Perhaps I should have titled this “Book Report”. Then, you might have gotten it confused with my old Reading Rabbit reports. So many decisions. . .
Remember that I am working almost exclusively on The Cabins of Wilsonia this year? (I told about it here.)
Good thing I love to draw. At the time of this writing, I have 96 pencil drawings of cabins and cabin related items completed. That leaves approximately 133 to go.
Will the owner of this cabin recognize this pencil drawing? Will he and/or she contact me?
More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .
To follow the progress of The Cabins of Wilsonia and to read about the decisions necessary in order to even begin the book, you are invited to visit my other blog, dubya dubya dubya the cabins of wilsonia dot com
That’s me. A drawing machine. This California artist has reverted to her roots of drawing cabins in pencil.
1. Yesterday I finished Wilsonia cabin drawing #92 and began #93. I try to always have one going on the table when I quit for the day. Then, when I return to the studio, there is no time lost figuring out what to do next. I can figure out the next step while I am drawing whatever is waiting from the previous day.
2. It is good to have close friends about the same size as oneself. Awhile ago, I made a list of things that I live by, including “Never give up the pursuit of the perfect denim skirt”. Because I had the thrill of helping my friend (aka The Captain) clean her closet, I may now own the Perfect Denim skirt. (On the other hand, it might be a weensie bit smallish. . .)
3. Concrete floors are cold; it is good to take slippers to work with me.
Yes, I did make them myself. Thanks for asking!
4. Would you believe my very fragrant paperwhites are blooming and have been throughout our weeklong cold snap? (stop sneering in Minnesota at what passes for cold in California!)
8. I’ve been contemplating the difference between inspiration and motivation. Perhaps there will be a blog post on that someday.
9. The local talk guy mentioned that lots of people are tired of being asked to “join the conversation”, sign up, create an account and a password, become part of a community and comment on blogs. I respect this. I will cease to ask you questions at the end of my blog posts so that I don’t annoy my faithful readers. However, you are most welcome to comment if you have something to say, or email me if you would like to have a private exchange or have a question. Interaction is always welcome. I just write because all that silence all day long means that lots of words and thoughts build up in my head.
Yeppers, you can follow the progress on my book at dubya-dubya-dubya-dot-the-cabins-of-wilsonia-dot-com.
I’ve separated out this project from my regular blog for several business reasons, most of which you might find boring. And I NEVER want my blog to be b o r i n g.
So, here we go – a complete year of drawing! Can’t wait. Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE to draw? 😎
Yesterday I ended my post about inspirational beach photos by saying I felt so inspired I would go draw a cabin. You thought I was making that up?
This is a commissioned pencil drawing of a Wilsonia cabin. The cabin owners emailed me several photos with some specific instructions, and this is the result.
I still have a very large commissioned oil painting of redwoods to complete. Redwoods are sequoia gigantea, not to be confused with California redwoods. We grew up calling them “the big trees”, and I had no clue what a privilege it was to live so close. (I might have been a bit of a twit.) I choose to call them Redwoods now because I went to Redwood High School, and although I will skip the upcoming reunion, I have retained enough loyalty to hang onto the name. But, I digress.
The customer liked a similar painting that I made for someone else, which was based on the pencil drawing called “Redwood & Dogwood”.
You can see the drawing, plus a photo of a sequoia on my laptop. The reason the palette is on the floor is because I was kneeling there to work on the lower portion of the tree. You can see the primary colors running across the top of the palette and the redwood colors running down the side.
But wait! There’s more!
Sheesh. This California artist has a thing about redwood trees. On the left is half of the pair of doors to the painting studio. I had to open them because it is sort of dark in there. Then, the swamp cooler had to be on high, so the doors were blowing around.
It’s rough being a California artist in the heat of summer.
Wah.
This is how it looked at the end of the noisy, dark, overheated day of painting. It should dry enough overnight to begin adding the dogwood flowers on top of the redwood tree. I mean layered in front of the tree, not up at the top of the painting. You knew that, right?
. . . I would be teaching people how to draw. This happens at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter. No lessons in July or August because in the past, the attendance was abysmal during those months. Besides, it is just hot!
I’ve been teaching people how to draw since 1994. Looking back, I’m not sure I really knew how to draw or how to teach back then. People learned anyway.
