New Mineral King Oil Paintings

The new Mineral King oil paintings are dry enough for the scanner. Have a look:

Honeymoon Cabin II, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $100 plus tax if you haven’t left California
Oak Grove Bridge #33, 8×8″, $100 plus tax for California residents
Sawtooth, 8×8″, $100 plus you know what if you live you know where
Crowley Cabin II, 10×10″, $125 plus a penalty for staying in the Golden State

Same subjects, perhaps a bit more skill than last summer, definitely more skill than 2006 when I began painting. Why do I still feel like a beginner who has to apologize and make excuses? Anyone know a good counselor?

P.S. They ALWAYS look better in person.

My show “Still Here” is still there, at Arts Visalia, that is. The phone # to make an appointment to see it is 559-739-0905. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, noon-5:30. The last day to see my work there is Friday, April 30.

And Still Painting. . .

. . . but almost finished.

Almost finished
Probably finished.

That was the last one needed for the upcoming show, Still Here, at Arts Visalia in the month of April (virtual? actual in-person? More will be revealed. . .)

Now I can get back to the Mineral King paintings that I started when the others were too wet (or I was too flummoxed) to work on.

Now I have to decide if it is a good idea to show you all the finished paintings that will be in the show or maybe just make you actually attend the show in person. (As if I have the power to make anyone do anything)

Juxtaposition

Isn’t that a lovely word? I love the juxtaposition of agriculture, especially citrus, against foothills. It wasn’t until I looked at my entire body of work that I realized this subject wasn’t adequately represented.

This painting of Lemon Cove is still in progress, an afterthought to my upcoming art show, Still Here, coming to Arts Visalia for the month of April. 

This last photo was taken after dark, when I was painting using a light. I wonder how the color will look in daylight. 

Meanwhile, I recently spent a bit of time with a friend in Orange Cove, another beautiful area of the Central Valley where citrus meets the foothills.

Orange Cove is in Fresno County, so I won’t be hustling to make any paintings from these pictures for the upcoming show. Its focus will be Tulare County, because I am STILL HERE!!

A Few More New Oil Paintings

When I thought through the oil paintings that are ready for the upcoming show, Still Here, for April at Arts Visalia, I realized there were a few more subjects that will add to the mix. Round it out. Complete it. 

These are looking scrappy and rough, as paintings do while in progress. This isn’t a very satisfying step in the painting process; hence, the odd job kept pulling me away from the easel. But with a looming deadline (doesn’t that sound ominous?? It doesn’t truly feel that way), I will get back to these paintings and see if I can finish them for the show. They are 16×20″, 8×16″, and 6×18″, all manageable sizes.

P.S. Hi Tucker. You’ve already been fed three times – thank you for just sitting with me instead of begging.

Recess for Oil Paintings

Those large oil paintings were looking so good that I carried them out into the sunshine for a little recess. 

After recess, I made a few additions and changes in spite of having signed them. They will need another recess for yet another photography session. 

This one was too wet to carry outside. It is also unfinished and unsigned.

Now it is a little better. This one requires copious amounts of studying and thinking.

(Sorry, no hopscotch or tetherball at recess, although Tucker may have considered playing tag at one point.)

 

Looks Better in Person

All my paintings look better in person. Maybe I should I stop showing you my paintings in progress so that you will be inclined to attend my show at Arts Visalia in April.

Nah.  These posts could cause you to either really become interested in the show or run away screaming.

Now that I see the before and after together, I am wondering if the upper painting (before) looks better than the lower painting (after). 

I added more sky on the upper right, more detail in the corn lily on the bottom left (weird colors in the photo aren’t true), more detail to the corn lily on the bottom right and put in more distant forest.

Now that I see the photos here, I can see some botanical problems with the trees.

I’ll keep working on it.

Big and Slow

After painting the snowy sequoia scene, 24×48″, these current 18×36″ pieces shouldn’t feel large to me. 

Alas, they do.

I often tell my drawing students, “You can be fast or you can be good – you get to decide”. Then I say that in pencil, I get to be both fast and good. (If it is true, it isn’t bragging.)

In oil painting, it is necessary for me to be slow in order to be good, at least the way I define good (and my customers too, or they wouldn’t be customers).

These two oil paintings on the easels are going v e r y  s l o w l y.

I am jumping all over the canvas (not literally, don’t worry), chasing around different sections, based on the colors I mix and what catches my interest. Eventually it will all get covered.

The only difference between these two photos of the sunny sequoias is that I cleaned yellow off my brush on the second one. It was left from finishing the edges on the cowboy painting. The entire canvas needs to be covered multiple times, and wasting oil paint hurts my frugal heart, so now there is a strangely colored first layer near the bottom.

Your Central California artist continues to make art you understand, of places and things you love, at prices that won’t scare you.

(But sometimes her early color choices might.)

Working Studio

Some people get the words “studio” and “gallery” mixed up. A studio is where one creates art (as in “study”), and a gallery is where art is displayed and sold (we hope).

I have two studios: one is my real studio, where I draw and do computer things and paperwork; the other is actually part of a giant workshop building attached to our garages where I paint. It is a mess, which is fine for a place to paint, because sometimes I drop paintbrushes or spill turpentine. It is also where our three cats live safely at night.

This is a recent look at the workshop, my painting studio. Paintings in various stages of progress and drying are occupying the visible space; other paintings are stacked on shelves, waiting to be finished. Blank canvases are also stacked on shelves and leaning against the shelves too; since painting large, it is a little trickier to manage my canvases, especially when they are wet.

All this is in preparation for a show scheduled for January 2022. (If you see something you want to buy directly from me and not wait for it to be in a gallery, let’s talk!)

I make art that you can understand, about places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.

(but sometimes the painting workshop might be a little scary.)

Big Ideas Advancing

After many days of hunching over my giant magnifying light in the studio, the urge to paint became stronger than the desire to avoid smoky air, hot temperatures, and handicapping orange light. My paintings receive many layers, so if the colors and values are wrong at this stage, it is only temporary.

The photos are blurry. I am taking each cowboy and the dog all from different photos and sincerely hope to gather enough visual information to not mess any of them up. Entirely new territory for this Central California artist, but not outside of my declared geographical area of Tulare County. (Thank you to my friend Susan for supplying the photos!)

Time to move into more familiar subject matter.