Can’t Draw It If You Can’t See It

“If you can’t see it, you can’t draw it”, is one of the regular things I say to my drawing students.

Along came an author, writing on local history, seeking someone to illustrate some pictures in his book. He wanted drawings because several of his photos are awful, and he wisely thought it better to have a good drawing than a poor photo.

My students and I have gotten a good laugh about my accepting this job. Portraiture is my least favorite subject. There are such subtle differences between faces, and if you can’t see it, you can’t draw it.

However, there is no one left who knows what Edythe Tate Thompson looked like, and this is the only known photograph of her. So, I did my best to make her look pleasant and human, although she may have been super-human. She was responsible for bringing the tuberculosis hospital to Springville, and responsible for getting Julia Morgan to design the first building.

I don’t think I captured an exact likeness. She looks happier to me in the drawing, more approachable. Maybe her face is a touch too wide, maybe her mouth is; I think I’ve put her eyebrows farther apart If you knew Edythe and have a photo of her, let me know.

 

Sawtooth Peak

Sawtooth is an easy to distinguish peak in Mineral King, visible from Visalia when the wildfire smoke or the pollution from the Bay Area are not obscuring the view. Lots of people like to climb it. I think it is good to look at, but I am scared of climbing it. I am only interested in photographing, drawing and painting it.

My most recent pencil drawing of Sawtooth Peak:

And now I have begun a 24×24″ oil painting. Try not to be scared – it will get better.

Cabin Drawing Flag Adjustment

A flag seems like an appropriate topic for today.

The customers were sort of happy with their Mineral King cabin drawing, but not overjoyed. “Sort of happy” is not good enough. After a bit of conversation, they said the flag was too bright and drew too much attention.

My dad liked to quote a Latin phrase De gustibus non est disbutandem, which translates “it is useless to argue over matters of taste”.

I completely understand. A drawing is never finished until the customer is completely happy. While they were present in the studio, I redid the flag. Now they are happy!

Before:

After:

Because I did the flag in bright colored pencils before discussing it with them, I used Faber Castell’s Polychromos, an oil-based colored pencil that erases. Although I am very comfortable with the colors of Prismacolor and they are sitting very conveniently on my drawing table, they are wax-based colored pencils that don’t erase, so I resisted the urge to use them.

Phew.

 

Drawing Water in Pencil

Last winter, I got on a roll drawing water in pencil. I decided to make the 2018 calendar all about water, so that meant I needed 13 drawings. The verdict is not in yet – all Tulare County? all rushing water? all new drawings? More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .

Here is the latest. It is called “Steady Stream”.

Steady Stream, pencil on paper, 9×12″

Second Beginning Drawing Workshop

Arts Visalia hired me to teach 2 beginning drawing workshops this summer. In June, there were 5 students. The time flew and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. In August, there were 5 new students, and once again, we all had a very good time of learning.

They learned about the basics of drawing, and a little about me. I learned a little about them, and that taking photos with the iPad isn’t a plan if I want to show you the photos on the blog.

After much techie wrangling, I found a way to show you the photos. Tech explained is boring; tech wrangled with is alternately frustrating and exhilarating. I’d rather be drawing, teaching drawing, or blogging.



If it appears that everyone is drawing the same thing, that is because everyone is drawing the same thing. It is much easier to demonstrate once for everyone than have 5 different things happening at the same time.

Cabin Drawing in Pencil

My business and website is called Cabin Art or Cabinart. This is because when I began, I lived in a cabin and I drew cabins.

I still live in a cabin (part time) and still draw them.

Here is the latest commissioned pencil drawing of a Mineral King cabin:

After seeing the Hume Lake cabin drawing from 1995 and reworking it, you can bet your boots that I was hyper-careful while working on this drawing. The photos were mine from 2 different photography sessions, there was much conversation about what should and shouldn’t appear, I used multiple photos to be certain of what I was seeing, and I went over the entire drawing with a magnifying glass at the end. In another 22 years, I don’t expect I will be able to repair or improve this one.

