The Hour of My Usefulness

Last night was my presentation “How To Draw” at CACHE, the gallery and museum in Exeter. This was more of a talk than a demo, about a subject upon which I could bloviate for hours. Alas, it was just one hour, 6:30-7:30, because I know people’s attention spans are limited. Besides, I was missing dinner.

There were about 20 men, women, and children, all attentive and interested. I told brief stories, showed examples, explained the steps I use to draw, explained tools I used, and handed out one exercise for people to try. Everyone drew! I love helping people draw, and I think everyone had fun. Nope, I know everyone had fun!

The funniest moment was when I was standing behind a couple of participants, looking at their work, getting ready to advise on a small matter or two, when I felt something weird. Twice. I said, “Hey Dwight, something just dripped on my head!” Dwight is the president of the gallery board, and he quickly moved to the end of the room and climbed a ladder to the roof! Charlie is a board member, and he was right on Dwight’s tail. (They both got some drawing done in spite of the disruption.)

THANK YOU! I truly felt useful last night.

P.S. It was free. If anyone asked about how to pay me, and one did, I said to donate to CACHE. If you were there and are wondering the same thing, donate to CACHE. (Something has changed on my website AGAIN, and I cannot find the tool to make the link to CACHE be clickable in this post. https://cach-exeter.org)

SIMPLY HOME

Lower Dry Creek Road, 12×16, SOLD

How To Draw

How To Draw is the title of my upcoming talk/demonstration at CACHE, Center for Art, Culture, History—Exeter!

So many people have an interest in drawing, but it is often assumed that it is a talent which either you have or you don’t.

Is typing a talent? Is driving a talent?

Nope. All these things can be taught, and they can be learned. Sure, some people will type 25 wpm and others will type 90, because people have different interests and aptitudes. Some people will become bus drivers and others shouldn’t be given licenses, but all are driving.

These tools are helpful, but they won’t teach you the basics of drawing.

Some people have had awful experiences with artists posing as teachers. (I had one of those who told me, using these exact words, “Just because you can draw doesn’t make you an artist.” Well, just because you can use words doesn’t meant you can communicate well either, so there.) I want to help those folks.

Jackson wouldn’t put up with that sort of rudeness from anyone.

Some people are learning to paint but aren’t happy with the results. If you don’t know how to get your shapes correct, don’t know anything about perspective, can’t see proportions, and don’t understand values, of course you won’t be happy with the results. I want to help those people.

On top of all those basics, painting requires learning about color.

Some people just love to learn new skills. I want to help those people too.

This antique store is across Rocky Hill Drive from CACHE, and the late afternoon light is often just perfect on this picturesque store.

Do any of these descriptions fit you? Want to come to How To Draw?

Nope, you won’t be able to draw like this for quite a few years.

THE THING: Tuesday, November 12, 6:30-7:30 How To Draw at CACHE. Contact me if you are interested, because seating is limited.

P.S. It is free.

SIMPLY HOME

“Blue Bowl, Yellow Lemons”, 10×10″, $200

Drawing a Pennsylvania Dog in Pencil

Pencil Pennsylvanian? Pennsyl Pennsylvanian? Pencil Pencilvanian?

Never mind.

His name was Elvis, and some friends of his former owner commissioned me to draw him.

Outline first
looking at a very lightened photo to see the dark eye and nose details
When the eyes are right, it is safe to continue.
Almost done

All those inferior progress photos were taken with an inferior phone camera. Here is the finished drawing, scanned, photoshopped, ready for delivery.

Elvis in pencil

Cabinart = Art of a Cabin

Drawing cabins in pencil is the way I started my art business. Now I spend 90% of my artmaking time as an oil painter, so when I get asked to draw a cabin, I am really happy about it!

Someone from Minnesota found me on the internet and asked if I could draw her parents’ cabin in spite of not having clear photos of the entire structure. I told her to send them to me, and I’d see if I could make sense of the photos.

Want to see the pictures she sent?

I knew you’d be interested.

(Pay no attention to the purple lines)

These presented a real challenge. I did three little sketches and emailed the potential customer. She was delighted, and asked me to wait for an answer (yep, dealing with a deadline here) because she needed to consult with her sister.

