Alta Street, done!

Or is it Alta Lane? Alta Drive? Alta Road? I’m talking about Wilsonia, specifically The Cabins of Wilsonia. In my interview with myself, I revealed the strategy for drawing all the cabins. Alphabetically, by street name, means that the first set of drawings is for Alta Street/Lane/Drive/Road.

Nope, you don’t get to see the entire set because I hope you will want to buy the book and not say “that old thing? I already saw it on her blog!”

Let’s have a little drawing lesson. You can’t draw a light thing – instead, you draw the dark around it. The foxglove at the base of this pencil drawing show up because of the boards in the background. In Artspeak, the boards are the “negative space”.

Don’t you feel learned now? And isn’t “learned” the funniest word?

More talking to myself

This is one of the pencil drawings for the upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia

How will the book be organized?

Alphabetically, by street name

What order are you doing the cabin drawings?

Alphabetically, by street name. EXCEPT, when I began in the summer, I did quite a few of the Masonic tract and then quite a few on Fern where I also stayed.

Don’t you get bored just sitting there alone drawing in pencil?

Often Kaweah Kitty is with me. If it is cold out, she squishes underneath the light for warmth and blocks my vision and licks my hand.

But don’t you get bored anyway?

With the wonder of technology, I can listen to the radio or to TED talks on the computer or to Artists Helping Artists marketing broadcasts on the computer or to iTunes on my Bose speakers for the computer or to Iceberg radio on the computer which I learned about from my new friend Colleen. Who can be bored when you have the whole world available through that magic machine?

How will you get all those quotes you need?

I’ll just keep bugging people via email, maybe send out a real letter, and keep drawing cabins in pencil while I wait.

Where will I be able to order a book?

Call me, write me, email me. Check my website. Ask Gus. And, if I figure out how, it will be available through Amazon. Then, if you wait 10 years, you can pay twice as much on eBay!

Who are you, anyway?

I am California artist Jana Botkin, who specializes in pencil drawings of cabins. (Got that, Mr. Google??)

In Which the Artist Interviews Herself

The Cabins of Wilsonia, my huge project, has created a few questions. Here I will ask some of those questions, and then answer them for you. (Mr. Google, I am a California artist who will do over 200 pencil drawings of cabins.)

What is Wilsonia?

it is an area of about 100 acres of private land bought and set aside before the National Parks were created. It is next to Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park in California.

How old are the cabins?

The first cabins were built there in 1919, there are some that were built in the 1990s, and there are all sorts in between.

What is that name?

It was named after President Woodrow Wilson (with apologies to Glen Beck).

Why are you doing this?

Short answer: because I am Cabinart. Medium answer: it hasn’t been done yet, and it will be a good product to sell. Long answer: I love to draw, drawing cabins is my signature art style and subject, Wilsonia is beautiful and interesting, and it is good to record these places before they change too much.

How many cabins are there?

There are 212, 12 of which belong to the National Park Service.

Will there be history?

There will be an introduction that briefly explains the history of Wilsonia. If cabin folks want to share some of their own history, it may be included in their quotations.

Will the book be expensive?

Compared to a clearance table book, yes. Compared to the current price of The Cabins of Mineral King, no. (It initially sold for $50 and is currently selling for around $100 used.)

Are you drawing all the cabins?

No.

Why not?

Short answer: there are too many. Long answer: some are too cluttered, some are too hard to see through the trees, some are too plain, some are redundant in appearance, and some belong to the Park, who most likely won’t be a customer for the book.

Won’t the book be boring with nothing but cabins?

The drawings will include entire cabins, cabin details, and quotes from cabin folks. If you buy one and then think it is boring, hang on to it until the books are sold out, then sell it for twice what you paid!

Will you sell the drawings?

Eventually. If I let them go before they’ve been scanned properly, it will be very hasslesome to retrieve them to rescan. I have sold a few, and I hope I don’t have to beg to borrow them back!

Do you know these people?

I know a surprising number of Wilsonia cabin folks! The former owners of our home in Three Rivers and the former owners of our cabin in Mineral King both have cabins in Wilsonia. My husband’s closest friend from childhood, our neighbors in Mineral King, my dad’s partner in an airplane, a cousin by marriage, old friends, friends of friends, previous customers, and now lots of new friends are all on the list of folks I know.

How will you earn money if all you do is draw Wilsonia cabins for more than a year and can’t sell them yet and have to learn how to use Adobe InDesign at the same time?

Any suggestions??? Anyone?? Ideas??

Excuse me now, I need to go lie down for a bit. Maybe I’ll just put my thumb in my mouth and rock a little.



Most Popular Pencil Drawing

Whenever I put on an art show for my drawing students, it includes a popularity contest. Anyone who views the show may vote for his 3 favorite pieces. I do this because it causes visitors to spend more time studying the work. When folks say, “How am I supposed to decide?”, I respond with this: “Vote for the pieces that call you back”.

The piece that called the most viewers back was . . .

Kirby’s “Swan”!!

In addition to being the most popular, it sold! In addition to selling to one eager customer, there was another person waiting in the sidelines for the first buyer to change his mind! (And Kirby, it wasn’t a “mercy purchase” because he said it cost too much for that!!)

Congratulations, Kirby!!

