Fast or Good?

My drawing students get to hear me say this regularly: “You can be fast or you can be good; I get to be both.”

Now I am working on a drawing that is very very important to me, and I am choosing to be good, but S L O W.

What’s with all the pressure? This is a house I met once and immediately admired, belonging to my closest friend in the world at the time.

I began this commission pencil drawing in September.

I got this far and decided that it needs to fill the paper more, because I don’t want to just fill the bottom inch with gravel. So, I have erased the lower parts and will stretch the slate and brick walkway farther down the paper.

The shrubs are being placed willy-nilly as I see fit, because I am working from about 5 different photos, all taken at different times of the landscape development. As long as there are lavender shrubs with color at the end, my dear friend will be happy.

This is the absolute best I know how to do.

About That Museum Wall Design

The exhibit is on the north interior wall of the Mineral King Room in the Three Rivers Historical Museum. (Really, shouldn’t this be called a “history” museum rather than a “historical” museum? This bothers me. The museum isn’t historical; however, I didn’t name it and can read their sign and website and then call them what they call themselves.)

  • The exhibit is called Native Voices.
  • The designer chose the colors.
  • The designs are from Yokuts baskets.
  • I will freehand the design rather than tape.
  • It will take a lot of time to paint out the drips, wobbles, and graphite smudges, but less time than taping and then hoping everything stays in place when it dries and the tape is removed.
  • I only traced the main designs and will have to figure out how to do the “shadows”.
  • I would dearly love to know how the designer thought I’d get the designs onto the wall.

This last picture shows the design with its “shadows”, along with three of gray people-ish shapes to give an idea of how the finished wall will look. On the left is The Gathering, in the middle is Quail (but the lighter versions won’t be included), and on the right is Rattlesnake.

Designs on a Museum Wall

I enlarged these designs onto kraft paper, ordered some very large sheets of graphite transfer paper, gathered a few tools, and drove to the Three Rivers Historical Museum. My job bosses had prepped the wall for me, and they also blocked it off in a very serious manner, along with providing a ladder and a couple of tables. (They are TERRIFIC to work for!)

I had previously tested some carbon paper to see if I could transfer through the kraft paper, but had to go searching at Blick Art Materials for some large graphite sheets. There were two to choose from, and instead of accidentally ordering the wrong one, I bought both.

We measured the wall very carefully to mark the center and then figure out where the first design was to go. Then I taped the smallest design up, trying to see through the kraft paper to place it exactly on the mark I made, adjusting it until it was level.

The design was drawn in pencil, so you can’t see it on this photo. I kept the bottom untaped so I could lift it up to place the graphite paper.

MASKING TAPE WOULDN’T STICK TO THE GRAPHITE PAPER!!

The museum came to the rescue with old-fashioned brown masking tape instead of the easy-removing blue type.

This design is called Quail, taken directly from a Yokuts basket design. I used a straight edge and traced over the pencil lines with an obsolete tool from the olden days of phototypesetting that my students and I refer to as a “spatula”. (Too hard to explain.)

Squint hard, and you can see how it landed on the wall.

What next? I’ll show you in two days.

Are All Wall Paintings Murals?

Nope. Some are designs, created for museum displays, by exhibit designers. The Three Rivers History Museum hired a museum designer, an exhibit designer, whatever the title is, to create a Native American exhibit, and they (or is it the Tulare County Historical Society? Or the Mineral King Preservation Society? I should pay more attention!) to execute these designs.

Every new job I take on has an entirely new set of challenges. How does one take this little PDF and turn it into a wall design? These exhibit designers may not have completely thought through the execution phase of the display. However, maybe they do know how to do such a job and just didn’t tell the museum. Maybe it involves equipment and technology that I don’t own.

No problem. I figured it out.

The designer sent it with a ?”=1′-0″ grid over the top.

I turned it to black and white, isolated each group, and printed it. (These samples don’t show the whole designs—just wanted to give you an idea.)

Next, I got some giant kraft paper (looks like brown butcher paper on a great big roll, and if you have ever received a wrapped gift from me, you know what I’m talking about) and laid it out on my drafting table. This was quite a big jump from my normal 11×14″ pencil drawings.

And then, I started measuring and drawing.

It took an entire day.

What next? I had to figure out how to get the patterns on the wall. I’ll show you next week, after our monthly Learned List.

Back to the Easels and the Drawing Table

After several months of no work (i.e. lovely free time at the cabin without deadlines or guilt), work is beginning to trickle back into my days.

First, a pencil commission. (I still love to draw.)

This was the little sketch for the customer to approve or amend.

She made a couple of suggestions, and I scribbled a few notes for further verification.

This is a house I visited. Actually, I visited the people there, but the house really stuck in my memory as very attractive. It will be quite fun to draw.

I worked on the herd of buffalo for the upcoming show at CACHE, called “A Bovine State of Mind”.

It might be finished, but I will wait to sign it until I am completely sure there is nothing left to improve.

