Desert Painting in the Dutch Tradition

It was time for a desert painting that emphasized drama over "prettiness"!

Even More ACEOs

This is a grouping of newly-completed art cards. I showed some to the local nature museum, and they want to buy ten of these!

So I finished up the seven seen here, and they already have three that I showed them when I talked with them last week.

Let's hope sales will continue to pick up!

More ACEOs

A long time ago, I posted some info about ACEOs (Art Card Originals and Editions). I still make these little guys, and I even have some on eBay right now.

Besides eBay, I managed to get the gift shop in a local nature museum interested in buying ten art cards from me! So Ill be busy trying to get these ACEOs done ASAP so I'll have some $$$ to put in the bank!

Above is a sampling of what I've been up to.

In the meantime, one of my galleries asked for a local (Palm Springs area) scene that would be really dramatic. It's a large painting, so I'm trying to get it done, too.

And I must be worn out -- I feel sleepy all the time. What's up with that?

Well, it'll all get finished -- hopefully soon, but eventually in any case.

Another Lizard

Another lizard painting, that is.

This seems to be a popular lizard around here. At the Open Studio tours two weeks ago, I displayed my first version of this little guy (or girl -- not sure which). Since then, I've made two other versions of that piece, making slight changes to the images, mostly by curving the tail.

By request, then, I painted this!

Autumn -- but Not in the Desert

Last Sunday, The Wiffee and I took a trip to the mountains for a few days. It's been very busy for both of us, and although I, especially, still had much to do, we agreed a change of scenery (and getting away from this sweatshop!) would be a good idea.

So we stayed in a cabin owned by a friend in the Lake Arrowhead region. While not an area that could be described as having utterly awe-inspiring vistas, it still was beautiful, and I could see paintings coming out of this in the future.

Even better were the fall colors we saw. Granted -- the colors were not as rich and varied as a maple forest in Vermont or as fluorescent as the golden leaves of aspen in the Rockies. In fact, oak trees ranged brown-yellow to yellow green. But they added another dimension to the dull greens of pine and cedar.

This picture shows a different species of oak that was planted in one of the mountain towns. Most of the leaves on this and similar trees were a deep rich red, suitable for Christmas if not the fall holidays.

While the desert gets fall colors of its own, they're nothing like this oak tree. As much as I love the Mojave, sometimes one needs to go where traditional fall colors shine in all their electric glory.

Happy Halloween

Tomorrow is Halloween, the first of a set of holidays that normally gets me pretty excited.

Actually, when things are looking up and I have at least a little time on my hands, mid-late September begins to set a mood with me. It's fall, even though -- here in southern California and especially in the desert -- we really don't see signs of autumn yet.

But thoughts of fall prepare me for the rest of the holiday season, beginning with Halloween. For some, Halloween is derived from Sanheim, an ancient Druid/pagan day that today might be interpreted as truly satanic.

But for me and, I believe, many others, Halloween is simply a time to have fun: to dress and act outrageously in ways that would be totally inappropriate any other time of year. I enjoy outfits people come up with, even costumes that turn those people into zombies, ghosts, witches or other uncouth/undead beings from hell. It's all for fun, and anybody who might take things too seriously would, IMO, do so anyway without using Halloween as an excuse to go off the deep end.

Following is the other autumn holiday, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. After Christmas, it feels like the fun is over, and I tend to go into somewhat of a funk, unless I have specific things lined up for the first of the following year to get excited about. (Needless to say, those "things" usually involve art in some way!)

Following is a detail from a Halloween image I painted last year. I want to submit it to a greeting card company later in 2010 and so for that reason, I don't want to show the entire painting just in case some unethical types out there want to use it and approach the greeting card companies before I do.

Happy Halloween!

Art Studio Tours

This last weekend I participated in the local art studio tours.

If you've been been on one of these (either as an artist or a visitor): the artists open up their homes or studios (or both, for guys like me who have their studios in their homes) so people can see where the artists work on their creations. Of course, the primary objective for the artists is to sell stuff.

