Category Archives: Drawings

Completed Pencil Commission

The drawing is finished, the cabin folks are happy, and the book continues.

Not putting this drawing in the book gave me the freedom to put color in the flag. This little zinger of color makes me disproportionately happy with a simple pencil drawing.

I wanted to do this with every cabin in the book that has a flag. It would make the cost of the book shockingly high instead of just high. And no, I don’t know how much it will cost yet. But thanks for asking – it shows me that you are still interested in the project. 😎

A Commissioned Cabin Drawing in Wilsonia

Park Street (or is it Road?) is completed. There are a number of cabins all in a row, and I had to work very deliberately to not make the chapter full of things that looked alike.

On one cabin I chose their unique entry way door.

Here is an aside: while I was drawing this, I listened to an audio book by Dan Erickson called “A Train Called Forgiveness”. It was a very moving story, and I remember how it made me feel every time I look at this drawing.

The owners of the cabin asked me to draw the entire cabin for them. (That’s called a “commission” – in short, it is custom work for hire.)

In spite of having the pages already finished and no room for additional drawings, I said yes to their request. (Got these habits of needing to eat, put gas in my car, keep Perkins fed and buy yarn.)

We discussed the possibility of putting the flag in color, something I’ve wished I could do throughout the book but it will be cost prohibitive, both for me and for you.

They needed to see sketches in order to decide.

In addition to putting color in the flag, I added a tree to the left foreground. They chose B, and I began drawing.

Cabin Life in Wilsonia, Part Three

The saga continues of my cabin life in Wilsonia. This is from only 4 days!! How do people stand the excitement of being there all summer long??

20. Meeting a family from all over California who gathered at their cabin and learning of their very rich history (as in full, not wealthy, although it could have been, but we didn’t get into that!). Almost every time I make new friends in Wilsonia, we discover connections in common.

21. Meeting Katie, whom I talked to on the phone last spring when she scheduled a star thistle eradication spraying appointment for my home in Three Rivers. Really! I recognized her voice when she told me where she works! What a cutie! (Isn’t everyone in their 20s cute??)

22. Re-meeting the superintendent, reassuring him that I don’t have cabins both in Mineral King and Wilsonia and that I am NOT stalking him, and learning that “Woody” is short for Woodrow – would you believe he is named after Woodrow Wilson?? Isn’t that really interesting??

23. Meeting Jill’s brother, Dave’s brother, and Dave’s brother’s wife, who remembers meeting me at my Exeter studio or some show I did way back when. Wow! Thanks, Marguerite!

24. Meeting Ty, who is a fantastic (and perhaps a little crazy) hiker, and hearing his adventuresome tales. This man KNOWS the area!

25. Further cementing my friendship with the wonderful Sheri, who gave me a tour of her beautiful cabin, which is a perfect blend of old and new. (More kudos to the master craftsman Mark Vetter.)

26. Discussing the oddities of running a one-person-business with the very talented and good-natured Paul. We share the inability to properly bill people who have become friends. (DO NOT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR WEAKNESSES, I beg you!!)

Original pencil drawing, Redwood & Dogwood, 14×11″, matted and framed, $400, available for sale here (Please forgive the shameless self-promotion. In spite of all the fun, I am earning a living here too.)

27. Meeting David, who is on a quest to visit every one of the largest Sequoias – twenty? forty? We had such a good time looking through his books and maps – Good luck on this, Dave! I will be in touch as I learn a few facts to share with you.

28. Learning with Dick and Mel how to handle the reproduction of my drawings for this project. No conclusions reached yet, but thank you for letting me practice with you two!

29. Enjoying more of the Best Grapes I Have Ever Eaten In My Entire Life – thank you Jill and Dave!

If you made it to the end of this post, you deserve a reward. How about a little eye candy?

There. Isn’t that restful? I hope you feel refreshed after our WWW (Whirlwind Weekend in Wilsonia)

Cabin Life in Wilsonia, Part Two

As I explore Wilsonia, meet people, and bother them about their lives at their cabins, I realize I am experiencing my own version of cabin life. Here is the continuation from Monday’s post.

10. Meeting the delightful owners of Leaky Hollow and learning of their lives, both cabin and “real”. What gifted and creative people, and such an interesting cabin!

11. Meeting Carol in person! She called me out of the blue last year, and it was a privilege to meet her and hear about all the cabins in her family.

12. Talking to someone (who did not introduce himself) about the roads of Wilsonia. He was in disbelief when I told him that many of the cabins share the same address numbers, differentiated only by the road names. He said it wasn’t possible. Clearly, we have different maps!

13. Listening to a presentation by Eric Blehm, author of The Last Season, a book about the search for a missing backcountry ranger. I had no idea that a similar search was taking place in Mineral King at the very time of his presentation. It didn’t turn out well either.