Which one did they choose?*

Tune in tomorrow. . .

*If you read my blog on April 11, you know the answer to this question.

Fast or Good?

My drawing students are used to hearing me tell them, “You can be fast or you can be good; I get to be both.” Everyone still laughs, in spite of the obnoxiousness of the second part.

This is an indisputable truth, when it comes to the highly detailed, accurate type of drawing that I teach.

Alice worked on a drawing of her Desert Painted Sheep, nicknamed “Oughtie”, for several years. (Hey Alice, I didn’t mean THAT S L O W!) But things take as long as they take*. She was very meticulous about every shape, every texture, every value, and she did a fantabulous job.

I didn’t take any photos of the process, or more accurately, I don’t remember if I took any photos of the process. We discussed various background ideas, tried some different textures, and ultimately, she decided that the drawing is finished.

During the process, I learned that goats’ tails go up and sheeps’ tails go down. She made some good friends to play pickleball with. (My drawing students have varied interests and are some of the nicest people you could ever spend time with.)

Here is the final outcome, scanned, but not yet scrubbed up with Photoshop (the junior version).

The artist forgot to sign the drawing before she sent it home with me to scan, so she emailed me a few signatures. I chose one and placed it on the scrubbed-up scan.

My classes are full but you are welcome to get on a waiting list. If there are four people waiting who can all meet at 1 p.m. on Tuesday afternoons, I will add that 1 p.m. class.

*How’s that for a quotable truth?

Drawing in Pencil for the Joy of It

A few months ago I started this pencil drawing, simply for the joy of drawing (and to prove to my drawing students that I can draw). I worked from photos that I took in Mineral King last fall. The light, Audra’s hat, the lack of dealing with a face or an actual complete horse all caught my interest, along with the dynamics between the woman and the horse.

This horse was the last one to get loaded for transport down the hill. Audra was so patient, just waiting for this recalcitrant horse to follow her into the trailer. “Recalcitrant” because he spent most of the summer outside the corral with a couple of mules. The others just watched while staying in the boundaries. Then, sure enough, this guy was not interested in joining the herd to head down for the winter.

Because the hat seemed to be the most important part, I started with it. If I can’t get the most important part to look right, there’s no need to waste time on the rest of the picture.

I had a little bit of difficulty with some of the shapes, so I made corrections and showed those to my students to demonstrate how to repair problems (and to stay humble). But I didn’t photograph the corrections—they were for my drawing students to learn from. (Do you want lessons? I have a waiting list, and you are welcome to get on it!)

Drawing lessons were suspended in December, because that’s the way we roll. I was occupied with many things, some work-related (painting, blogging, participating in a little bazaar, resupplying my vendors, filling calendar orders, sending Christmas cards to my students, sending out 2 newsletters—are you on that subscription list? —planning a solo show for Autumn 2024, ordering supplies, doing some year-end bookkeeping) and some non-work-related (you don’t need a list of this stuff).

As you have recently read here, I was a little flummoxed by how to proceed on several paintings, so I used the excuse that it was too cold to paint in the workshop and went into the studio to finish this drawing. (I love to draw in pencil—did you know that?)

Because I wasn’t showing my drawing students along the way, I didn’t photograph or scan any of the rest of the steps.

Here it is almost complete. “Almost”?? Yeppers, because when I scan it, the white paper scans as gray, and the pencil has a brownish cast.

This is unacceptable, so I use Photoshop Junior (actually Photoshop Elements) to erase the margins.

The drawing is simply titled “Audra”, not “A Girl and Her Horse” (she’s a grown woman and it ain’t her horse), not “Big Hat, No Cattle”(no cattle in Mineral King because it is National Park, not National Forest) or “Wranglers Are For Women Too”. . . wait, that one is pretty cute. Maybe it should be called “Wranglers Aren’t Just For Cowboys”.

Nah, the hat is more important.

Victory Tomatoes

My drawing of tomatoes is completed. Carrie Lewis asked for a paragraph of 100 words or less to accompany the drawing. Here is what I submitted.