In some ways, a studio tour is more work than an art show in a park or similar setting. A space in a park normally doesn't require cleaning, dusting, sweeping, moving items out of the space and putting them elsewhere out of view, and other miscellaneous activities.

I'm typically tired after a show, but today, all I did was sleep!

At least we made some money, but not enough considering: (a) what we need, and: (b) considering how much time and work went into it.

Well, art shows in the parks aren't going that well for most of us artists, and I'm not convinced a studio tour is that much better, especially in this economy and in southern California.

This is one of the pieces I did manage to sell.

Dante's View

Our local artist studio tours (officially known as the Hwy. 62 Art Tours) begins tomorrow morning. I would have loved to have had time to get more paintings done, but I think I always feel that way!

The main thing is: in about 50 hours from now, I should know if we'll have enough $$$ to continue on and survive for a while longer.

This is a piece I finished recently with the Art Tours in mind, although it isn't a local scene, strictly speaking. This is Dante's View in Death Valley National Park. (I guess someone must have thought the view was a little like Dante peering into the depths of hell!)

The white areas are salts and minerals that are left behind after rainwater runoff from the mountains collects and evaporates. The salt pan isn't always present -- the last couple of years I was in Death Valley, I saw very little white. Apparently, rainfall was too low (even for Death Valley), and I assume high winds blew the salt out of the Valley.

But the two times I was at Dante's View, the landscape was absolutely stunning.

I've also noticed a couple of ravens that always seem to hang out near the parking lot. I painted one of them flying out into the space to the left, able to see (but maybe not appreciate) the overwhelming beauty of this special place.

Whew!!!

Re: the title -- that's not "Whew, it's over." It's "Whew, am I working my butt off!"

The area I live in is having two weekends of open studio tours where many of the artists' studios and homes in the high desert are open for business. I've been preparing for this coming weekend (24-25 October), and it's been VERY busy.

I won't have as many items available as I had hoped, but I'll still be able to offer a variety of price points for numerous desert paintings, as well as a few western landscapes.

The sponsoring organization has both a hardcopy program (for $10 -- I'll have a few of those to sell) and an online pdf version, as well. You can see it here. (It is a 20-page document, so be patient as it loads up). Information on finding me appears in the upper righthand corner of page 6.

This will be a busy week, so I don't know if I'll be able to post again until the studio tour is over. So -- have a good Monday and a great week!

iArt

An idea appeared in one of the artist forums I belong to about the future of art hanging on people's walls. Something I would call "iArt."

The thought is: suppose instead of paintings or photographs (or prints or posters showing these), people hung flatscreen TVs on their walls -- flatscreens designed to be "on" all the time. Then the flatscreen owners would subscribe to a service from which they can download images to display on the screens. Then, whenever they're ready for a change, they'd flip through images and voila! A different picture!

Most artists would say iArt would lose much of what makes original art so desirable, especially originals with lots of texture or subtleties. But for those who are not that particular, this could be another affordable way (besides prints or posters) to obtain art in an affordable way.

And if I had more entrepeneurial skills than I have, maybe I'd be the one to start an art subscription business!

Wyoming Light

This is a somewhat large painting (36" x 48" / 91cm x 122cm) of the wonderful mountains in Grand Teton National Park, WY. The setting is summer, late in the day as the sun begins its descent behind the mountains.

The piece is very much in my own style, but it was inspired by the work of 19th century painter Albert Bierstadt. He was able to make truly magnificent images of western mountains, clouds and lighting, and I tried to capture "the moment" in my own work.

While not a desert scene, this is very much a western scene. All that's missing is the herd of pronghorn running across the meadow or, if I had intended a more historical landscape, cowboys driving their steers to market.

By now, I'd expect the green is gone from this place and winter is already blasting the area with its sharp cold winds and snow flurries, turning this view into the perfect Christmas card picture. But for the moment, let's imagine the soft warm breezes and flowered scents that existed here only a few months ago.

