It keeps raining, and I keep drawing water in pencil.
Water in Pencil
This is my latest pencil drawing of water. It isn’t titled, because the name of the falls is highly unpleasant. The drawing is unframed and it is on 11×14″ paper.
When I look at this drawing, I think about Millard Fillmore.
Who?
A president of the United States, maybe the 12th one. I’ve been listening to a podcast called “Presidential” by Washington Post reporter Lillian Cunningham. It is both entertaining and educational, a great combination when drawing rocks and water.
I could call the painting Rocks & Water. It is a little obvious.
I could call it Fillmore.
No, that’s too obscure.
Why do “obvious” and “obscure” have the same prefix?
Any ideas?
I mean about the title of the drawing, not the weird ob words.
Disconnected Thoughts From an Artist’s Brain
- Samson matches a breed of cat called “Bengal”. That accounts for his distinctive markings, his thick and silky short hair, his busy nature and his propensity to play in water. This is just a lucky accident of random breeding, but the discovery and description helps explain some of his peculiarities.
- Two of my drawing students and I will join our works together for a Visalia show in May and June that we have titled “Gray Matter”.
- Drawing water is both forgiving and precise. I’m on my second new drawing this year of running and flowing water. Water is a big thing right now – 4 dry winters followed by abundant rain and snow in January, and now my interest in drawing water. I’ve drawn water for years, but now I want to draw nothing but water.
- My website is definitely broken on the For Sale pages. It was rebuilt only 2 years ago. This is too fast for me to comprehend, and a decision needs to be made.
- The Farm Bureau coloring books are at the printer.
- The “new and improved” laptop means this: my scanner won’t work, the email program is arranged differently and has lost some options, the dictionary is no longer on the computer but online, Powerpoint won’t work, Word won’t work, the photos aren’t as easy to find or edit or export or email or get printed. I like “tried and true” quite a bit more than “new and improved”.
- Still no decision on a cell phone. I don’t want one. That is an opinion rather than a decision.
If you made it to the bottom of this post, you deserve to see a pencil drawing of water. Makes me feel better.
I have made the decision to pay to repair my website. Anyone want to buy a painting?? Too bad the For Sale page is broken. You can use the contact button, and I can email you some specifics.
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TAMMIE!
Last week I took a small stack of pencil drawings to a framer because I have a show coming in the spring. As I was lining them out on his counter, I decided that there is something wrong with this picture. It isn’t anything I can put my finger on; I just don’t think it is good enough and I don’t know why.
One of the things I teach my drawing students is honest evaluations of drawings. We tell each other the truth (kindly, of course) because it is how we learn and grow. It is too hard to find flaws in one’s own work, just like it is impossible to proof one’s own writing.
This is what I heard:
- not enough darks
- weird road curve into the distance
- something wrong with the shoulder of the road
- edges of bridge arches too clean – should be more pock-marked for its age
- furthest pillars wrong size
I thought about just shredding the drawing. Please forgive me for inflicting this on those of you who bought a calendar – try to be brave through the month of February. At least it is the shortest month!
Then I thought that seeing the photos might help us all understand.
I actually worked from 3 photos, picking and choosing the best and most visible parts of each.
This sort of dissatisfying result is probably because I worked from photos instead of standing there on location with a sketchbook. Of course, then I might have gotten run over, bitten by a rattlesnake or a mosquito with a nasty disease, gotten too hot or too cold or sunburned or maybe bugs would have landed on my paper or the wind might have blown it away.
I hate it when that happens.
Will I try to figure it out and rework the drawing? Probably not. I used spray fixative (actually called “Fixatif”, which on of my drawing students says ought to work on any marriage!) which makes it not erasable.
He Liked It!
The Commissioner and Mrs. Commissioner were very happy with their commissioned oil painting of the Kaweah Blacksmith Shop.
This little building used to be up the North Fork of the Kaweah where the Kaweah Colony was. The flood of 1997 took it away, and in recent years, The Commissioner and his wife bought the property and began learning about it.
He liked this one too. This pencil and colored pencil drawing has a story to it, several stories, really.
