Custom Art From Old Blurry Photos

Custom art, also known as commissioned art, is a communication challenge.If someone asks me in advance of taking photos, I instruct him to take many photos of the place from different angles, and then up close for all detail that might be hidden in shade or behind trees.Often there are giant obstacles, such as old blurry photos of places that are no longer in existence, places that are far far away (Montana, South Africa, Cape Cod all come to mind from past experiences), or places that are only accessible in one season or not visible due to weird angles of land or too many trees. .

Times have changed, and most people have lots of photos on their phones, so I get what I get and I don’t get upset. Basically, people do the best they can, so I’ve learned to work with whatever comes. The key is clear communication – someone who is responsive and can explain things that aren’t visible in the photos can make up for weak reference photos.

Today’s  drawings are examples of having worked from blurry or old photos that could not be supplemented with more details. The customer had to fill in with memories, supplied to me in words rather than pictures.

Tomorrow I’ll show you drawings from places that are far away. Maybe we can discuss why it is that customers won’t fly me to Montana to take my own photos. . .

 

Hockett Meadow, Two Pencil Drawings

The customer allowed me to put color in the flag, a technique that I am very partial to. I added smoke, scanned it, and did the Photoshop clean-up.

As I was adding the grassy meadow to the foreground, I was thinking about the first time I drew the Hockett Meadow Ranger Station. It was part of a notecard set called “Backcountry Structures”.

Back in the olden days (in the 1980s), people used pens to handwrite notes in cursive, put them in envelopes, address them, LICK a stamp to put on the envelope, and then place into a real mailbox for people in other parts of the country to receive. 

How quaint. Those were definitely kinder, gentler, slower, more personal times.

Now, hold onto your hats, Dear Blog Readers, because I am going to show you something frightening. 

Your Central California artist needs to keep reminding herself that it is good to be humble.

Growth is good.

People were very kind in the olden days and hadn’t learned all that anonymous internet rude behavior yet.

If you bought art from me back then, THANK YOU!!

Little Dog

I grew up with German Shepherds, not little dogs. Little dogs make me want to stand on a chair and scream, and then if I touch them, go wash my hands about 4 times.

A friend of about 35 years asked me to draw her little dog. My love for her is stronger than my aversion to little dogs, and I love to draw, so I said yes.

Meet Oliver.

Oliver, a commissioned pencil drawing.

(Stacy, thank you for trusting me with Oliver, even though you are well aware of my semi-suppressed cat disorder.)

Pippin, Jackson, Tucker

Oliver arrived today and he is SO darling!  You did an amazing job of capturing his likeness!

Dear friend and customer Stacy

Drawing Lessons Begin

Drawing lessons are suspended during the hot months of July and August, but they resume the day after Labor Day in the hot month of September. Therefore, today, let the lessons begin again!

I’ve been helping people learn to draw since 1994, and in the process I’ve learned to draw better myself. Even more important, I’ve gotten to know fabulous people, many of whom I consider friends and are still in touch with.

On paper, my classes are almost full. There is a spot or two from 3:30-4:30; all the regulars in that hour are high school students, so their schedules and their desires change pretty regularly.

If you would like drawing lessons, let me know via the contact thing on my site, or in the comments, or by email, or even a phone message to 559-561-7606.

Lessons are $55/month.

Clearly this girl has an interest in marine life! We are both a bit stumped on how to portray the water, but we’ll figure it out.

Everyone works from her own photo (guys are allowed too, but for some reason I don’t have any photos of them) at her own pace.

“Pick something you love, because you’ll be staring at it for a loooonnnngggg time.” – Jana Botkin

Old Drawing, New Cards

In 1992, I did this commissioned pencil drawing of a Mineral King cabin. The one who owns it sent me a photo of the card she had left from an earlier order.

Photo of little notecard

I tried to turn it into something that would print as a decent card. This was not acceptable.

Unacceptable!

The customer said she still had the original, and it wasn’t even in a frame, so I was able to scan it (after touching it up a little bit, because I draw better now (as one would hope, 27 years later).

Original drawing, retouched and scanned

Then, I messed with it on Photoshop Elements, and voila!

Ready to be printed.

Printing has changed so radically from the old days. I’m thankful that the ordering and reprinting process is accessible from my laptop these days.

New Idea for Drawing Lessons

In the month of March, I am teaching a beginning drawing class to six people, two hours per week at Arts Visalia, a very fine non-profit gallery in downtown Visalia. (This is the county seat, the town we usually mean in Three Rivers when we say we have to go “down the hill”.)

The six folks were all new to me, although we have found a few connections, as one does in a place like Tulare County. We worked through my regular beginning exercises on the first evening, and they were terrific. Easy to work with, understood and followed directions, asked good questions that helped me clarify my instructions, and they all did very well.

