Sierra Wonders is a beautiful book of art, photos, essays and poetry about the southern Sierra Nevada. It was compiled and published by the Arts Alliance of Three Rivers, and edited by my friend Karen Kimball. It is full of work by people I know, and it is truly beautiful!
Nadi Spencer’s art is on the cover, which was designed by Kasey Fansett, both friends of mine here in Three Rivers.
Have a look at the table of contents:
HEY!! That’s MY pencil drawing at the top! (I also have 2 oil paintings inside).
The proceeds from the sale of this book go to the Arts Alliance scholarship fund to help aspiring artists get through college. (Hopefully they will find their way through college in a less meandering manner than I did. . . sigh.)
It is $25, unless you are a member of the Arts Alliance, in which case it is $20.
Here is the link to buy the book, Sierra Wonders. Karen mails them out almost immediately upon receiving the orders (and confessed to me that she checks Amazon at least twice a day).
The better question is “Who has time to watch teevee?”
Salt & Light, or Reading Rabbit, oil on board, 11×14″
There are multiple ways to read these days. I have discovered e-books in spite of not having a digital reader. Amazon has a thing that lets you read on your computer. It isn’t very convenient, but it is less expensive than buying a paper book. Since I might have whatever is the opposite of a hoarding disorder, I like the idea of reading a book without owning it.
The other option I love these days is audio books. Amazon has a division called “Audible”, and I buy one book a month to listen to while working on The Cabins of Wilsonia”. (By the way, at the time of this writing I have 34 drawings remaining to complete out of the 270 in the book!)
1. Preston Goodfellow by my friend Jim Karjala is an ebook of short stories. The main character is not named Jim, but these are Jim’s stories. They are funny and moving narratives of a rough childhood but not from a victim’s viewpoint. Instead, they show tremendous spunk, character and a great survival instinct. This is an e-book worth the hassle of reading it on my computer. I read it in two sessions – nice work, Jim!!
2. Wild by Cheryl Strayed was wonderful as an audio book. This is the story of a young woman who set out to walk the entire Pacific Crest Trail, completely unprepared. She was coming from a place of deep sadness and rough living, and she tells her story well.
3. Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work That Mattersby Jon Acuff was also wonderful as an audio book. He read it himself, and this guy is funny, smart, wise, and very interesting. The book tells about the stages of a person’s career, that they cannot be skipped but that they can be accelerated. That sounds dull, but this book is NOT DULL in the slightest – I love the way Jon thinks and writes and speaks!
4. Crazy Busyby Kevin DeYoung is another ebook that a friend gave to me. I began it, it is good, but, ahem, I am too busy to finish it. That’s just wrong and ungrateful on my part. I’ll get to it, along with the huge stack of books, ahem, several stacks of books, in several locations around my house.
The Mineral King Preservation Society has had an annual picnic since 1987. (or maybe since 1986, but those years are beginning to blur together. . .)
Last year Trail Guy and I were one part of the presentation, discussing the rebuilding of the Mineral King bridge. (That was actually a several part series published in September and October of 2011, in case you are interested.)
This year, the speaker was my dear friend Sophie, the author of Pioneers in Paradise, a history of Three Rivers. Not only is she an author, she is a knitter, spinner, draws beautifully (don’t want to call her a “drawer” lest you picture her as a part of furniture), and is a great public speaker! That Sophie, she can do it all!
First, Louise introduced Sophie. (Hey! There is Tall Cathy and Cowboy Bert in the background! Hi!) I have such wonderful and amazing friends. Both Louise and Sophie are historians and writers, and we love to hang out together. Okay, maybe they don’t love to hang out with me, but I love to hang out with them!
Isn’t she cute? I don’t know what she said, but I don’t think Tall Cathy is crying in the background. Maybe she is laughing. Maybe she is sneezing. Couldn’t be too terribly funny, because Cowboy Bert is fairly stoic.
Now Jim is behind Sophie. He has a real Stetson hat on, but I don’t think he is a cowboy.
Want Sophie’s book? You can get it here. It is fun to read because you can bounce around to random chapters and cherry-pick your subjects. Besides, it is fun to read about places I know.
For some reason, reading becomes a topic of discussion in newspapers, magazines and blogs in the summer. Are we all so ingrained with the idea that summer is filled with leisure activities that we all just read in summer?
Yep.
Salt & Light, or Reading Rabbit, oil on board, 11×14″
1. A Train Called Forgiveness, an audio book by Dan Erickson. I listened to a free chapter on Audible.com and it convinced me to buy. Dan was in a cult as a child and teen. He got away, but it has taken him years to heal from the abuse. He is now an English professor, author and songwriter with a very interesting story to tell. He writes of his life experiences in novel form, interspersed with his original songs. The story is a bit disturbing, and made me sort of squirmy with uncomfortable and unidentifiable emotions. The songs take the edge off. The ending doesn’t feel over, and it’s not, because he has written 2 more books on the same subject. This book is worth buying, and because of the music, I recommend the audio version.
2. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-timeis told by an autistic boy. It really helps the reader understand the mindset of autism. I listened to this story too, and it was also uncomfortable. Captivating. The author is Mark Haddon. It felt so accurate that I wonder if he is autistic.
3. Overdressed: the Shockingly High Price of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth Cline is about just what its title says. One of the most interesting facts I’ve learned so far is how much less clothing costs than it used to. (Perhaps this is why I have enough clothing for a small island nation.) It tells of how quickly fashion changes (I never actually noticed because I stopped caring after about age 18) and how easy it is to keep up with the trends because cheap clothing is so available. There are so many names of people and companies that I don’t recognize, so much talk about trades, tariffs, exports and imports. I might just skim this to get the gist of it.
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!
4. God Inside The Fire by Greg Stelley. I also paid money for this book, as an ebook, which I read on my laptop (I don’t have a Kindle and I think I don’t want one – too much stuff to own). In 1993 my favorite uncle’s house burned down in a San Diego County wildfire. 10 years later, to the very day, he was evacuated for another wildfire. This one was called the Cedar Canyon Fire, named after the place where it started. This fire burned up my cousin’s house. It was horrible horrible horrible.
It burned up lots of people’s homes, and this book is about a very remarkable incident, a true miracle, that took place in the midst of that. BUY THIS BOOK!!
Salt & Light, or Reading Rabbit, oil on board, 11×14″
Took a day or two off, reading. Knitting too. But not blogging. Did anyone actually notice?
Don’t answer that. Thanks.
My stack of books to read continues to grow. So many interesting books out there, and now it is compounded by my discovery of a site called Good Reads. If you type in a book you like, you get recommendations for other books. You can rate the books you have read, make a list of those you’d like to read, read comments and ratings about books, and sometimes get a first chapter to read to on your computer.
Meanwhile, back at the Adirondack chair, these books are in progress:
1. My Natural History: the evolution of a gardner by Liz Primeau is a memoir by a woman who is probably in her late 70s. She is wise, funny, honest, practical, and interesting. She grew up in Canada, didn’t finish high school, and became a gardening magazine editor and writer and even hosted a television program on gardening. She knows a ton about gardening and describes things so well that I am THERE. I want to live where gardening isn’t a war with deer, gophers, bugs, drought, poor soil and weird diseases. I want to spend every spare minute growing things, designing a garden, and watching Perkins catch gophers.
Dream on, Toots.
(Cousin Maggie, I think you would really enjoy My Natural History)
2. Amish Peace by Suzanne Woods Fisher was recommended to me by my dear friend Natalie. It is filled with short chapters about different qualities of Amish life, and each chapter ends with a set of questions to help you examine your life. I leave this book at the cabin where I can read slowly and think.
Or, I could read slowly if I didn’t have that giant stack of books taunting me.
3. Young For Life by Marilyn Diamond and her husband whom she calls “Dr. Rock” is giving me nutritional whiplash. It goes against almost all I have believed and lived dietarily for the past 30 years. (The exception is my aversion to processed foods.) Cholesterol and saturated fat are GOOD FOR YOU?? Not tied to being fat? Not the cause of heart disease? Eating low and non-fat foods is making us fat?? And sugar is the big enemy, dang it. Although some of the writing hints of conspiracy theories, I think there might be something to this.
Bummer. I really don’t like meat very much. On the other hand, please pass the butter!
P.S. I don’t have a Kindle and most of my books come from the local library. If I buy a book, I usually find it used on Amazon. Just saying.
What means this? It is the title of a new book, the 100 year history of Three Rivers by my dear friend, former drawing student and fantastic knitter Sophie Britten!
I had the privilege of helping Sophie with the proofreading of this book so it was quite the thrill to hold it in my hands and celebrate with her! (and if you find any typos, I don’t think we want to know about it.) Here she is on the porch of my cabin. She looked so cute and happy that I insisted on taking her photo to use in the book. (what a pushy chick I am!)
I’m not done telling you about The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.
Salt & Light, or Reading Rabbit, oil on board, 11×14″
These are thoughts that struck me as I read through her chapter on happiness at work. (You can call me “List Lady” today.)
1. “Enthusiasm is more important to mastery than innate ability.”
No kidding! My drawing students who are unexperienced but enthusiastic often excel as much as those who come to me already knowing how to draw.
Gretchen says that if you pursue a profession that you love, you will be eager to practice more and thereby earn a competitive advantage.
Well, I DO practice. . .
Anyway. . .
2. “The brain is stimulated by surprise, and successfully dealing with an unexpected situation gives a powerful sense of satisfaction.”
