A Full Day of Variety

What does an artist do all day? For this artist, every day is different. Yeah, it seems as if all I did all winter was paint, paint, paint. That’s different right now.

First, I walked with my neighbor (numb toes, but manageable for 2 miles), then I worked in my herb garden for about an hour.

The deer aren’t messing with these hollyhocks. Haha, deer.

I put together a bank deposit, and then had to make a phone call that ended up taking a full hour. It was a successful attempt to untangle a Word problem. Nope, not a crossword type word problem, the Microsoft type of problem.

This led to about 2.5 hours of proofreading.

Suddenly, the morning was over, and I had to paint a sign. Sometimes I do odd jobs like that.

Suddenly the afternoon was almost over and I hadn’t oil-painted and it was killer hot and the swamp cooler hadn’t been turned on. Yikes! I went into the studio for a bit to scan 2 new paintings in hopes that the swamp would have a chance to get rolling.

Classic Mineral King, 8×10″, $145
Classic Mineral King 2, 10×10″, $200

I had some iced tea (herbal, because caffeine is a bad choice in the afternoon), and then went to the easels. It was too hot to putter or just dink around*, so I dove in fully focused with a game plan. Mike Rowe kept me company interviewing Riley Gaines—no relation to Chip and Joanna as far as I know—about her new book**, Swimming Against the Current. (The link is for ThriftBooks rather than the big A.)

A few hours later, this was almost finished, and I was too.

All it needs is the edges painted. And a few houseboats—I forgot about that part. It also needs a title beyond the working title of “Rachel’s View”. Full Lake? Full Lake at Sunset? Lake Kaweah is Full? Still Waters? (corny. . . nope) Drowned Wildflower Seeds? (My great-uncle used to mourn the drowned wildflowers after the dam was built. . . I guess I have come by my love of wildflowers honestly, eh?)

*Sometimes I am not very focused, just moving from painting to painting, dabbing a bit here, perfecting a bit there.

**Imma wait for the liberry copy. It is because that’s what frugal people do.

Painting Mineral King in Mineral King

The view of a family cabin from the Mineral King bridge with Farewell Gap in the back and the stream in the front is the most popular scene that I paint of Mineral King. Sales have been brisk, and I am trying to get some inventory ready to go. So, instead of just hanging out in Mineral King, I did some work.

First, I started painting without the easel. It is annoying to set up, and I just wanted things to be easy.

Then I changed my mind. It seemed possible to set up both paintings side-by-side on the easel, which would make it worthwhile to hassle with the easel.

Yeppers, this works.

After awhile, the paintings felt too hard. I was looking at about 6 different photos, getting confused about which one to follow for which part on which canvas. Which which which. Time for a break. I walked to the bridge and sketched the various ripples, rocks, and willows, which all showed because the willows weren’t leafed out yet.

Now I have a map to follow whenever I paint this scene.

Finally, I set it up to dry so that I could get it home without incident.

I’d rather not work while in Mineral King, but if I cannot hike, I might as well be productive. And it is pretty handy to go see the real scene instead of relying on photographs.

Two Large Iconic Tulare County Scenes in One Day

By “large”, I mean 18×36″ and 20×24″. By “iconic”, I mean these are familiar and much loved vistas of Tulare County.

I bet you can guess the subject of this 18×36″ painting.

Paintings start out so sloppy, but I am finally used to it and not worried when I start a new one.

This was too tall for me to reach the sky, so I flipped it upside down.

Sometimes I wonder why I even look at photos anymore when I paint this scene. Then I do something complicated such as trying to combine two different photos, and then realize that one was taken in morning light and one taken in the evening. This doesn’t work out well.

When beginning a new painting, shapes keep getting corrected and moved and resized. Eventually there is wet paint over the entire canvas, and anything I attempt just smears. When that happens, I move to another painting.

Lake Kaweah is VERY FULL right now. VERY FULL.