Colors, a post event list of thoughts

  1. What a confusing weather day. It was frosty out when I loaded the car, and I was just sure I’d shiver all day long.
  2. I set up in the direct sunshine on Wendy’s porch and was just sure I’d hot to death.
  3. Notice the spacious spacing on the display panels. What do you think?
  4. It was weird to weed through my paintings and figure out which to show and which to leave out.
  5. Many friends showed up!
  6. I met some new folks.
  7. Despite the counsel to drop pencil and focus on oil painting (from Those In The Know About Such Things), more pencil items sold than oil paintings.
  8. The pencil things cost less; is there a correlation between price and sales?
  9. Does Mickey Mouse have ears?
  10. Colors is a beautiful store/gallery/happening place, and this California artist is grateful to be in such a fine artsy place as Three Rivers!

Books

This weird little painting was an assignment in my short-lived oil painting class. Anyone have an idea for a title?

If you are like me, when you visit a blog you like to see how many comments a post has and sometimes you even read them. My blog doesn’t have very many comments to read. Many of them come privately to me via email, so you all don’t get to see them. (I’m not just saying this so that you will know I have readers.) I’m saying this because someone suggested to me via email that I post a list of books I am currently reading. My first thought was “Why?” My second thought was . . . never mind, such a cliche that you can probably guess it!

  1. Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey. (Thank you, Chris LoCurto!) I love business type books and am always looking for hints and ideas of how to tighten up my own little operation. Dave writes the way he speaks, so this book was easy to read and full of material to mull over. Like most really good books, it should be read over and over.
  2. All Wound Up by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot) Stephanie is one of the few authors whose books I just buy. No question – click, spend, own. All of them. She is a knitting humor writer. This book might be her best so far and includes more than just knitting essays. She is smart and funny and I love her!!
  3. The Sierra Nevada Before History by  (my very dear friend) Louise Jackson. This has been on my stack for a year, and it is time. TIME. Past TIME!! Just finished the intro this a.m. and I can hear Louise’s voice as I read. (In case this is easier for you, here it is on Amazon and it is also available at The Book Garden in Exeter.) I am looking forward to this one, especially if the intro is any indication of how interesting it will be! Here is one more link about this one: my drawings are in it! Two, actually.

What are you reading? I’d love to hear your favorites so I can add them to my list!

What If I Gave A Party. . .

. . . and EVERYONE came! The art show for my students was a HUGE success. It was elbow to elbow for almost the entire 2 hours. The work looked stunning, and if I had been any prouder of my students, lightning might have struck us all.

First, HUGE THANK YOU to Michael, Robin and Sylvia for taking charge of the food and beverages so that no one else got stuck in the kitchen and could just enjoy the show. THANK YOU!

One of my long term students, Jackie, helped me hang the show. I think she has been taking drawing lessons for around 6 years. We grouped the pieces by subject – portraits, florals, landscapes, animals. Then, I just enjoyed it by myself for awhile in the afternoon. (There is more art than appears in this photo, of course. Just didn’t want to antagonize you by showing you all 52 pieces so far away that you can’t really see them.)

The brown box is where you put your ballot after you vote for your 3 favorite pieces. The artist whose piece has the most votes will get a month of free drawing lessons!

This is Jerry – he is the husband of one of my drawing students. He bravely volunteered to be the first at the food table, and to let me photograph him “for scale”. 😎

Kirby and me – 2 different people want to buy her swan drawing! (I couldn’t get the silly happy grin off my face for the entire evening, and my hair did look better in the morning, thanks for asking.)

Kim and me – between us is her first pencil drawing, her cat Scooter. And isn’t it cool that Kim and I are birthday twins, although I am about 1 hour older which means I get to boss her around.

The show will be on display at the Courthouse Gallery of the Arts in Exeter until the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (because that is the last day of drawing lessons for the year and everyone will take their pieces home then.) The hours are Tuesdays 12:30-5:30, and Saturdays and Sundays 10-4.

Things to be learned in drawing lessons, part 2

If you would like to see the completed piece shown in progress here, come to the student art show!

Start with simple things.

Get help on big things.

Good tools make a job easier.

Learn from others who know how.

A second set of eyes is helpful.

Sometimes you just have to do the work, no matter how tedious.

Sometimes you have to walk away and wait for your head to clear so you can get a new perspective on a project.

Good planning pays off.

Not everything can be fixed.

Ignorant gushing praise feels good; experienced honesty is helpful.

First Home

If you  have been a home owner, you probably will never forget the first place on which you paid a mortgage.

Our first home was built in 1913 and we were only the 3rd owners. I loved that little house too much – it just wasn’t natural to have that much affection for an inanimate object. Even now,  almost 13 years since selling it and moving on, I can still recall the sound of each door as it closed.

Most folks’ first homes are small and simple. They usually need work, they usually need paint somewhere, they almost always have lawns, and they seldom have garages. Can you relate?

This is someone’s first home. I don’t know him, but I know his Dad. His dad is a very thoughtful man who knows that his children’s homes are special. He has commissioned me to draw several of these modest and well-loved structures.

These are simple drawings EXCEPT the photos rarely contain enough information, have cars and people blocking views, and require some guesswork on my part. The challenge is to make them as technically perfect as possible so that what they lack in detail is made up for with precision.

Oh, and Mr. Google? This is a California home drawn by a California artist – me.

A Cabin Commission

Cabinart – making art of cabins, using pencil. That is my roots. Now that I oil paint, when a commission drawing for a cabin comes along, I am thrilled. Thrilled, I say!

The defining characteristic of this cabin is the group of massive trees in the front yard. The truth is that I sort of wanted to draw it in a vertical format, focusing on the trees with just a hint of the cabin peeking through. That’s not why people want their cabins drawn, so I provided several sketches and this was the winner. I’m happy when my customers are happy!