Category Archives: In Progress

Who Wants a Book About Wilsonia?

When someone wants to self-publish a book, one of the biggest puzzles to solve is who will want to buy the book. If someone wants to publish a book traditionally, that is probably the most important question too.

Let’s answer that question about The Cabins of Wilsonia, an upcoming book about cabin life in a mountain community, told in drawings and quotations from the residents.

1. People who love Wilsonia

This could be people who have visited, who have a cabin, who used to have a cabin, who have friends with a cabin or who wish they had a cabin.

Surprising fact: many cabin folks have asked if their cabin will appear in the book. If it doesn’t, or if it doesn’t appear in the way that they think it should, they are not shy in letting me know they will not be buying a book!

2. People who love cabins

Did you know there is a website of beautiful cabin photos called “cabin corn”? (Not really called that, but I didn’t want to type the second word which actually begins with the letter “P” – you figure it out!) There are people who just love cabins and small homes and mountain living.

3. People who love pencil

This book will have 276 pencil drawings. There are people who love to draw, people who love pencil drawings, people who love detail, drawing students past and present.

4. People who love local information

There are people who buy all books of local history. The Cabins of Wilsonia is not yet a history book, but it will be some day. It is a look at life today in a cabin community in Tulare County. The folks who collect information about this place we live are likely to want this book.

5. People who love me

Ahem. This last one is a little embarrassing. However, my friend Mark used to tell me (because his Dad used to tell him), “If your friends and family won’t do business with you, who will?”

And now you know who comprises the market for the upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia. Do you fit into one of these categories?

Did I Make a Mistake?

While in Wilsonia, a cabin owner asked me if I could fix or change things on the original cabin drawings. I said a very confident and certain, “It depends”.

It depends on what it is, where it happens in the drawing, and if the drawing has been spray fixed so that it won’t erase or smear.

She told me I made a mistake on her cabin.

Really? I work from photos, so I think she meant that I didn’t portray her cabin as she sees it. I drew it as it appeared in the photos, and other than making me look fatter and more wrinkled than I already am, we know that cameras don’t lie.

See the white thing? It is an out-of-place shutter. It isn’t covering a window, because you can’t see a window from this angle. It is just there. It was in the photo and it is in the drawing. Did I make a mistake??

You can see a bit of a window on that back section of cabin in this photo without any visible shutters. It doesn’t show in the angle I drew for The Cabins of Wilsonia, an upcoming book of drawings of Wilsonia Cabins. (Thank you, Captain Obvious.)

I can draw out that white shutter and I will!

My Students Continue to Keep My Work Up To Snuff

“Snuff”? Really?

Funny how many cliches we throw around without a clear understanding of their meanings. I could Google it, but I’d rather continue with this post.

It is almost impossible to proofread one’s own writing; likewise, it is hard to honestly critique one’s own artwork.

When I showed this next picture to my students, 2 of them said, “Does that bear have a black eye?”

I dunno. It’s in shadow, and I was on auto-pilot or cruise-control or something equally brainless.

I tried to fix it. Not sure I succeeded. It’s lighter now, and if I hadn’t mentioned it to you, you probably wouldn’t have noticed. I’m not taking it back to show those picky people again, so there! (I bet that’s how they feel when I hold their feet to the fire, figuratively speaking. . .)

The Truth From My Students, Part Two

I showed this drawing to my students. Several of them said, “What’s on that door?”

Ummm, a reflection? What I saw in the photo? (Have you noticed how many people speak with question marks these days?)

(Incidentally, I was listening to the audio book Wild, by Cheryl Strayed at the time of this drawing. Funny how a listening to a book can be remembered this way. . .)

I redrew it, using another photo and just taking some artistic license (that means I made up a few things.)

Phew – this time it passed!

My Drawing Students Hit Me With Truth

I haven’t talked too much about the fact that I teach people to draw. These are semi-private lessons, 4 people at a time, one hour per week in Exeter. This has been happening for 20 years, and through the years I have learned how important it is to be honest. If we who draw can’t tell each other the truth about our work, who else will? And because we all want to improve (yeppers, even me, the Teacher), we need to hear from one another. Critiquing one’s own work is very very difficult – sort of like trying to proofread one’s own writing.

I showed this drawing to my students:

One of them said, “It looks like you just scribbled in the background”.

