Jumping the Gun With Paint

Do you ever wonder about the origins of sayings such as “jumping the gun”? That is an easy one – it refers to racers (horses? people?) who take off before the starting gun.

In commissions, the “starting gun” is when the customer pays 1/2 down and we decide exactly what she wants. A conversation alone is not the starting gun.

I have had a recent wonderful reunion with an old friend (we are actually middle-aged, not old, and think we met in 4th grade but can’t remember). She expressed an interest in some fruit paintings. We didn’t decide anything for sure, and I didn’t even have the right sized canvases.

But, I’m having a hard time focusing and pushing through and following up. Sometimes life is hard, and it robs one of the ability to do everything one normally would do. Sometimes when life is hard, one just takes the easiest route.

(LBWR, feel no obligation for these 3 paintings – I just felt like tackling the project even though the canvases are thicker than the ones you saw and we didn’t cement the final look. If they don’t suit you, I’ll schlep them around to my fall shows, and I will still paint yours however you would like.)

IMG_1549First pass – wow, these are thick canvases. IMG_1562Next, effort into the orange because it got short shrift last time.

IMG_1563Looks good, and the colors are easy to morph into lemon colors. IMG_1564Wow, that pomegranate looks awesome, if I do say so myself.

“If I do say so myself” – where did that ludicrous saying originate? I did say so, myself.

LBWR, what do you think of these? I will be painting the sides dark green so they won’t need frames.

Finishing the Rocky Hill Antiques Mural, Part Four

On Thursday, I left you with a cliff-hanger of a green orange. (Reminds me of the time my mom wanted to show orange trees to her 4 year old Kansas granddaughter. “Look Ashley, those are orange trees.” “No they aren’t, Grandma – they are green!”)

White paint is opaque. Put down white paint, and then paint the orange! Sometimes I just floor myself with my on-the-spot innovations.  Honestly,  I often have to ask Trail Guy, but I forgot my old flip phone with a broken hinge so I couldn’t call him.

That looks weird. Gotta confess that it crossed my mind to paint it as a baseball. (It was the day that the Giants won the National League to go to the World Series.) As fun as that would have been, it would have meant that I needed to return, and I wanted to be FINISHED with this project. After all, I started the mural at the beginning of June.

Yes! The orange is done.

It looks good! The owners were right to add an orange.

I couldn’t photograph the entire mural because the pickup was blocking.

I spoke to one of the owners about adding the word ANTIQUES to the side of the mural. Together we concluded that it falls under the heading of sign, and under the skills of a sign painter. I am not a sign painter; I am a mural painter. The mural is finished.

May it be so.

Finishing the Rocky Hill Antiques Mural, Part Three

We are waiting for the heat to end so I can finish the Rocky Hill Antiques mural. September passes. October arrives. The heat continues. FINALLY, last week, it mellowed from the 90s to the 80s. Practically sweater weather around here!

Wow, the mural is dusty and has some spider webs. No worries, I’m a country girl. “Girl”. Old girl. Never mind. An overall wearing man who works at Rocky Hill Antiques offered to back his pickup to the mural so I could paint from the tailgate. Perfect! He said he’d worked off scaffolding and ladders enough to know that it’s not easy. He was right, and I REALLY appreciated his help.

First step: draw the orange.

Can you see the chalk? When I backed up, I could see that the orange was too squished, so I added a bit to the right side. The leaves were also too short. They didn’t look bad, but my instructions were to follow a certain orange, not just go hog wild. (Guess I could say “off the reservation” since the mural contains the “Indian Outlaw”.)

First, I mixed some greens. There is a good dark green in that plastic jar. I didn’t put any on the palette because it dries out too fast that way.

First leaf finished, second leaf begun. Notice the headache bar from the pickup? I didn’t hit my head once!

Two leaves done! Now, time to mix the orange paint.

I premixed the basic orange in the plastic jar, then added white, yellow, 2 reds and a brown to the palette. By the way, the “palette” is a lid to a paint bucket.

Houston, we have a problem. The paints are transparent, or maybe the word is translucent. Whatever it is, they are see-through. This means with the orange paint that is mostly yellow placed on top of that blue, it goes all green! This is supposed to be a ripe orange, not one that is waiting for cool nights to arrive.

