Back to Sawtooth

Remember all those oil paintings of Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint? Sunnypoint was a Forest Service campground in Mineral King closed in the 1970s (or was it the 1960s? I wasn’t there then.)

The view that has been so popular is a bit made up. When you are standing where I have stood to take so many photos, year after year, of the same scene, your eyes tell you that the barest tip of Sawtooth shows. When you leave the exact spot, you remember it as a place where Sawtooth, Black Wolf Falls, the stream, and wildflowers are all coexisting in beautiful harmony.

It is my job to gather up all those pieces of reality and combine them into a believable fantasy for you. This beautiful fantasy, which matches up with peoples’ memories, has brought me back to the easel once again.

After a week of messing around, taking walks, editing 2 books, and staying away from the painting workshop, I finally went back to work.

The work that remains after this dries:

  1. Add the wildflowers
  2. Fix whatever is wrong that I have noticed during the drying process
  3. Sign
  4. Let dry again
  5. Scan
  6. Varnish
  7. DELIVER!

There is more to the story of multiple iterations of the Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint paintings. Mañana. . .

Sold in December, Part 2

When I see all these sold pieces, both pencil drawings and oil paintings, I am astonished. Trail Guy and I loaded up “Images of Home” into the back of his pick-’em-up truck, and it felt as if I was taking home MORE than I hung at the show.

That feeling slapped me upside the confidence, making me want to paint over everything that didn’t sell and pull the drawings from the frames and shred them. Ridiculous. Several of the sold pieces happened outside of the show (all those repaints), and each time something sold, I replaced it with a new piece. 

So, having put to rest the foolishness of wanting to destroy my remaining work, let’s resume yesterday’s triumphant post of art that sold in December, shall we? 

Upon further reflection, I am realizing that several of these sold earlier in the fall but I didn’t show you. That brings December down to a more believable number of sales.

Sales, as Opposed to Tech Troubles

The year started in a somewhat ignominious manner with tech troubles. That stuff is quite alarming, upsetting, and interruptive. I combat this by reviewing all the sales in the previous month (necessary to pay for all the tech repairs, and I am sorry to report that no fat lady has sung yet).

I had sales through Kaweah Arts, the Mural Gallery, Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery, along with commissions. All is not lost – let’s rejoice together!

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Tune in tomorrow, same Bat time, same Bat channel.

P.S. Happy Birthday to Trail Guy!

Painting More Than Sawtooth

Do you remember that I sold this painting of the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River more than one time at the opening to my show, “Images of Home”?

The second purchaser requested a thicker canvas, so as soon as it arrived, I dove in. (Have you ever noticed that “dove” means both the past tense of “dive” and a bird, depending on how you pronounce it?)

 

Notice that the redbud are brighter in this one. The colors on our screens don’t adequately reflect the reality of the paintings. At one point I walked to the place in my yard where Moro Rock and Alta Peak are visible so I could clarify a few things that weren’t clear in my reference photos; that was convenient!

I also worked a tiny bit on this painting that has been a difficult project. I took it to the painting session in Exeter where my honest and helpful friends could help me discern some of the weaknesses.

First, I removed the stump that identified the spot on the trail because no one else cares besides me; the point of painting is to make it irresistible to any random viewer, not just painting because it makes sense to me. The fact that it is signed and yet I continue to work on it should indicate my level of desire to make it better – normally after I sign, I stop looking at a painting.

Then I widened that tree where the stump was, taking it out to the left edge of the canvas.

We also decided on these changes: have the light come from the left side instead of the right (or, gasp of horror, both sides), straighten the leaning tree on the right to make it cease pulling your eye out of the picture, add a bit more visible sky, vary the tree sizes, add more branches because real life is messy, and whatever I do, DO NOT TOUCH THE DEER. (That’s because they are tiny and difficult – if it ain’t broke, I ain’t “fixin'” it!)

Still not finished, but definitely better. It needs texture on the tree on the right, light corrections on all the trees (it is on the wrong side of most of them), more branches, a few more skinny trees.

This is artWORK;  not artPLAY.

 

Almost Finished with the Sawtooth Paintings

At the time of this writing, 2 of the Sawtooth paintings are finished, and the third just needs a small area before joining the others in their finished state. I had leftover paint on my palette, so I painted the edges. This made them a bit too wet to handle, so #3 had to be on hold for a bit.

As I show you these photos of the paintings in progress, I get more and more confused as to which painting is in what stage; I’m like the mother of triplets who lost the note telling which kid has a mole on his 2nd toe or something else to distinguish them (but I don’t have difficulty in real life because they are 2 different sizes and have an inventory number on the backs).

Sometimes when I look at photos of the finished paintings, I see more things to correct. Unless they are glaring mistakes, I will ignore them. These patient customers would like their paintings sometime, preferably sooner rather than later.

Here – you can see a few more and join me in my state of confusion. This top one is finished, but we are hard pressed to tell in the high contrast sunshine.  The 16×20 is finished; the 11×14 beneath it isn’t – look at the trees on the right (middle) side. This one looks finished. I wonder if it is the 16×20 or one of the 11x14s. This one needs mid-ground trees and foreground grasses and flowers. Definitely not finished. This one appears to be finished. When there are grasses and tiny colored dots for flowers, it is finished.