True, I did. I scribble in all the backgrounds. However, it usually looks like a forest, not scribbles.

I don’t let them get away with something that looks sloppy or scribbled, so they don’t let me either!

I redid it. Can you tell the difference? (The background, not the cabin.)

A Whole Street of Cabins

Here is the last drawing to meet my July quota. I got ahead so that I could enjoy some time off. You didn’t think I’d just flake away without doing my work, did you? Wouldn’t be able to have 230 completed drawings by December 31, 2013 with that attitude!

Before I actually spent time in Wilsonia, I contemplated how I might be able to get 200 something cabins drawn. I envisioned pictures like this, with multiple cabins in a single drawing.

Hahahaha!

There are maybe, just m a y b e four places I’ve been able to do this.

Can anyone name the street? First one to comment on the blog with the correct answer gets a prize! Neal won!

Sooner or Later, It Had To Happen

In order to not burn through so much paper, I often draw 2 pictures on the same piece of paper. So many of the drawings for The Cabins of Wilsonia are small. I usually draw larger than the size it will be in the book because things look even better when reduced. (Hmmm, is this a diet advertisement? Nope1) But, I don’t want to draw any larger than necessary, because there are many many drawings still ahead, and the larger they are, the longer they take.

two pencil drawings on a page

I’ve been procrastinating on the job of trimming the drawings. It is a little boring, and there are so many remaining to be drawn that it hasn’t seemed necessary to begin trimming. However, I finally faced up to task, got out my guillotine-type paper cutter and all my packaging materials and dove in.

Oops. It was stuck to another drawing and I whacked them together without knowing this was underneath. Glad it was already scanned. (always a bright side. . .)

Perhaps it is time to take a break, get some perspective, catch my breath, plan, rest and rejuvenate.

Jeffrey Shooting Star Amidst More Street Confusion

The Cabins of Wilsonia will be in one color of ink. I’m drawing the cabins in pencil, and graphite is gray. This means the book will most likely be printed in the gray ink that most closely matches the color of the pencils.

All the photos from which I am working are in color. Sometimes I have convert one to black and white, because otherwise it is hard to tell if it will look any good in pencil.

For example, a cabin with bright blue shutters normally is known and appreciated for its bright blue shutters. How will that look in pencil? Will the drawing just look so-so?

The meadow that can be seen from Sierra Lane/Drive/Road (see? I can’t figure out this Wilsonia street designation!) is awash with Jeffrey Shooting Star in early July. It is fabulous. Of course, the color is the fabulous part.

You’ve probably seen these. They like to grow with their feet wet.

I photographed a cabin on Alta, looking across that meadow from Sierra. (If I just say the name without the designation of Avenue/Way/Street then there is no confusion.) I thought it was a great way to show off the cabin’s superior location.

However, if the big deal about the view is the color, is there a point to drawing it in pencil?

I think the light across the meadow in the lower photo makes this second view the clear winner.

And those Jeffrey Shooting Stars? They can be our little secret. We wouldn’t want 100s of looky-loos flooding Sierra Lane and turning it into Sierra Highway each July.

Inching Ahead

A friend once asked me as I was drawing, “How in the world do you do that?”

“About one quarter inch at a time”, was my smarty-pants answer.

April is almost history, and I do believe I will meet my quota. This is in spite of a Big Birthday for my Little Mama, a 4-day camping trip to Montana de Oro, a visit by my Adobe InDesign coach from Seattle, an odd job, and a visit by 2 other friends. Bring on the fans – my pencils are smokin’!

(Hey Mr. Google, if you are spying on my blog, this is a pencil drawing of a Wilsonia cabin for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia.)

If you’d like to comment but it won’t behave, please email me via the contact page. I am beginning to wonder if the thing is broken. . .

How Do You Draw?

As a right hander, I work from top to bottom, left to right. This prevents smearing.

First, I figure out what size the drawing needs to be to fit on the page, as I’ve designed it. (Or redesigned it, in many cases)

Second, I lightly draw in where the main parts belong. This is an outline form, and essentially, I am drawing the dog before the fleas.

Third, I begin shading, working top to bottom, left to right.

Want to see one in progress? (Thought I’d never ask, did you??)

What is this little building?

Beats me. It isn’t a Wilsonia cabin, but sits (or stands?) behind one.