusing.
(“Too many cooks spoil the stew” or “Many hands make light work”? “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” or “Out of sight, out of mind”? See what I mean?)
This little 6×6″ painting of Sawtooth is $50 plus tax. It is an original oil painting that took me about 2 hours to make. (First I had to buy the canvas, brushes, turpentine, linseed oil and paints.) When it sells at the Silver City Store, they keep a percentage, of course. That means I am earning a sorry hourly wage, particularly when you take the giant self-employed bite out of it.
Does this matter?
Not to me. I paint Mineral King because I love Mineral King.
However, I do need to earn a living.
I just looked up other oil painters. For 6×6 oil paintings, they charge $26, $65, $80, $100, $125, $150, $175, $190, and $325.
Holy Cow. Excuse me, I need to go do some more thinking. Might need to knit a few rows to calm down, have a hit of chocolate, pace, rock back and forth while banging my head on the back of the chair, perhaps even put my thumb in my mouth and curl into a little ball.
My dear friend Natalie moved to Texas about 18 years ago. I still miss her. We email, write letters, talk on the phone very occasionally, and every so often we find a way to visit each other.
Natalie is such a great person that her boss and co-worker decided to buy a couple of paintings from me for her birthday. They chose Mineral King as the subject, because that is where Nat and I met back in 1986.
I think it was because she was so surprised, so touched and maybe a little bit tired that these paintings made her cry. I don’t think it was because she was so disappointed!
I love you, Nat!! I’m almost wishing I’d driven to SLO for a stranger’s wedding last month so we could have had a 2 hour visit. Might have been a little rude to the bride. . .
Last summer, the Silver City Store sold a pile of paintings for me. This summer I am preparing in advance, so each time I stop by and see one is gone, I can put another in its place.
I had a stack ready to go, and then 2 of them sold. Nope, I don’t mind at all!
Vandever VI, oil on wrapped canvas, sold, sorry, but not really
Oak Grove Bridge X, oil on wrapped canvas, my favorite bridge, and I’m ready to paint it again soon!
I used to have that little niggling worry about drawing when several weeks would pass without my picking up a drawing pencil (unless I was using one to balance my checkbook).
Because the season of Mineral King is upon us, it is time for me to supply the Silver City Store with oil paintings to sell.
This happens in steps:
Any questions?
*Hiatus means pause or gap in sequence. Why use a one-syllable word when there is a great three-syllable word to do the job?
It has been a dry winter. Trail Guy has been hiking this week.
Wow. This is early early early.
This is our friend and neighbor Keith. He is eating an orange on the bridge on April 26, 2013. There doesn’t appear to be any snow. Early early early.
The Park is officially opening the gate to the public on May 22. Early, early, early.
Is “early” really a word? Looks funny. Nothing like a little overuse of a word to destroy one’s vocabulary.
Me? Just painting Mineral King scenes so that the Silver City Store can sell them for me this summer. They sell my Mineral King oil paintings very well. Maybe my prices are too low. Maybe you should pick one up this summer before I decide that my prices are too low. Then you can say, “I got her early work”. Early early early.
I was able to paint this week because I finished my April drawing quota for The Cabins of Wilsonia. I finished them early.
Next week? Back to the drawing board.
Do you know anyone else who can honestly and literally say that?
Still Christmas shopping? This is one more idea for someone on your list who loves Mineral King.
Farewell Gap, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $50
You are probably thinking about Christmas shopping. If you are like me, the simpler the better. Not leaving home? The best way to shop! (I used catalogs for shopping long before they were considered normal.)
Here is an easy way to please someone on your list who loves Mineral King.
Honeymoon Cabin XI, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $50