Tag Archives: cabin photos

Learning From Wilsonia, Part V

While working on The Cabins of Wilsonia, I took 2 friends for a short driving tour of the cabins. One of them laughed at me when I said for the fifth or sixth time, “This is my favorite cabin!” She wondered how many cabins could possibly be my favorite.

There was a pattern. All of my favorites had shingle siding. Have a look at a few:

Look what happened to my own drawing studio as a result:

My studio as it looked while I was working on the book.

My studio as it now looks.

If you would like to see my studio and 14 others in Three Rivers alone, Saturday and Sunday, April 14-15, is the South Valley Artists Studio Tour.

For tickets: http://www.artsconsortium.org/sovast

What It Is and What it Isn’t

What it is:

The upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia is an album. It is a collection of pictures designed to show the overview of a cabin community. It is pictures of the typical, pictures of the unique, word pictures of cabin life expressed in stories from cabin folks. It is designed to show the many architectural styles within the community. It is a medley of little details, such as the way the sun lands on something ordinary and makes it beautiful. It shows things that are ordinary to cabin life that may be unusual in “normal” life. It is a picture of cabin life in the 20th century. It is pencil drawings made from photos that I spent days and days shooting, editing, cropping, choosing, and three years putting together. It is the celebration of a very special treasure of Tulare County and Kings Canyon National Park.

What it Isn’t

It is not a directory of cabins. It is not a comprehensive, all-inclusive list of every cabin. It is not a history book. It is not a complete representation of every one of the 214 cabins in Wilsonia. It isn’t photos. It isn’t a list of cabins that used to be there. It isn’t a collection of cabins that currently belong to the Park. It isn’t a hastily thrown together piece of work.

And it isn’t yet in our hands.

More Quilt Squares

These are some of the many colorful painted quilt squares hanging around Wilsonia. Quilting is a large part of cabin life in this community of rustic and not so rustic cabins. Historic, new, doesn’t matter. . . cabins are just like quilting – TIMELESS!

A Visit to Wilsonia

The Fourth of July is a busy busy time in Wilsonia. When my husband (AKA Trail Guy) and I arrived, our host had posted a schedule of events in our cabin.

We headed over to Grant Grove for the annual parade. It is a parade with few entries, but all are patriotic and enthusiastic.

This is possibly the most impressive horse I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Ever.

Motorized vehicles were more common than horses. They hold more waving people than a horse does.

Then, I went to work and pre-sold some books, The Cabins of Wilsonia. Please excuse me for being redundant here – Google likes to see what a blog is about within the blog because it helps them find whatever people are seeking, and I hope people find this blog if they are seeking the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia. (STOP IT!)

Trail Guy and I took a walk around Grant Grove Village. He found his favorite flower, a leopard lily (AKA Tiger Lily). If you want to know more about Trail Guy and wildflowers, the info is in my other blog. It will open in a new tab so you don’t lose this window of The Cabins of Wilsonia. (STOP IT!!)

I photographed a cabin to draw again. 268 drawings – you’d think there’d be nothing left to draw of the cabins of Wilsonia (not the title of the book here – will Google notice?) However, you’d be mistaken. This will be a commissioned drawing – photos have been ordered, and I’ll provide sketches too so that this very gracious cabin owner is thrilled with her original pencil drawing of her cabin of Wilsonia (I SAID STOP IT!)

It wasn’t all work. We joined our dear friends from Wilsonia on a walk. It wasn’t really a hike because we took no water, snacks or daypacks. Trail Guy is explaining things about the area. He knows a lot and is great to have on the trail.

The Manzanita/Azalea Trail has a great view. The cabins of Wilsonia are down there in those trees. (Would you please just STOP IT?)

Okay, I’ll stop it now. 😎

Final Decisions

Did you know that the more decisions one has to make during the course of a day, the more depleted one’s mental strength and willpower become?

This could be why I feel tired. (Or is it the mural I just finished? Maybe it is that old treatment plant for the neighborhood water system that I helped demolish. . . )

Here is the next slate of decisions before The Cabins of Wilsonia goes to press:

1. Re-evaluate the cover and end-sheet colors when the paper sample arrives.

2. Decide when enough proofreading is enough.

4. Figure out how to convert the whole shebang to a PDF. (Will the computer challenges ever end??)

5. Figure out the price of the book.

6. Figure out the right discount to offer as a pre-sales incentive. You all have to have a reason to hand me your hard-earned dollars before a product is available!

Will I see you in Wilsonia over the Fourth of July weekend?

Not Yet Printed and Already Out-Dated?

There is one last drawing that needed scanning. I drew the cabin several years before I decided to make the book The Cabins of Wilsonia. The photo taken with my old digital camera just isn’t good enough for the book!

I called the customers/friends/cabin owners (all those roles and titles have blurred) to ask if I can borrow back the drawing. The wife and I discussed a trip to Clovis or a trip to Wilsonia. The drive to Wilsonia is prettier, and it is actually closer, so that’s how we did this.

It meant leaving Three Rivers at 9:30 and just blasting up and back quickly (Driving 245 down fast was FUN!!) because I needed to get to Exeter to work on the mural on Rocky Hill Antiques. After retrieving the drawing, I did a short drive around Wilsonia.

Look! The road signs used to look like this:

Now they look like this. AND I saw 2 roads that are NOT in the book – Kearsarge and Muir. it’s okay – there are no cabins on them. Probably used to be. . . sigh.

And this charming, mysterious, always boarded up, and never occupied cabin now looks like this:

Well! Who knew that the book would be outdated before it even goes to press??

Confidence Weakened, Confidence Restored

There are over 200 cabins in Wilsonia. I have eddresses for about 40 of the cabin owners. Once in awhile I send out an email update on the project.

Now that the drawings can be sold, I emailed each of the folks whose eddress I have, folks I thought might like first dibs on buying the drawing(s) of their cabins.

I sent this drawing to a couple.

As I looked at it on my screen, I thought “HEY! Why are the lines on the roof crooked??” Then I hit Send anyway.

The next day I went through my photos to see how I could have made such an amateurish drawing mistake. Yikes, the humiliation.

This is what I saw:

The lines are crooked on the drawing because they are crooked on the roof. I bet you probably can’t even figure out what was bugging me here!

Allll righty then. Confidence restored.

Fear and the Building of a Book

I know how to draw in pencil, and I know how to draw cabins. In spite of having put together The Cabins of Mineral King, I have a little bit of fear. It doesn’t paralyze me. Instead, it keeps me on my toes.

The fear is that the book might look like “loving hands at home”. In order to avoid this dreaded description, I plan to hire a book designer as a consultant. Hopefully, he will prevent me from making any lame-o mistakes.

Okay, Mrs. Book Builder, gaze upon the lovely blue shutter and think calming peaceful thoughts.

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!

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