Cabin Photography

Here are some of the photographs of beauty among the cabins of Wilsonia. (I’m talking about the real cabins of Wilsonia, not the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia which will not contain photos – didn’t want you to be confused. Or maybe I am confusing you with this paragraph. When it is about the book, it will be capitalized and italicized. Bet you figured that out on your own already.)

Are you just bowled over, wowed and half-dead from the beauty? Might need to catch your breath, maybe wipe a tear?

Yeah. I know. That’s how I feel sometimes too.

Different Kinds of Photography

Do you remember back in the olden days of film cameras? Not everyone had a camera, and those who did, used them sparingly.

I was a bit of a dork, because I had 2 cameras going at a time and kept them in the trunk of my car. One was for color prints, and the other was for either black and white, or slides.

Slides?? Are you kidding me? What useless little items they have become.

But, I digress. Now we are all photographers.

When I carry my camera around Wilsonia, I am recording moments and details of cabins for the purpose of drawing. (Hey Mr. Google, the book will be called The Cabins of Wilsonia). These photos need to have great light, good composition, and visible detail. With my computer, I can straighten out sloping cabins (okay, it was me who was sloping with the camera, but you know what I mean), lighten shadows, darken blown-out highlights, increase contrast, and crop. (I love cropping. It was the best thing about working in a dark room back in the days of film photography.)

If someone has commissioned me to draw their cabin outside of the book project, my photos are much more specifically for documentation. I photograph the cabin from several angles, and pull in the details of each angle with the telephoto lens. I have to photograph things that are hidden behind trees, photograph the tops of the trees, back up, get close, and figure out anything that might be a little hard to understand from a photo. (What a weird chimney base. I wonder why those shingles are different sizes. What’s up with those sagging boards?)

As I walk around Wilsonia to become more familiar with each street and cabin, I continue to see beautiful shots that just wouldn’t translate into pencil drawings. They are simply beautiful – colors, light, things that might make nice paintings.

That’s a weird thought – does this mean that pencil drawings aren’t beautiful?

Nope. Some things look best as color photographs, some as black and white photos, some as pencil drawings, and some as paintings.

Different is just different, not qualitative.

End of lecture. Here is your reward for hanging with me to the end:

P.S. This umbrella is a beautiful green that the camera couldn’t pick up no matter how much I messed with it on the computer. Maybe it would make a nice painting. . .

Drawing Like A Crazy Woman To Catch Up

Miscalculation of the drawing schedule means I have to draw faster. Truthfully, my pencils aren’t moving any faster. By “drawing faster” I mean that I need to work longer days, take fewer breaks and paint even less.

That’s okay. I love to draw. I love to draw cabins. But you knew that, right?

Look at this cute little cabin. I learned recently that it was built by someone from a Scandanavian country. There is a second cabin with a sauna on the side. The whole compound is sort of miniature looking – very very cute place.

Visiting Wilsonia

After spending days, weeks and months just drawing, designing, studying photos and thinking about Wilsonia, it feels almost dreamlike to be there in person.

I was privileged to be a guest in this little cabin:

If it weren’t for the fact that the water heater has only a 10 gallon capacity, I might be tempted to move in permanently. Smart folks, my hosts! 😎 This might be my favorite cabin. (I know, I say that a lot!)

Visiting Wilsonia causes my project to become more complicated. As I become more familiar with the cabins and the community, I get to know them all better and I keep seeing more things to draw.

I redesigned some of the pages to accommodate more drawings, and added several pages. This means that I need to complete more than the 230 drawings on the schedule for 2013.

It might be good to stop visiting Wilsonia until the drawings are completed and the design is set in cement.

But, then I’d miss you all. Wow, your friendliness, hospitality, enthusiasm and support just bowls me over!

Thank you, Wilsonia!

Neal Won!

As an aside, I have an Unca Neil (yep, that’s how we say and spell it), had a friend named Niel, and now I have a friend named Neal who won my little contest. It was a “name that street”, based on a pencil drawing for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia.