(Not to get commercial on you, but this painting is currently available directly from me via my Website!)

Changes Are in the Air

It's been a little crazy lately, mostly getting more paintings done for an upcoming show. As you may have noticed, art is my passion, and there's no other job I'd rather do.

Except I may have to do a different job.

Artists, like many others, have been struggling in this difficult economic situation. Between The Wiffee's paycheck and my few-and-far-between sales, we're not bringing in enough to pay the bills.

As it turned out, a job opening appeared in my area -- one I should be qualified to do, and one that isn't either an auto mechanic, a truck driver or a manager/director of some kind. These are the only jobs that typically come up in the high desert.

So I have an interview next week -- and if they offer me the job, I'll accept it. Besides the loss of time to paint, I'll also be focusing on being the best employee I can be. I suspect painting activity would drop to almost zero for the first few months, at least.

However, I'm still a long ways from getting the job, so for now, I have to assume I'll continue Plan A (with its many modifications over the years) and work on art like it's going out of style. (Sometimes I wonder if it is).

Changes are in the air. If I get the job, art will be pushed to the back burner for a long time. If I continue doing art fulltime, I'll need to find whatever it is that will lead people to excise $$$ from their wallets. The latter could involve (a) changing my product, or: (b) finding nontraditional venues.

Wish me luck. I'm gonna need it!

In the Mojave Preserve

Last fall, The Wiffee and I made a trip to Lone Pine and Death Valley. We took the scenic route through part of the Mojave Preserve in southeastern California, an area set aside to keep the region looking natural and primitive.

I've inserted a painting I recently finished. It's a small painting (8"x10" / 20cm x 25cm) and will probably appear on my Website one of these days (if I don't first sell it at an upcoming art studios tour later this month).

One thing I liked about the view is that sense of space I love in the desert. You just know those mountains are miles and miles away. And in the desert, things aren't so cluttered up that you can't see things like that!

That's why I'm so attached to the tagline that appears on my Website and stationery: The Vast Spaces of the Southwest!

Wind In the Pass

The Banning Pass (aka the San Gorgonio Pass) is an area west of Palm Springs, CA. It separates the low desert from the coastal-influenced weather. It tends to be REALLY windy there due to differences in humidity and temperature. Most of the time, the wind blows from west to east, often at considerable velocities (25mph+).

The view I've shown in this painting is east of the pass. The wind is gusting as it often is as Mt. San Jacinto stands unmoving against the force of the wind. This is the first time I've attempted to depict blowing wind in a painting, and I expect I'll do more in the future. In my mind, deserts are windy places; at least, they often are. it seems reasonable to paint that aspect of one of my favorite habitat types.

Another Fall Painting

This is a painting I completed (and reworked) years ago. I'm sure if I were to do another version of it (which I'll probably do someday), I could make it even better using the skills I have evolved over the years.

My piece was inspired by a painting by my favorite 19th century artist, Thomas Moran. When I attended a retrospective of his work in (I think) 1998. The title is Cresheim Glen, Wissahickon, Autumn. Out of the many wonderful paintings in the exhibit, this is the one that transfixed me the most.

My work is, of course, not as nice as the painting that inspired it. However, this is an example of how I sometimes try to capture the feeling of a master's artwork without copying it directly. I'm sure I'll try again to glorify the beauty of the northeastern part of the US during fall, especially since we never see anything like this in the desert!

First Day of Autumn

Autumn is always an exciting time for me; in fact, sometimes I think I should have been a duck.

OK, I don't feel a need to migrate south or be shot at by duck hunters. But I want to find fall colors (not easy when you live in the desert!) and eagerly await the Big Three (to me) holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Funny -- if fall passes me by and I just don't get into it, I don't get into Christmas, either. Autumn seems to prepare me for Christmas.

