Category Archives: Progress Report

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.

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.

Fear and the Building of a Book

I know how to draw in pencil, and I know how to draw cabins. In spite of having put together The Cabins of Mineral King, I have a little bit of fear. It doesn’t paralyze me. Instead, it keeps me on my toes.

The fear is that the book might look like “loving hands at home”. In order to avoid this dreaded description, I plan to hire a book designer as a consultant. Hopefully, he will prevent me from making any lame-o mistakes.

Okay, Mrs. Book Builder, gaze upon the lovely blue shutter and think calming peaceful thoughts.

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!

First Blogiversary

On December 19, 2012, I started this blog, The Cabins of Wilsonia. (Still bowled over by the brilliant creativity of that name!)

The website has 5 pages – the blog itself, about this blog, a contact page, frequently asked questions and questions to ponder.

Since that date there have been 84 posts and 112 comments. You’ve seen 60 drawings, 55 of which will appear in the book. (That’s quite a preview of the 270 that the book will contain, dontcha think??) The header drawing on the website has been changed 3 times.

There are now 18 drawings remaining. I am considering this a success, because I am in charge of my book and get to decide the definition of its success. (Sounds like there should be a “so there!” and a raspberry at the end of that last sentence.)

In the upcoming year, my first goal is to finish the remaining drawings.

Thank you for following along, reading, commenting, emailing me, sharing with your cabin friends, family and other interested parties.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep you posted!

The first header that appeared on this website.

The Streets of Wilsonia, Learned

After months and months of puzzlement, I’ve decided to consult the map and make a list. Brilliant idea, don’t you think? I’ve intended to do this all along, but now that there are only 20 drawings left to do, it seems like I can take a small break from my pencils and do something different.

But here’s the conundrum: when I am finished with my drawings, I’ll probably wish I was drawing instead of consulting the map, the thesaurus, emailing, working on the written parts, rescanning drawings and spending hours trying to figure out how to make Adobe InDesign behave.

Alta Lane
Brewer Lane
Cedar Lane
Chinquapin Lane
Fern Lane
Fir Lane
Goddard Lane
Grant Lane
Hazel Lane (Anyone met her yet??)
Hillcrest Road
Kaweah Lane
Laurel Lane (Is this Hazel’s sister or her aunt?)
Le Conte Way
Lilac Lane (Must be Laurel’s sister)
Lily Lane (Oh! There are three sisters??)
Lupine ??
Manzanita Lane
Mason Road
Meadow Lane
Palisade Way
Park Road
Pine Lane
President’s Lane (Just one president – his name was Woodrow Wilson, and don’t tell Glenn Beck about this, ‘kay?)
Sierra Lane (a younger niece, because everyone knows that “Sierra” is the new “Ashley”)
Tehipite Way
Tyndall Lane (Finally! a guy in the Lane family!)
Whitney Lane (another modern Lane cousin)
Willow Lane (whose mom was a hippie – was going to name her “Sunshine” or Rainbow” but got sober and switched to “Willow”.)

Book Report

This is more of a progress report than a book report, but I like the sound of “book report”.

I think there are 28 drawings remaining for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia.

I think this is #234.

Lots of thinking going on here, but not much accuracy in counting. Every time I try to count, I see something else that needs attention, and I lose count.

The total number doesn’t matter. Besides, when I begin the serious focused work of designing it on the computer, there might be drawings that need to be added, redone, dumped, replaced, or any number of too-hard-to-face sorts of actions.

I could segue into a rant about how life is hard and there are zillions of obstacles to getting a task finished. Probably would be a better use of my time if I went back to the drawing board instead.

Do you know anyone else who can say that they literally go “back to the drawing board”?

Lots of people use the word “literally” when they mean figuratively. Have you noticed this? “He literally shot himself in the foot.” Oh really? Is he now on crutches?

Sorry. Rants abound in my head. Back to the drawing board!

Now How Many Are Left?

As I work on The Cabins of Wilsonia, I continue to revise and redesign.

Although I find this light enchanting, this photo will not become a drawing.

Sometimes I think a page looks finished, and then I’ll decide it needs something else. Sometimes I look at a page with drawings to be done and realize it is just crammed too full so something has to go away. Sometimes I look at a completed drawing and think “I can do better”. Sometimes I look at a photo I was intending to draw and I think, “Ick, not doing that!”.

With all that revising, adding and deleting, the math gets a little squishy. Currently I’m not sure how many drawings the book will contain, but now I know this:

At last count, there are THIRTY-FIVE TWENTY-SIX TWENTY-TWO drawings left to do.

It’s Okay

The earlier schedule said I need to have 210 finished by November 1; the new schedule says 221 on November 1. Today is November 20 and I am on 222. That’s where the old schedule wanted me by December 1. So, according to the old schedule, I’m ahead, but by the new schedule, I’m really far behind.

It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay. Say a thing enough and it becomes the truth – works for politicians, sort of. . . advertisers too. Or, perhaps I’m like a cat purring to calm itself.

Been drawing as fast as my fat little fingers will go, among finishing some oil painting commissions, having a show, ordering a calendar, blogging, and packaging note cards.

This gable end looked so cute with its white curtains that I redesigned a page to fit it into the book. And that’s just one of the reasons I’m trying to catch up – way too much cuteness in Wilsonia, irresistible cuteness.

It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.

If This Was A Job, Would I Get Fired?

At the beginning of 2013 I thought there were 230 drawings necessary for the upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia. (Sorry to sound so repetitious – it is supposed to help Google locate this blog for people seeking info on Wilsonia, cabins and the upcoming book.)

85 of those 230 were finished, so it seemed possible to complete the remaining 145 within the next 12 months.

Then I redesigned and recounted.

This drawing is a result of redesigning. I thought the page was complete, and then I saw this very interesting view of a gable. It has some weird things on the front – horizontal bars with weird loopy metal deals hanging off the bars. Unidentified items present challenges – put them on and risk getting them wrong because I don’t know what they are or leave them off and have the cabin look wrong to the cabin owner? In this case I chose the first option.

The book currently requires about 270 drawings, and as of November 1, I had 45 left to complete. This is twice the number I expected to have by that date. I’m not going to make my deadline of December 31. If this was a job, would I quit? If this was a job, would I get fired?? If this was a job, would I be able to ask for more time or more help or to hire an assistant?

At least the number is down to 2 digits. Maybe I can have them finished by the end of January 2014.