Anyone need a last minute gift?

I’m here to help if you need a last minute gift. You can call me at the studio (out of fear of the unknown  internet trolls I’ll put my phone # in words) five six one seven six zero six. (I figure if you need the area code, then you probably aren’t going to find this post very helpful because I’m too far from you to help at the last minute – however, it is 559)

Note card packages, oil paintings, pencil drawings, drawing lessons, Mineral King tee shirts, all available from me at my studio in Three Rivers. Calendars – sold out.

You know how I feel about shopping. This means I want it to be easy on you too. Let me know if I can help you.

If you live in the area, in Tulare County or here in Three Rivers, we can probably make arrangements to have it to you almost immediately. No guarantees, just hoping for the best. (I remember those childhood Christmas Eve trips to the Ivanhoe Drug Store with my Dad. . . I thought that was normal. Guess it was at our house!)

Here, take a deep breath and then rest your eyes upon this:

My favorite bridge, colored pencil drawing from 2006, sold

Worst Critic

Has anyone ever said to you, “You are your own worst critic”?

It might be meant as an insult, although it could be interpreted as a compliment, meaning “no one else is as hard on you because there is no reason to be hard on you”.

I think being one’s own worst critic is a helpful skill in art, especially when one works alone. Who else is there to do any criticizing with the intent of helping or critiquing with the intent of improving?

A long time ago, last century, I drew this picture:

It is called “My Front Porch”. It sold recently, and before I packaged it up to ship, I put on some magnifying glasses (aka “cheaters” or “readers”) to look it over.

UNACCEPTABLE!

I spent about 1-1/2 hours improving it, because I draw better now. Yes, it looks like a different color because the method of scanning has changed. But, if you click on each picture and make them bigger on your screen, I think you will see the difference. If you can’t see the difference, that’s okay. I’m my own worst critic, not you! 😎

Growth is good (unless trying to lose weight or are a cancer cell.)

P.S. I just clicked on each picture separately, enlarged them on the screen, and realized that the new one looks all pixelated and icky. Okay, you’ll just have to trust me that the second one is better. The customer may not know of the improvements, but I certainly feel better.

Crazy Hard Pencil Commission – DONE!

Remember that crazy hard pencil commission of those two miniature fuzzy faces? (You can see it in the October 2 blog post.)

The customer/friend asked me to make an adjustment to the boy’s cheek because his face was more narrow than round in real life (couldn’t prove it by me or by that photo). Adjustment made, I began the rest of the drawing. It turned out like this:

She thought that by adjusting his cheek, his face went out of balance. Yup. His face is crooked. Why? You might need a microscope to see it. Why don’t I just show you the corrected version:

Can you see the difference? Neither can I, but it showed up under the giant magnifying light at the drawing table. After I got the customer’s approval, I scanned it, then spray fixed it, then added a bit of red to the trailer and blue to the trike.

No, you aren’t blind. I didn’t scan it again after adding the color.

A Good Challenge (Or a Crazy-Hard Pencil Commission)

A wise colored pencil artist taught me to NEVER draw a face smaller than an egg. I’ve passed that on to my drawing students. It is tricky enough to capture a likeness correctly with photos or people that you can actually see and measure. Try doing it when you can’t see the details. Worse, try doing it when you can’t see the details on the photo AND the size of the drawn face is smaller than an egg, and there are TWO of these microscopic faces in the pictures.

A friend brought me this photo and asked me to draw it for her. I’ve shot it holding it in my hand so you can see how small it is, and how small the people are, and how truly miniature the faces are:

Then she said, “I enlarged it for you in case that will help,” and she gave me this:

Blurry and pixelated is how the tiny faces appear in this enlargement. Notice that the enlarged faces are perhaps about the size of my thumbnail now. (I have chunky hands, but even my thumbnail is no where near the size of an egg.)

She said that her daughter, a long time drawing student of mine, begged her to not bring this to me or be crazy enough to ask me to draw it. She didn’t listen to her daughter, whose advice was based on years of listening to me.

I like me a good challenge. Because this lady and I are friends, I told her I’d try. What does friendship have to do with it? The ability to communicate honestly is EVERYTHING when drawing or painting commissioned art. EVERYTHING. Besides, she flattered me by saying, “I figured if anyone would be able to do this, it would be you.”

Flattery often succeeds in getting me to try things that I know are crazy-hard (unless it involves the possibility of bodily injury).

The plan was to get it laid out and then shade in the faces. If she didn’t like the faces, I could just stop without having invested hours and hours. “No harm, no foul” seems to be the appropriate cliche’ for this approach.

I told my drawing students. There were guffaws, gasps of horror, looks of incomprehension, several “but you always say to never draw a face smaller than an egg”, and maybe a couple of screams.

Here is what I did to show the customer:

Blurry and small, just like the photo. Lacking in detail, it is hoped that the angle of the heads and the suggestions of features will bring to mind the correct little humans.

What did the customer, the mother of my long-term drawing student, the friend with whom I must have honest communication say about it?