What am I going to do??

Come back on Monday, and I’ll show you. Why not tomorrow? Because Fridays are for Mineral King on this blog.

Finishing the Rocky Hill Antiques Mural, Part Two

I showed my favorite view of the potential revision/addition of the Rocky Hill Antiques mural to the owner. He still wanted the word “ANTIQUES” included. I tried to convince him that the word would change a mural into a sign, and there is plenty of signage at the business with no doubts at all as to what the business is about.

But, the owner requested the word ANTIQUES, so I showed him some alternatives. He liked this typestyle. I still thought the word didn’t belong in the orange.

How about if we move the type outside of the mural?

Finally, the owner said that would be okay, but he liked the larger orange.

 

Bigger orange, like this, minus the word in the orange, and added to the outer edge.

Phew. Now all I had to do was wait for the heat to abate.

Finishing the Rocky Hill Antiques Mural, Part One

Remember the mural on the side of Rocky Hill Antiques? I painted it last June. Here are the links to the posts about it:

Projecting A New Mural, Chapters two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight

The mural looked like this at the end.

We simplified it from the original label, which was full of words and a cellophane wrapped Sunkist orange. After simplifying, my customers decided it was too plain.

By that time, it was summer and definitely too hot to paint on a wall that collects heat all morning. There was much discussion, and eventually the owners decided they wanted an orange added with the word “ANTIQUES” on the orange.

This is Exeter, California, an orange-growing mecca, and this is an orange grower’s label.

I used the orange off a label provided by the store owner and Photoshop Elements to try to illustrate what I thought they were requesting.

They may have requested a larger orange, or perhaps I just decided to try one.

The word in the orange just doesn’t belong. Of course that is my opinion, not an absolute truth. The customers’ wishes are supposed to take precedence over the artist, or are they?? Hard to say. . . I am a hired painter, but I do have a little pride in my work.

Let’s look at my favorite version.

This suits me. However, it still didn’t suit the owners.

What’s an artist to do??

Wait. Wait for a better idea. Wait for the heat to abate. Wait for inspiration, for something.

Taste The Arts

 

Blooming Oranges #2, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125

Taste The Arts

Saturday, October 11, 2014

11 AM – 5 PM

Downtown Visalia 

 

Taste the Arts is the name of a street fair type event in Visalia. It is very extensive, with lots of opportunities to try different methods of making art. There will be demonstrations in  spray paint, stenciling and murals, along with lots of artists exhibiting and selling their work.

Here is their link: Taste The Arts

I participated in an early version of this show about 2 years ago. The Arts Consortium is the most organized group I’ve ever had the privilege of working with, and I expect this event to be great!

What Else Would You Expect a California Artist to Paint?

As a Central California artist, there are certain subjects that dominate my painting life.

If you have read this blog for any amount of time, I bet you can guess.

If you are new to this blog, welcome! You don’t have to guess because I am about to show you.

These two 11x 14″ paintings, citrus (or oranges, if you prefer) and poppies (or poppies and lupine) are drying on the wall in my painting workshop. I think the poppies painting wants more foliage. I could ask it, but instead, I’ll ask you. My chances of hearing something useful are better coming from you.

The commenting process on this blog is annoying. I think if you comment, it will tell you it didn’t go through. This is because it lands in a spam folder and then I have to “moderate” the comment.

Anyone want to try?

Thanks!

Inspired by Citrus

I am the daughter and granddaughter of citrus growers. I thought I might become a citrus grower myself, but I became an artist. Still self-employed, but in a much less risky and less regulated business. Still, I am inspired by citrus.

 

Usually I paint oranges as a still life, which means an orange or two on a table-top. Now I am painting 4 or 5 oranges on a table top, but it is the easel that is on the table top.

never mind. . . worry does strange things to my writing ability

If the colors look juiced up to you, it is a combination of the fancy-pants lights and the fact that the colors are indeed juiced up a bit.

“Juiced up” is the term I’m using to mean a bit over-bright or exaggerated. I’m finding it fun to do this. Just a phase or a new way of painting?

Dunno. Just looking for some fun.

