Want to Know What is Happening to the Book Project?

What book?

pencil drawing of Wilsonia cabin

So glad you asked! It is The Cabins of Wilsonia.

I’ve proofed the book in every way that I can think of. Until every possible proofing method has been exhausted, I don’t want to send it off to the printer. Besides, it takes money before they will print, so. . .

. . .I will be pre-selling it and selling the original drawings in Wilsonia on July 5, gathering the dollars needed to pay the printer and binder and shipper.

To learn more about the proofing configurations, calisthenics and craziness, you are invited to visit my Cabins of Wilsonia site today. (It will open in a new window so you won’t lose your place here.) You are invited to visit that site any day. Did you know that?

Random Facts About Squirreliness

Sometimes a list helps. I’ve been making lists for years, sometimes as an aid to memory and efficiency, and sometimes for the sense of satisfaction gained from checking off things.

Today’s list is in the first category. I hope this is helpful for you.

  1. The comments on my blog may be working again. Anyone want to try?
  2. I’ve updated my page called “Where To Buy“. Want to look? It is under the Artist tab on my website. There are addresses, phone numbers and website links for most, and hours when I know them.
  3. The contact button works intermittently. This has to do with my ability (inability?) to update pages on my website. When it is disabled, supposedly I am able to add new pictures to the pages. Sometimes I forget to reactivate it. (Maybe a list would help me. . . ?)
  4. I haven’t been able to successfully update the oil paintings and pencil drawings on my site. It seems as if I have added them, but the pictures just appear as little question marks.
  5. My former web designer is working to simplify the design of my website so I am able to update things without getting in line to hear back from her replacement. He must be very very popular. I could give you a list of the steps to update, but you’d be bored silly.
  6. When the design has been simplified, things might be squirrely-looking for awhile.

 

You Can Do THIS With Colored Pencils?

If my drawing students learn to draw with graphite pencils – i.e. see proportions, understand values (the darks and lights), understand hard and soft edges, and make the tools do what they intend for them to do, then my drawing students who want to can use colored pencils.

Colored pencils (mis)behave differently than graphite pencils. I’ve heard plenty of colored pencil artists say the reason to use colored pencils instead of paint is C O N T R O L.

Colored pencils require many many layers, and it hurts my wrist to use them. However, many of my advanced students choose to use them, and in spite of my ouchy wrist, I can help.

It may appear to you as if Mae has copied her photo as efficiently as a Xerox machine. I can assure you that she has done a fabulous job of interpreting the photo and adjusting it so the drawing makes more sense than the photo. She pays a great deal of attention to detail and chooses what to eliminate and what to enhance.

IMG_4610

May is using Polychromos by Faber Castell. These seem to be the highest quality for the price that I’ve used so far. They are oil based, made in Germany, and last a long time. They are a little fatter so they don’t fit in our normal sharpeners. They are also a little hard to find if you just want to buy them one at a time.

Prismacolor used to be my favorite. I learned their colors beginning with a set of 12 that my Aunt Shirley gave me when I was in 5th grade. They are wax based,  made in the USA,  and break easily, which is exasperating. They are readily available in sets or in one-sies, and can be repaired in the microwave (but don’t tell the company – they don’t take responsibility for the breakage and blame the pencil sharpeners, not the rough handling before they arrive in your hands.) I noticed they are now referred to as “soft-core”, probably a response to all the complaints!

So, yes, you CAN do this with colored pencils (after hours and hours of practice!)

Beautiful Pencil Drawing

Every Tuesday I teach people how to draw at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter. Been doing it for 20 years or so. You can learn about it here. Drawing Lessons

My drawing students are wonderful. They work hard, and they learn and they do beautiful drawings.

jennifer_edited-1

This beautiful woman drew her beautiful granddaughter. It is her first portrait, which is one of the hardest subjects to tackle. She has been drawing with me about 2-1/2 years, and honestly, she had a bit of a head start because she used to touch up portrait photos. But that doesn’t mean this wasn’t hard – it was hard! Everything is hard, so pick something you love, because you’ll be staring at it for a long time.

P.S. Today is my 6th Blogiversary. I still haven’t run out of things to write about!

Drawing Sequoia

Sequoia Natural History Association has sold my work for many years. Great organization – they stock and man the visitor centers and ranger stations throughout Sequoia. They do a lot more, but this post isn’t about them. It is about a drawing I am working on in hopes that they will add it to their inventory in the near future.

This is how the bridge over the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River looked during my recent visit to Sequoia National Park. This bridge is in the Lodgepole Campground.

This is the pencil drawing and the photos I’m working from. The white spaces in the photo are unfinished or sunshine, not snow.

Just in case you were wondering. . .