I've shown this painting before, but it's one of my favorite fall paintings, as small as it was (8"x10"/20cm x 25cm):

We don't get many of these colors in the West. Cottonwood and aspens turn a brilliant yellow, and some aspens can develop orange-red leaves, as well. But in the desert, we don't get colors at all except for those few areas where water exists and cottonwoods are growing.

However, if one travels into the mountains, one is more likely to see fall color -- yellow, anyway. (Poison ivy sometimes turns red, but reds and oranges are limited to non-native plants planted along a town road or in a yard).

This painting shows a scene along a hiking trail on the grounds of the Wildlands Conservancy, a group that, like the Nature Conservancy, acquires land and sets it aside to preserve it.

The weather has been hot in the desert, so it just doesn't seem like autumn yet. I'm hoping that will change soon!

Borrego Palms

It almost feels funny doing a painting in a vertical format. But sometimes ya just gotta do it!

This is a group of fan palms alongside a creek that is normally dry. The scene is in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, CA in the afternoon. "Borrego palms" is the title of the painting, not necessarily the name of the palm group. It just sounded good and helps identify where these palms are.

I can imagine the native borregos (bighorn sheep) enjoy coming to the stream further uphill, away from human view, and getting lots of water while they can.

By summer, of course, the stream will be dry, waiting for the next rainstorm to restart the downward course of water. But on this day, I was able to enjoy the trickle of water and the rustle of palm fronds in the breeze. I'm sure the local critters did, too.

By the way, I've been posting small (8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm) paintings that I've included in my "art on a budget" Website page. I believe any of those pieces would look great in your home or office!

Ocotillo Wash

This is a mostly accurate rendition of a place in La Quinta, CA (near Palm Springs). I say "mostly" because the wash is really a trail, and I brought the ocotillo on the left closer to the viewer.

Otherwise, the foothills of the Santa Rosa Mountains are a series of fun jagged sawtooth peaks that give the area an incredibly rugged look.

I plan to paint more views of this area. This place has the look of what I'd consider quintessential California desert.

San Jacinto from Morongo Valley

Mt. San Jacinto is one of the landmark features in our area here in the desert, and the North-facing view is, in my opinion, the best-looking side of the mountain. San Jacinto was formed by earthquake action: this side was lifted out of the desert floor, giving the northern slope a steep and rugged appearance.

The image I'm sharing here shows San Jacinto from this angle. This is how it looks from the rural community of Morongo Valley, a place that transitions from the low desert of Palm Springs to the high desert towns of Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms. The hills of Morongo Valley block the bottom part of San Jacinto, but I've painted this rock so often, a change in the look is welcome!

I hope you enjoy it. (And by the way, I sold it today). =)

A Few Summer Flowers

Although the desert is not totally devoid of flowers during the summer, they are a little scarce.

So it was fun to come across this bright red-orange crown on a barrel cactus (actually, two of the barrels on this property were flowering). This cactus is not in the wild, and I'm sure it's in bloom because it gets water that it wouldn't get if it were growing in the open desert.

But as a painter, it's helpful for me to know that these cacti can bloom in late summer/early fall. It's entirely possible that I'll paint this little beauty in a wild setting, with the "excuse" that summer thunderstorms gave it the incentive it needed to put on a show!

We painters can do that!

Updated Website

Well, I took some advice from an artist I know ("LB") who has had success selling from her Website, a goal I've had for a while now.

So I've added some additional links to the homepage, including one (with my picture--UGH!) that will take you directly to my Bio/Statement page. I wrote about what aspects about the desert fascinate me. I also removed a page that was all about my technique -- LB thought it would appeal to artists, but they are not my target audience, and most art buyers wouldn't care about all that stuff.

Finally, since I've been making original paintings that I can sell inexpensively, I created a page that features some of these works as well. You can see them here.

And, as before, all of these pieces are for sale!!! (Yes -- that's a hint!)

But if you're not in the market for art today, that's OK. Maybe tomorrow. At least go take a look. Be sure and let me know if you think of something else I need to change or fix.

Enjoy!

Smokey

Not Smokey the Bear, in this case... Smokey conditions!