Don’t worry. Be happy. Happy happy happy.

There! Don’t you feel better? A California artist has got to paint oranges!

I Love Tulare County

For some reason, it embarrasses me to admit this. So, I put it as the title of this post – practice saying it, feel it, face it. (Say it loud, say it proud?) I am a California Artist and I love Tulare County! (Is it warm in here or is it just me?)

Oranges #121, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $90, available here

My cousins visited from Northern California. She is from the Chicago area and he grew up  near Buffalo. (They are married so I consider him to be my cousin too.)

We spent part of a day in Sequoia. This is where they met while working for The Park’s concessionaire. (Here in Three Rivers we refer to Sequoia National Park as “The Park”.)

Sunny Sequoias XVIII, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $75, available here

Girl Cousin has inherited a portion of an orange grove where I spend the first 11 years of my life. (Don’t worry – we lived in a house, not under a tree.) So, we visited the grove. City folks say “ranch” and Citrus folks say “orchard” or “grove”.

Oranges #121, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $90, available here

 

Several thoughts:

  1. I expected that the day in The Park would be the most fun part of the time together, but
  2. The time in the citrus grove was the most fun.
  3. Perhaps this is because it was cold and wet and foggy in the Park and intermittently sunny in the grove.
  4. Or maybe it is because I had my eyes opened to how special it is to have grown up as the daughter, granddaughter and niece of citrus growers.
  5. Being a “tour guide” to Girl Cousin and Mr. Girl Cousin (sorry Bob – but you gotta laugh at that!) caused me to realize that I do know quite a bit about my county and about citrus. I was amazed by how much I had to say about it all. (I’m sure The Cousins were too.)
  6. In the course of these days together, it occurred to me that I do love Tulare County. We are poor, uneducated, fat and have very bad air* BUT we have Sequoia and we have citrus. So there.

P.S. Three Rivers might still be the best place to live in Tulare County, but my second choice is in an orange grove at the edge of the foothills.

*I have to point these things out so you all won’t move here.

Learning to Oil Paint

Remember in the olden days when I was an oil painter? This was before 2013, the year I drew 180 pencil drawings of Wilsonia cabins.

A number of my drawing students have been pressuring me to teach oil painting. We know one another fairly well so they understand how I teach, and I understand how each one of them learns. Besides, I believe strongly that a person needs to be able to draw before painting. You can read about it here.

There were four students in the first session, and they painted oranges. That is the first thing I  painted when I started learning. They painted from photos, because the light changes way too fast to paint from real life. It is especially tricky when one is mixing from the primaries, which is the way I paint. (Some day I will post about that for you.) With four people painting, I spent the entire time going from easel to easel, with a short lunch break. Every time I finished helping one person, the next person was stuck. It was exciting!

The following week there were eight students! Three were returnees, one had been to my studio for a private lesson and the other four were brand new to oil painting. The new ones were wondering how they’d do, the returnees wanted to finish their oranges, and one ambitious painter wanted to also paint a lemon.

The results of the two days painting sessions were FABULOUS!

Yes, I know. “Drawing with a paintbrush” and a watercolor brush at that! So? She was getting the job done and easing into it with the tools and style that she was comfortable with.

This is a former tole painter who has been learning to draw with me. We were very pleased with her results! (She likes to “draw” with short handled brushes too.)

At last year’s oil painting workshop, this participant painted a pomegranate. Now she has almost an orange to go with it.

This fabulous orange was painted by an advanced drawing student. If she decides to not pursue a career in medicine, she can always become an artist.

Last year a pomegranate, this year an orange AND A LEMON TOO?? In another year, I’ll be taking painting lessons from this woman!

Pretty good, eh? And this is her first oil painting in her entire life!

Sometimes when we are drawing, we turn both the photos and the piece of work upside down. It works for painting too, unless you are painting from real life. This gives our eyes the chance to override our preconceived notions of how a thing is supposed to look. It gives the right side of the brain precedence over the left side. It helps us fix the parts that aren’t correct. It is hard at first, but it is a great way to get better accuracy.

Not finished, but when it is, it will be stunning.

Orange, pomegranate and lemon oil painters, I am proud of you!