Aug 18 - The Idyllwild Adventure and Ms. Glass

Late last year I was contacted by a fellow from the desert area who was opening a gallery in Idyllwild. This small community tucked into a valley at 5200 feet is the alpine town where I had my first employment back in 1978. So I have always had a warm spot for it.
I met the gallery owner, and felt an immediate connection, and provided him with 28 paintings over the next few months. He sold them for me, and it was a good friendship. He moved to Idyllwild, and adopted a young rat terrier like Sparky. I had wonderful reasons to go visit this place without franchise restaurants, and I painted this 16 x 20 oil on canvas for him. The gallery is on the right in this image, below Lily Rock--the local landmark.

Technical Tips: Reminder--edges match the "nature" of the object. Soft pine needles, soft edges. Poles and buildings, harder edges. Anything over 300 feet away gets a soft edge, because the human eye cannot see like an eagle at distance, and so to give the illusion of distance on these woefully inadequate flat surfaces called canvases, we "fuzz" the edges.

Other News: I would take the motorcycle up to Idyllwild on any excuse--to paint, to visit the gallery, to talk to Isaac. The drive is wondrous, with vistas and "twisties" where the motorcycle leans into the curves. What a rush!

Here's the motorcycle as I've done it so far--leather gas tank "bib" (it will get a pocket for my cell phone), leather seat  with fringe and studs, and leather on the rear fender. I also did the tassel fringe on the clutch and brake levers, and the braids on the saddlebags.

In the second image you can see there's even some fringe on the rear direction signals. Recycled leather couch! The bike has a name, "Ms. Glass". Long story about that...

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