By now, you may have heard of the fires that are burning in California. We tend to get rain at the end of the year and the beginning of the next, so by summer, everything is dry and ready to burn.

So far this year, we haven't had any fires in the desert. But the wind is blowing smoke from the other fires into our area. (A friend in Colorado mentioned the hazy conditions in her state are coming from California fires, too).

The desert is not particularly inspiring to be in right now. Besides the smokey smell and thick haze, it's also hot and humid -- none of that "dry heat" for the time being).

I'm still working on paintings of the high desert. But I'll have to admit: I'm not working from life!

Another Lizard

I've been on somewhat of a lizard kick lately -- either looking for them or painting them!


This is a desert spiny lizard. I've actually discussed this particular little critter in a previous post. But now I've finally completed a painting of it, sitting on the skeleton of a cholla cactus. There were some thin miscellaneous branches covering part of the lizard (as you can see in the photo), but I had no trouble filling in the hidden parts.


Fun! Painting lizards up-close is a little different for me, but I'm hoping there are others who like lizards as much as I do and who can't live without this painting!

The eBay Blues

Well, the paintings I had on eBay (mentioned in a previous post) didn't sell. So -- why not?

• Not good enough;
• No one is into California desert/Joshua Tree National Park scenes;
• The people who might have been interested were away from their computers this week.

Some (but not all) of my Arizona landscapes normally sell, but I can't always count on that, either. And I don't think I'm asking too much -- $57 starting bid, shipping included, "Buy It Now" is $75. Is that unreasonable?

Is the economy still THAT bad all over the country?

Don't know. But a job opportunity came up that I applied for. If I'm hired, that will obviously affect my ability to paint and market my work.

But we'll see. A career change may be coming.

More Infrared Ocotillos

I'm still painting my life away, but I thought for now, I'll post another one of my infrared photos of the desert. This scene shows an ocotillo in Joshua Tree National Park.


This is one of those views that screams "Desert!" to me -- lots of open space, and the special forms of the plantlife there.

I can imagine this will be a painting some day -- either in color or in "infrared" black and white. I think it'd make a great piece either way!

Summer in the Desert

Visiting the desert in summer is often thought of as being condemned to hell: torrid temperatures, rocks that melt, no signs of life anywhere except for the human tourist wondering why s/he came to this place of torment.
Well, a little of that is true. It does get pretty hot out here, although the temperatures haven't been as high this year as they sometimes get. Also, here in the high desert, we tend to be about 10 degrees cooler than Palm Springs and the rest of the Coachella Valley.

Flowers are scarce, especially during this dry year we've had. Wildlife, even cold-blooded critters like lizards and snakes, stay in the shade or underground until it cools off. The greens, yellows, blues and other colors of spring are long gone. The annuals that produced the flowers are also dried up and blown away, leaving little/no evidence that they were ever there.

BUT -- for a desert lover like me, the "off-seasons" still draw me into places like Joshua Tree National Park. In early morning or late afternoon, lizards are darting under dormant shrubs or rough boulders. Ground squirrels brave the heat to do whatever it is ground squirrels do. Coyotes trot along, looking for a tasty goodie.

And for me, brown and blue is my favorite color combination. I'm sure that's part of the reason why I love deserts. And let's face it: this time of year, my colors dominate.

The heat and the occasional monsoonal humidity does get to me. But the desert keeps the rare beauty that only deserts possess.

Sigh! and New Paintings!

Re: sigh! -- well, I thought I'd try offering one of my more labor-intensive (and therefore pricier) paintings on eBay, BUT...it didn't sell. I haven't decided if I'll try again with this piece or if I'll try something that doesn't show the desert.

In the meantime, I just posted these paintings on eBay (here are links for Joshua Tree on the left and Jumbo Rocks on the right). I can ask less for these pieces, and I hope some Mojave desert/Joshua Tree National Park fans will see them and decide they can't live without them.

