Monthly Archives: January 2013

What is “Commission”?

A commissions is “an order for something, especially a work of art, to be produced”. For many years, I have been accepting commissions to draw people’s homes and cabins in pencil, drawing to the customer’s specifications.

This pencil drawing was made according to the cabin owner’s request, using his photos.

As I work on The Cabins of Wilsonia, I am drawing the cabins and views that suit my tastes and the (ever evolving) design of the book. Those views are chosen to represent both the typical and the atypical aspects of cabins. My choices also are made for the most visual variety on each full page spread of the book.

If a cabin owner asks me to draw his cabin, I say yes.

Saying yes doesn’t guarantee that the commissioned drawing will be in the book. It means the cabin owner has asked for a particular drawing, and they pay me to do it the way that they want.

There are some gray areas. For example, some folks have offered use of a photo that they really like, and given me permission to draw it that way for the book.

Is that a commission?

No. But, they have first dibs on buying the original, when I’m ready to let them out of my studio.

I NEVER want to be pushy or pesky or sales-y. So, I probably have missed opportunities to make money. Making money is part of being in business – without that part, I would only have a hobby. Businesses have customers; hobbies don’t.

So, if you would like to commission me to draw your cabin, I am available. The common sizes are 8×10 – $175, and 11×14 – $250.

How to Draw a Book, Chapter 5

Do I have the right to draw The Cabins of Wilsonia?

There is a smarty-pants answer of “It’s a free country!”

A commissioned pencil drawing of a Wilsonia cabin

But, honestly, (and I want to always be honest so don’t ask me questions if you don’t want the answers – how is that for a fair warning?) this is a question of legitimacy. Since I don’t have a cabin in Wilsonia, who do I think I am??

These things led me to do take on this project:

1. I have a cabin, so I understand and appreciate cabin culture.

2. My business is Cabinart, named this because when I began earning my living with my art, I was living in a cabin and drawing people’s cabins. (1986 – gasp of shock at my advanced age!)

3. I am a California artist whose self-declared mission is to represent the beauty of Tulare County. Since I only recently learned that Wilsonia is in Tulare County, I am thrilled!

4. I believe strongly, STRONGLY, that historic cabin communities are treasures in today’s world. They need to be enjoyed, preserved, documented, recognized and celebrated!

5. Architecture, particularly older architecture has always been my favorite thing to draw.

6. I have experience in self-publishing another cabin book, The Cabins of Mineral King.

7. Several friends from Wilsonia asked me to do this.

A Wilsonia cabin owner asked me, “Why don’t you just do a book on Mineral King cabins?”

I answered, “I did.” 😎

How to Draw a Book, Chapter 4

We’ve been covering the questions I had to answer before deciding to do the book, The Cabins of Wilsonia.

Do I have the ability?

I’ve been drawing cabins since 1986, along with lots of other subjects. I’m positive that I have more than 10,000 hours of focused practice with the intention to continually improve.

Wilsonia benches

I’ve published another book on cabins, The Cabins of Mineral King (1998). That book was accomplished with a partner. Jane Coughran is a retired picture editor for Time-Life Books, and without her expertise, the Mineral King book would not have happened.

Times were different in the last century. Janey and I did the research by interviewing other local authors. We decided how to divide the info into chapters, where to have text, took the photos for drawing, borrowed the historical photos that we included, decided the views of each cabin, laid out the book, found all the people we hired*, chased down the ISBN and bar code, got into the Library of Congress Card Catalog, chose a printer, a binder and even a trucking company to deliver the books. We designed pre-order forms and sent them with invitations to a book signing, which we also planned. We hauled the books to shows, sold them, delivered to bookstores and other gift shops, stored them, and shipped them all over the country. We sold out.

This time, it’s just me. I either know how to do this stuff, or can find people to teach me, or know how to find people to do the parts that are beyond my ability.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

*a book designer, a graphic artist to make our map, a publicist

How to Draw a Book, Chapter 3

Will anyone care enough to buy this book?

Is this cabin on Cedar? Or is it on Meadow? The map says Cedar, so that is the chapter where it will appear in the book.

Last time we determined that people will indeed care about a book called The Cabins of Wilsonia. Today we will think about whether or not enough people will care to make the project worthwhile. It would be stupid to spend 3 years on a project, not earning any money while I am doing it, and not earning any money at the end. I try to not be stupid. This is a good policy, don’t you think?

There are several places I hope to find people who will want the book.

1. Cabin folks, their families and friends. In 1998, Jane Coughran and I wrote and drew a book called The Cabins of Mineral King. We printed and sold 1000. There are around 60 cabins in Mineral King, as opposed to around 200 in Wilsonia. Clearly, more than just cabin owners and their associates bought the book!

