Too Wired

Pencil drawing, “Loft Bedroom”, sold

It is a frightening realization that I am very very dependent on electricity. My neighborhood was warned of a 2 hour power outage, and we were even told the time to expect it. Suddenly we were racing around to take care of everything that needed to be done before the power went off. Is the garage door open so we can get to our vehicles? Will the water boil for coffee before the power is off? Gotta fix my hair before my power tools are inaccessible! Better forward my studio phone to the cell phone while there is power so I can receive phone calls while down the hill! (no cell service where we live) Quick, check my email in case there is something urgent!

What is this all about? Don’t I draw with pencil and refuse to use an electric sharpener? Yes, but if the sun isn’t shining, it is too dark to see the details without a lamp, preferably a magnifying one.

I have lived very comfortably for months at a time without electricity in the past. Is this part of aging? Part of the creeping tendrils of technology, worming its way into my life in more ways than I care to admit?

Probably.

This California artist needs to go knit a few therapeutically unwired rows of a non-electric sweater.

The Great Talent Hoax

Pencil drawing for The Cabins of Wilsonia

Have you ever thought or said to an artist, “Gee, it must be great to have talent”? Or have you you ever said, “I wish I had talent like that”?

It’s all smoke and mirrors.

Actually, it’s not. It is practice, training, practice, rough criticism, more practice, a little success, practice, trial and error, practice, a little public embarrassment and yet even more practice.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book “Outliers” that it takes 10,000 hours of intentional practice with a focus toward continual improvement to become an expert at something. He’s not talking about mindless repetition.

Practice makes perfect. Erasers help too.

The harder I work, the more talented I become.

Practice, practice, practice. And, have a second more objective pair of eyes that is connected to a truthful mouth that is connected to a kind heart have a look at your work.

My Very Wise Dad told me of a concert pianist who had to practice 8 hours a day. When he dropped to 6 hours, he could tell the difference. When he dropped to 4 hours, his audience could tell the difference.

The only people who don’t learn to draw are the ones who quit drawing lessons too soon. Those who persist begin to think they have talent.

They might be right.

Sometimes people quit drawing lessons (or piano or ballet or drumming or guitar or knitting) because they don’t love it enough to practice as hard as talent requires.

Think I put enough cliches in this blog entry? 😎 Perhaps I need to practice my writing skills more.

Draw, draw, draw

My buddy Chris LoCurto had a guest post on his blog about choosing three words to guide you through the year. My first choice was DRAW DRAW DRAW. In that order. (Honestly the first 3 words that came to mind were “eat, pray, love”.)

So, I am drawing. No matter how much I draw, it doesn’t feel like enough. Keep drawing, Chicky-babe!

pencil drawing for The Cabins of Wilsonia

What is this? I thought you were doing a book on cabins.

Oh-oh, there goes that pushy interviewer again. Can’t you see the cabin in the background, you eejit?

Hey! I told you I was the one asking the questions here!

lalalalalala, I can’t hear you.

Self-interviewing again

Whatcha working on now?

I just finished bidding on 2 murals.

Where??

In my studio.

No, where will the murals be?

The bid that was accepted will result in a beautiful trail scene on the side of a new business in Three Rivers. They hope to open in March, so I could be painting in February.

Will you show the progress on your blog?

Of course!

You said “murals”.

Yeppers, I did! The other will be at a private residence, if the folks accept my bid.

How’s it going with that Adobe InDesign 30 day trial?

Holy guacamole, that is one complicated piece of work. I’ve watched many tutorials, some of them several times. I’m learning, and have a few pages laid out. Plus, I have a very long list of questions that I hope get answered soon!

Anything else going on?

Oh I’m so glad you asked! A winery just asked me for a pencil drawing to use as a label. Would you like to see the first sketch?

Hey, I’m the one asking questions here!

Forgive me. I got confused. How about if we just show that sketch and then go away until tomorrow!

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!