Category Archives: Drawings

Sooner or Later, It Had To Happen

In order to not burn through so much paper, I often draw 2 pictures on the same piece of paper. So many of the drawings for The Cabins of Wilsonia are small. I usually draw larger than the size it will be in the book because things look even better when reduced. (Hmmm, is this a diet advertisement? Nope1) But, I don’t want to draw any larger than necessary, because there are many many drawings still ahead, and the larger they are, the longer they take.

two pencil drawings on a page

two pencil drawings on a page

I’ve been procrastinating on the job of trimming the drawings. It is a little boring, and there are so many remaining to be drawn that it hasn’t seemed necessary to begin trimming. However, I finally faced up to task, got out my guillotine-type paper cutter and all my packaging materials and dove in.

cut

Oops. It was stuck to another drawing and I whacked them together without knowing this was underneath. Glad it was already scanned. (always a bright side. . .)

Perhaps it is time to take a break, get some perspective, catch my breath, plan, rest and rejuvenate.

Just Drawing, and Drawing, AND DRAWING SOME MORE

Excuse me for shouting. I might be getting a little cranky. Heat does that. That’s why people go to their cabins in Wilsonia in the summer – to get out of the heat.

Before I start complaining, I’ll just show you another completed drawing and quietly go back to the drawing board. (Do you know anyone else who can honestly say that?)

pencil drawing of wilsonia cabinI had planned to do a different angle of this cabin. The roof is interesting from that other angle, but the light wasn’t so good. I redesigned the page and chose this angle with its dappled light on the stone chimney.

How to Participate in This Book Project

Greetings, Gentle Readers.

There are 2 ways to participate in this project:

1. Email me your stories and thoughts about cabin ownership, membership in a lovely mountain community, or whatever seems appropriate to you to be included in the book. I plan on including many of your thoughts as quotes

2. Comment on this blog. Otherwise, the sound of crickets chirping and grass growing leads me to believe I am all alone here. Sob.

Wilsonia cabin pencil drawing

 

It has come to my attention that the commenting system on this blog is quite annoying. 

At the top of each post it says “Leave a reply” or “# replies”. This is clickable. Click it. Type your stuff into the appropriate places and submit or respond or enter. (I’m fuzzy here because as the “administrator” of the blog, it shows me a different method.)

You will think your comment didn’t go through. It did. It lands in a Spam folder, which I have to open and mark as “Not Spam”.

After that it goes to a “Pending” folder. I have to open that and mark your comment as “Approved”.

I will correct typos and remove anything I deem too personal for the World Wide Web. And, I will respond to your comment.

Then, I will go to the Spam folder, mark my comment as Not Spam, go to the Pending Folder and approve my own comment.

No wonder people don’t comment on this blog! If I knew how to make it easier without breaking the blog, I would. However, I need to go draw now.

Thanks for visiting, reading and commenting.

 

Jeffrey Shooting Star Amidst More Street Confusion

The Cabins of Wilsonia will be in one color of ink. I’m drawing the cabins in pencil, and graphite is gray. This means the book will most likely be printed in the gray ink that most closely matches the color of the pencils.

All the photos from which I am working are in color. Sometimes I have convert one to black and white, because otherwise it is hard to tell if it will look any good in pencil.

For example, a cabin with bright blue shutters normally is known and appreciated for its bright blue shutters. How will that look in pencil? Will the drawing just look so-so?

The meadow that can be seen from Sierra Lane/Drive/Road (see? I can’t figure out this Wilsonia street designation!) is awash with Jeffrey Shooting Star in early July. It is fabulous. Of course, the color is the fabulous part.

shooting star

You’ve probably seen these. They like to grow with their feet wet.

I photographed a cabin on Alta, looking across that meadow from Sierra. (If I just say the name without the designation of Avenue/Way/Street then there is no confusion.) I thought it was a great way to show off the cabin’s superior location.

However, if the big deal about the view is the color, is there a point to drawing it in pencil?

Wilsonia Meadow IMG_8039

I think the light across the meadow in the lower photo makes this second view the clear winner.

And those Jeffrey Shooting Stars? They can be our little secret. We wouldn’t want 100s of looky-loos flooding Sierra Lane and turning it into Sierra Highway each July.

Drawing # 150 something or other

I remember some numbers, like my second grade best friend’s telephone, or my 6th grade teacher’s birthday, or how many feet in a mile.

But, because the numbers are changing so rapidly, I can’t remember the number of drawing I’m on.

Wilsonia cabin window

I do remember which street I am on. Park. Park is long. That will be a large-ish chapter.

Pine is next.

What’s Going On Here?

List Lady Here. A progress report, thoughts on building a book, and new information about the arrangement of Wilsonia streets for you:

pencil drawing of wilsonia cabin

This cabin on Park Street/Lane/Road/Avenue (just kidding on the last one!) is an architectural design repeated throughout Wilsonia. There were 5 cabins like this. Now there are 4, and one has been remodeled so isn’t immediately recognizable as the same design. Do you know which cabins these are?