Who were those other people? Do they exist within the circles of Wilsonia?

2. The tribe who loves Wilsonia, Grant Grove, Kings Canyon. Mineral King has a tribe of folks who love the place. These are mountainy people, history buffs, hikers, campers, people from Tulare County, people from all over the world.

Wilsonia is next to Grant Grove, in Kings Canyon National Park, also visited by people from all over the world. The road is much easier than the road to Mineral King and it leads to other places too. It stands to reason that the visitation is substantially greater. I don’t know the numbers.

The comparison sort of works, although Wilsonia is off the main highway and isn’t necessarily a part of the visitors’ experience. So, although that might be a source of customers, it probably won’t be a large segment.

3. My people. I have been earning my living as a pencil artist, oil painter, teacher of drawing, and muralist since 1993. Through those years I’ve developed a small following. Makes sense that a percentage of those who like my work and bought my first book are likely to buy a second book. Certainly would help if I knew what that percentage will be, but alas, I am an artist, not a clairvoyant.

4. People who love local history, love to draw, and/or have a thing for cabins. This group is diverse, hard to find, and random. I can find the local history buffs through the Tulare County Historical Society, but the rest might depend on good old Mr. Google, who knows everyone and everything.

The cost of almost everything goes up (except the latest in technology – I remember my dad paying $90 for a calculator the size of a shoe back in the ’70s!). So, whether or not anyone will care enough to part with their hard earned dollars depends on me – DO YOUR VERY BEST WORK, TOOTS!

Oh my goodness – the pressure – bring on the dark chocolate!

How to Draw a Book, Chapter 2

(These will be very short chapters.)

I began the process of drawing The Cabins of Wilsonia by asking some questions. Today I’ll delve into #1 – Will anyone care?

This drawing of a sign on the side of a Wilsonia cabin sums it up quite nicely. How many times have you heard someone refer to “The Cabin”? Don’t all cabin owners use that terminology? And don’t they all say it with great love, longing and admiration?

Who am I fooling? “They” is “we” – I too have a cabin, although not in Wilsonia. I get it.

We who have cabins L O V E them. Our families do too. Our friends love to visit us at our cabins. Our acquaintances try to weasel in on the action. (You know what I’m talking about!)

So, yes, cabin owners care.

In addition to the cabin owners, there are former cabin owners, cabin visitors, and cabin wanna-be owners.

The answer to “Will anyone care?” is YES!!

How to Draw a Book From the Beginning

Most normal people write books. Normal doesn’t come easily to me, so I’m drawing a book. If you are fixin’ (learned to say that from my friends in Texas) to draw a book, where do you begin?

With questions, lots of questions. Before diving into a project of monumental proportions, it is good to know a little bit.

I admit it – shingle-siding is my favorite!

1. Will anyone care? Is there a market? Do I have an audience? Can I find the audience? Never mind, now we’re veering into marketing questions that will have to be addressed in another post.

2. Will anyone care enough to buy this book? Caring is one thing. Caring enough to spend hard-earned dollars is another level. Never mind, now I’m veering into accounting questions which I might just ignore for awhile.

3. Do I have the ability? Do I have the stamina? Am I able to plan, execute, problem solve, decide, find the necessary companies and people to make this happen? Never mind, now I’m veering into territory that makes me need to go lie down for a bit.

4. Do I have the right? Is this my book to create or is there someone more qualified? Will people allow me to have a peek into cabin life and learn enough about their particular community to give this book validity?

These are all questions I considered carefully before saying YES I WILL! YES I CAN!

I’ll share the answers I found for these questions in the next blog posts.

Well, oops.

Have you ever drawn or written something in pencil and had it smear? It happens.

another pencil drawing for “The Cabins of Wilsonia”

As a right hander, I draw from left to right and top to bottom. If I have to go back over something, I put a piece of paper on the drawing and rest my hand on that instead of on the graphite already on the paper. (Pencils are made out of graphite and clay – the more graphite, the blacker and smearier the pencil. Just sayin’, in case you care about stuff like that.)

When a finished drawing gets framed immediately, I don’t spray fix it.

Spray fixative smells awful, and I’m not entirely convinced that in 100 years it won’t turn green or something else undesirable. And OF COURSE in 100 years my drawings will be worth a fortune for your grandchildren or great grandchildren!

But, when a drawing gets hauled around and shown to my drawing students and pulled in and out of its protective holder and put in and out of the scanner several times, it seems prudent to spray fix it.

You know how spray cans of stuff usually state a temperature range that is ideal for using the product? Uh, they mean it.

