Category Archives: Drawings

Green Light!

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.

Oops

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:

A drawing was in the book twice!
A drawing was missing from Hillcrest Road!
A drawing was missing from Lilac!

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.

Thoughts About Having a FABULOUS Book

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!)

Where is this Picnic Table?

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??

DO YOU KNOW WHERE THIS PICNIC TABLE IS??

Thanks.

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.

Cedar Lane

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”.

Two Hundred Sixty Five Pencil Drawings of Cabins

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.

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!

Alta Lane in Wilsonia

This will be the first “chapter” in the book. Feels funny to refer to them as “chapters” because it is a picture book more than a word book. (Remember graduating to “chapter books” as a new reader?? It was a big deal!)

This pencil drawing was the header on the blog for awhile. Have you noticed that the blog is on its third header? This one shows the back side of a cabin on Alta Lane.

Here are my thoughts on Alta so far, just as random as you please:

1. I live on Alta Acres Drive in Three Rivers and can see Alta Peak from my house. Seems sort of far-ish from Alta Lane in Wilsonia.

2. It is Alta Lane, not Alta Street! That’s good – “Lane” sounds more rural than Street, and Wilsonia is definitely rural rather than urban or suburban.

3. What if the 2 pictures I chopped with my paper cutter need to be rescanned? I’ll have to redraw them!

4. There is another cabin on Alta I’d love to include but I don’t know where to put it. If I add a page to Alta, every page after Alta will have to be rearranged, and that is the bulk of the book. Hmmm, maybe put it on the Acknowledgements page or on the back of the dust jacket. Will there be a dust jacket?

Building a book takes so much thinking, deciding, planning and adjusting. . . I sort of remember this from The Cabins of Mineral King, but that was a partnership so the load was shared. On the other hand, getting to make all the decisions myself isn’t all bad!

Learning the Streets of Wilsonia

The Cabins of Wilsonia will be arranged alphabetically by street name. That is the same order in which I have been drawing all these cabins in pencil.

This is on Whitney. Now I’m on Willow Street. Willow Lane? Willow Road?

“Street” to me implies town or city. I think these “streets” should be called “roads” or “lanes”. Some are, some aren’t. It is getting on time to figure each of them out.

I wonder if I can name them all in order. Here goes:

Alta, Brewer, Cedar, Chinquapin, Fern, Fir, Grant, Hazel, Hillcrest, Kaweah, Laurel, LeConte, Lilac, Lily, Lupine, Manzanita, Mason, Palisades, Park, Pine, President’s, Sierra, Tehipite, Whitney, Willow.

Now I will look at my book design and see which ones I missed. I’m sure i will make me scream.

ARRRRRRUGGGGGGGGHHHH!

Goddard. Deepest apologies. You contain the cabin of the folks who used to own my home in Three Rivers.
Meadow! What is the matter with me? I can see it from the cabin where I have stayed twice. (Never mind the fact that it only officially contains one cabin. . .) Tyndall, how could I forget Tyndall?? I think I actually drew a cabin on Tyndall before I even did my book on the cabins of Mineral KIng. Plus, I know a kid (male child) named after this peak.

Once I begin working on the computer design, perhaps I will be able to name them all. Meanwhile, 25 of 28 isn’t too shabby.