What’s harder? Painting the same scene three times, or trying to sort the photos and show people? Or trying to comprehend a blog post about it? (See? I always have questions!)

Oil Painting With Friends

Today I will be at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery from 11-3, oil painting with friends. You are welcome to stop by!

Why will I be there when I could be painting at home? 

  1. My friends don’t have as much experience in oil painting as I do, so I can help them.
  2. Sometimes it is fun to paint with friends instead of painting alone at home.
  3. I HAVE A SHOW HANGING AT THE GALLERY WITH MY ART FOR SALE!

I might bring this trail painting or maybe a stack of Sawtooth paintings.


Department of Redundancy Dept.

I have become a (temporary) Sawtooth painting factory.

First, sky and clouds on all three.

Second, Sawtooth on all three.

Third, trees on distant ridges on all three.

Fourth, work on the distant trees that are somewhat distinct.

Fifth, scribble in some layers of green on all three, because it is getting too dark to see, there is green paint on the palette that can be used to add another layer to the canvases, and that’s all I can take today of the repetition of these custom Mineral King oil paintings. 

Next painting session: figure out the confusing rocks in the stream on one painting, and then use it as a guide for the other two. This will be more effective than repeating a rock three times and then realizing it is in the wrong place. Who cares if a rock is in the wrong place? If it makes the stream flow look unbelievable, all three customers might care.

What’s Happening Now

The first painting to sell at IMAGES OF HOME was Sawtooth Near Sunnypoint.

To clarify the title for you: Sunnypoint was the name of a campground in Mineral King, closed by the Forest Service some time before 1978. The Nature Trail runs through it, and this view is how I wished it actually looked. Instead, Black Wolf Falls isn’t fully visible in this exact position, and Sawtooth only shows as a little point. Nonetheless, this is what we remember when we think of those 2 places, along with a full and curving stream. “We”? That would be me, myself, I, and the 4 people who bought this painting.

How can 4 people buy the same painting??

I’m glad you asked. When Person #2 said, “Oh, wow, I would love that but it is sold!”, I replied with, “I can paint it again for you.” 

This happened 3 times after the first sale.

This is what is happening now:

The top one is 16×20″; the bottom two are 11×14″.

This is also happening now:

I’ll ‘splain these to you later.  Meanwhile, my show IMAGES OF HOME is also happening now at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter.

A Word From Captain Obvious

The blog series “How I Designed a Logo” is temporarily postponed while I keep you updated about the show, “IMAGES OF HOME” at Exeter’s Courthouse Gallery. We will resume the story tomorrow (unless something show-related happens that cannot wait.)

I am painting as if I have a deadline because I do. One of the customers at Images of Home wanted to take his painting with him rather than wait for the show’s indeterminate ending. This left a blank space on the wall. 

Since it was a 12×12″ orange grove scene which sold, I wanted to replace it with something similar. (We didn’t just arbitrarily tack paintings and drawings to the wall, but instead, we grouped them somewhat by subject matter.)

This painting was already started:

I spent an afternoon refining it, doing the forbidden and frowned-upon (by The Art World) drawing with my paintbrush. (That is my preferred method of painting, and clearly, the attendees of the art show agree with me, so take that, Art World!)You can see that I ignored the eucalpytus trees in the background in the photo and substituted my favorite foothills and snow-covered Sierra.

The painting is too wet to scan (Captain Obvious speaking here), so I photographed it, carefully carried it into the somewhat warmer house (we’ve been having very mild weather this week) to get a bit drier, and then will deliver it still somewhat wet to the gallery. Since the gallery isn’t open again until Saturday, the degree of dryness doesn’t matter. I will put a “Wet Paint” sign near it.

The title is “Picking Time”, the size is 10×10″, the price is $150, and the medium is slow-to-dry oil paint.

Because I fully anticipate further sales in the next weeks building up to Christmas, I am working on these other 2 paintings to fill holes on the walls.

First, this one has been troubling me. I keep studying it to figure out how to make it better.

Okay, bye-bye stump. Yes, it tells me where I am on which trail, but it doesn’t enhance the painting. In case you are wondering, I like deer in Mineral King; I dislike them eating my plants in Three Rivers. 

This is better, but I am still not convinced that it is finished. These little adjustments are probably only discernible to me. 

Okay, enough of this painting that feels too hard for me. Time to work on something I know how to paint.

When this stage is dry, I will start the detailing that I so dearly love to do. This is the classic Mineral King scene; this time it is titled Mineral King Dusk, because it is dusk in Mineral King. (This is your captain speaking). It is 6×12″, and the price will be $125.

Do you think I should raise my prices? What would Captain Obvious say?

Never mind. Here is an updated flyer about Images of Home; both of the pieces shown have sold. (Sawtooth on the left sold four times, which I already told you, but again, this is your captain speaking).