Some of my students call what we do “art lessons”. I usually correct them and say “Drawing Lessons – I’m just teaching you how to draw.”
Whenever I take this 2 month break, I really miss my students. The interaction among each class is fun. They learn from me and from each other. I learn from them too. We all become friends, and it is just a thrill to see the progress each of them makes.
Hush up, California Artist, and show us what they have done!
Mrs. Bob's Italian Village
Limey Girl's old fashioned roseEven tennis players can draw! This is plum blossoms, in case you were wondering.Mae's A-mae-zing Pears in colored pencil
For more blog posts about drawing lessons, click here.
During Three Rivers Artists Studio Tour Ten, some folks saw the pencil drawing of Redwood and Dogwood. They liked it, but color sells better than black and white and shades of gray, and oil paintings have a greater appeal than pencil. I LOVE PENCIL. Just sayin’.
Something new happened to me as a California artist: these people asked me if I could do an 18×24″ oil painting of the pencil drawing! What a fun challenge – not sure of which photos I used, I just decided to rely solely on the pencil drawing as my reference picture.
When the tree and background were finished, it had to dry before I began the dogwood in the foreground. I don’t have nearly as much experience painting dogwood as Sequoia trees, so I pulled out some photos for that part.
I think the flowers need to be less cultivated looking. A few stray limbs will help. It might need some growing stuff on the right. The drawing has unidentified shrubs, so I may try to make something up. If it looks fake, I can just wipe it off. (Didn’t want you to get worried!)
The pencil drawing of Redwood & Dogwood is for sale. The shopping cart doesn’t work on my website, so you can email me for information. Sigh.
As a self-confessed color junkie, I’ve pondered the question of why pencil? Was I just a chicken? That’s all water under the bridge, and now I am just accepting the fact of 13 years of drawing with a late start to oil and mural painting.
It ain’t all bad!
Drawing in pencil helped me develop several areas of skill. The subject has been covered very thoroughly here and here. Since I like lists, here is a list of the benefits of learning to draw well before learning to paint.
Drawing teaches perspective. That is how things look distant or close.
Drawing teaches proportion. That is how one size relates to another.
Drawing forces an understanding of values. That is the darks and lights.
Drawing teaches composition. That is the way things are arranged on a page or canvas
If I hadn’t learned to draw first, it would have taken me much longer to learn how to paint. Not saying I know how to paint well, just saying that I’m grateful to have had all those years of drawing first!
If you would like to learn about drawing lessons, you can read this blog post or check the lessons page on my website. Or both.
Meanwhile, have a look at this California artist’s pencil and oil renderings of oranges. You can see that the pencil picture has more precision and detail – needs it, because there is no color. Someone said recently “Values do all the work, but color gets all the credit!” True, but I think detail does a ton of work too.
Washington Navels, graphite, sold
One of the 100+ oil paintings of oranges so far, sold
My last post ended with this question: if I am so taken with color, a “color junkie”, then why did I choose graphite as my medium?
Simple – I love to draw. Oh come on, there must be more to it than that! Okay, yes there is.
1. It is easy to find pencil and paper and draw any time. The back of the bulletin in church, a piece of paper from your printer, an envelope from the trash. . .
2. Pencil drawing doesn’t make a mess. No paint brushes to wash, palettes to scrape, clothing to change.
3. Pencil drawing sets up and gets put away easily. How many boring office jobs did I have where I finished my work, and then pulled a drawing out from under my typewriter to fill up the rest of the day with? Lost count!
4. Pencil drawing isn’t very expensive to reproduce as prints or cards. This makes them affordable for you! (I am sorry my shopping cart isn’t working. You may email me via the contact page if you’d like to purchase something.)
5. Pencil used to be a little complicated to reproduce well, so people couldn’t reproduce my work without my help and permission.
6. Pencil erases.
7. Pencil is easy to frame. There aren’t very many mat colors or frame styles to use that won’t just overwhelm it, so it keeps your choices down.
8. I liked to draw so I drew a lot so I got better so I drew more because it was easy and fun because I had practiced so much. Or as my now retired husband likes to say, “Success breeds success”.
Drawing for upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia
Next post will cover the benefits of working in pencil for so many years.
