But wait! There’s more. . . chairs, that is.
There are several reoccurring themes in the book, but we’ll continue to focus on chairs for awhile.
A blog reader might reach the conclusion that folks in Wilsonia just sit around.
Brings to mind something my weird old uncle said once: “I can only sit in one chair at a time”. Brilliant observation, Uncle!
Do I have an obsession with chairs? It is possible.
Have a look at some of my favorite pencil drawings from The Cabins of Wilsonia. (The reason I have to reannounce the title of the book is so that anyone asking The Google about it will have a better chance of locating it. Tech. . . sigh.)
There are plenty more, but now I want to show you the chair in my studio. It is a recent addition, so I feel quite happy about it. It is the blue one, and the first day I sat in it to do computer work, I fell asleep! (I am quite happy about the wooden one too, but it has been here since 2002 when I moved my studio into this little building.)
My young cats feel quite happy about it too.
It has been almost four years since The Cabins of Wilsonia was published. This summer it occurred to me that the local libraries, both in Tulare and Fresno counties ought to have copies.
I called the Tulare Co. library not knowing who to speak with, and the one who returned my call was my old friend Carol from Redwood High School, class of ’77. We see each other occasionally, and it is great fun to have that old connection. She said to send a couple of books to the library so the review committee could decide if it would be beneficial. I was able to take them to the local branch and have the inter-library delivery service get them in the right hands.
Then. . . crickets. . .
Two months later I called Carol and asked her who to talk to. She sent me to Jonathan, someone I would have had no way of reaching through the library’s phone tree. (See? Who You Know always matters!)
Jonathan and I had a great conversation about cabins, cabin communities and Wilsonia. His next door neighbor in his hometown had a cabin in Wilsonia! He told me the man’s last name, and I sent him to page 117. He can’t remember if this was the cabin or not, but will ask his former neighbor when he sees him next.
We also discussed cabin leases, learned that we had both worked at Hartland Camp, and he told me of a book coming out soon about Big Creek, a Southern California Edison mountain community near Shaver Lake. I have several friends who grew up there, so I am interested in that book.
Stories, connections, things in common. . .
. . . and pretty soon, or maybe even by the date of this blog post, The Cabins of Wilsonia will be available through the Tulare County Library System.
P.S. I LOVE libraries and grew up with the Ivanhoe Library as my primary source of books. The first time I went into the Visalia Library, I was beyond thrilled!
During the months of July and August, I don’t give drawing lessons. I do stay in touch with my drawing students, because we almost always become friends and every one of them is dear to me.
One of my students emailed me over the summer to say he attended a wedding in Wilsonia! He then told me of the delightful folks that he met who said nice things about me and invited me to return. (Aw, shucks. . .)
I haven’t returned in body, but I am slowly returning in my heart.
This is the cabin where the wedding took place. During most of my time in Wilsonia while working on The Cabins of Wilsonia, this place was referred to as “the Plywood Palace” because it was under construction.
The reconstruction obviously was finished. It is now large, beautiful (shingle siding is my favorite), and must have been an excellent venue for a wedding.
Back when I was spending regular time in Wilsonia working on The Cabins of Wilsonia, a Mrs. Cabin Owner said to me, “You made a mistake on our cabin.”
Oh? That was an interesting conversation opener! What was the “mistake”?
I had included a shutter that was leaning against her cabin. Since I work from photos, I draw what I see. It looked as if this is where the cabin owners stored their shutter on purpose, so that’s how I drew it.
When she told me that she didn’t like it that way, it was too late to change things because the book was on its way to press.
But I made the change anyway and then never got in touch to let her know. That was because I thought she’d be too annoyed that the shutter would appear in the book drawing, and doing a book was hard enough without having people be annoyed at me! (Yes, I am a chicken.)
After encountering her on the Mineral King Road, I remembered that conversation. So, I have rescanned it and done all the computer machinations to make the screen version look like the paper drawing. This version is actually closer to the look of pencil on paper, lighter than necessary for book printing purposes.
I wonder what she’d think of it now. . .
Laurel 2.2, 9×12″ original pencil drawing for “The Cabins of Wilsonia, unframed, $200 plus tax.
The book The Cabins of Wilsonia is completed, published and for sale.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch (where did that saying come from?), I still draw cabins in pencil. (I oil paint too, but that’s a different subject on a different blog, cabinart.net, a blog that covers all aspects of my art business).
Some folks liked my work in the book, but it only contained a drawing of their chimney. They asked me to draw their entire cabin.
It took us over a year to work out the details of what they wanted, We began with a few sketches, which then needed to be discussed and revised.
There were details they wanted to be sure appeared in the drawing that were just too small to appear in the sketches. When they were convinced that I knew all the little things that mattered to them, I was able to begin.
I work from left to right, top to bottom, to avoid smearing.
And finally, finished!
We were all very pleased with the outcome!
Do you have a cabin in Wilsonia? Big Bear? Montana? Hume Lake? Hartland? Camp Nelson? Alaska?
I can draw it for you in pencil. I am Cabinart, and have been since 1987.
If your cabin is already in the Wilsonia book, The Cabins of Wilsonia, the drawing might available.
If it is in The Cabins of Wilsonia, but you prefer a different view, I can do that.
Ask.
I price by size. 9×12 – $200, 11×14 – $275, 12×16 – $275, and on up.
There is sales tax. Welcome to California.
After a rough start of a missed deadline, wrong address and incorrect face of a cabin, this is the completed commissioned pencil cabin drawing of a Wilsonia cabin.
What a long long sentence. A picture is worth 1000 words.
I kept emailing the Wilsonia cabin owner to inquire if the Post Office had forwarded my incorrectly addressed card.
Nope.
Finally, I asked if she’d like me to copy the sketch and email it to her. Being a gracious and understanding customer, she was agreeable.
Well, oops.
I drew the wrong side of the cabin. She wanted the front, I drew the back. I didn’t look at the photos she sent me, only looked at the ones I had taken. Knowing that more living happens on the back side than the front, I just wasn’t really paying attention.
Holy cow.
What a gracious and forgiving customer, who kindly let me know that wasn’t the view she had asked for.
That’s the reason I do sketches! Let’s get it all figured out at the small scribbly stage before I pour hours into the precision and detail that make up my pencil commissions.
Quickly, I did 2 more sketches for her. Fast. Immediately. Scanned. Emailed. Red-faced. Git-er-dun. Giddy-up. Hubba, hubba, hubba.
She preferred the extra width showing in version B, and you can believe I got on it, immediately without delay!
Last winter, a Wilsonia cabin owner contacted me about drawing her cabin. It was to be a gift for her sweet mama. Getting photos wasn’t going to be easy, in spite of the lack of snow. Cabins are closed in the winter, which means there are shutters on the windows which makes them look quite uninviting.
No hurry, said she.
No worry, summer’s coming, said me.
Suddenly, Sweet Mama’s birthday was almost here. Customer said, “Oops”, maybe you can do a quick sketch or something and send it to Sweet Mama in time for her birthday and here is the down payment on the drawing and here are a few photos.
No problem. I did the sketch, turned it into a birthday card, and sent it off.
TO THE WRONG ADDRESS!
Yes, they had moved and I didn’t make note of which address was correct – from the check or from the envelope.
THE CARD NEVER ARRIVED!
What is an incompetent artist to do in this awkward situation?
Tune in on Monday, August 17 to see what happened next.