And I think bridges are remarkable pieces of architecture. They are simple spans over space, but they can be so elegant. Stone work, rustic wood, flowing water – what’s not to like?

Turning Away Work

Really? Turn away work? Who would do that?

Me, that’s who.

Why?

Because I know my limitations.

The story: 

An acquaintance called me to take a look at an old photo of a pilot posing on the wing of his aircraft in the 1940s. It was an 8×10 black and white photo, the man was about 1-1/2″ high (he was in a squat) and his face may have been about 1/2″ high.

If I can’t see it, I can’t draw it.

I could see the man’s face with really strong magnifying lenses, but to reproduce it accurately and in color (that was the point of him calling me), it would have been extremely time consuming. A dot here, erase, move the dot slightly left, erase, move the dot slightly higher, oops now he looks like a Cyclops. . . that is how those tiny portraits go.

I speak from hard-won experience. No faces smaller than an egg.

Once in awhile I get lucky and succeed with these tiny tiny faces, but it is after a serious and honest conversation with the customer about their expectations and my abilities. Remember this?

(Well, oops, the link broke and I don’t know what it was.)

So I recommended that the potential customer find someone who is very skilled with Adobe Photoshop to take the crud out and put some color in.

However, if would like to have it drawn large, perhaps 16×20, some sort of size that would bring the man’s face up to the size of an egg, then yes, I am the artist he wants!

Nice man. I think it will be good to do work for him in the future. He appreciated my honesty, and he said that he just hadn’t allowed enough in his budget for a larger drawing.

In my experience, people rarely allow enough in their budgets for art. Oh well, got a good blog post out of it. Waste not, want not. (Stop thinking “nothing ventured, nothing gained” – I can hear you out there!)

Drawing Because I Love To Draw

After spending an entire year completely focused on completing one drawing after another after another after another until 268 drawings were completed. . .

What was I saying? All those after anothers got me lost.

I love to draw. It has been a long time since I drew simply because there was a picture I wanted to draw instead of a commission or a cabin related drawing for The Cabins of Wilsonia.

See?

Grazing in Kaweah Country, graphite (AKA “pencil”), 14×11″, $250

If you live in Three Rivers, you’ll be wondering where this is. It is on Kaweah River Drive, at the place called “The Catfish Farm”. It might be called The Chess Ranch. Whatever you call it, the place is for sale. It is a huge piece of wonderful property, which can be yours for about $5,000,000. Yeah, five million dollars. Whatever.  Just write a check or something.

Makes this pencil drawing look like the bargain of the year!

Amazing Work from my Drawing Students

This year marks the completion of 20 years of teaching people how to draw. Or, perhaps it marks the beginning of year #21. Numbers aren’t my strongest subject.

When I started, I didn’t know how to teach. I just bumbled, fumbled and mumbled. If someone wanted to draw, say, a lion, I’d procrastinate on the parts I didn’t know how to do. Then, we’d figure it out together.

My students were kids 4th grade and older. I was too nervous to teach adults, because I was sure they’d see how little I knew. Eventually I caved in, and learned that it is easier to teach adults than children. Even children who are there because they want to be get a little squirrely at times.

The fact that adults were easier didn’t mean I stopped teaching kids or that I didn’t enjoy it. I LOVE teaching people how to draw.

The only people who haven’t learned how to draw from me are the ones who quit too soon.

I could go on and on about learning to draw. Instead, I’m going to show off the work of some of my students. I’ve chosen these because each one was drawn from the artist’s own photos and because I happened to have scans of them. Besides, they’ll knock your socks off!

End of the Trail, by Kelvin Farris

Swing girl, Wendy Miller

Kaia, Maggie Meling

Mineral King in February?

Nope, I’m not there. (Where did the word “nope” come from??)  But, it is Friday, so have a look at some Mineral King art from my pencil archives:

Fret not. Summer will return.

Mineral King is one of the treasures of Tulare County, a place I love.

We break for this commercial message: This pencil drawing of Mineral King has sold. If you would like your own original pencil drawing of this (or of something else), I can do it for you. In fact, it would be a pleasure to draw for you!

9×12″ – $200

11×14″ –  $250

Happy 2014, O Gentle Blog Readers

Hi.

I finished all the drawings for The Cabins of Wilsonia.  Maybe. When I get the book designed, I might need to add, subtract or rework the 265 pencil drawings. T W O H U N D R E D S I X T Y F I V E PENCIL DRAWINGS OF CABINS!

Excuse me for shouting. It is a little overwhelming.

Tired of drawing? Never. Ready to just goof off a little? Maybe.

I was goofing off, cruising around the internet and found the most beautiful blog ever. It is called stillblog dot net. Here is the link. It is my little gift to you, O Gentle Blog Readers. Scroll through, enjoy. I share this with you because

I appreciate you!

Aw shucks.