Category Archives: Drawings

Cranking up the Drawing Machine

I last reported to you on the book progress on February 26, saying that my quota for February had been met.

pencil drawing of Wilsonia cabin

Perhaps you are wondering why I didn’t take the opportunity to get ahead a bit. This is a legitimate question, and I have 3 reasons for not forging ahead of schedule.

1. I went to Chicago on a 5 day trip. (Okay, I was only in Chicago itself for one short day, but if I said I went to Downers Grove, you might just say “Hunh?” Or perhaps you are more refined than that and might say “Where?”) You can read about it and even see photos on my other blog, beginning February 27.

2. It is time for me to complete some oil paintings for a request, a barter, and a gallery in Three Rivers (Colors has no website, but might be on Facebook, which I am not, so you are on your own there.)

3. My husband Michael (AKA Trail Guy) and I recently designed and ordered custom Mineral King tee shirts and they are now available! That has taken up some potential drawing time.

In other words, there is more to my life than drawing The Cabins of Wilsonia, and sometimes I have to do a bit of a juggling act.

But fear not – the drawing machine has been restarted! #116 is on the table.

#114 On The Table

First, a question for you: Do you know anyone besides me that can honestly and literally say “Back to the drawing board?”

drawing board

Can you believe the mess that happens on my drawing board? In spite of the piled up stuff, drawing #114 of The Cabins of Wilsonia is happening. I’m right on schedule!

Photos, legal pad of notes, drafting brush, triangle, cups and box of pencils, erasers, sharpener, T-square, erasing shield, pica pole (that is a ruler that measures in whole units because there is less chance of errors than when I’m dealing in fractions – yes, I DO measure) and a few other items.

Looks like a mess, but everything is right at hand.

Alta Through Laurel, Finished!

As I draw this book alphabetically street by street, I feel a sense of progress.

Duh.

pencil drawing of Wilsonia cabin

This cabin looked boxy from the front. After I passed by it about the one thousandth time, I began noticing interesting details. Have you ever seen a cabin this shape before?

It is part of the book because I want both the typical and the atypical. Bet you can tell which category this drawing fits into.

This is #111.

Part of the fun of drawing a self-designed and self-published book is that I get to draw whatever strikes my fancy. NO ONE would ever commission me to draw this view of his cabin!! When people commission this California artist to draw their cabins, they choose the front. Always. No exceptions. Amen.

Being a California artist, nay, a California pencil artist, a cabin artist, Cabinart herself, sometimes I like to choose the offbeat, the unusual, the most interesting view, the unique. This pencil drawing qualifies for all of the aforementioned.

Phew! Another drawing off the table!

pencil drawing of Wilsonia cabin

Not bad, eh? This one was a bugger! If I can’t see it, I can’t draw it very well. It takes longer when I refer to multiple photos from different angles in different lights. Not whinin’, just sayin’.

And thus we conclude our little explanation of drawing a Wilsonia cabin in pencil when our photos are not providing all the information. Now, I might need to go lie down for a bit. Someone, administer dark chocolate and bring me my knitting!

Book Report, Month #1

January is behind me, and I have completed 103 drawings.

Charming rustic door looks even better since I omitted the spider webs.

Charming rustic door looks even better since I omitted the spider webs.

Not all in January! I can’t remember how many I had finished when the year began, but I think it was around 85. I’m just guessing, because I didn’t write it down. On the January 11 blog post, #86 is on the table.

With 11 months remaining to complete the drawings for the book (a self-imposed deadline), I need to do 11 or 12 per month. This is possible.

I won’t be showing you all the completed drawings, because I want to ignite your fascination trigger of mystique.

What sort of weirdo psychobabble is this? I’m reading a book called Fascinate by Sally Hogshead. Interesting information, great writer! Wish I was on the Amazon affiliate program and got $ for telling you to buy the book, but alas, I am just rambling because I’ve spent too many hours alone in the studio, many days without internet access (gasp of horror).

The Cabins of Wilsonia moves forward!

 

What is “Commission”?

A commissions is “an order for something, especially a work of art, to be produced”. For many years, I have been accepting commissions to draw people’s homes and cabins in pencil, drawing to the customer’s specifications.

tyndall

This pencil drawing was made according to the cabin owner’s request, using his photos.

As I work on The Cabins of Wilsonia, I am drawing the cabins and views that suit my tastes and the (ever evolving) design of the book. Those views are chosen to represent both the typical and the atypical aspects of cabins. My choices also are made for the most visual variety on each full page spread of the book.

If a cabin owner asks me to draw his cabin, I say yes.

Saying yes doesn’t guarantee that the commissioned drawing will be in the book. It means the cabin owner has asked for a particular drawing, and they pay me to do it the way that they want.

There are some gray areas. For example, some folks have offered use of a photo that they really like, and given me permission to draw it that way for the book.

Is that a commission?

No. But, they have first dibs on buying the original, when I’m ready to let them out of my studio.

I NEVER want to be pushy or pesky or sales-y. So, I probably have missed opportunities to make money. Making money is part of being in business – without that part, I would only have a hobby. Businesses have customers; hobbies don’t.

So, if you would like to commission me to draw your cabin, I am available. The common sizes are 8×10 – $175, and 11×14 – $250. 

 

 

 

Well, oops.

Have you ever drawn or written something in pencil and had it smear? It happens.

another pencil drawing for "The Cabins of Wilsonia"

another pencil drawing for “The Cabins of Wilsonia”

As a right hander, I draw from left to right and top to bottom. If I have to go back over something,   I put a piece of paper on the drawing and rest my hand on that instead of on the graphite already on the paper. (Pencils are made out of graphite and clay – the more graphite, the blacker and smearier the pencil. Just sayin’, in case you care about stuff like that.)

When a finished drawing gets framed immediately, I don’t spray fix it.

Spray fixative smells awful, and I’m not entirely convinced that in 100 years it won’t turn green or something else undesirable. And OF COURSE in 100 years my drawings will be worth a fortune for your grandchildren or great grandchildren!

But, when a drawing gets hauled around and shown to my drawing students and pulled in and out of its protective holder and put in and out of the scanner several times, it seems prudent to spray fix it.

You know how spray cans of stuff usually state a temperature range that is ideal for using the product? Uh, they mean it.

Last week I sprayed a couple of drawings early in the morning. The heat hadn’t been on in my studio, of course, and this is January during a bit of a cold snap. (cold for central California – stop sneering, those of you from Minnesota!)

Oh-oh. There was a puddle of spray in the middle of one of the drawings, and it sort of ran a little bit. I hustled the drawings into the house and set them on a teevee tray in front of the wood stove.

In about a half an hour, they had both dried, and the papers had sort of curled up. QUICK, put a weight on those things!

My husband, AKA Trail Guy, was quite concerned about the puddle. “Hey, there’s a wet spot on that picture!!”

I thought, “Oh well, live and learn. 143 drawings to do, 144, what’s the diff?”

But, I was Very Relieved that it turned out okay. (Nope, not the drawing pictured above. I’m not telling you which one had the near miss!)

 

Drawing #86 is on the Table

Oh yeah, I’m drawing! Here is #86 out of 230.

#86 in progress

What’s all that stuff on the table? Clockwise from left:

  1. 3 brands of pencils ranging in hardess from 2H to 8B
  2. the list of sizes to draw in order to fit properly on the book pages
  3. more photos on the yellow legal pad AKA “my brains”
  4. the chart showing the pages I’m currently working on – these are little scribbly sketches that show me which drawings will be what size on each page
  5. various tools – erasing shield, triangle, sharpener, drafting brush, eraser (yup, sometimes I need one) Several of these tools are typically used by architects, engineers and draftsmen. They are very helpful in the sort of exact precise drawing that I love to do!
  6. Photos – gotta have ’em! One of my favorite artists, Jack White says “All realistic artists either work from photos or they lie about it.” He also told me to ditch the pencils and take up oil painting. Sigh. Can’t do it – love my pencils!
  7. And finally, the drawing itself. It is on 11×14″ paper. I work from left to right, top to bottom. This is so my hand doesn’t smear the picture as I wander aimlessly around the page. With 145 drawings hanging over my head, I’d better not be wandering aimlessly around anything!

The Second Wilsonia Cabin I Drew

Okay, if you start counting with the Gordon’s A-frame, then the Coll-Inn Too is #2 and this is actually #3. But since I can’t remember drawing the Gordon’s cabin, I still think of this as #2.

palsgaard

My friend Sara called to see if the Wilsonia folks could auction or raffle a certificate for a drawing of a cabin at one of the annual meetings. Since I am CABINART (that is the name of my studio because originally all I did was draw cabins), I said yes. She bought a certificate for an 8×10 drawing, and it raised some money for the community.

Jack and Alitta were the recipients, and they were both delighted and delightful!