I suggested that they bring photos they might like to draw from for the second lesson. That night, I woke up with such a good idea that it could only have been inspired by God.

It is based on the idea that there is an order of difficulty in drawing. Here it is from easiest to yikes:

  1. Other people’s drawings
  2. Black and white photos
  3. Color photos
  4. Real life

I went through my zillions of photos and chose a stack that will give a beginner a reasonable chance at success. Then I chose one to try out – could I draw this quickly? Could I scan it successfully and make a printable tool for my new students?

Yeppers.

I always have new students do a tracing of the photo so they have a simple version for beginning a drawing. Tracing is a tool, not a “cheat”.

I like this! This means I have 11 more tracings, drawings and scans to do. Good thing I love to draw.

Drawing the Tree Again

I actually made progress on the tree pencil drawing, in spite of the spontaneous field trip to Kaweah Lake.

But first, look at the season’s first iris, blooming in a pot outside my studio. (I seem to be suffering from Shiny Object Syndrome these days.)

Now, to the drawing table.

The tree up close on the laptop screen, in 3 different printed photos and a sketch done on site – maybe these are enough to get my pencils moving again.
I am liking this picture. It is okay to like one’s own work, really.

Finished

A little unfinished business here on The Blog: finished pieces you haven’t yet seen in their official photographic documented form.

This little 8×8″ oil painting is titled “My Geraniums”, because it is my geraniums, although they are actually pelargoniums, (but I’m guessing no one cares). Anyway, this is hanging in my kitchen. Ever listen to Bruce Williams on the radio? He used to say, “Everything is for sale if the price is right”, and I guess if you really really like this, you may offer a high price which I may consider. Otherwise, it remains mine.

This is a commissioned pencil drawing of a Silver City cabin, a Christmas surprise which I could only tell you about but not show you. Christmas 2018 is now history, and this drawing was given and received. Hence, you get to see it now. (“Hence”? Who uses that word? The Central California blogging artist, that’s who, but only while blogging.)

Sometimes I draw simply because I can, want to, and love to draw. Besides, it is always good to keep up the practice and to keep up my inventory. This is 9×12″, unframed. It could be for sale. . . And yes, it is the Honeymoon Cabin, a little one room museum in Mineral King.

Normally it takes about 10 minutes for me to decorate for Christmas. This year it took several days, because oil paint dries very slowly. This little 8×8″painting was begun to demonstrate some techniques for the secret oil painting workshop; I brought it home and finished it because I realized my decorating efforts could use a boost. I could have photographed it in the entryway of my house, but that feels like a fakey Instagram sort of thing to do. Fakey isn’t my style, as you may have discerned (although occasionally my vocabulary gets a little stuffy).

This finally feels finished. It was dry enough to photograph on a sunny day. Still mulling over a good title – Citrus Queue, perhaps? It is 18×6″, $175.

Drawing Lessons

Drawing in pencil is my favorite thing. My second favorite part of my business might be helping other people draw in pencil. One afternoon a week, I teach 5 small groups of people for one hour per group. Each participant works on his own drawing at his own pace. Her own drawing at her own pace. (Nope, I will NOT use the plural “their” when discussing the singular participant.)

My students are FABULOUS people. Each one has his own reasons for attending, her own goals for lessons; I enjoy each individual and the unique blend of each group.

There is a mix of ages (6th grade is the youngest I accept) and a mix of skill levels. Have a look at some of the recent work.

This is an interesting little coincidence – 2 livestock portraits across the table from one another. Each was working from her own photo.

This drawing is from a photo taken by the student who was almost charged by this elephant. We have named him Elliott.

Clearly this student has an interest in marine life. We are both a bit stumped on how to portray the water, but we’ll figure it out. And no, she didn’t take the original photo of the whale herself.

Today’s featured oil painting at Anne Lang’s Emporium:

Crescent Meadow, oil on wrapped canvas (why do I ALWAYS say this??), 6×18″, $150 plus tax.

Finishing a Drawing 20 Years Later

In 1998, Jane Coughran and I published The Cabins of Mineral King*. Some of the drawings crossed over the center seam of the book to cover 2 pages. Some of the drawings were an odd shape to accommodate words.

This is one of those drawings (only photographed, not scanned and touched up for the web, so the background looks gray instead of white):

A member of this cabin family asked me if there were any drawings of the cabin remaining. I remembered this very large drawing with its odd shape. He and I looked at it together to see if it could be completed, and how he’d like it to be completed.

This is the result of that conversation. Highly satisfying! (but that little rude voice asks, “Yes, but is it creative?”)

*The only way to get a copy of The Cabins of Mineral King is to get lucky on Amazon or eBay. Good luck!