Lest you worry that I am spending too much time taking walks, visiting friends, admiring daffodils, and weeding my baby poppies, here is some evidence of forward motion toward completing the paintings needed for the upcoming show Still Here at Arts Visalia in April.
It was getting dark, so it was hard to see the right colors and the detail. Plus, the cats were ready to reclaim their home/jail/safe space for the night.
As a thank you gift for a gift of oil paints, brushes, and an easel, I am painting a Karmann Ghia.
No, not painting a car, making an oil painting of a Karmann Ghia.
This is for a former drawing student, and because my students and I always tell each other the truth about our art, I asked him to tell me if the painting was finished.
In the photo he sent to me, there was a piece of chrome missing from the door. I wasn’t sure what he was referring to, so I took a close up photo of the door on the painting to ask.
He replied with another photo of the car. (I deleted it before remembering that you might want to see it.)
Aha! I fixed the painting.
This received approval, but I told him that I think oil paint is so wobbly compared to pencil. It is. The canvas has texture, the paint doesn’t often flow smoothly, and the brush hairs go rogue. But I keep trying to make my paintings look as good up close as they do from the back of a fast horse (or across the room).
I touched up the sky, brought the painting into the house to dry, and then scanned it.
Another one of my drawing students asked me why I painted it so small. BECAUSE IT IS FREE! Besides, when you give someone a piece of art, it isn’t wise to assume they will love it as much as you do or that they might have space for something large.
The weather was stunning last week, which made it difficult to focus on work. Trail Guy invited me to go enjoy the great outdoors with him, so I spent 2 hours doing non-work. Then I dove back into my show prep.
First, I chose photos for Arts Visalia to use for publicity. They requested 4; I chose 12. Oops.
Then I worked on the artist statement, which I streamlined a bit more (thank you, Blog Reader Sharon!)
Next, I filled out the contract. Seems a little bit out of order, but maybe they know that I am a woman of my word.
Finally, I painted.
These big boys are a little cumbersome to move around and store while wet.
Finally, I decided this smaller one is finished, no more messing around.
You may breathe easier, seeing that I didn’t put this Sequoia oil painting in the dumpster.
You’ve seen most of these photos before. I am showing them again so you can see them all on the same page in order of progression on this painting. Besides, it will help me to see them all together because then I will know I have actually accomplished something.
A few more details (including the flag and porch railing), painting the edges, signing, and then maybe this will be finished.
The big sequoia painting is coming along. I had to rotate it on the easel in order to see the edge of my brush in order to accurately paint an edge. This might qualify as “drawing with my paintbrush”. Yeppers, that’s the way I paint.
These big paintings are S L O W. That’s okay – the show I am preparing for is a year away.
Oh no! The gallery just asked if I could switch from January 2022 to April of this year! I don’t know. I DON’T KNOW!
After adding the birch branches to the Hard House oil painting commission, I happened to look at an oil painting of a Sequoia in my studio. For some reason, I haven’t really liked this painting very well.
Since it hasn’t sold, maybe no one else likes it either. After working on the sequoia mural and the giant snowy sequoia oil painting, I had an idea of how to improve it.
It always feels weird to put a completed painting back on the easel. It is a blend of feeling good about knowing I can improve it, and feeling a little embarrassed that I didn’t figure it out sooner.
Okay, now look:
Maybe I can do better. It took awhile to recognize the photo I used for this painting because I have definitely used it as reference only rather than an exact recipe.
Maybe I’ll keep messing with it. The contrast could be heightened on the main tree, and maybe a foggy looking distant sequoia would look believable behind it to the left, as in the photo. All the distant trees could be made grayer or lighter or something that shoves them farther back.
Who am I to think I can improve on nature? The answer is this: I am someone who understands that real life is messy and artists get to clean it up. For example, look at the large amount of dead branches on the 2 trees to the left of the main tree in the photo. What purpose would they serve in this painting? Likewise with the young tree in front on the right side – it obstructs the view of the big tree.
So many decisions for just one painting – it is a wonder I can even decide what to wear in the morning. Aha! That explains why I often don whatever I left on The Chair the night before.
Now that the commissions are almost all finished, I can return to some of the larger paintings that I began last summer. I have an exhibition coming in January 2022. This will be the first time for me in a gallery for quite awhile, so I want to have some real knock-your-socks-off paintings for the show.
Remember the cowboy painting back in October? (Probably not – why would you?)
It got this far and then the commissions started coming in.
Saddle up, Cowgirl! (The light is so different at different times of day, different times of the year, different methods of photography.)
These guys, their horses and the dog are quite challenging with nothing but blurry photos. I should be used to this by now.
The cowboys are looking better but someone probably needs to call a veterinarian for that poor canine.
Better now. Jackson is certainly curious. (That is his pink nose in the sunshine behind the painting.)The edges need paint, and it needs a signature, but I will let it dry and think about it for awhile yet before deciding if it is truly completed.
I met a cabin owner who was interested in a drawing of his cabin. The cabin was closed for the season, which meant the flag wasn’t out, and the shutters were closed over the windows. I took an entire roll of film (JUST KIDDING – I’m not that old fashioned!) and then did this sketch to see if everything important to the cabin owner was included.
His wife asked if I could do the drawing in colored pencil. No, I cannot. Well, I could, but it would take months, and then I might need carpal tunnel surgery.
So, we decided that an oil painting is the answer. These are really nice people, and they are not in a hurry. That’s good, because I want to do a great job on this, and I have the photos to work from. (Never mind that it was smoky smoky smoky when I took them.)
The proportions aren’t right. I let this dry (for 3 weeks!) while I worked on the jobs with deadlines. Then, I got serious.
This still looks rough. The windows are in place, but will look different when I open the shutters. This stage is still the early layering, getting the canvas covered, the placements and proportions correct.
After another layer or two, I’ll begin the fun phase of “drawing with my paintbrush”. I’m 61 years old and I can paint however I want (as long as the customer likes the results).
P.S. Because this is the World Wide Web, I am not showing the photos in order to protect the cabin owners’ privacy.
After finishing the commissions with tight deadlines, I went back to the ones without a timeframe.
First, the most difficult one, the Hard House.
It needed some tightening up, and 2 baskets of fuchsias. But I decided it needed something more. There had been a birch tree in the front yard, but I didn’t want it to cover the gable end. So, branches coming from the left seemed to be the right approach.
The photo had a palm tree in the distance, and that seemed to be a helpful addition to all the empty sky on the right.
The edges are painted, it is signed, and now it needs to dry for awhile. It is too big for my scanner, so when it is dry, I’ll carry it out into the sunshine for a proper photograph.
Big deep sigh of relief.
Now, will I learn to turn down jobs with inadequate photos?
Probably not. Challenges are how one can increase in skill, and I like the idea of getting paid for the practice.
Turns out the sigh of relief was premature. To be continued as I bumble along in order to keep. . .
The house painting looked like this at the beginning of this painting session.
This amount of specific detail without a lot of choices in reference photos requires that I resort to the dreaded “drawing with my paintbrush”. Why this is so despised in the Art World remains a mystery to me. In my little world, I want to provide what the customer wants, and if it requires drawing with my paintbrush, then so be it.
It’s getting there! I’ve got to figure out the details on the porch, do something with the landscaping, and then talk to my customer. She has some old home movies that she is converting to video, and then I will look through them to see if I can get to a better understanding of what she remembers.