  1. All the drawings are finished for June. Yes, you read that right. This is so I can do all of July’s drawings in June. What’s going on here? July is going to be extraordinarily busy for this California artist. If I don’t draw ahead, I’ll fall behind.
  2. I found someone who calls himself The Book Designer. He is a book designer. (Duh.) He helps people self-publish their books. (If they pay him.) I feel greatly reassured that when the time comes to make some difficult decisions such as cover design, typestyles, and finding a printer, The Book Designer will be my new best friend.
  3. Has anyone else besides me noticed all the streets in Wilsonia that begin with “L” are going east and west? This is confusing at times. When I think of all those L streets, I’m flipping through my mental Rolodex, reciting Laurel, Lily, LeConte, Lupine, Lilac. . . sometimes they are alphabetical, sometimes they are random. But I just figured out that they ARE alphabetically arranged in Wilsonia, beginning in the southern end of the community! There’s an AHA! moment!

HEY! Are You Drawing?

Yes. Some. It is cabin season and my eyes are too old to draw without electricity. We don’t have electricity in Mineral King. You Wilsonia folks have cushy cabins, but I am not complaining.

But don’t worry!  I’m on schedule with the goal of finishing all the drawings for the upcoming boook, The Cabins of Wilsonia by the end of 2013.

Sorry for being so redundant. It is supposed to help Mr. Google find this blog.

Wilsonia cabin porch

More questions to provoke some thought and generate a story or two or twelve to include in the book:

What about cabin life is the most different from your real life?

Tell me about the longest stay you have had at your cabin

Questions for You, Oh Wilsonia Cabin Owner

I’m drawing a book called The Cabins of Wilsonia.  Drawing it, not really writing it. There will be a preface, an introduction and a conclusion, along with explanations of street names, and I have written most of this already.

stone steps

It is my hope that Wilsonia cabin folks will do the writing.

The point of the book is to show what it is like to have a cabin in Wilsonia in pictures and in the stories and thoughts from the cabin folks.

When people are asked about their cabins, the tendency is to recite a list of previous owners by name and approximate date of ownership. Since it is my goal to shoe what it is like to have a cabin NOW, clearly I haven’t been asking the right questions!

A friend of mine helped me formulate a list of questions to trigger ideas and thoughts and memories and impressions and information and personal stories about cabin life.

I know it is a pain to write. It is a pain to email. We are all busy. So, for starters, I will just ask questions.

Perhaps over time, these will cause you to have ideas, and when we talk in person, you will have thought about or answers to a question or two. Or maybe I should mail out a questionnaire. . . or put something in the Wilsonia newsletter. . . or email those of you who have shared your eddresses?

Let us begin with several questions to ponder:

What is your favorite thing to do at your cabin?

What is your favorite month in Wilsonia and why?

How has your cabin changed through the years?

 

 

Natalie Talked Me Through

Drawing 145 pictures in one year’s time can get boring, tedious and lonely. I love to draw, but occasionally there are signs that my enthusiasm is wavering.

Last week I found myself enmeshed in a terrible web of procrastination. I did some oil painting, organizing, painting of cupboards in the workshop, blogging, reading for fun, gardening, errands, and even attempted to balance the checkbooks.

When I do stuff with numbers by choice,  you KNOW there is a problem.

No worries – enter NATALIE! We met in 1986, are close in age but far in geography. We had an agreement to write letters in spite of email, and we have stuck to that agreement with some exceptions. Natalie emailed me last week to ask if there was a time she could call me on the phone, because she wanted a real conversation. What a friend!

We talked for TWO HOURS while I worked on this pencil drawing of a Wilsonia cabin:

 wilsonia cabin pencil drawing

Thank you, my dear friend Natalie, for talking me through, for helping me figure out some things, for taking the time to catch me up on your life, for the incredible gift of committed friendship for 27 years. 

 

Why Blog About A Book In Progress?

a Wilsonia cabin doorPencil drawing of Wilsonia cabin door. (Thank you, Captain Obvious!)

For you:

  1. You can track my progress,
  2. You can hold me accountable, because working on my own can get a little squishy.
  3. You can correct any misinformation I have about your cabin community,
  4. You can ask any questions about my process or progress
  5. You can share this project with your cabin friends and family
  6. You can stay current. When someone wonders how it is going or if it is going, you can have the answers or send them to my blog!

For me:

  1. To have a record of my progress
  2. To be held accountable
  3. To get more accurate information if I mess up
  4. To answer any questions you have
  5. To share the project
  6. To keep you current

Hmmm. That sounded a bit redundant. Captain Obvious is alive and well on the writing end of this blog.