Monthly Archives: December 2013

SINGLE DIGITS!!

I’m in single digits! Less than 10 pencil drawings to be finished for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia! (The Captain Obvious way of writing is to help Google find this blog in case people are looking for it – please forgive me for sounding as if I think you have forgotten what it is about.)

When the count dropped to double digits, I was elated all by myself in the studio but didn’t say anything on the blog. Now, I’m beside myself with the thrill of seeing the end within touching distance. It may not be by December 31, 2013 as I originally planned, but it will be very very close. That’s awesome, and I congratulate myself.

Wow, how peculiar can one artist be? Pretty peculiar, because if I were any happier, I’d be twins!

Sorry. Deep calming breaths required here.

Happy 2014 to you, cherished blog readers!

First Blogiversary

On December 19, 2012, I started this blog, The Cabins of Wilsonia. (Still bowled over by the brilliant creativity of that name!)

The website has 5 pages – the blog itself, about this blog, a contact page, frequently asked questions and questions to ponder.

Since that date there have been 84 posts and 112 comments. You’ve seen 60 drawings, 55 of which will appear in the book. (That’s quite a preview of the 270 that the book will contain, dontcha think??) The header drawing on the website has been changed 3 times.

There are now 18 drawings remaining. I am considering this a success, because I am in charge of my book and get to decide the definition of its success. (Sounds like there should be a “so there!” and a raspberry at the end of that last sentence.)

In the upcoming year, my first goal is to finish the remaining drawings.

Thank you for following along, reading, commenting, emailing me, sharing with your cabin friends, family and other interested parties.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep you posted!

The first header that appeared on this website.

Brewer Lane

Brewer Lane is a very short street in Wilsonia. Officially, on the map there are 2 cabins on it. Maybe three. Hmmm, should have cemented that fact before writing this! When a cabin sits on a corner, sometimes it is hard to tell which street is part of its address.

This A-frame cabin is on Brewer. A-frames are very very hard to draw because there appears to be more roof than cabin. There are 4 A-frames in Wilsonia. This particular view doesn’t show too much roof, but it didn’t ring my bell. It might be because the porch is so simple, or because of the stacks of chairs. Guess you’ll just have to wait for the book to see how Brewer Lane will be represented!

Alta Lane in Wilsonia

This will be the first “chapter” in the book. Feels funny to refer to them as “chapters” because it is a picture book more than a word book. (Remember graduating to “chapter books” as a new reader?? It was a big deal!)

This pencil drawing was the header on the blog for awhile. Have you noticed that the blog is on its third header? This one shows the back side of a cabin on Alta Lane.

Here are my thoughts on Alta so far, just as random as you please:

1. I live on Alta Acres Drive in Three Rivers and can see Alta Peak from my house. Seems sort of far-ish from Alta Lane in Wilsonia.

2. It is Alta Lane, not Alta Street! That’s good – “Lane” sounds more rural than Street, and Wilsonia is definitely rural rather than urban or suburban.

3. What if the 2 pictures I chopped with my paper cutter need to be rescanned? I’ll have to redraw them!

4. There is another cabin on Alta I’d love to include but I don’t know where to put it. If I add a page to Alta, every page after Alta will have to be rearranged, and that is the bulk of the book. Hmmm, maybe put it on the Acknowledgements page or on the back of the dust jacket. Will there be a dust jacket?

Building a book takes so much thinking, deciding, planning and adjusting. . . I sort of remember this from The Cabins of Mineral King, but that was a partnership so the load was shared. On the other hand, getting to make all the decisions myself isn’t all bad!

The Streets of Wilsonia, Learned

After months and months of puzzlement, I’ve decided to consult the map and make a list. Brilliant idea, don’t you think? I’ve intended to do this all along, but now that there are only 20 drawings left to do, it seems like I can take a small break from my pencils and do something different.

But here’s the conundrum: when I am finished with my drawings, I’ll probably wish I was drawing instead of consulting the map, the thesaurus, emailing, working on the written parts, rescanning drawings and spending hours trying to figure out how to make Adobe InDesign behave.