More Fun in the Desert with Infrared

As usual, I continue to be fascinated by the look of infrared (IR) photography. As I mentioned in a previous post, most digital cameras are sensitive to IR and even have a filter in them that removes IR before the light reaches the sensor; otherwise, pictures could end up looking unexpectedly strange.

This is a photo taken earlier this year from Keys View in Joshua Tree National Park, CA. Toward the right is Mt. San Jacinto, the mountain that is largely responsible for creating the desert to the left. The city of Palm Springs lies on the flat area immediately to the left of the mountain. IR actually helps the town blend into the surrounding desert, since foliage of the non-native trees and shrubs is rendered white by IR. The white foliage, in turn, melts into the light-colored sands of the Coachella Valley.

IR also removes atmospheric haze. Mt. San Jacinto thus looks clearer and less distant than it actually is.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to do more traveling around the Southwest. But whenever that time comes, IR photography, as well as color, is on the agenda!

Jumbo Rocks

This is a new painting of an area in Joshua Tree National Park called Jumbo Rocks. I'd say it's a good name for the place!

The size of the painting is 8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm.

More Desert Reptiles

Well, good grief! I'm falling behind in blog entries, aren't I?

That's partly because I started a second blog. It appears on a Website for The Desert Sun, a Palm Springs-based newspaper.

I'm limiting the subject matter and images to "the beauty and mystery of the deserts." I've posted a combination of photos I've taken and paintings I've made. Most of the other blogs at the newspaper are political in nature, and I wanted something that might, hopefully, make the residents of the desert glad they live there.

In the meantime, today the weather in the desert was a little cooler, so I thought I'd go hiking and try to get more pictures of lizards that I can use in paintings. As it turned out, I saw numerous examples of only one species. Oh, well. Maybe another time.

I'm not 100% positive, but I believe this is one of a number of whiptail lizards that live in the desert. This good-lookin' fella (or gal) is partly obscured by vegetation, but the pic shows how long the tail is -- that'll be good to know for the paintings!

Lizards x 2

I've now done two paintings of this lizard. The first one (on the left) has all of the attention to detail, transparent glazes and all of those things that makes a painting really neat (IMO, anyway).

The painting on the right I produced with a particular customer in mind. She likes the first painting but can't afford what I need to ask for it. So I painted the second piece as what I call an "eBay painting": no glazes -- direct painting only; not as much stuff; and not a straight copy of any other piece I've done. It took about 1/3 as long to create as the first painting, and the varnishing process will also be greatly simplified: a total of two layers of varnish as opposed to seven for painting #1.

If it turns out the customer doesn't buy it, I'll offer it on eBay. And if it doesn't sell there, I'll have it available for an open-studio tour I'll be participating in this coming October.

Good thing I like lizards, huh? (But don't ask me to paint spiders. I can't stand those!)

Getting Behind!

OK, OK, I know. I'm not posting as often as I should. S'up with me, anyway?

Well, the point of my blog is talk about art (especially MY art!) and, in some cases, to discuss painting issues that most folks may not know about. But I've been making a major push in making small inexpensive paintings and art cards. I've been too busy making art to spend time writing about it!

So -- below I'm showing the latest three ACEOs which I posted on eBay just a few minutes ago. If I can do this right, I'll try to post links directly to their respective pages on eBay.

"Smoke Tree"

"Ocotillos"


"Desert View"

A Sale and a No-Sale

Funny -- the ACEO on the left sold this week on eBay. But not the ACEO on the right.

I wonder why. True -- they're not identical, but they are similar.

I think I need a marketing research firm to help me figure out collectors' buying patterns!

Ain't It Cute?

Even lizard babies are cute!

This one has been hanging out around our front door and runs away from the house whenever we step outside. S/he (don't know the sex or the species at this time) is only about 3.5"/8.9cm nose-to-tip-of-tail. The head is disproportionally large, but I'm sure the body will grow bigger and will catch up in time.

As you may have caught on before -- I really like lizards!