I enjoyed mixing the colors of the clouds and the distant mountains. They were fun to detail, but I know they aren’t good enough. Yet.

Although I am using a photograph, I might have to do some altering in order for the clouds to be believable. The sky needs another layer too. I wonder if the lake could use a houseboat or two or seven. Lake Kaweah with Moro Rock, Alta Peak and Castle Rocks in the distance is a very iconic scene in Tulare County. It wasn’t on my list to paint for the upcoming solo show until a friend showed me a beautiful photo she took on her way home from work in Three Rivers a week or two ago. She graciously offered to let me paint from it, and I started this painting the very next day.

Stay tuned. . .

Painting Mineral King

In anticipation of a busy selling season this summer at the Silver City Store, I am painting like fury to have inventory. If I can get enough small pieces finished ahead of time, then I can return to painting larger Tulare County scenes for the solo show in the fall at CACHE in Exeter.

The most popular scene, assembly-line style for the base coats. Fret not: they will be detailed individually, and I won’t have all of them on display at the same time.

All of these are in various stages of completion, contributing to a sense of chaos and indecision as to how to proceed. It’s just part of the process when one chooses to be a factory, churning out many paintings of the same scenes.

These 6×6″ will be ready to go, once dried, scanned, and varnished.

Clockwise from upper left: White Chief, Alpenglow on Farewell Gap, View from the Bridge, Sawtooth.

This one was easier the second time I painted the scene. I’m a little reluctant to look at it side-by-side with the first version in case I decide this one is A. better or B. needs more work.

Finally, I started a 20×24″ painting of a scene shared with me by a drawing student. It looks like a weird abstract in the first pass over the canvas, but you trust me, yes? And you probably recognize the scene in the second photo here.

This one is going to be challenging but very satisfying. I messed with the photo to make it look more like we want to remember the scene rather than just accepting what the camera says. It really is a classic Tulare County vista.

Sold in Spring: 17 Paintings, 3 Pencil Drawings

Sales were slow last year, mostly due to the fact of my three selling locations either being closed or taking a big hit of one sort or another.

This spring, things broke loose, opened up, took off. Have a look! (I may have forgotten some, because I fell out of the habit of keeping track.)

It was the usual blend of citrus, poppies, redwood trees, and Mineral King, with two of the river during peak run-off season. I do have a few other subjects, but these continue to be the most popular. The largest size painting was 11×14 10×30″; most of the buyers were either getting gifts or souvenirs. And people buy paintings of what they have experienced, so I do my best to keep things seasonally appropriate.

The pencil commission of the dog was from some old friends, and I am so touched that they still think of me when they have an art need. (“Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold.”)

The pencil commission of a cabin was the biggest thrill, because it came from a stranger who found me through the internet, and a thrill because drawing cabins in pencil is my strongest skill, the thing I enjoy the most. Paintings sell better, so I will continue to paint. One day I might actually have confidence in my abilities in that department. Always practicing, always learning, and hopefully, always improving. . .

Tomorrow: Nine Things Learned in May

More Better Than Befores

Before
Better. Comb Rocks in the Distance, 10×10″, $200
Before
Better. Heading to Farewell Gap, 8×10″, $145
Before
Better. Redwood & Dogwood II, 6×12″, $145

And thus we conclude our tour through paintings of Tulare County, better than before. I think one must see the paintings in person to properly appreciate the subtle improvements

Now if you will please excuse me, I have a commissioned pencil drawing to begin.

Tomorrow: Pennsylvania Dog in Pencil

Eight on the Easels

Eight WHAT on the easels?

So glad you asked! Eight oil paintings of Mineral King are on my easels. Sometimes they are on a table, sometimes they are in my hands while I paint.