Proof That I Draw Better Now

It just occurred to me that perhaps you might disagree with my evaluation of  what “drawing better” actually looks like.

Bummer. Having a blog often means taking a risk, so here goes.

This is the little Hume Lake cabin as I drew it from the customer’s photos in 1995. (I didn’t draw the bug spot, or whatever that is.)

Here it is after reworking it, using photos I took earlier this month.

I feel relieved to have gotten a second chance to make this drawing the best I know how.

I Draw Better Now

In 1995, I drew a Hume Lake cabin from the customer’s photos.

Last week I had the pleasure of staying in that cabin and seeing it for the first time. The customer’s daughter and I grew up together and have recently reconnected.

She brought the drawing to Hume Lake, and I was dismayed to see it had a bug spot on it. It also was missing the flag, and now I put flags in color into my pencil drawings whenever possible. Besides, I draw better now.

Daughter allowed me to remove it from the frame and bring it home with me. The biggest thing was to discover if the drawing had been spray-fixed, which would not allow me to do any erasing. I can’t put color over pencil and have it look like anything good – it needs to have blank paper beneath the color. 

YEA! I can repair, replace, add, and improve it, because it isn’t spray-fixed!! Stay tuned – I hope to have some studio time next week to do the work of making this drawing something to be proud of.

P.S. Tomorrow’s post will be of a funny walk at Hume Lake.

Drawing in Mineral King

Back in the olden days when I could see without cheater magnifier glasses or a giant magnifying light, I used to draw at the cabin. I even had a drafting table upstairs underneath a north-west facing window for light.

It has been quite a few years since that was an adequate arrangement. I sold the table and stopped trying to work without electricity.

However, last week I wanted to get some work done and be out of the triple-digit heat. Since a 2018 calendar printing deadline is looming, I decided to give drawing at the cabin another try. The calendar will be all about water in Tulare County, and water doesn’t require a T-square or precise measurements, the way architectural subjects do.

It has been so long since I drew up the hill that my favorite brand of pencils has changed from Turquoise to Mars Staedtler. I had no Mars, so I used a Palomino Blackwing. 

Grandpa’s magnifying glass helped. I took the drawing home, and perfected things under the giant magnifying light before scanning and doing the Photoshop prep for the 2018 calendar.

 

This was definitely a successful experiment, so we celebrated with a BBQ’d pizza for dinner. No way was I cooking that in the woodstove – it would get as hot in the kitchen as it is down the hill!

Curious about Palomino Blackwing pencils? I got them through Amazon, of course.

 

Learning

Some people are early adopters of new technology; I am not one of them. I tried Facebook and it was all I feared it would be – 1/4″ deep, 6 miles wide, and a giant thief of time, energy and brains. My sister and her daughter suggested Instagram. There were techie obstacles, such as not owning a smartphone. (Nope, a borrowed Jitterbug doesn’t take photos).

I signed up for a private account to practice and connect with my family. The privacy settings weren’t private, so now my private family account has 2 extra folks. The “extras” are real life friends, not strangers, so I didn’t panic; I learned. 

Against the advice of my most techie friend, I set up an Instagram account for my business. It was against her advice because she believes Facebook is the most useful for people and businesses, and doesn’t think Instagram will work.

My niece thinks hashtags are key. I know nothing. Hashtags are weird, the word itself is weird (“hashtag”? It’s a number sign or a pound sign, for Pete’s sake!), and people who put that word in front of other words when they speak sound weird.

I am willing to learn and to try. It seems like the right place for someone who deals in pictures. People don’t get mean on Instagram, attack others for opposing political views, or show what they had for dinner, at least not as much as on Facebook; perhaps I am delusional and ignorant. (definitely ignorant)

My business Instagram handle (“Handle”? What do you think this is – a CB radio from the ’70s??) is JanaBotkinArt. The account is public. You are welcome to follow. You are welcome to express your opinion and to offer advice.

I’m just learning here. . .

Ten-four, Good Buddy. Over and out.

Pencil drawing, “Mineral King From The Bridge”, 9×12″, one of the posts on my new Instagram account, complete with hashtags.