Little Things Mean a Lot

It often just comes down to the little things, the details, those finishing touches on a painting that bring the most satisfaction. Here are five paintings that I added little things to on a single morning of painting.

Tucker wanted to know if I was going to be there for awhile.

Big Oak: I studied this painting for awhile and decided the dirt patch at the bottom might be too large— “might be” was enough to make me go back to touch it up.

I signed it too. Wow. Was that worth the effort? Maybe.

Square Orange Grove: I thought this was finished but maybe I wasn’t convinced, because I didn’t sign it. Trail Guy asked me why I hadn’t put orange blossoms on the close trees. Ummm, I forgot. . .

Excellent! And now it is signed too. All it needs is a title (I’ve been calling it The 16×16″), photography, and varnish.

Take Me Home: I tried to put a single leaf in tight detail on the road. It looked dumb. So, I put in texture to resemble dirt, rocks, sticks, and basic dirt road debris. Then I signed it. I don’t want to work on this painting anymore. (But I will if someone tells me something that would make a measurable difference.)

Homer Barn: I had forgotten to put the trees on top of the left hills, and the road wasn’t quite right. I worked on the shoulder of the road and added a layer to the field on the right.

Now I have to decide if it should have cows on the right, which will mean it needs a fence. I’ll just wait on these decisions until the road and other new parts are dry.

Dry Creek Wildflowers: more lupine and leaves on the skeletal tree were needed.

This could be signed now, but then again, I might keep “polishing”. I might want to keep this one. . . maybe I’ll just keep working on it so it isn’t ever quite ready to sell.

Yeppers, Tuck, I was here long enough to bore you to sleep.

And thus we conclude another tour through painting the prettiest places in Tulare County.

A Three-Painting Day

Three paintings of Tulare County scenery were brought closer to completion on a productive day of painting. Two were fun, and one is still riding the struggle bus.

Not a lot to say about this other than I photographed each step.

It was fun to detail the unusual barn, and now I need to detail the road and lower right pasture.

This painting is really fun. I filled in green around the rest of the poppies, added more green in the lower regions, built the oak tree (needs the beginnings of spring leaves), and put the lupine stalks in place.

I took this painting to a life-long friend for her input. She has a great eye for design and has assisted me in the past. She suggested more of an overarching canopy and more detail on the road (which was also suggested by my friend and blog reader MB). I got this far on the canopy before the light ran out.

Maybe adding tire tracks, more light, and some dirt clods will be all this piece requires before it exits the struggle bus.

Big Oak Tree

Did you know that Tulare County is home to the largest oaks in the country? The valley oak, quercus lobata is not what this big oak tree is. I found this tree somewhere along Dry Creek Road. I didn’t get close enough to know what kind, but I can tell by the shape that this isn’t a valley oak. It is unusually perfect, almost symmetrical, and all without ever having been pruned (except when cattle chew on the lower leaves.)

Sky and distant ridge.
Distant waves of wildflowers, closer blades of grass.
Added wildflowers, a rock, more blades of grass and a few limbs because I couldn’t wait to get to that tree.
Details in the grass, another rock, and details in the dirt.
Finally started on the tree.
Am I finished? Time will tell.

Once it is dry, I will sign it, paint the edges, and either photograph or scan it, so you can see it with its brighter and more accurate colors.

Layer by Layer, Little by Little, II

Nope, it’s not Moro Rock.

Layer by layer, little by little, these two paintings are inching ahead in spite of the Central California artist’s desire to park indoors by the wood stove with a book.

The top one is 12×16″, an odd barn along Dry Creek Road, known as the Homer Barn. The bottom one is 11×14″, some perfect oak tree with wildflowers beneath on some perfect day of driving Dry Creek Road, in Tulare County, California’s flyover country. But don’t forget that we feed the world. (And don’t move here either, because we are all fat, uneducated, poor, and the air is terrible.)

Green and Orange

Poppies and oranges are two of my most popular subjects. Orange and green, green and orange. Orange is yellow and red; green is yellow and blue. I’m getting more relaxed about the specific shades of each, focusing more on values, which is Artspeak for darks and lights.

This painting will take awhile, because I want it to be perfect. Do I always say that? Prolly not. I’m not a perfectionist. It takes discipline to keep returning to the same painting over and over when I just want to cross it off my list and keep going on to the next one. BUT, I have learned that it is better to be a little annoyed during the process than embarrassed later.

This one has been very fun. It seems finished now, but chances are that I will see small things to correct once it is dry.

Finally, this one has orange trees that are green but the ones on the right are really wet and shiny.

This is an excellent example of how to not photograph a painting.

All three paintings show the beautiful parts of Tulare County at the prettiest time of year. When these are finished, I will begin one in the fall season. It won’t be orange or green.

Another of Tulare County’s Prettiest Places

Maybe “Tulare County’s Prettiest Places” would be the right name for my show at CACHE.

But what if I want to paint other places too?

Who will want other places? My fan club (fall down laughing) is based here in Tulare County.

Enough already with the speculation and analysis—let’s paint.