Gardening feels like a war. We planted many tomatoes in an enclosed area, protected underneath from gophers, on all sides from deer, and over the top from birds*. We faithfully watered and fertilized all summer. Finally, in mid-October, we began getting tiny cherry tomatoes, many no more than 1/2” in diameter. Every tomato felt like a victory, so I took photos of them as proof that we had actually grown some food.

This was not for a competition. It is just a submission to Carrie’s magazine (digital rather than print) called CP Magic, which is all about colored pencil. Colored pencil is not my main medium, as you know, but Carrie is a friend, and I wanted to participate simply because sometimes it is fun to try different things.

*After I wrote this, I realized that we had left the tomatoes exposed to the birds. I meant to put mesh on top but just never got to it.

Happy Birthday, Trail Guy! (all those years are also a victory)

Suddenly Felt Like Drawing

If you receive this in your email and want to see the photos, click on the title.

My friend Carrie Lewis is fully immersed in colored pencil. At the end of December, she put out a call to artists for their best colored pencil work from 2023. I realized that I had done none all year, but suddenly, I had an overwhelming desire to work in colored pencil. It might have been related to working on multiple paintings that felt too hard for me, wanting to do something easier.

After looking through my photos for something that I could easily complete in the one week remaining in 2023, I chose this photo of our little tomatoes. (Small garden, small crop, even smaller fruit).

I chose Strathmore 500 series Bristol vellum paper. (Won’t mean a thing to most of my readers, but it helps me remember in case Carrie wants to know). In looking at my extensive collection of colored pencils, I decided to keep things simple, so I chose Blackwing Colors, a set of 12. Yeppers, only 12 colors. (For a short time, they offered a set of 24, but as a never-early-adopter of anything, I missed it.)

First I drew the tomatoes. In keeping with the desire for simplicity, I didn’t draw all of the tomatoes in the photo, so it was ready for color very quickly.

To make the darker and shaded reds, I used purple and brown beneath the red. To brighten the red in some places, I used orange and pink beneath the red. I used many layers of red in both instances, keeping a very sharp point (on all the pencils).

It didn’t take long to for the red pencil to get used up. Of course, if the last 3 inches hadn’t been broken inside, I could have kept using it. I don’t remember dropping it, but I could have. New pencils are always a bit of a thrill. (Don’t tell me to get a life—this is my life and it’s a fine one!)

Better add the shadows so the ‘maters aren’t just floating. I used purple and brown, but I may try that silver pencil (or is it gray?) over the top to smooth it out. Later.

That was decent start. The daylight was running out and my feet were cold, but I did one more little thing before calling it a day: I smoothed and sharpened all the edges of the tomatoes.

What’s left: finish the background, correct the color on the stems, fill in tomato color more to get rid of the white specks, sign, and scan.

Drawing Sequoia, Not Just Chit-Chatting

Yesterday I showed you some oil paintings of Sequoia, the non-Mineral King part of the park. Today here are some pencil drawings (I LOVE to draw—did you know that??)

These don’t have sizes and prices. Some are sold, some might be framed, and most are probably just in a flat file in my studio. (If you want to buy any, email me at cabinart AT cabinart DOT NET—written this way so robots won’t bother me any more than they already are—and I will see if I can find the original for you.)

One or two might be available as a reproduction print. (Since I am old now, according to The Beatles, I can’t remember.)

Four Guardsmen (minus the smaller foreground trees that block these giants
Clover Creek Bridge, a fabulous structure NOT built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, one of about 3 pretty bridges in Tulare County. YOU CAN LEARN MORE HERE: Tulare County Treasures
Crescent Meadow
This was an experiment, and it became a blog post for my friend Carrie Lewis’s website.
This was a commission, a combination of Sequoia and Kings Canyon, showing various seasons.
This was a commission for my UPS driver, whom we saw in the Park last week. Great guy!
The Marble Fork of the Kaweah flows through the Lodgepole campground.
The Parker Group in Winter
There are impressive views of Moro Rock from the lower parts of the Generals Highway.
“Two Big” (I like this title!) This one was recently completed, is 11×14″, and can be yours for a mere $200!
I drew this from a photo shared with me by one of my drawing students (THANK YOU, JANE!). It is titled “Viewing the General”.

Gollll-eeee, I do love me some pencil. And sometimes I just cannot fathom that Sequoia National Park is visible from my house!

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.