(sorry to be so redundant – rumor has it that Mr. Google can find a site easier if I repeat the important words like “pencil drawing” and “cabins of Wilsonia”.)

As I meet and talk with people around Wilsonia, I often have questions about various cabins and lots. It has been very surprising to me to hear, “We never go to that part” or “I only know my immediate neighborhood”, or “I don’t really know the street names”. Maybe my book will help with some of that by creating interest in other neighborhoods.

But I digress. Neal knew exactly where this drawing is:

It is looking down Pine Street. Since I am not naming cabins in my book, I don’t name them on the blog either. I believe in protecting privacy. Besides, cabins change owners in Wilsonia, and if I name a cabin and then it changes hands, my book will be quickly outdated. Nosirree, I’m going for timeless.

What did Neal win? A package of notecards with this image on the front:

Way to go, Neal!!

Think About This

The Cabins of Wilsonia will not be a history book. As an artist rather than a historian, I am interested in how things look right now. My goal with The Cabins of Wilsonia is to capture a snapshot and provide an overview of cabin life in the early part of the twenty-first century.

The text will be stories and thoughts from cabin folks. I want those who live cabin life to tell about it. I can tell about cabin life in Mineral King, but in Wilsonia I am an observer. My experiences there are limited, and I come there with my work face on rather than for rest and recreation.

I’ve made a list of questions to help you think about cabin life. The list is now on a separate page on this website. The page is called Questions to Ponder.

If you think of other things to share about cabin life that are not on the list, that is good too.

Historians spend much time reconstructing history, gathering, interpreting, organizing and preserving the past. Maybe the work I am doing here will make the work of future historians a little bit easier.

Together we will make a book that will one day be a historical treasure about a place that already is a historical treasure.

Counting Difficulties

Remember I said that all the drawings for July were completed?

Apparently I have a counting problem, or an overeager approach that short-circuits reality.

Now I’m scrambling to finish the drawing quota for July.

Well. oops. Good thing it is still July, or I might have to fire myself.

Your Opinion Requested

When you design your own book, it is hard to know when to stop messing around with the design.

While in Wilsonia last week, I spent time at a cabin that I have already drawn. I wasn’t sure the angle was the best one, but at the time it seemed to be the only one.

wilsonia cabin

I was wrong. Now, I have to decide if it needs to be redrawn. Perhaps I should have left my camera at home for this trip. Decisions, decisions. . . where is the big boss to tell me what to do?? Oh – in the mirror? Hmmm, she doesn’t look adequate for the job. . .

May I have your opinions on this?

Thanks. You can comment by hitting “Leave a Reply” or email me at cabinart at cabinart dot net. (I wrote it out that way because someone somewhere sometime said you shouldn’t put your eddress in your blog or all the robots and spiders and trolls will bother you. Better safe than sorry!)

A Bonus Day in Wilsonia

I have a very dear friend who is a member of the Tulare County Historical Society. She graciously invited me to their July meeting because it was in Wilsonia. Of course I said yes! (Remember my shock and pleasure at discovering Wilsonia is in Tulare County?)

Tulare County is very small. Without knowing who would be there, look at this list of people I re-met: some cabin folks from Mineral King; my first employer; someone I used to know from doing a giant arts/crafts show; someone who used to own a print shop where I got some of my notecards printed (back in the olden days when people wrote to each other on paper); the mom and aunt of some girls I used to ride the elementary school bus with; my old friend Alan; the brother-in-law of a friend; the most premier historian in the county (that is sort of a duh); a guy I met in 1985 while waiting in an ophthalmologist’s office (he says we met before that at Silver City, but he claimed it was in the ’50s and I wasn’t born yet).

The renowned historian was kind enough to introduce me and asked me to tell about the upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia.

Wow! I really appreciated that. Self-promotion and marketing is just weird, awkward and sellsy, so any help that comes my way is highly appreciated.

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.

The Cabins of Wilsonia

A picture book about a cabin community