This is Rocky Hill Drive, probably the most popular outdoor place to run, walk, and bikeride in Tulare County.

WAIT—”Popular Pretty Places”?

Stop it and just get on with the painting, will ya?

You can’t go up on Rocky Hill itself, only up between Rocky Hill and Badger Hill. But in the very flat land of the flatlands, this is the only place for walking uphill or downhill.

This 6×18″ oil painting needs better detail on the orange trees, the shoulders of the road, and maybe even some work on the center line once all this paint dries a bit.

One of Tulare County’s Pretty Places

Remember seeing this 16×20″ mess first layer?

I think it will be a good one. I combined about 4 photos on Photoshop Junior* to see if my version of this scene was better than reality and concluded that yes, indeedy it is, or it will be if I can execute it with excellence.

Let’s go!

I am choosing to not show the beginning photos for a couple of reasons.

  1. I don’t want any input as to whether or not I have chosen the correct elements in the correct sizes and placements. Sometimes I do want input; this time I do not; that could change. . .
  2. I want you all to judge the painting on its own merits rather than whether or not I can accurately copy a photograph.

Phooey. I can see 3 shapes that look wrong right now. “Wrong” in that they don’t look fully natural or believable, because I am only judging this painting of one of Tulare County’s pretty places on its own merits, not while looking at any photos.

*Photoshop Elements is the “easy” version of Photoshop.

Returning to My Favorite Subject

Orange groves, foothills, and mountains remain my favorite subject to paint. (It used to be the Oak Grove Bridge, and who knows what it will be next?)

I painted this to hang in my dining area, but put it on my website and then, lo and behold, it sold! (off the website—I didn’t open my front door to customers)

No problemo—I just started another painting.

Then, I just left it on the easel for months.

After starting all those small paintings for Kaweah Arts, I finally went back to this painting. If I don’t get it finished soon, suddenly it will be October and then it will go to the solo show and then it will sell without ever hanging in my house first! The urgency. . . !!

Details, details. All those close trees needed details. Of course, once I’ve put all those leaves on, the oranges will need more color or shaping. Then I’ll decide to add blossoms. After that, the ground will need some debris. Next, I’ll decide to put cows on Wutchumna (the hill). Maybe all the distant rows will need refining, the hills reshaped, the mountains improved. . .

Never mind. How about starting another one?

I do love me some orange groves in the foothills with the Sierra in the distance. These subjects are a real benefit of life in Tulare County. (But DON’T move here. It is in California, where people are leaving in droves. Wait—what is a “drove”?? Aren’t people leaving in U-Hauls?)

Finished and Unfinished

Yesterday we saw two brand new paintings on the easels, looking like they’ll never get finished. Eventually most paintings do. Layer after layer, keep studying, figuring out what to do next and how to improve it every time I pick up the brushes.

Today we will see some finished and some unfinished paintings.

This is how the bright fruit painting has settled into its new home.

This is a good showing of the progression of my colored art: First I worked in colored pencil, then I practiced mixing colors by painting many pomegranates. Now I get a real kick out of mixing all colors, combining lots of photos, and just pantsing it on the canvas.

The new fruit painting for my friend/customer is completed, signed, and moved into the house for drying.

This is in the painting workshop just before I moved it into the house. I am very happy with this one and glad I did a new painting for my friend rather than just messing with the older one by changing some of the fruits.

There are three unfinished pieces waiting for attention.

I was hoping to keep this when it is finished, but I will put it in the 2024 show and it WILL be for sale. (I can always paint another one of my favorite type of subject.)
This one has had several do-overs and a very long time-out; I’m still not convinced that I can do the subject justice but I will continue to try.
First, the wire needs to be moved. Then I will commence to draw lots of golden colored ferns.

All of these paintings started out as the same sort of vague mess as the ones we looked at yesterday. Nevuh nevuh nevuh give up.

Beginning Two New Paintings

Here is a look at two new paintings, begun for the solo show in October of 2024. Seems very far away, but it takes awhile to paint enough pieces to fill a gallery on one’s own. I have about 30 available (several unfinished but in progress which I will show you tomorrow) so I need to paint another 10-20 pieces. I’m thinking 20 is better, because I paint small. Even when I think it is HUGE, such as 18×24 which feels ENORMOUS and takes FOREVER, it looks like a postage stamp in a gallery.

This one is 16×20. I can’t find the photo on my computer, don’t remember where or when I took this, and can’t really discern the details on the little photograph.

So why bother? It has wonderful light and the road pulls the viewer in.

It will involve some “artistic license”, and I will focus on the contrast between light and shadow. Slow layer after slow layer, lots of thinking and evaluating—that will be the process on this one.

I decided to do something different with something familiar, using a 10×30″ canvas that I had on hand. The sizes of canvas on hand often dictates what I paint. If it isn’t a tried and true subject, I keep the painting small. This is a tried and true subject, even if you can’t tell what it is at this early stage.

Can you recognize what this mess is?

Lots of painting ahead for your Central California artist as she plans the best way to show off the parts of Tulare County that keep her from moving to the beach. (As if she could afford that; besides, she’d miss Trail Guy.)