Jana Botkin | Cabin Art

This is B & E, a brother and sister. About 4 years ago, their mom had me draw them sitting in their yard. Now she wants a piece to go with the previous one, so we walked all around the yard, and the same setting was still the best. We changed the background this time, [...]

Remember this? You only saw the sycamore, and it has been awhile. (July 30 blog entry)  The house isn’t finished, because I can’t see what I need to see in the photos and will have to go take some of my own. The river scene on the bottom isn’t finished either, because it is time [...]

Another portrait may be finished. The mom has to see and approve. She knows the “children” (they are teenagers) and I merely know what they look like in the photos.                                                   [...]

This is a photo taken with my new camera, even before I wrote the check! This was an important test of my new Canon Powershot ( with a whole series of letters and numbers which I have not yet learned). The ability to photograph art is as important as the ability to photograph scenes from which [...]

My friend, whom I shall refer to as (the other) JB (she says that brings to mind images of someone chewing on a cigar!), expressed a desire to hike to a lake out of Mineral King. Because we would be driving up from the flatlands and hiking on the same day, I chose Monarch Lake [...]

When I bought my digital camera, I successfully avoided several things: research, decisions, reading the owner’s manual. A friend of a friend was selling hers, and without asking too many questions (megapixels? what means that??), I paid her and then spent a day on the trail with her teaching me how to use it.  The party [...]

    Worth It – oil – 2nd place in Dairy   Staying Power – pencil –  3rd place in Farm Machinery and Structures   In case you might have forgotten, the show is Celebrate Agriculture With The Arts. It is the Madera County Arts Council annual juried and judged event, at their Circle Gallery. The opening [...]

I thought about calling this entry “Water is Everything” because this a.m. we didn’t have any water. (I knew I should have washed the dishes last night!) My lovely neighbors (who have their own well) let me use their shower. When you don’t have water, everything looks either hot, dirty or dry. Have you noticed [...]

In case you were wondering, oil painting happens for me from top to bottom and left to right on the canvas, while at the same time trying to paint from the furthest away to the closest. Sometimes this doesn’t coincide with color usage, but I continue to learn as I paint.  These 2 paintings need [...]

Today I planned to paint all day, and was moving right along at a nice clip. Then, lunchtime came and I headed back to the house, and there was a rattle snake on my front porch. It is a long and boring story that eventually ended poorly for the snake but well for me. I [...]