I drew this from some photos taken at a friend’s farm yard north of Sacramento. The tires were taller than I am, and my friend said it is quite A Thing when one needs to be changed.
The piece in the Madera Ag Art Show got 1st place in Equipment and Machinery, but it didn’t sell. I showed it around for awhile and finally just put it in my studio. Classic example of what I like not resonating with the general public. . . sigh.
When I was scrolling through old emails looking for Mrs. Commissioner’s name because I forgot it (rude), I found an email from 2007 mentioning the fact that The Commissioner might be interested in this piece. There was no way I was going to call a stranger to ask if he wanted to buy a drawing, even a 1st place one. Not happening!
He is no longer a stranger, he remembered the woman who suggested that I show this to him (she died in a skydiving accident, so you can see what a memorable person she was), and he has very good reason to want this drawing.
That reason will remain a secret, because I am not in the habit of revealing personal information about my customers. I may be rude enough to forget important people’s names, but I have my limits on rudeness.
Sometimes in Church
Sometimes in church, I draw.
And sometimes I paint.
I gave my church snow-covered mountains for Christmas.
Things are a little different in Three Rivers than down the hill.
Merry Christmas!
For you, kind blog readers, a variety of photographs, oil paintings and one pencil drawing (this year’s Christmas card to my drawing students) just to enjoy.
Christmas in Visalia
Holidays, Christmas in particular, are a season for selling. This means it is a season of buying.
I do not want to be commercial, but what if people want my merchandise and can’t figure out how to find it?
Selling is serving. (I heard this somewhere recently.) I live to serve.
Would you like some Christmas cards? Holiday cards? Whatever sort of greeting cards?
This is Christmas in *Visalia, a scene made up of real elements, a pencil drawing interpretation by me of Candy Cane Lane in 1994.
Quantities are very limited. . . only 7 packages remain. Each package is 8 cards and envelopes, $15. Price includes tax. Cards are blank inside, size 4-1/2 x 6-1/4″. If you need me to mail them, toss in another $2.00.
First come, first served. Use the contact button above (under About The Artist) to let me know if you’d like them. Or, email me – cabinart at cabinart dot net (written that way so the spambots won’t bother me). Or call me – 559-561-7606.
*Visalia is the county seat of Tulare County. Tulare is not the county seat. These weird names are pronounced “Vy – SAL- ya” and “Too-LAIR-ee”. I am not making this up. I live here, and this is how we say things. However, there are many people around here who think the town “Orosi” is pronounced “Oros-uh”. They are also the ones who say “Missour – uh”. We like those folks, but are quite curious about their pronunciation habits.
2017 Calendar Coming Soon
Like it or not, 2017 is coming in a few months. Why wouldn’t one like it? Because one may have not gotten used to 2016 yet. Why would one like it? Because a new calendar is coming.
The Bridges of Tulare County
This idea came from the show that celebrated 100 years of the National Parks. I realized that my art is heavy in the subject of bridges, because they combine the best of scenery with architecture.
There aren’t very many picturesque bridges here in the fly-over country of California, AKA Central California. Thus, some of the bridges appear more than once.
The calendar includes oil paintings, pencil drawings, and one colored pencil drawing. My favorite, the Oak Grove bridge, shows up many times. It is my calendar and I don’t have to be fair and balanced. (I hope you share my bias.)
With all the work on coloring books this year and not too much time to draw or paint, I contemplated not bothering with a calendar. Then 3 different people asked me what my calendar was going to be this year, and that’s all it took to convince me to make one.
Some of these you may have seen before, and others are new, specifically created for the calendar.
The Bridges of Tulare County, 2017 calendar – not yet ready to be ordered, but coming soon.
Mineral King From My Pencils
Why didn’t I choose to finish one of those other drawings?
I dunno. Sometimes I just don’t wanna. (Why doesn’t my boss fire me??)
This picture grabbed my attention because it is in Mineral King (White Chief, at the very top end of the trail). It also was appealing because of the reeds and grasses in the foreground, and the reflective quality of the water. It fits the theme of Tulare County, although I doubt many people have actually been to this spot. There was no particular spot that called for color.
