Before the Solo Show “Simply Home”

Today’s post is a bit behind reality, a peek into what happened before the show was hung or opened.

When I got home from Monterey, I had to dive into getting all my work together to deliver to CACHE, the gallery hosting my solo show, “Simply Home”.

Photo by Liesel Lund, my roomie

More than anything, I wanted to detail and finish those 10 plein air beachy paintings. Alas, even when one is a certified grown-up, one does not get to do just what one wants to do. Part of being a real grown-up is being trustworthy, responsible, and following through.

Phooey. So, I boxed up everything, and with Trail Guy’s master’s degree in packanology, we loaded the good pick-em-up truck, and delivered it all to Exeter.

When we got home, I faced some unfinished canvases.

First, there is the fact that Kaweah Arts has sold out of the tall paintings of sequoias and has been waiting for at least one for several weeks. This still is not quite finished here because it needs a signature, the edges painted, to dry, and then it needs to be scanned.

Another painting has been on hold for awhile. Initially I was going to push to get it done for Simply Home, until I realized that if a customer insists on taking home a purchase, I’d better have something ready to plug into that hole.

I started this painting in June.

It seemed daunting until I mixed up the colors and realized that I can DRAW with my paintbrush, using PHOTOS instead of standing outside wishing that the water would just hold still for a pair of minutes.

Yes indeedy, I am a studio painter and probably always will be.

Simply Home

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.

Groves, Hills and Mountains, oil on wrapped canvas, 10×20″, $450

Continuing to Paint in Summer’s Heat

Summer lasts a little bit too long for my liking. In early July, I was tired of it. That is an unpopular view, and I accept my status as a weirdo in this regard. However, I soldier onward in the heat, thankful for the inadequate swamp cooler in the painting workshop, and the inadequate wall unit in the studio. When I am finished painting for the day, I stagger into the house and cool off in the most totally excellent central air conditioning.

Sometimes I go walking in the mornings with my good friend. Occasionally we see a garbage bear.

Then I come home and paint.

I added wildflowers to the 8×8″ oil painting of Franklin Falls in Mineral King. They are mountain pride, arnica, and Indian paintbrush. Although they were not in either reference photo, I’ve seen them all at Franklin Falls. Being the boss of my painting, I took artistic license. Here it is, drying on the wood pile stack.

Having finished the smaller paintings destined for the Silver City Store, I returned to building up a body of work for the October-December show at CACHE.

Like most of what I have chosen to paint lately, this isn’t easy. Look at my reference photo, taken from inside the car. Traffic stopped briefly so at least it is focused.

The working title is Keep Right. Although that is very good instruction to drivers heading to Giant Forest in Sequoia as they approach the Four Guardsmen, I am doubting my ability to make the sign look good. Besides, we live in times when people tend to be highly sensitive, spring-loaded in the offended position, so out of deference to those folks, I will think of another title.

Or you can think of another title. . . I’m not easily offended, and love to hear good ideas from my tens of readers, most of whom are friends in real life.

I wasn’t kidding when I said it was hot. Look what happened while I was painting.

Wow. What a sensitive little snowflake. It was only 103° that day.

Another Big Tree

Tall narrow canvases with oil paintings of Sequoia trees sell steadily, so I paint them steadily.

Sentinel Tree, 6×18″, $165

This one is modeled after the Sentinel Tree, in front of the Giant Forest Market, now a museum. I say “modeled after”, because I no longer feel the need to duplicate every branch as it appears in the photos. I don’t charge enough to paint that slowly, and frankly, no one cares. This painting is destined for Kaweah Arts, which sells sequoia tree paintings very steadily for me.

Bright Fruit and Sequoia Trees on the Easels

After a chunk of time away from the easels, I was very happy to return.

First I got to finish the fruit painting that will be a gift. (I will be GIVING it, not “gifting” it.)

This is wet, photographed here in the box I used to carry it into the house to dry.

I started this quite awhile ago, working from a photo shared with me by one of my drawing students. The ferns had been nipped by frost, turning them golden.

Although I am working from a photo, I am rearranging the trees. Here is a photo of the photo, which I am looking at on my laptop while painting.