Alta Lane
Brewer Lane
Cedar Lane
Chinquapin Lane
Fern Lane
Fir Lane
Goddard Lane
Grant Lane
Hazel Lane (Anyone met her yet??)
Hillcrest Road
Kaweah Lane
Laurel Lane (Is this Hazel’s sister or her aunt?)
Le Conte Way
Lilac Lane (Must be Laurel’s sister)
Lily Lane (Oh! There are three sisters??)
Lupine ??
Manzanita Lane
Mason Road
Meadow Lane
Palisade Way
Park Road
Pine Lane
President’s Lane (Just one president – his name was Woodrow Wilson, and don’t tell Glenn Beck about this, ‘kay?)
Sierra Lane (a younger niece, because everyone knows that “Sierra” is the new “Ashley”)
Tehipite Way
Tyndall Lane (Finally! a guy in the Lane family!)
Whitney Lane (another modern Lane cousin)
Willow Lane (whose mom was a hippie – was going to name her “Sunshine” or Rainbow” but got sober and switched to “Willow”.)

Learning the Streets of Wilsonia

The Cabins of Wilsonia will be arranged alphabetically by street name. That is the same order in which I have been drawing all these cabins in pencil.

This is on Whitney. Now I’m on Willow Street. Willow Lane? Willow Road?

“Street” to me implies town or city. I think these “streets” should be called “roads” or “lanes”. Some are, some aren’t. It is getting on time to figure each of them out.

I wonder if I can name them all in order. Here goes:

Alta, Brewer, Cedar, Chinquapin, Fern, Fir, Grant, Hazel, Hillcrest, Kaweah, Laurel, LeConte, Lilac, Lily, Lupine, Manzanita, Mason, Palisades, Park, Pine, President’s, Sierra, Tehipite, Whitney, Willow.

Now I will look at my book design and see which ones I missed. I’m sure i will make me scream.

ARRRRRRUGGGGGGGGHHHH!

Goddard. Deepest apologies. You contain the cabin of the folks who used to own my home in Three Rivers.
Meadow! What is the matter with me? I can see it from the cabin where I have stayed twice. (Never mind the fact that it only officially contains one cabin. . .) Tyndall, how could I forget Tyndall?? I think I actually drew a cabin on Tyndall before I even did my book on the cabins of Mineral KIng. Plus, I know a kid (male child) named after this peak.

Once I begin working on the computer design, perhaps I will be able to name them all. Meanwhile, 25 of 28 isn’t too shabby.

Book Report

This is more of a progress report than a book report, but I like the sound of “book report”.

I think there are 28 drawings remaining for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia.

I think this is #234.

Lots of thinking going on here, but not much accuracy in counting. Every time I try to count, I see something else that needs attention, and I lose count.

The total number doesn’t matter. Besides, when I begin the serious focused work of designing it on the computer, there might be drawings that need to be added, redone, dumped, replaced, or any number of too-hard-to-face sorts of actions.

I could segue into a rant about how life is hard and there are zillions of obstacles to getting a task finished. Probably would be a better use of my time if I went back to the drawing board instead.

Do you know anyone else who can say that they literally go “back to the drawing board”?

Lots of people use the word “literally” when they mean figuratively. Have you noticed this? “He literally shot himself in the foot.” Oh really? Is he now on crutches?

Sorry. Rants abound in my head. Back to the drawing board!

Now How Many Are Left?

As I work on The Cabins of Wilsonia, I continue to revise and redesign.

Although I find this light enchanting, this photo will not become a drawing.

Sometimes I think a page looks finished, and then I’ll decide it needs something else. Sometimes I look at a page with drawings to be done and realize it is just crammed too full so something has to go away. Sometimes I look at a completed drawing and think “I can do better”. Sometimes I look at a photo I was intending to draw and I think, “Ick, not doing that!”.

With all that revising, adding and deleting, the math gets a little squishy. Currently I’m not sure how many drawings the book will contain, but now I know this:

The Cabins of Wilsonia

A picture book about a cabin community