More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .

Last Chance to See Wendy’s Awesome Pencil Drawings

Now there’s a title and a half!

Remember my amazing and very advanced drawing student, Wendy Miller?

Her show ends this coming weekend. The last day to view it at the Courthouse Gallery (at 125 South B Street in Exeter) will be September 29, 2013. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Here are some sneak peeks at a few of her amazing pencil drawings. Some of the titles may have changed. (We had a fun brain-storming session in drawing lessons to come up with scores of entertaining titles, but Wendy may have chosen differently for the show.)

Does This Dress. . .?

Inside Out

(If you have southwestern leanings, this picture would be wonderful in your home – it is small, and I am sorry I don’t know the prices or size!)

Not Moving

(If you are even half as smitten by cats as I am, you understand this title.)

Not The Gateway

(This is because it is officially the “Pumpkin Hollow” bridge.)

Plums

(Did I mention that Wendy works in colored pencil too?)

These BELONG in your kitchen, dontcha think??

Reader’s Corner

(I would have called it The Knitting Chair myself!)

If any of you would like to purchase any of these drawings, I will connect you with the Awesome Wendy Miller. 

What Is The California Artist Doing?

Perhaps you’ve been wondering if I am still a California artist. Cruising to Alaska, having fun in Mineral King; is this chick even working any more??

I am working diligently on The Cabins of Wilsonia. You can follow the progress on my other blog, called The Cabins of Wilsonia. (Sometimes my own cleverness just slays me.) Actually, you can follow my thoughts about the process, because I’m not showing everything I’ve finished. Gotta have a little mystery, so people will want to buy the book!

My drawing quota for August has been met, and now it is time to work on some commissions.

I have 2 cabins in Wilsonia to draw that are outside the scope of the book. This is good, because income is good. This is not good, because doggonit, I will have 230+ cabin drawings and now I’m adding to the + side of things!

Nope. not complaining. It is tricky to choose the exact cabins and views that will please the cabin folks and also keep the book from looking all samey-samey on every page.

The entry-way door of this cabin is interesting to me.

Wilsonia cabin door pencil drawing

It is also interesting to the people who own the cabin, but they are more interested in seeing the cabin in its entirety. So, I’ve done a couple of sketches so they can choose. The differences between the two choices are subtle – can you spot them?

sketches for a pencil drawing commission of a cabin

Mineral King Cabin Pencil Drawings For Sale Now

In the last century, I began drawing people’s cabins in pencil while I lived in a cabin. These were mostly in and around Mineral King. My business name, Cabinart, was born at that time.

Houk, page 119, 8-5/8×6″, $52

 

About ten years later, my friend Jennifer suggested that I make a book of drawings. Because this was all before  print-on-demand,  Amazon, assisted self-publishing, and all those other nifty tools, I called my cabin neighbor and friend Jane Coughran for help. She was a picture editor for Time-Life Books, and was thrilled to join me, as long as I allowed her to include historical photos. That decision took me about half of a second, and together in 1998, we published The Cabins of Mineral King.

Goldman-Davis, page 73, 9-1/2 x 6-5/8″, $63


 

All of the books and most of the original drawings sold. (You might get lucky on Amazon or eBay.)

 

Mann-Kennedy, page 114, 8-5/8 x 6-1/2″, $56

 

Now that I am working on The Cabins of Wilsonia, I am looking for more space in my studio for all the new drawings. Thus, I located 18 unsold drawings from the Mineral King book (more, actually, but the others are too big for my scanner, so I’m not showing them.)

Bissiri, rear, page 118, 5-1/4 x 6-5/8″, $35


 

These drawings are available for anyone who would like to buy them. Six appear in today’s post with a BuyNow button; the other 12 will be in consecutive posts.

Goldman-Davis, page 72, 10 x 8″, $80


 

The prices are well below my current (and even my former) commission prices because  I want to sell them and because they are on odd sized pieces of paper that might be a pain to frame. I’ve put the name as it appears in the book, the page # from the book, and the exact size of the piece of paper it is drawn on, in case you get lucky and have the perfect mat and frame waiting for one of these original pencil drawings.

Mann-Kennedy, page 115, 9 x 12″, $108



DON’T MISS THIS!

Wow. That sounded bossy. Please excuse me – my intention is excitement, rather than shouting orders.

Wendy Miller is one of the best drawing students I’ve ever had the privilege of helping. I urge you strongly to see this show. And, many of her pieces are for sale. What an opportunity to own high quality pencil art at very reasonable prices. (Hint of urgency: I bought one already!)

Yes, I know it is Friday and Fridays are for Mineral King. However, I’m the boss of this blog, and this is Really Important News.

Move Over Mom, graphite on paper, 11×14, Wendy Miller

You are invited to

SUMMER CLASSICS

An exhibit of original pencil drawings by

Wendy Miller

July 2nd – September 22, 2013

Reception Sunday, July 7, 2-4 p.m.

Courthouse Gallery of the Arts

125 South B Street

Exeter, California