My hope is to make those ferns perfect. Just perfect. But there is lots to be painted before I get there.

The new paintings won’t be at the Gift Fair but there will be plenty of merchandise to choose from.

More Paintings to Sell

I fixed the two river paintings and then worked on another sequoia painting. It is good to have backup inventory for the places that sell to folks on their way to Sequoia. It is good to have backup inventory for all the places that sell my work, currently four, but Silver City will be closing soon for the season.

I have learned that the best sellers have light on the edges of the trees along with a burn scar. It doesn’t matter which trees I paint, or if I can tell you where they are in Sequoia National Park or even if they happen to be in Kings Canyon or Balch Park. Just big trees, sunlight, scar.

As usual, I’ll scan this when it is dry to show you. It is called “Too Big”, a 6×12″ oil painting on wrapped canvas for $150.

No More Potatoes

There might have been a question about a river painting that wasn’t selling. It might have been: “Why do those rocks look like potatoes?” 

The answer might have been, “Because you are hungry”.

However, Nancy at Kaweah Arts and I concluded that her customers tend to be visitors to Sequoia National Park who are more interested in paintings of sequoia trees than of an unfamiliar section of the river.

When it is dry, I’ll scan it and try to remember to show it to you.

“There is no try—only do, or do not.”

Be quiet, Yoda. I didn’t ask you. I didn’t even like your movie, so why do I know this? In fact, I don’t think I’d recognize you, so mind your own beeswax.

Sequoia, Big Tree, or Redwood?

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Sequoia, Big Tree, or Redwood? 

All three work. 

Redwood High School class of ’77 45th reunion is this weekend. So few people are attending that it was moved to a smaller location (no, not Goshen or Farmersville or Ivanhoe). I will be attending because many people travel great distances to go, and it would be quite rude if I couldn’t be bothered to go 35 miles to Visalia. Besides, maybe someone will show up who likes and then buys my work. “Networking”, I think it is called. Now, back to production.

Three paintings are now completed and ready for display and sale at Kaweah Arts in Three Rivers.

In the Big Trees, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125 (plus Calif. sales tax)

Sequoia, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $100 (plus you know)

Big Tree, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $65 (plus. . . sigh.)

 

Finding titles for these pieces is quite the chore. Painting them is easy, because now I have enough experience that I can make them up, using a photo just to get a clue.

Big Tree, Sequoia, or Redwood?

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There are lots of big trees in the world, Redwood is the name of my high school, and the trees for which Sequoia National Park is named are sequoia gigantea. However, any of those names apply to the paintings in today’s blog post.

It is a little bit difficult to work at the cabin because there is no studio space, and everyone else is on vacation. Besides, when I am there, I’d rather be reading, knitting, splitting wood, or chasing wildflowers. But sometimes a grownup has to do what needs to be done. I know, this is difficult to accept, because didn’t we all think that being a grownup meant we got to do anything we wanted? It is true, but choices have consequences, and the consequence of not painting when inventory is low is that there will be nothing to sell.

That’s a good enough start. Think I’ll put down my paintbrushes and go pick up my ax.

Welcome to the World, New and Improved Oil Painting

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When paintings are slow to sell, it is a good art business practice to analyze them. This is best done with the help of someone who knows the customers. 

Recently I took a hard look at this painting, one that I had always liked, because I love seeing dogwood in bloom around redwood trees. But what if I am the only one who feels that way? I am here to earn a living, not to paint for myself. (Well, sometimes I do allow a painting to live in my house for awhile, but that isn’t the main point of all the easel time.)

I asked the proprietor of Kaweah Arts why she thought this hadn’t sold yet. She and I have been friends for many years, always honest with one another. I told her that I figured most of her customers don’t even know what dogwood is, because the bulk of them visit Sequoia National Park in the summer when the dogwood isn’t in bloom.

She very diplomatically replied that her customers are interested in the big trees alone. Of course they buy other items, but sequoia trees are what Sequoia National Park was formed around.

Together we evaluated the painting, and then I told her to remove it from the inventory list, because I was taking it back to the easels.

This is how it went.

Welcome to the world, new and improved

“Redwood, Dogwood”, oil on wrapped canvas, 12×16″, $325.