The Money Circle

Back in the mid-1970's, I worked for a camera company as a shipping/receiving clerk. Like most companies, this place had its good and bad points. So after a while, I was ready to move on.

But to what? I had no other tangible job skills, I hadn't finished college (where I was majoring in art), and any personnel manager I talked with felt I needed to have more goals in my life (not to mention more employable skills). Plus, I wasn't necessarily good at marketing myself.

All this lit a fire within me that lasted for years. I made arrangements to return to college (leaving my job with the camera company), get a degree in whatever sounded practical that would also interest me, and simply have more options when I re-entered the work force on a career level.

I started in ornamental horticulture but quickly changed to microbiology, medical technology option. This curriculum would have prepared me as much as possible to enter an internship to train as a medical technologist, the folks in clinical labs who run the tests on patient specimens, and then take various state board exams to receive a license.

I got as far as being admitted to the one-year training program at the City of Hope in Duarte, CA. That's when plans changed. It was either because of the overwhelming stress of trying to learn and do so much in so little time, or the fact that I needed dental work done and was taking prescription pain killers as a result.

The point is: I took a multiple-choice written exam and made some really dumb errors, thus failing the test. They allowed me to re-take it, and I tried to be as careful as possible, even to the point of working out math problems in the margins -- but then circling the wrong letter on the test. More dumb stuff -- and I was dismissed from the internship.

Whichever the cause, that was the first time I ever truly bombed out on anything important in my life -- an event I never entirely recovered from. I entered grad school and received a masters degree in microbiology. But the funny thing about science: a masters is not a help but a hindrance. I was overqualified to do what bachelors degrees people do, but not advanced enough to do Ph.D. work. In most fields, a masters degree is considered worthwhile. In the natural sciences, it puts you at a disadvantage.

None of the jobs I found in reserach were actually microbiology-related, although I had skills that worked in other fields (i.e., electron microscopy). Most of those jobs were also grant-funded, which means you can be laid-off if the grant isn't renewed. Which I often was.

So in 1991 I left science altogether, we moved to Colorado Springs and I took a position in a Christian ministry answering letters and sending out resources that I felt could help our constituents deal with their issues. As mentioned in a previous post, I have writing skills, so in some ways, this job was a good fit. Sort of a mix of customer service and light-weight counselor, mostly with teen girls.

The down side: I'm not as conservative as many of the people who were around me. Of the nine years I worked there, I spent at least seven of them trying to get out. The stress and pressure to conform to certain religious expectations and behavior was quite damaging, and to this day I have a difficult time relating to church or Christians.

After deaths in each of our families, we returned to California in late 2000 with the idea that my wife would find a local job and I would paint (and sell) full time. It seemed to be working at first, but wouldn't you know it: the economy started slowing down, and so did the art sales.

And here we are today, where I feel like I've gone a terribly frustrating full circle: no real employable skills (assuming I could even find a job around here); I've been out of the lab for 18 years and am not only rusty, I'm behind the times. And I'm still not sure I know how to sell myself, anyway.

For most artists I know (maybe all -- some of them may be lying!), sales are down or nonexistant. Some artists are speculating art business methodologies that worked in the past may not work anymore -- that buyers' attitudes have changed. Don't know about that -- history shows alternating cycles of parsimony and wanton materialism.

It all certainly puts me in a position where I have to decide what to do next -- and fast. I know it isn't just me -- but that doesn't affect the fullness of my pocketbook. I've been painting smaller lately: rather than lowering prices (which wouldn't be fair to my previous customers), I'm making paintings that I can offer for less.

BUT: do I need to make more changes? Are there enough people out there who want the things that I paint? More decorative? More colorful? More abstract/impressionistic/whatever?

The Money Circle has been a long-lasting, maddening, frustrating and sad situation. I hope I find out what I need to do soon -- before it's too late.

