Starting Over Again. . .

It is time to do a few small paintings to sell at Kaweah Arts. The proprietor requested Sequoia trees and mountain ranges. I looked through my canvas sizes, looked through my photos and made some decisions. Inventory number, title, wire on the back, add to the inventory lists, crop and enhance the photos—all needs to happen before paint lands on the canvas.

Wait! This isn’t a Sequoia tree or a mountain range. What is it?

It is a scene I have wanted to paint for many years, but felt it was a bit too hard. This will be one of my long slow paintings, with many many layers. There is no deadline, and I want it to be Most Totally Excellent.

Okay, this is a standard 6×18″ painting of a big tree, AKA redwood, AKA Sequoia, formally known as Sequoia gigantea, not to be confused with the redwoods of northern California, called Sequoia sempervirens.

WHAT IS THIS???

This is a work in progress, a housewarming present for someone Very Important in my life. She showed me the pieces she has in her kitchen, and I was inspired to ask her what I could paint to add to the collection. (These might not be the actual pieces that she has, but hers are very similar to these.)

The sequoias and mountain range paintings can just hold their camels* for a little bit. I have some designing, improving, polishing, rearranging, composing ahead.

*Learned to say this while in Israel back in 2016 and decided it is more fun than horses.

A New Place to Sell

Sales of my art have declined. Is it the economy? I assume so, since sales are an economic transaction. The specific reasons are: one of my regular vendors was not open this past summer; another one relied on a now-closed adjoining restaurant for foot traffic; the third place relied on traffic to Sequoia National Park, which was closed until July 1.

What’s an artist to do?

Look for a new place to sell, of course.

St. Anthony’s Retreat asked for some of my paintings for their gift shop. This is close to home, a place where I have painted several murals, staffed by many friends, and is an active place in Three Rivers. It brings in people from all over the valley for various purposes, many of which are not actually Catholic. It is a beautiful place, very bucolic, and they have very good food too.

I worked with two friends there to decide what to put in the gift shop. This is what we chose:

Craig Ranch (on BLM land above St. Anthony’s)
Kaweah River (St. Anthony’s is visible on the hillside.)
Alta, Kaweah Lake, Lupine (visible to anyone traveling to St. Anthony’s)
Winding Kaweah, almost visible from St. Anthony’s
Redwoods, painted from the same reference photo used on a mural at Santa Teresita, St. Anthony’s youth center
Yarn! Because there was a knitter’s retreat setting up when I delivered the paintings. (Mama didn’t raise no fool. . .)

Finishing a Big One

I am referring to finishing a large (12×24″) oil painting that I started in August, and then left to gather dust and spider webs while I worked on smaller paintings. Smaller paintings provide something closer to instant gratification; larger paintings build character.

These photos were taken in August.

These were taken in October, a progression of adding paint. You might notice that Vandever (the peak on the right) grew in height. If you are particularly observant, you may notice some angle changes too.

The painting was wet and shiny, so the final photo is not telling the true story. (. . . pants on fire)

I rotated the easel every direction, wasting film like crazy.

NO, I WASN’T WASTING FILM! I have a digital camera. But you probably knew that, because I am so modern, so quick to adopt new technology.

I can hear you thinking sarcastically, “Sure you are.”

This is Farewell Gap at dusk, in Mineral King. (I bet you guessed that already). Perhaps the title will be “Farewell Gap at Dusk”, because I am just clever that way sometimes.

Five Finished Oil Paintings

These new oil paintings may look familiar to you from seeing them in progress.

Inventory was low; with the Holiday Bazaar in the near future (November 18 at the Three Rivers Veterans Memorial Building) and seeking a new vendor, it was time to start producing.

Salt Creek Trail, 8×8″, $100
Alta, Kaweah Lake, Lupine, 6×12″, $125
Sunny Sequoias II, 6×12″, $125
Cattle Crossing, 6×6″, $60

P.S. They all look better in person, but I think you might know that by now.

Painting Sequoia, Not Just Chit-chatting

Yesterday I mentioned several things that I have painted from Sequoia National Park. Want to see? Some have sold, and some are currently available. (Every once in awhile, I show items for sale because I am supposed to be running an art business here, not just chit-chatting to my friends.)

Crescent Meadow, sold
Tunnel Log, sold
Sunny Sequoias, oil on wrapped canvas 18×36″, $1200
Moro Rock, sold
sold
Sequoias in Winter, 16×20″, oil on wrapped canvas, $650
Alta and Moro Rock after a Storm, sold
Redwood Grove, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125

Aaaand More Painting Progression

This is 8×8″, using a photo taken last spring somewhere on the BLM land above our house. Some people call it Case Mountain because it is below Case Mountain (mostly privately owned and gated closed). Some people call it Salt Creek because Salt Creek runs through. We call it BLM, because it is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. It used to be relatively unknown, and then along came The Google and everyone’s need to announce everything to the entire world. (STOP IT!)

You might be able to tell that I moved the trail toward the center. The photo is a vertical rectangle but I am painting it as a square so I scoot things where I want.
Finished sky, distant hills, trees behind the trail, a small rock, some shadows, began applying color to the grasses.
Another rock, shadows on the trail, and details on the grasses make this come alive.
Drawing in the branches was a little tricky while the sky and hills were still wet. I did it anyway.
This needs to dry before I figure out if I can put in some microscopic but effective dots for flowers, make sure the big tree looks convincing, and of course, sign it.

Would you believe me if I told you that it will look better when dry and scanned, and even better in person? Yeppers, it’s true.

More Orange Paintings, A Progression

These have more detail and are larger than the 4 small orange paintings I showed you last Friday.

That one is almost finished. It could be considered finished, but I don’t think it is as good as it could be. I’ll need to contemplate it for awhile.

This one will require quite a bit of drawing with my paintbrushes. I like to draw with pencils, and I like to draw with my paintbrushes when they cooperate.

It helps to see the shapes more accurately when things are upside down. This is not an option when painting from real life. Thank goodness I am a studio painter.

The blue bowl and its reflection will be a good challenge. I am really liking this one so far.

Not Enough Oranges

There is a marketing outfit for citrus, at least I think it is for marketing purposes. They have bought many pieces of orange-themed art from me through the years and are a pleasure to deal with.

Their annual banquet is coming up, and someone in the office asked me to lend them orange-themed art to decorate the lobby leading to the banquet room.

My 30+ years of experience tells me that my art won’t sell there. When the artist isn’t present and people are simply mingling, art does not sell itself. I am not invited to the banquet, and most likely I would decline the invitation. I have run out of the internal fire to schmooze and chit-chat in a loud room with the hopes of making connections that may or may not turn into work, and doing it in the town 30+ miles away at night when I am ready to park my patoot with a book and some knitting.

But this organization has been good to me, so if they want to borrow some art, my response is, “Certainly! How many pieces would you like?”

I took inventory and found 8 available pieces (one has to be borrowed from a gallery which is never open on the day when I am down the hill, but I will figure it out somehow). These are all similar scenes, and I decided that eight is not enough.

Here is a sample piece of my normal citrus scenes:

And here is what I need to paint, title, scan, and deliver DRY in time for the event:

This is a 10×10″ and a 6×18″, both a little different from my regular orange still-life paintings. Those regular ones sell steadily, but I bet most of the attendees to the banquet will have seen, bought, or received one of these already.