It’s Complicated

I have learned to draw from photos on my laptop instead of mediocre prints from my mediocre printer on mediocre paper and instead of waiting for high quality prints from Shutterfly. This means I can enlarge on the screen for understanding the detail more. This also means I can’t measure. Everything is a mixed bag.

The complicated custom collage drawing began with these photos, and even more.

Then I began laying it out on the giant piece of paper, using the approved sketch as my map. 14×18″ is a lot of real estate to cover with the point of a pencil.

Can you see the lines on the paper? “Just barely” is the answer I am looking for.

This is a big job, a complicated one, but I, your Central California artist am up for the task.

Completed Pencil Commission?

Completed Pencil Commission in steps, that is.

The rosy color is probably a result of the light through the window that is tinted by heavy wildfire smoke.


Much of the time while drawing this, it was very very smoky out the window, and as I drew the pine trees, I kept thinking, “Torches, they are torches!”

Last I heard, they are still standing and green.

P.S. The customer stopped by my studio and we decided that the driveway is too undefined and that we’d like some color in the drawing somewhere. My commissioned jobs are not finished until the customer is completely happy.

Custom Art From Far Away Places

I had* a good customer who used to email me photos of places to draw that he would give as gifts. I don’t know where many of the houses were and just had to do my best with a single snapshot. He kept giving me work, so I guess my best was good enough for him. Some friends have made several trips to Ireland and hired me draw memories for them of their trips. They haven’t yet invited me to go with them – they are regular friends, not Really Really Great Friends.

Some other friends have had several visits to this “cabin” in Colorado. They provided photos, but alas, no invitation to accompany them either.

Another cute house from a provided snapshot of an unidentified place by former* customer.

I am your Central California artist, using pencils to make art that people understand of places and things they love at prices that won’t scare them. (One who won’t turn down an offer to visit a beautiful location to take my own photos).

*He was a good customer, a joy to work with, but the last time we communicated, he said he couldn’t think of anyone else to give drawings to!

Pencil Reminiscing, Part Eleven

This is the final part of our Pencil Reminiscing series. This last set of pencil notecards is Mineral King again. This one was done near the end of the last century, after I figured out how to handle the textures of landscape views. I don’t remember where this set falls in the sequence of notecard sets, but it seems fitting to conclude this series of posts with Mineral King.

These views still look the same today. Well, not TODAY, but last summer, and hopefully the summer of 2020, after all the snow melts.

Pencil Reminiscing, Part Ten

Somewhere along the path of creating notecard packages, I did a set of Mineral King scenes, a mini-set of four instead of five, without the identifying label. Instead, I inserted a photocopy of what was inside.

Judging from the quality of the background landscaping, this was still early in the sequence of notecard sets.

The old Ranger Station was from a postcard; the others were from my photos, so they were current at the time (and still look almost the same).

I think these were tied up with raffia, oh so very elegantly rustic.

Pencil Reminiscing, Part Eight

With a good contact in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and success with the Sequoia sets of cards, together we chose scenes for Kings Canyon.

There were probably 5 drawings, but I can only find these 4 samples. You can see that I finally got comfortable drawing the textures of landscaping.

Pencil Reminiscing, Part Seven

After publishing the notecard set of Backcountry Structures of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, I moved into the front country of the park. That’s where most of the people visit, and now I had connections in the organization that stocked the ranger stations and visitor centers in the parks.

I didn’t save any labels, so I don’t know if this is when I switched to 4 cards per package instead of 5, or if I lost a sample card along the way. I remember taking the photos for these drawings, because my niece went with me. There was a long line for photos in front of the General Sherman Tree, so Ashley and I got in line. When it was our turn, she went up to the tree and then laid on the ground behind the sign so I could take a photo without any people in it. The other visitors were quite puzzled by this, but I was thrilled by Ashley’s innovative solution. I think I actually drew her into the picture of the Four Guardsmen, but now I can’t see details that small.

To be continued. . .

Pencil Reminiscing, Part Six

Confidence grew with each set of cards I drew, printed, and sold. Tulare County was too small – look out California, because the Central California artist is heading your way!!

In the 4th grade, we studied the 21 California missions, which were built in the 1700s and 1800s by Franciscan priest, Junipero Serra. Even back then I loved old buildings.

I chose 5 of the 21, with some sort of logic that I can no longer remember. There are 2 missing pictures here – San Juan Bautista, and the one near Oceanside, whose name I have forgotten.

This California mission idea was suggested by a friend, and although my inner cautionary voice told me not to do it, I ignored that intuition, dismissing it as pessimism. 

Should have listened.

I printed the largest quantity yet, and went to my regular outlets, which bought them in small cautionary quantities. Next, I hit the road with my best friend to sell these. Alas, none of the 5 missions wanted them because they only cared about their own place. I wasn’t willing to break up the sets, and it was crazy hard to find gift shops in towns where I knew no one. I tried Harris Ranch, a huge tourist place along Interstate 5, smack dab in the middle of the state. It took many phone calls, several appointments, lots of free samples, and finally I realized that this was not profitable, because in addition to the distance, their gift shop buyers quit every few months.

I finally consented to selling the cards individually to some of the missions, had one very nice gift shop in Carmel who wanted the variety pack, and kept selling tiny quantities to the local stores.

Eventually I got real, and gave all the remaining cards to every fourth grade teacher I knew. 

The lesson there was to listen to that inner cautionary voice and not dismiss it. Although one might not be able to articulate why something doesn’t feel right, there are usually solid reasons behind the reluctance, even if it is only manifested as hidden sense inside the intuition.

At least Judy and I had a great time on our road trip.

Pencil Reminiscing, Part Five

In 1993, Trail Guy went from being seasonal Maintenance Guy to Road Guy, a fulltime job with Sequoia National Park. This meant I could really focus on my art, since he had a better income. A friend invited me to move my studio into her gift shop in Exeter, and I was ON MY WAY!!! To where?? I didn’t know, but I was going, so there.

The friend was instrumental in teaching me about selling, marketing, display, professionalism, and even how to dress better. I will be eternally grateful to her for her tutelage.

My next notecard set was Backcountry Structures in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. I had been to most of the cabins but didn’t have photos of them all. The Park’s “History Boys” were helpful in providing pictures and information about these charming little cabins in remote locations, and excited that I had chosen this subject for drawings and cards.

You can see that my focus remained on architectural subjects, and the textures and shapes of nature were just too hard. I did my best, but yikes. To save some pride, here are my recent drawings of two of these cabins. They were on the blog in December, but here they are again.

More next week on pencil reminiscing. . .

Pencil Reminiscing, Part Three

It was thrilling to see my art come off a printing press as notecards. It was exciting to sell them to stores, and the ideas started piling in.

After Tulare County Landmarks and Mineral King Scenes, it was time to move to the city:  Visalia Landmarks was hugely popular in the stores, which are now all closed.

I just trotted all over Visalia with my camera, taking photos without giving it a second thought, never asking permission, just excited to be out gathering new material for pencil drawings to be turned into little packages of notecards. It was fun to think of what to draw, fun to photograph it, fun to learn about and write up a description for the back, fun to be on my own figuring out how to do these things.

This was all done in the days of film cameras with its accompanying wait for the pictures to be developed. During that era, the magical and mysterious fax machine appeared, and we had no idea of email, cell phones, digital photography, the internet with all its huge changes to our lives. Pencils (and erasers) were all I needed.