More ACEOs

One nice thing about Art Cards Editions and Originals (ACEOs -- see 17 June 2009's post) -- it doesn't take long to do them. And I'm finding, based on hit counters, more people on eBay seem to be looking for ACEOs than for 8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm paintings. If it turns out ACEOs are the only items that I sell on eBay, that's fine. It just means I'll have to do about 500-600 pieces a month to pay our bills! But, believe it or not, that's do-able!

I listed the above ACEOs on eBay just tonight. The image on the left is a scene from Joshua Tree National Park, CA (go to eBay); the other painting (go to eBay) shows the Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles, also in CA.

Lizard of Ahhhs...

Handsome little critter, huh? (Or pretty little critter -- I don't know if this is a male or a female).

This desert spiny lizard showed up in a corner of our patio yesterday. So of course, I just had to take some pictures of him/her.

Need I say s/he will be showing up in a painting in the near future?

Jealous

Yes, I admit -- I do get jealous at times. Hopefully not in a negative, destructive way, but it does happen.

This morning on ABC-TV's Good Morning America, they showed an interview with J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of books (and which have been made into highly successful movies).

As I understand, she had relatively little writing experience. Yet, after a divorce and no significant employment skills to offer, she turned to writing -- and almost overnight she achieved the kind of notoriety and financial means most of us only dream of.

And then there was the (deceased) Michael Crighton. He received an MD degree and did some postdoctoral work, but as far as I know, he never suffered through a medical residency or practiced medicine.

Now, I do possess some writing skills, although I've never attempted anything as involved as a novel. But I do harbor a dream of doing that. So it is that I'm jealous of both Rowling and Crighton.

I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books, but I really should. I know other writers who have, and they claim the writing is very good.

I've only read one of Crighton's books (Jurassic Park: The Lost World). The storyline was fine, but honestly, I believe I'm a better writer than he was. What I seem to lack -- a gift he had -- is knowing how to take a principle of science and turn it into a story. After all, I have a MS degree in microbiology: I could have written The Andromeda Strain. I understand DNA cloning: I could have written Jurassic Park. But I didn't. Stories like those just didn't occur to me at all.

So I have an additional goal in life, over and above making and selling art: to develop my imagination and story-telling abilities so I can be the next Michael Crighton -- or even the next J.K. Rowling.

But until then -- I'll wallow in jealousy!

Monument Valley

I actually finished this piece several weeks ago, but I only got around to photographing it recently. This is one of many wonderful views in Monument Valley in Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona. This particular scene is visible right from the dirt road that winds through the place.

I not only like the view, I also liked the small desert lupine (the blue flower) that was really there at the time. It's a little hard to see, but it's near the bottom of the image, right of center.

It's hard to go wrong when painting (or photographing) Monument Valley. Everywhere you look, it's beautiful and magical. No wonder so many western movies were filmed there.

More "eBay Paintings"

By the title, you might gather I make paintings with the intention of listing them on eBay. If you assumed such, you are right!

I've posted another desert painting on eBay tonight, along with a few others I placed there last night. Tonight's piece is entitled "Desert Poppies" which, at least on my monitor, look more brownish than orange-yellow as they appear on the painting. (That's a hazard of trying to sell anything online where color rendition is important).

If you'd like to check it out on eBay, the direct link is here. Remember -- you have only a week! But it's a great way to get some affordable original art.

Summer

This is a painting I finished recently entitled Summer. As you might guess, I thought there might actually be a few people who prefer landscapes that are NOT desert scenes!

Since it is summer (the torrid temperatures here in the Mojave desert prove it), I thought it might be fun to paint a scene that looks like a place I would like to go right now to relax, kick off the shoes, cool off and listen to the sounds of nature. And, of course, there are NO mosquitoes, ants, spiders or other obnoxious critters here at all.

I muted the greens quite a bit for this painting. Art comes first, of course, but I have to be a little practical and remember that green isn't the most saleable color right now. If that ever changes, I'd love to do landscapes with rich, vibrant greens. But for now, I'll keep those colors subtle.

And for one week only, this piece is available on eBay!

It's summer. Take it easy!