14. Visiting with Joanne, who finally has a cabin after years of only having a lot. What a wonderful lady!

15. Having breakfast with my hosts – cornmeal pancakes!

16. Working out details with the cantankerous, clever, unique and hilarious Dennis, whose wife is a saint, about how to draw his cabin. I am still amazed to have discovered them, because I bunked with their daughter at summer camp in the 5th grade.

17. Meeting Norm, who was very polite in spite of the fact that I failed to recognize him later when he was wearing a hat!

18. Working out details of how to draw another cabin with the very interesting Corky and Larry. Truly nice people with a life of variety. We enjoyed our conversation very much, because it is always refreshing to meet people with shared values.

19. Meeting Mary Anne and re-meeting Mary Ann, who was very kind and understanding about how I am designing the book. Wilsonia is full of very classy people.

To be continued. . .

Drawing Like A Crazy Woman To Catch Up

Miscalculation of the drawing schedule means I have to draw faster. Truthfully, my pencils aren’t moving any faster. By “drawing faster” I mean that I need to work longer days, take fewer breaks and paint even less.

That’s okay. I love to draw. I love to draw cabins. But you knew that, right?

Look at this cute little cabin. I learned recently that it was built by someone from a Scandanavian country. There is a second cabin with a sauna on the side. The whole compound is sort of miniature looking – very very cute place.

Visiting Wilsonia

After spending days, weeks and months just drawing, designing, studying photos and thinking about Wilsonia, it feels almost dreamlike to be there in person.

I was privileged to be a guest in this little cabin:

If it weren’t for the fact that the water heater has only a 10 gallon capacity, I might be tempted to move in permanently. Smart folks, my hosts! 😎 This might be my favorite cabin. (I know, I say that a lot!)

Visiting Wilsonia causes my project to become more complicated. As I become more familiar with the cabins and the community, I get to know them all better and I keep seeing more things to draw.

I redesigned some of the pages to accommodate more drawings, and added several pages. This means that I need to complete more than the 230 drawings on the schedule for 2013.

It might be good to stop visiting Wilsonia until the drawings are completed and the design is set in cement.

But, then I’d miss you all. Wow, your friendliness, hospitality, enthusiasm and support just bowls me over!

Thank you, Wilsonia!

Neal Won!

As an aside, I have an Unca Neil (yep, that’s how we say and spell it), had a friend named Niel, and now I have a friend named Neal who won my little contest. It was a “name that street”, based on a pencil drawing for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia.

(sorry to be so redundant – rumor has it that Mr. Google can find a site easier if I repeat the important words like “pencil drawing” and “cabins of Wilsonia”.)

As I meet and talk with people around Wilsonia, I often have questions about various cabins and lots. It has been very surprising to me to hear, “We never go to that part” or “I only know my immediate neighborhood”, or “I don’t really know the street names”. Maybe my book will help with some of that by creating interest in other neighborhoods.

But I digress. Neal knew exactly where this drawing is:

It is looking down Pine Street. Since I am not naming cabins in my book, I don’t name them on the blog either. I believe in protecting privacy. Besides, cabins change owners in Wilsonia, and if I name a cabin and then it changes hands, my book will be quickly outdated. Nosirree, I’m going for timeless.

What did Neal win? A package of notecards with this image on the front:

Way to go, Neal!!

Counting Difficulties

Remember I said that all the drawings for July were completed?

Apparently I have a counting problem, or an overeager approach that short-circuits reality.

Now I’m scrambling to finish the drawing quota for July.

Well. oops. Good thing it is still July, or I might have to fire myself.

Your Opinion Requested

When you design your own book, it is hard to know when to stop messing around with the design.

While in Wilsonia last week, I spent time at a cabin that I have already drawn. I wasn’t sure the angle was the best one, but at the time it seemed to be the only one.

wilsonia cabin

I was wrong. Now, I have to decide if it needs to be redrawn. Perhaps I should have left my camera at home for this trip. Decisions, decisions. . . where is the big boss to tell me what to do?? Oh – in the mirror? Hmmm, she doesn’t look adequate for the job. . .

May I have your opinions on this?

Thanks. You can comment by hitting “Leave a Reply” or email me at cabinart at cabinart dot net. (I wrote it out that way because someone somewhere sometime said you shouldn’t put your eddress in your blog or all the robots and spiders and trolls will bother you. Better safe than sorry!)

A Whole Street of Cabins

Here is the last drawing to meet my July quota. I got ahead so that I could enjoy some time off. You didn’t think I’d just flake away without doing my work, did you? Wouldn’t be able to have 230 completed drawings by December 31, 2013 with that attitude!

Before I actually spent time in Wilsonia, I contemplated how I might be able to get 200 something cabins drawn. I envisioned pictures like this, with multiple cabins in a single drawing.

Hahahaha!

There are maybe, just m a y b e four places I’ve been able to do this.

The Cabins of Wilsonia

A picture book about a cabin community