Tag Archives: Wilsonia cabin

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. 😎

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??

Original Pencil Cabin Drawings Available

As I began selling the original drawings for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia, I knew that the cabin owners should have first dibs on the drawings of their own cabins.

Since I am the one who chose which views and which cabins, there was a risk that some folks would not like my choices.

This means LUCKY YOU! These drawings are now available to anyone who wants to buy them. The link to my website with a shopping cart and Paypal is this.

The drawings vary in size from 6×7″ up to 7×10″ and range in price from $100-$150.

I feel pretty sure that there will be more. . . stay tuned!

Sold Cabin Drawings

Once I learned that the drawings for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia did not have to be rescanned (GLORY HALLELUJAH!), I began contacting the cabin owners that I’ve met to offer them “first dibs” on the drawings of their cabins.

I only have contact information for about 37 of the cabin owners. (Like that “about 37”? That is sort of like saying “The time is around 12:08 p.m.”) So, if you suspect that your cabin may appear in the book, use the contact tab at the top of my blog and get in touch with me.

Meanwhile, have a look at a few completed drawings that now have a new home.

Sometime I’ll show you some of the drawings that the cabin owners decided they didn’t want to buy. I find it mildly interesting, and you might too. Or maybe I’ll give it some more thought and decide not to show those. More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .

Chinquapin Lane

This is a short street. It contains one of four A-frames, the cabin of a long-time acquaintance who is now a friend, and a cabin owned by the National Park Service. The cabin owned by the NPS is architecturally interesting, but it won’t appear in the book The Cabins of Wilsonia, because there aren’t enough pages available to put in cabins that won’t increase the sales of the book.

This is a business decision. Occasionally I am able to overcome the “it’s my book and I’ll draw what I want to” attitude and do what is best for the bottom line.

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.

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!

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!

Bay Windows are Rare in Wilsonia

I only know of two bay windows on Wilsonia cabins. WAIT! I just thought of a third – it is on the newest cabin.

As I designed the book and chose the pictures to include, there was a continual balancing act between the common and the uncommon. Bay windows caught my eye because they are uncommon.

WAIT! I just thought of more: one on Cedar and one on Kaweah.

Here is one on Park and one on Tyndall.

Can you think of any more?

If This Was A Job, Would I Get Fired?

At the beginning of 2013 I thought there were 230 drawings necessary for the upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia. (Sorry to sound so repetitious – it is supposed to help Google locate this blog for people seeking info on Wilsonia, cabins and the upcoming book.)

85 of those 230 were finished, so it seemed possible to complete the remaining 145 within the next 12 months.

Then I redesigned and recounted.

This drawing is a result of redesigning. I thought the page was complete, and then I saw this very interesting view of a gable. It has some weird things on the front – horizontal bars with weird loopy metal deals hanging off the bars. Unidentified items present challenges – put them on and risk getting them wrong because I don’t know what they are or leave them off and have the cabin look wrong to the cabin owner? In this case I chose the first option.

The book currently requires about 270 drawings, and as of November 1, I had 45 left to complete. This is twice the number I expected to have by that date. I’m not going to make my deadline of December 31. If this was a job, would I quit? If this was a job, would I get fired?? If this was a job, would I be able to ask for more time or more help or to hire an assistant?

At least the number is down to 2 digits. Maybe I can have them finished by the end of January 2014.