Last week I sprayed a couple of drawings early in the morning. The heat hadn’t been on in my studio, of course, and this is January during a bit of a cold snap. (cold for central California – stop sneering, those of you from Minnesota!)

Oh-oh. There was a puddle of spray in the middle of one of the drawings, and it sort of ran a little bit. I hustled the drawings into the house and set them on a teevee tray in front of the wood stove.

In about a half an hour, they had both dried, and the papers had sort of curled up. QUICK, put a weight on those things!

My husband, AKA Trail Guy, was quite concerned about the puddle. “Hey, there’s a wet spot on that picture!!”

I thought, “Oh well, live and learn. 143 drawings to do, 144, what’s the diff?”

But, I was Very Relieved that it turned out okay. (Nope, not the drawing pictured above. I’m not telling you which one had the near miss!)

Where is Wilsonia?

You know that cliche’ “You learn something new every day”?

I’d like to learn more about this chair on Fern Street.

I recently learned that Wilsonia is in Tulare County!

Who cares? Me, the folks at Tulare County Treasures and of course, the county tax collectors.

I care because my art career and business focus on the beauty of Tulare County. It felt sort of wrong, outside of my area, losing my focus, infringing on other artists’ territory to draw a book on the cabins of Wilsonia. Yes, I am cabinart, but there are many gifted artists in Fresno County, where I thought Wilsonia is. (was? what is the right way to say this??)

What is Tulare County Treasures? You can read about them on the link above, but since you are here, I’ll tell you. This is a group of volunteers who know and love the good things of Tulare County. They are authors, historians, artists, and leaders. (I attended their first meeting but realized it would be stupid for me to add any more to my life. Just wanted you to know I rubbed shoulders briefly with local big shots. Please be impressed.)

They are gathering information and photographs, building a website, making maps and a brochure to the places in TC that are special and open to the public. They asked for permission to use some of my artwork of Mineral King and Wilsonia. Silly me, I said yes before thinking “WAIT! Wilsonia is in Fresno County!”

Then I asked Gus and Neal, my go-to-guys for all things Wilsonia, and both of them confirmed that Wilsonia is indeed in Tulare County!

Who knew? (The tax collector, but who cares about that stuff?)

So, I am thrilled, just thrilled I say. One of my little obstacles to the legitimacy of this book has been shattered, obliterated, vaporized, G O N E, and now this Tulare County/California artist is ready to DRAW!!!

Did you know that about Wilsonia??

Drawing #86 is on the Table

Oh yeah, I’m drawing! Here is #86 out of 230.

What’s all that stuff on the table? Clockwise from left:

3 brands of pencils ranging in hardess from 2H to 8B
the list of sizes to draw in order to fit properly on the book pages
more photos on the yellow legal pad AKA “my brains”
the chart showing the pages I’m currently working on – these are little scribbly sketches that show me which drawings will be what size on each page
various tools – erasing shield, triangle, sharpener, drafting brush, eraser (yup, sometimes I need one) Several of these tools are typically used by architects, engineers and draftsmen. They are very helpful in the sort of exact precise drawing that I love to do!
Photos – gotta have ’em! One of my favorite artists, Jack White says “All realistic artists either work from photos or they lie about it.” He also told me to ditch the pencils and take up oil painting. Sigh. Can’t do it – love my pencils!
And finally, the drawing itself. It is on 11×14″ paper. I work from left to right, top to bottom. This is so my hand doesn’t smear the picture as I wander aimlessly around the page. With 145 drawings hanging over my head, I’d better not be wandering aimlessly around anything!

How to Begin Drawing A Book

If you are a studio artist, one who works inside a building at a drawing table with a giant magnifying light and a T-square, you begin with photographs.

I must have photographed this cabin 2 dozen times. Each time I was certain the light was better than the last.

In the summer of 2011, I stayed in Wilsonia 3 different times.

The Jeffrey Shooting Stars were so gorgeous, and that is not something that I can depict in pencil.

Every day (except on the two when I was really sick, but let’s not talk about that) I was walking the streets of Wilsonia. I needed to become familiar, really familiar with all the cabins and all the streets.

Did you know there are 21 28 streets in Wilsonia? Did you know that there are 212 cabins?

That’s a lot of walking, and a lot of cabins, and a lot of photographs. I was in Cabin Artist Heaven – every where I looked, there was something wonderful and new to see, photograph and draw.

You might be new to my art. If so, you might not know that my art business is called Cabinart. I began drawing the cabins in Mineral King, working strictly in pencil.

I love to draw!

Any questions so far? I’d love to hear from you in the comments! (At the top of the post, it says “Leave A Reply”. You can click this and ask or tell me anything you want me to know.)