Decisions, decisions

My very wise dad used to say, “Life is a series of choices and decisions”. (My very wise friend still says, “Choices and consequences”.) 

In preparing larger paintings while hoping for a show at a local-ish gallery, I have to keep in mind my mission, which is to show off the best parts of Tulare County with my art. One would think that choosing the best scenes would automatically result in sales; one would be wrong. 

It is painting the scenes that people love, scenes that ring a bell, touch their hearts, resonate, remind them of good memories, and doing all this in the most excellent way possible that MIGHT result in sales. (Anyone have a crystal ball that I can borrow?)

There is a scene that draws me back, in any season with water in the creek, and I want to paint it on an 18×36″ canvas. It is Yokohl Creek.

This version isn’t quite it, and won’t fit on 18×36″ format. So, have a look at the cropped version:

Better, so I started on the canvas.

But wait! Spring is the most beautiful time of year!

Shall I try to convert the view I cropped to spring colors? First, let’s crop this view.

This still doesn’t have the same visual pizazz to me as the brown version. What’s a Central California artist to do?

More will be revealed. . . (and I bet you can complete that sentence.)

Finished?

Until a customer is happy, I don’t consider commissioned art work to be finished. However, I took a chance on this painting and signed it before the customer replied. 

A lifelong friend helped me work out the finishing touches of this painting. We sat together with the latest photo of the painting, using her suggestions and my Photoshop (Junior version) skills to try some things. We were both very pleased. Look at this “map” we created; every place we made a change, I put in an arrow so I could follow it later. (Be ye not dismayed – this is a photo with blue arrows, not blue arrows on the actual painting.)

I set up my laptop by the easel and began. It is very incremental, and you may not be able to discern the changes. Just be polite, ‘K?

Basically, I added shadows to some lemons, added darker ones hidden in the leaves, and then took some of the hard clean edges off the furrows (that is the dirt/moss area between the rows, not the eleven between my eyebrows – thank you for your concern).

Slow Trail

This oil painting is based on a photo that I took near the junction of the Eagle Lake and Mosquito Lakes trails, (Mineral King, of course) on the way to what we call Eagle Meadow. The meadow is a seasonally gorgeous blend of Jeffrey shooting stars and knotweed, thick with mosquitoes. It isn’t visible from this spot near the junction, but you might be already slapping. (How about that for a title to this painting? “Already Slapping”)

You last saw it looking like this, while I was wondering 2 things: “Why bother?” and “Who told me I can paint?”

While waiting for blank ornaments to arrive, paint to dry on other projects, and approval to come for a pencil drawing, I went back to my slow trail painting.

It is a slow trail indeed, but I will get there if I don’t stop. The stump in the lower left may need to go away, but it is what helps me recognize which trail I am on.

Painting The Desert

There are people who like the desert; I am not one of them. When I was in Israel a few years ago, I remember thinking “THIS was the ‘land of milk and honey’, ‘the Promised Land??” Deserts make me feel hot and thirsty, worried about water, missing green.

There must be beauty in the desert for so many people to like it. One of the strong motivational forces in my life is to find beauty wherever I can. While visiting a friend in Death Valley, I enjoyed looking for the beauty and then determined that I would find something in my photos to paint.

Have a look at the progress since I first showed this to you.

The painting was on hold while I finished some commissions. While waiting for others to dry in order to continue, I finished the desert painting.

And as always, when it is dry I will scan it so you can better appreciate its qualities (and it will be squared up, something that eludes me with a camera.)

Drowning Out the Rude Critic in My Head

The sunset painting was a big challenge: mixing colors that I don’t normally use, brightening colors from the provided photos, rearranging things from the photos, and because of the precision required, drawing with my paintbrush. 

Someday I may finally accept that drawing with my paintbrush is My Style, in spite of the Art World looking down its nose at this way of painting. But I digress. The point is that a customer requested a certain painting from me because he likes my style, and I have done my best to deliver.

So there.

Where was I? Got caught up in that Artworld thing, feeling like a fake artist. Will that insecurity ever subside??

Drying now.

As usual, it will be better in a scan, but still not as good as real life. Disclaim, disclaim, disclaim.

I loved working on this painting! Commissioned work is very gratifying, and it helps balance out the rude critic in my head.

First Sunset

Are you familiar with those franchise businesses where people combine alcohol consumption with painting? I think the idea is that you get all happied up and can’t tell how horribly you are painting. (It is about the experience rather than the results.) People have shown me their paintings, and they often include a sunset.

I’ve been oil painting since March 8, 2006 and have never painted a single sunset. Now, I can’t say that anymore.

A friend of mine sells real estate in rural Southern California. Hard to imagine there are rural areas in Southern California, but I assure you that there are. He asked if I was willing and able to do custom paintings that he could give as gifts to his clients. This was on the same day, in the very same hour, that I had written him a note suggesting the idea. The note wasn’t yet mailed to him (a real note on real paper) when his email arrived with the very same idea. 

That was weird. Exciting too.

His assistant sent me some photos, which I cropped into various shapes to show her some ideas.

His assistant was very responsive, excited to work with me, and full of helpful suggestions. After reading her instructions, Photoshop Junior and I did this.

Then, I began painting my very first sunset. (You may be relieved to know that it was done without “benefit” of alcohol, although it may have been useful to ameliorate the ugliness that is inevitable when I begin a painting.)

Stay tuned. It is bound to improve with time.

 

Slow Start

An idea came to me about painting again. Start slow, and do three paintings for an upcoming situation. (If it is interesting enough, I’ll tell you about it next week.)

First step is to choose the photos. I thought I’d paint all three alike but then couldn’t decide which version.
Putting on the hanging hardware and titling the pieces is a step I’ve known other artists to skip. Not this little gray duck – titles are important for identification and inventory purposes, and hanging hardware makes it much easier on the recipient of the painting.
That’s enough for starters.

I started these paintings using the method taught by Laurel Daniel last year in her three day plein air painting workshop in Georgia. I will follow her method until the real me takes over and I put in details, drawing with my paintbrush.

Stuck

One year ago, I decided to complete a series of large paintings with the hope (faint distant wish) that a boutique hotel would open in Three Rivers and the owner would want my art on the walls. This brings to mind something my dad used to say: “If you put a wish in one hand and spit in the other, which hand actually contains something?”

The hotel builder got criticized, ridiculed and chased away. I painted large anyway, and then the Thing came along and really wreaked havoc on my motivation to add to an inventory that is collecting dust.

This painting was on the easel last fall. Along came a good long run of commissions, including murals and oil paintings, and many oil paintings to be sold at the Silver City Store. Now it is still on the easel. I am stuck.

Why don’t I want to paint this?

A deadline, an interested customer, a gallery show, a boutique hotel – one of these might get me off my duff. (“Duff” is another word from my dad).

Life is full of unanswered questions.