Wilsonia lost a friend. I didn’t know Mitch Rice for very long nor did I know him well. My husband was friends with him in high school, so Mitch was particularly warm, kind, welcoming, helpful, gracious and hospitable to me, a stranger with a camera and lots of questions. He was probably that way with everyone. I’ll miss him in Wilsonia.
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. . .
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.
WOOHOO!! I got the green light from The Book Designer (self-publishing consultant) that I am making the correct computer corrections on my drawings!
It also means that I can now sell the drawings because THEY DON’T HAVE TO BE RESCANNED!!
Excuse me for shouting. I am SO RELIEVED.
Sorry. Trying to get a grip here.
It also means it is time to figure out prices. The pencil drawings are odd sizes, unlike the standard sizes I usually draw for commissioned pieces.
Gotta go – lots of work ahead!!
P.S. For the benefit of Mr. Google and anyone looking for my upcoming book, these are pencil drawings of the cabins of Wilsonia for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia. Really! It is coming up and sooner than I thought. No date yet. . .
P.S. #2 Speaking of dates, 6 years ago I began blogging about life as an artist here (it will open in a new window if you click on it.) And, 10 years ago on this date I broke three bones in my ankle, had lots of metal inserted, had a year of several surgeries, now have a Frankenfoot and am deeply grateful for the ability to walk.
I went through the 2 boxes of finished drawings and counted 258 + 4 that are in the hands of the cabin owners. (They commissioned me to draw their cabins and then I decided the drawings belonged in the the book). That made 261 total.
Then, I went through the book on the computer and counted every drawing. There were 260 total.
What does this mean??
It means that I have done a drawing but not put it in the book.
What is a pencil artist to do??
Ask for help, of course. I spent an hour or so going through the book on the computer and matching every physical drawing in the studio to every virtual drawing on the computer. My husband helped. He likes to organize stuff (except the stuff in the workshop, but he even gets into that once in awhile.)
Look what I found:
Wow. I’m glad I thought of doing this tedious inventory task. I wonder what other tasks, checks and balances, quality control measures there are that will make this book turn out to be the best book ever? I sure hope I discover them before it goes to the printer!
As a result of discovering 2 more drawings, I’ve added 2 pages to the book. This means I have to rework the Table of Contents, and that there is more room for the quotes that I’ve been squeezing here and there. It also means that I HAVE TO RENUMBER THE PAGES!!! I’m sure there must be a way to do this automatically on InDesign. Will it take more time to find out how to do this automatically than to simply do it by hand??
While I was looking at every drawing, I found three that just weren’t quite good enough. One has already been redrawn, but my husband made a suggestion that salvaged it. One just needed a touch-up, and it is the stone steps at the beginning of this blog post. The shadows didn’t make sense on the first version. The second one is below – it won’t be in the book, but now it looks good enough to sell.
Sometimes I say I am working on a book, and sometimes I say I am drawing a book. Since 2014 began, I’ve been working on the written parts of The Cabins of Wilsonia.
The conclusion is written and edited. After I paid the editor, I realized that it needs to be read by someone who gave me some greatly helpful information about Wilsonia and wonderful ideas for the conclusion. He now has it, and I am hoping he doesn’t suggest any changes or additions. Stupid, because if I really didn’t want that to happen, I wouldn’t have asked him to read it.
When I worked in a print shop, I was taught that there are 3 elements to business: speed, price and quality. It is only possible to have 2 of the 3, never all of them.
I’m trying for all three here, but have decided that quality is the most important element.
My desire to have a FABULOUS book is stronger than my desire to either get it done quickly or to do it for the least amount of money possible. (I hope you all are saving up for your copies!)
Houston, we have a problem.
More than one, actually, but I can handle the others.
I had a scanner that seemed fine except for the fact that it is severely limited in size. After scanning about 30-40 drawings, I faced the fact that I needed to find a bigger and better scanner. Now I am having to rescan all the drawings done the first time. (Thank you for not pointing out my slowness to accept reality. I’ve been working on that for awhile. Sigh.)
In rescanning, I realized that I have a drawing of a picnic table from somewhere in Wilsonia. Which lane? It will appear in the chapter Cedar Lane because that is where it fits. But, where is this table??
Thanks.
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.
Cedar Lane will be Chapter 3 in The Cabins of Wilsonia. It is one that I added new drawings to and redesigned. This caused a general scooting around of every successive page. Every time I look through the photos of Cedar, I vacillate between adding more and leaving it as is. Remembering how much trouble it is to scoot successive drawings and redesign every successive page is enough to make me say to myself, “Self, STOP IT”.
Made it! 265 pencil drawings for the upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia, finished. (Unless my drawing student make me change something, because they are “mean” like that.)
The last cabin on my list, on Willow Lane.
This doesn’t mean that there won’t be more. The drawings might not be enough, or horror of horrors, there might be too many. There are a couple more that I would like to draw, but don’t think I can fit them in.
I’d also like to put little ones here and there to enhance plain pages like the Table of Contents or Acknowledgements.
That may look good, or it may not. More will be revealed in the fullness of time.