After putting a base coat on the canvases to bury the white, I painted skies on all eight.

four 6×6″ paintings
one 10×10″, one 8×10″ painting

Three are the same scene, the most popular Mineral King subject of the Crowley family cabin in front of Farewell Gap. And now that the skies are in and I am seeing it on the computer, it is apparent that West Florence peak (the left side of Farewell Gap) on the 10×10″ painting isn’t high enough. That will be an easy fix.

Are you counting and recounting and wondering if I have forgotten basic arithmetic?

Here are the other two. I started them awhile ago but set them aside to paint some redwood trees.

These have new skies now, but I didn’t rephotograph them

Here are the redwood trees, in case you have forgotten. Or maybe you needed a reminder that Sequoia gigantea is the same as redwood. (We also call them The Big Trees around here in basic low-brow Tulare County type language.)

I wanted to show off my Sequoia gigantea paintings. Just a little. It might be called “marketing” or “advertising”, possibly even “bragging”.

A One-Person Oil Painting Factory

After the Redbud Festival, it took awhile to rearrange everything in the studio and the painting workshop. I returned many of the paintings to Kaweah Arts, but not all that I had “borrowed”.

While sitting in my booth at the Redbud Festival, I had a lot of time to assess my paintings. I made lists of what to change, correct, or improve on eight of them.

It didn’t take long to do those little improvements. I’m not showing you the before and after because they are too wet to scan; besides, why would it be advantageous to point out all my errors? It was just a small matter of darken this, lighten that, brighten something else, add a branch or two, adjust some color for greater realism or to make it more appealing.

Feeling much better about those “old” paintings, I returned to the small sequoia paintings. The goal is to complete enough so that Kaweah Arts has some back stock. So far, sequoia paintings are the most popular subject, and I am happy to keep producing them.

6×12, untitled at the time of this post
both 6×18″, both untitled

Next, I will return to painting pieces for the Silver City Store (on the Mineral King road, four miles below the actual Mineral King valley) to sell this summer. I have great high hopes, because the resort was closed last summer, along with the entire area. However, the road will be under reconstruction and there will be some closures. In theory, it will open for Memorial weekend. In reality, we shall see what they actually choose to do. There is supposed to be a schedule, but it changes almost daily.

6×12″ along the Nature Trail, 11×14″ some of the cabins

I’m running a one-person factory of oil paintings of scenes local to Tulare County

Just a Regular Work Day

Well, not exactly regular, because it involved gathering paintings from Kaweah Arts and pricing them for the Redbud Festival. But that is all part of the business of art in the life of your Central California Artist.

I started 3 new sequoia paintings so that Kaweah Arts has back stock.

Then it was time to drive to Kaweah Arts to collect paintings that might sell at the Redbud Festival. I gathered all except one, because it was hanging on a hanger that I couldn’t figure out how to operate.

I piled all the paintings according to size and attached price stickers. No matter how I do this, they don’t stay on. I did it anyway, because someone(s) else would be minding my booth for me on Sunday and I wanted it to be easy for them. Sunday mornings at the Redbud Festival have historically very low attendance, but it would be wrong to leave my booth unattended while I attended to my responsibilities at church.

This doesn’t look like very many, does it? There are about 30 here, stacked on the desk.

Something happens when I am seeing them all together and studying them up close and in good light: suddenly, none of them look quite good enough. Sigh. I hate that.

It was a beautiful day, and I worked with the studio door open.

Then I painted some more until it was time to set up for Redbud.

The plan was to get all the structures in place and then take the paintings and other merchandise on Saturday morning. It was so very windy that we just unloaded the display pieces and headed home. I didn’t take any photos of the wind for you.

About the paintings: if I mix up and paint each color across three paintings at once, it goes a bit faster. It’s a continual struggle to not spend too much time on paintings, because the prices have to be sensible for the tourists, and the stores keep 30%. I often hear that my prices are “too low”, but it is good to be realistic about Tulare County. Besides. . .

I use pencils, oil paintings, and murals, to make art that people can understand, of places and things they love, for prices that won’t scare them.