Pencil drawing of chimney on Wilsonia cabin
I will go quiet on this blog until March 6 because my February drawing quota has been met and because I will be telling of a recent trip to Chicago on my other blog. I hope you will visit and return to this blog on March 6.
So many interesting chimneys; so little time!
First, a question for you: Do you know anyone besides me that can honestly and literally say “Back to the drawing board?”
Can you believe the mess that happens on my drawing board? In spite of the piled up stuff, drawing #114 of The Cabins of Wilsonia is happening. I’m right on schedule!
Photos, legal pad of notes, drafting brush, triangle, cups and box of pencils, erasers, sharpener, T-square, erasing shield, pica pole (that is a ruler that measures in whole units because there is less chance of errors than when I’m dealing in fractions – yes, I DO measure) and a few other items.
Looks like a mess, but everything is right at hand.
As I draw this book alphabetically street by street, I feel a sense of progress.
Duh.
This cabin looked boxy from the front. After I passed by it about the one thousandth time, I began noticing interesting details. Have you ever seen a cabin this shape before?
It is part of the book because I want both the typical and the atypical. Bet you can tell which category this drawing fits into.
This is #111.
Part of the fun of drawing a self-designed and self-published book is that I get to draw whatever strikes my fancy. NO ONE would ever commission me to draw this view of his cabin!! When people commission this California artist to draw their cabins, they choose the front. Always. No exceptions. Amen.
Being a California artist, nay, a California pencil artist, a cabin artist, Cabinart herself, sometimes I like to choose the offbeat, the unusual, the most interesting view, the unique. This pencil drawing qualifies for all of the aforementioned.
While drawing, I listen to various podcasts on the internet. Recently I’ve listened to every interview I can find with Seth Godin, who is brilliant. (He is a little bit too brilliant for me to always understand.) His latest book, The Icarus Deception is about how the world has changed from being a place of industry and manufacturing to a place of ideas and connection. He says we no longer have a map, but instead have a compass.
This sort of makes sense to me. As I work on this book, I am in uncharted territory. There is no list of directions titled “How To Completely Self-Publish A Book of Pencil Drawings of an Unfamiliar Place and Then Sell It So You Don’t Have To Find A Real Job”.
Instead, I’m figuring it out. I have lists, lots of lists. I drew up pages of how the book might look, page by page, street by street. Then I scribbled it out, and redrew it. Then I counted up the pages per street and compared it to the number of cabins per street and drew it again. “Drew” is a bit of an exaggeration here – “Scribbled” is more accurate.
Want to see a page?
I’d be in a world of hurt if I lost these pages. They are in a manilla envelope with the word “Pages” written large in magic marker at the top. If my studio burns, and I’m not around but you are, grab that envelope for me, will you please?
Thanks!
Not bad, eh? This one was a bugger! If I can’t see it, I can’t draw it very well. It takes longer when I refer to multiple photos from different angles in different lights. Not whinin’, just sayin’.
And thus we conclude our little explanation of drawing a Wilsonia cabin in pencil when our photos are not providing all the information. Now, I might need to go lie down for a bit. Someone, administer dark chocolate and bring me my knitting!
Whoa. Not a lot of visual information here to draw this cabin. Maybe I can see more in another photo.
Umm, maybe not. How about with better light?
Nice stumps. Any other photos?
Decent light, but so much is hidden by trees and branches. Guess you’ll have to check back in tomorrow to see how the drawing turned out!
Before beginning The Cabins of Wilsonia, I had to answer some basic and somewhat complex questions. Those were covered in Chapters 1-5.
Once those questions were answered satisfactorily, I had to figure out how to tackle this monumental project.
I visited Wilsonia, staying with friends in the Masonic Tract. They left after the first night, and then I was on my own. For a week, I walked daily through the streets with my camera, learning the names of the streets, meeting people, learning shortcuts, trying to understand the layout. I learned that many of the cabin folks don’t know all of Wilsonia. I learned that parallel streets confuse me. I learned that I’d better have a map, lists and charts.
After asking several people if they had an opinion or an idea of how to organize the book into chapters and getting no clear answer, I knew I was on my own.
That’s good – it is my book, after all! Can’t expect other people to solve my problems. But, it was good to ask for opinions to make sure I wasn’t overlooking something obvious to a seasoned citizen of the community.
By street in alphabetical order. That’s how the chapters will be organized.
In my book, this means taking zillions of photos. Every day, looking for different angles, different lights at different times of day, more details, the settings of each cabin, the best possible views – photograph, photograph and photograph some more. And don’t forget to mark down which photos are on which street! Don’t mix them up! Don’t get confused, no matter how many photos of cabins with chimneys on the gable end you see in one day.
The chimneys are all different and I DO know where each one of these cabins is located!
January is behind me, and I have completed 103 drawings.
Charming rustic door looks even better since I omitted the spider webs.
Not all in January! I can’t remember how many I had finished when the year began, but I think it was around 85. I’m just guessing, because I didn’t write it down. On the January 11 blog post, #86 is on the table.
With 11 months remaining to complete the drawings for the book (a self-imposed deadline), I need to do 11 or 12 per month. This is possible.
I won’t be showing you all the completed drawings, because I want to ignite your fascination trigger of mystique.
What sort of weirdo psychobabble is this? I’m reading a book called Fascinate by Sally Hogshead. Interesting information, great writer! Wish I was on the Amazon affiliate program and got $ for telling you to buy the book, but alas, I am just rambling because I’ve spent too many hours alone in the studio, many days without internet access (gasp of horror).
The Cabins of Wilsonia moves forward!