I do love surprises. Not many surprises for me in pencil drawing anymore, particularly in drawing cabins. Lots and lots of practice there. My Very Wise Dad often said, “Life’s full of surprises”. Maybe there will be some as I work on The Cabins of Wilsonia.
3. “We tend to overestimate how much we can accomplish in an hour or a week and underestimate how much we can accomplish in a month or a year”.
Since one of “my galleries” sold a few paintings last month, I will need to take some time off the book to paint. This may cause me to be overestimating the number of drawings for February. (It is embarrassing to say “my galleries” – sounds so pretentious!)
4. “Research shows that the more elements make up your identity, the less threatening it is when any one element is threatened.”
DON’T TAKE MY PENCILS AWAY!! Just sayin’. . .
5. “. . . doing what you love is itself the reward.”
Don’t you just want to sit on this porch and read “The Happiness Project”?
Normally I borrow books from the library and this was no exception. However, I wanted to underline and scribble notes in the margins, so I actually bought my own copy! (Gasp of shock, but it IS a used copy!!) You can buy one too. I am now an Amazon Associate*, so that is my recommendation of a place to get yours.
Why am I telling you this on a blog about being a California Artist?
In her month of working on more happiness at work, Gretchen lists “Enjoy Now” as one of her resolutions.
I have set a goal of drawing an entire book. It occurred to me that as someone who is motivated by completion, I am in danger of just gritting my teeth and plowing through 230 drawings with the “wake me up when it is over” mindset.
NO NO NO!! I love to draw! Sure, it gets lonely in the studio. To say “Yes” to completing this goal, I am saying “No” to every interruption, diversion and spontaneous opportunity for a year. Wah.
So? This is a self-imposed deadline. It is a well-thought out plan. Drawing is a privilege. I get to work in my home studio without commuting. I love to draw. I plan to enjoy it every step of the way.
Thank you, Gretchen Rubin!
*This means that if you click “The Happiness Project” under “Books I Love” on the left side of my blog, and then actually buy after clicking the link, I will earn a little bit of money from Amazon.
This California artist has been soaking up non-fiction books, learning about local history, the resilience of a kidnap victim and an ancient prophecy that relates to America today. Phew. No wonder the Reading Rabbit looks as if he is in a state of exhaustion. No fluffy beach-reading is happening around here!
Bill and I: Building William Shatner’s Belle Reve Ranch by Dalan Smith is a blend of autobiography and biography. It is an honest look into crossing the chasm between regular folks and celebrities. The book also gives a glimpse into the struggles of earning a living in a rural setting. Shatner isn’t the main character of the book; Smith is, as he tells his story of building a horse ranch for an absentee owner. He has nothing but good to say about “Bill” and lets the reader draw his own conclusions about the success of the partnership. I loved the book, but may have been biased by my familiarity with the setting and many of the people within the story. It is one of the few celebrity biographies I’ve ever finished, much less enjoyed! Buy it here.
A Stolen Life: a memoir by Jaycee Dugard was a very moving story of a woman who was kidnapped and enslaved from age 11 to age 29. It is graphic and gross in places – I had to skip parts of it. What a survivor! Got it from the library, recommend it, wouldn’t want to reread it. Too painful.
The Harbinger: the ancient mystery that holds the secret of America’s future by Jonathan Cahn is written simply, the relaying of a conversation between two people to a third person. It is an explanation that ties 9/11 to a prophecy in the Bible, Isaiah 9:10. It is shocking, because although it is written as a novel, every event, location and speech is actual.
Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works by Erik Spiekermann and E.M.Ginger was a fun to read and fun to look at small book about typefaces. Well-written and well-presented. (But I still don’t know what typestyles to use in The Cabins of Wilsonia.) This book didn’t denigrate my favorite typeface of Papyrus. In fact, it said and I quote, “There is no bad type.” (Hey Cory, you listening??)
Weird by Craig Groeschel was a gift from Chris LoCurto for being a top commenter on his blog. I’ve been called weird most of my life, so the title of this one grabbed me. I raced through the first chapters, then lost interest. Don’t know why – it was well written and enjoyable.
There is no #3. I checked 5 books out of the library, finished one and wondered why I had bothered with it, skimmed another and realized I’d read it before, tried a third and rejected it, began a fourth and decided it was too navel-gazing and self-absorbed (an autobiography whose writer shall remain anonymous) and then tried a novel by a popular Christian fiction writer (who shall also remain anonymous). Couldn’t do it. Tried. Can’t.
Life’s too short to read boring/insipid/hackneyed/trite/characterless/violent books!.(I mean all those I tried, not just the Christian fiction) Guess I’ll just put this reading rabbit away for awhile until I have something worthwhile to share with you about reading.
Maybe I’ll just grab those primary colored books off the shelf and paint them again without the rabbit and salt shaker. There’s an idea!
What are you reading? Share with us in the comments!
