After the notecard set of Tulare County Landmarks began selling, the ideas began flowing. Mineral King was the next logical set, especially since I already had two drawings finished. Reruns, but I didn’t care and didn’t think anyone else did either.
This was the first time I drew the Oak Grove Bridge; this view is now too overgrown to photograph the bridge clearly.
All of these were from my own photos with the exception of the Mineral King Store. I don’t remember my family going to Mineral King until after the store had disappeared, so I used an old postcard without any regard or concern for copyright laws.
This is also the first time I drew the scene of Farewell Gap with the Crowley cabin. I had no idea how popular that would become or that I would draw and paint it so many more times (or any idea that I would become a painter).
Stay tuned. . . many more notecards ahead in this series!
This could also be called “Notecard Reminiscing” or even “Back in the Olden Days”.
Back in the olden days, I worked in a print shop and drew in pencil. Pencil drawings of Tulare County landmarks printed on notecards were my “side hustle”, now the cool way to refer to a second job. It was a hobby to make money, a business that I hoped would outpace my real job.
Because I have always been a note and letter writer, finding stationery and cards with local art was what I looked for any time I traveled. It came to my attention that there weren’t any for Tulare County in spite of the fact that we have Sequoia National Park, and that we feed the world. From my viewpoint in Ivanhoe, then Visalia, and eventually Lemon Cove, it seemed that we had subjects that were good enough to be proud of and drawn. At that time I was only capable of drawing architectural subjects, so that is all I thought of. (Looking back at my work, I’d now say I was barely capable of such things, but growth is good, unless you are a tumor.)
In the past year or so, I pulled the original drawing of the Lemon Cove Women’s Club out of its frame to touch it up. It isn’t too embarrassing, but it did benefit from some tightening up. This was a drawing I just didn’t want to let go of, so it hangs in my dining room.
The original of the Silver City Store also hangs in my dining room.
This one I now use as an example for my drawing students so they can feel better about their own beginning work.
This was back in 1987, and I knew nothing about branding oneself (yikes, as if we are cattle?) or marketing. I loved to draw, and felt lucky to be able to work in a print shop and know people who helped me figure out how to make my idea happen, along with people who owned shops that wanted to sell my merchandise.
There was a distant foggy hope that someday I could be self-employed as an artist, but that was far off in the future, along with having a real studio, owning a home, and being old like a real grown up.
Because I already had 2 of these scenes drawn and the first set of Tulare County Landmarks notecards sold well, the natural second choice was Mineral King. (Big surprise, eh?)
This was the first time I drew my favorite bridge, and it is from a viewpoint that is now overgrown and no longer so clear.
I worked from my own photos with the exception of the old Mineral King Store; by the time my family went to Mineral King, it was gone.
Stay tuned – there are many more notecards to show you!
When my students finish a drawing, I take it home to scan and convert into a file that can be used for printing as cards or prints to share or sell; sometimes it is just so they can have a clean record of work completed. Sometimes it takes a few hours of computer work, but I love and appreciate my students so much that I just consider it part of taking lessons.
Here is a recently completed pencil drawing, before the computer work.
“Watering Girl” (my title for reference, not an official title) is a 5×7″ image on 8×10″ cream colored paper. The artist took the photo several years ago, and although we were both intimidated by the hair and the water, we figured it out together!
And here it is, ready to print.
Lessons are suspended for the months of July and August; we will resume on the day after Labor Day. It is possible that I will have a few spaces available if you or someone you know is interested. (Tuesday afternoons, Exeter’S Courthouse Gallery, $55/month.)
Art Inspired by Mineral King
SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 10-2, SILVER CITY RESORT
Featuring the art of Jana Botkin and the photography of Brett Harvey
P.S. When you comment on the blog, I have to approve the comment before it appears. This doesn’t mean that your comment didn’t “take”; it means I am not near a computer to release your comment. Thank you to those who go to the trouble to comment; I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!
After finishing the pencil drawing of the irresistible subject, I didn’t want to stop drawing. I used this desire for drawing to get another pencil drawing finished.
Big Oak, pencil on paper, 11×14″, $275 including confiscatory California sales tax
Why did I wait so long to work on this? I think it is a good drawing, and if one of my students did this, I would be very proud of them.
Speaking of such pride, I’ll show you one of my student’s work tomorrow.
Last year’s show and sale, Art Inspired by Mineral King
ART INSPIRED BY MINERAL KING
SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 10-2, SILVER CITY RESORT
P.S. When you comment on the blog, I have to approve the comment before it appears. This doesn’t mean that your comment didn’t “take”; it means I am not near a computer to release your comment. Thank you to those who go to the trouble to comment; I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!
One of my drawing students brought in a very faded snapshot from about 40 years ago and asked if I thought she’d be able to draw from it. I asked her to scan it and email it to me so I could improve it for her (using the baby version of Photoshop).
I didn’t save the original version of the photo to show you, but here is the new and improved version.
As I worked on the photo, I had an overwhelming desire to draw it myself. I asked my student, who graciously replied, “Sure, but I want to draw it too. Is that okay?”
My response was something like, “Of course it is okay, but I don’t want to make you feel bad when I finish it in 2 days instead of 2 months!”
We both laughed, and then I realized that if I draw it first, it will be a helpful tool for her to use along with the photo. It is easiest to draw from other people’s drawings, second easiest to draw from black and white photos, third easiest to draw from color photos, and hardest to draw from real life.
Actually, it is probably hardest to draw from memory, but since that doesn’t happen in my life or my classes, that never crossed my mind until now.
“Viewing the General”, pencil on paper, 11×14″, unframed, $275 (price includes confiscatory California state sales tax)
Irresistible subject, yes?
ART INSPIRED BY MINERAL KING
SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2019, 10-2, SILVER CITY RESORT
My paintings on the deck of the Silver City Store last year.
It took me just as long to do the house itself as the entire background. Maybe longer. The drawing is 11×14″, which means the porch details are miniscule.
Sometimes I tell you about the good parts of living in Three Rivers (running into people at the Post Office or on a walk, having a mailbox at the bottom of my driveway to drop off things). Sometimes I tell you the bad parts, which are mostly attributable to Tulare County in general rather than Three Rivers.
The down side to living in a self-contained small town and community is that when bad things happen, no one is untouched. Last week Three Rivers lost 2 men to suicide. Each had his own reasons which are not public knowledge, and each one left a trail of broken-hearted and baffled people behind. The ripples of sadness extend outward into every part of town.
This pencil drawing is called “Turbulent Times”, and it feels appropriate right now.