I remembered that the Holiday Bazaar in Three Rivers is coming November 18, 2023. This is the Saturday BEFORE Thanksgiving. It is time to think about beefing up my inventory of smaller paintings for this annual boutique at the Remorial Building. (Remorial, liberry, prolly. . . bet you can translate these words).

Yep, messy, but the first layers always are.

It’s great to be producing art again, both with pencils and oil paints!

Another Interruption, This Time for Drawing

 

Once again, we interrupt our broadcast for this drawing.

Ever notice the annoyance of the English language, where a noun and a verb can be exactly the same word? And I didn’t actually mean “broadcast”, because we are in a series of posts about cabin life. This drawing fits the category of cabin life but it isn’t about cabin life; it’s about pencil drawing.

Get on with it, will ya??

An old friend (that seems to be where most of my work comes from, but new friends and young friends are welcome to commission me; even friends I haven’t met yet are welcome here) expressed an interest in a drawing from The Cabins of Wilsonia. 

Alas, it was gone.

We had a few options: 1. Oh well, sorry; 2. Buy another book, Sir, and rip out the page; 3. I can draw it for you again.

My wise friend chose option #3.

Have a look at the original photo that I used.

As always, working from a photo isn’t straightforward copying. Every photo has its indiscernible parts, because real life is messy. 

Because my friend was wanting the drawing from the book, I used that old drawing to help me make decisions. (I didn’t lie: although the original is gone, it’s still on my laptop.)

Then, I thought about it a bit more and decided that I ought to be able to do a better job now. That was 10 years ago, and I was cranking out those 272 (was that really the number??) drawings at a rapid pace. This time, there was no deadline. My friend’s only requirement was specific dimensions to go with another drawing, like a matched set.

Here is the other drawing.

And here is its new partner.

(The difference in darkness has something to do with the computer reproduction, not a change in pencils or pressure on the paper.)

This picnic table appears in the chapter called “Brewer”, which is the name of the road in Wilsonia depicted in that chapter. (I got clever that way.) The funny part is that I could not remember where this photo actually was, and I just put it on Brewer because I thought it looked good with the chaise lounge. 

Apparently my friend thought the same. He has actually had a strong influence over my art career, so this makes sense.

Thank you, DB!

August is My Least Favorite Month. . .

 

. . . but it ain’t all bad. (Cabin Life series resumes tomorrow.)

Personal

Happy Birthday, 40-year-old Niece!! 

Yardening

The little bitty almost inedible grapes are ripening, and THE DEER AREN’T EATING THEM! (Thank you, Deer Out!) If they survive, and if my juicer works after last year’s lengthy repair, I will juice and freeze them.

But Deer Out is also keeping them from licking my kitchen window clean, not that they have ever done that.

August is usually very hot. That’s why these flowers are naked ladies; too hot to be clothed.

Tucker’s wound has healed, and he loves the unmowed grass, which is the thickest and healthiest it has ever been. This is the 4th year of not allowing Trail Guy to mow it in order to let it propagate and send deeper roots (he isn’t complaining).

The cucumber plants died, the zucchini will flower but not produce, the tomatoes are weak (but the plumber shared some of his), the sweet potato plants are looking healthy, and the basil is prolific.

Art

This involuntary sabbatical has been enjoyable. I am not worried, because God is my provider, not me.

After not drawing or painting for awhile, I got another wild hair to draw.

First, I warmed up by sketching in church. (Judge not: it helps me listen with my left brain when I keep my hands and right brain occupied.)

Then, I was ready to draw “Valedictorian’s Dad”.

Finally, I began three new paintings.

Don’t they look terrible? 

No worries. That’s normal.

Bonus:

One of my favorite bloggers had a great post yesterday: Tim Cotton Writes

Drawings: Finished and Begun…

… both drawn for fun, while I cowered in the studio with the air conditioner roaring. 

First, Slim’s Grandson is finished.

Second, Samson is begun.

The beginnings are always rougher looking than the finishes.

 

Drawing for Fun

 

Because I earn a living with art, I rarely draw just for fun. This is not a bad thing, it is just the way it is. 

A few weeks ago, Trail Guy and I were visiting with a packer for the Park. He is quite interesting to look at. The sun was shining perfectly on his shirt, and his hat looked imminently drawable (no excess straw weavings like so many hats have). Besides, I have avoided portraits for a long time, and with the current lack of real work, this might be a good opportunity to try faces again. (Hey, maybe I AM on sabbatical for learning!!)

Without him knowing, I took his photo. Later I converted it to black & white, because this helps me be sure it isn’t the color in a photo that is creating the interest.

Then one hot afternoon, I sat in the studio with the A/C roaring, listened to a few Mike Rowe The Way I Heard It podcasts, and did this.

The background will take some thought, because in reality, it is busy and messy. 

It doesn’t matter. There is no deadline, nor is there payment awaiting at the end of the job. That’s why I call this “drawing for fun”.  And as far as portraiture, there is precious little face that is visible in this picture.