I have learned to draw from photos on my laptop instead of mediocre prints from my mediocre printer on mediocre paper and instead of waiting for high quality prints from Shutterfly. This means I can enlarge on the screen for understanding the detail more. This also means I can’t measure. Everything is a mixed bag.
The complicated custom collage drawing began with these photos, and even more.
Then I began laying it out on the giant piece of paper, using the approved sketch as my map. 14×18″ is a lot of real estate to cover with the point of a pencil.
Can you see the lines on the paper? “Just barely” is the answer I am looking for.
This is a big job, a complicated one, but I, your Central California artist am up for the task.
Today we have the pleasure of a guest post, something I have never had in 12 years of blogging! Sharon Devol is a real life friend, and the most regular commenter on this blog. She always has something interesting to add, and when I half-jokingly suggested she write a guest post, she was graciously eager.
This is Sharon’s personal story of her family’s Mineral King cabin.
My family connection to Mineral King starts in 1930 when my grandparents, Van and Mary Dixon, visited Faculty Flat (JB here – Faculty Flat is about a mile below the end of the Mineral King Road, so called because it was first settled by educators from Southern California) on the invitation of faculty colleague, Dr. Bates of the Bates-Bell Cabin.For the next 20 years Van and Mary and their two daughters, Diane and Shirley, used the Bates-Bell Cabin until the cabin built in 1926 by Lou and Mary Lou Coole came up for sale. Despite its primitive condition, the daughters begged Daddy to buy it, and the Dixon family set to work to clean and improve the cabin.
I first visited our cabin when I was one year old, and time at Mineral King has been a part of my summer ever since.
Coole Cabin as built in 19262020, same cabin
Quite an improvement made by a physics professor married to a home economics teacher with elbow grease provided by various family members.And we descendants of Van and Mary Dixon so appreciate their love, care, and hard work to make our family a warm and inviting place to visit each summer.
P.S. by Jana – A few years ago, I got the chance to update the drawing I did of Sharon’s cabin in 1992, because I draw better now. Goodness, an artist would certainly hope so. (Nope, not going to show you the first version because I deleted it, so there.)
In September I learned nine things, many of which I wish hadn’t been necessary.
Did you know that shower mixing valves come from the factory preset at a low temperature? Did you know that you can adjust the temperature by asking The Duck? (You might use The Google; I use The Duck, as in DuckDuckGo).
AQI – Air Quality Index – Suddenly everyone is discussing the number of the air. There is a website called Airnow.gov where you can obsessively type in your zip code all day long and then compare your number to that of your sisters in other zip codes who are obsessively typing in their zip codes.
“Meat bees” are not bees, but wasps, actually Yellow Jackets. They don’t live on pollen and nectar, but on meat, usually from dead animals or picnickers. They can sting repeatedly, unlike a bee that dies after it stings. I have made baking soda paste to take out the pain for 3 different cabin neighbors this year. Those dudes HURT, but baking soda mixed with water fixes the pain immediately (and stops working when it gets dry).
When ash falls outside, you can easily locate all the spider webs.
It is difficult to decide if a cough is due to The Virus or if it is due to very bad air. Very Bad Air. Very Bad Air. VERY BAD AIR!!
Tea made from boiled leaves of the Wooly Mullein plant is supposed to be good for respiratory troubles; it tastes like boiled weeds.
When there is a possibility of evacuating one’s home, one quickly decides what stuff matters and what is meh. But the longer the wait to know if one must evacuate, the longer the list grows of what to take.
Jackson isn’t interested in changing addresses.
We have a tremendous number of helpful, kind, concerned, generous friends, more than anyone deserves. So many offers to haul our stuff, store our stuff, host us if we were evacuated. Really took some of the edge off of wondering what to do.
Finding truth seems harder than ever, and the topics seem more weighty than ever. You can find evidence, science, experience, and convincing facts for any side to an argument. Do masks help or don’t they? If they work, why do we have to distance ourselves? And if distancing helps, why do we have to wear masks? And if both of those things are the answer, why is so much still shut down? Has global warming caused the fires or not? Will managing forests harm the environment? Don’t fires harm the environment??
Makes me tired. Anyone want to recommend a good book to read as an escape? Never mind. The library is closed again. I don’t want to buy any books. I don’t want to buy anything. If I own it, I’ll have to decide whether to add it to the pile of other things to grab and go, if that becomes necessary.
Salt & Light, or Reading Rabbit, oil on board, 11×14″, Not for sale
Two pencil drawings of one boat – one truly beautiful boat, called a Chris Craft. These are quite a Thing, maybe the Rolls Royce or the Harley Davidson of the water. (I just made that up and hope I didn’t insult anyone or any brand here.)
Can I drive?? Is that what it is called to run a boat? Or is “pilot” the correct verb?
Color has been added to the Chris Craft flag and to the reflection. Another happy customer, and of course the artist is also happy.
P.S. The pinstripes were intense, and the flags were pure joy. I am particularly taken by the way the American flag curls. Simple things, for a simple person. (Me, not the customer)
Isn’t it a thrill to have good news? (Although “good” is a relative term these days.)
The Old Honeymoon Cabin in Mineral King, 18×36″, oil on wrapped canvas, $1200
On Wednesday afternoon last week, we were told that there was a voluntary evacuation order for Mineral King. On Friday afternoon, the road was abruptly closed by the county to all traffic.
This struck fear in the hearts of all who love Mineral King. Uniforms (that’s what we have around here instead of Suits), barricades, and unknown reasons now prevent anyone from going up to check on cabins. Many of the owners live far away, unable to just show up at the drop of a Smokey The Bear hat. (I think his middle name is The, and I do realize he is a National Forest bear, not a National Park bear.) New info on Smokey here
Trail Guy and I have been faithfully (obsessively?) following the CalTopo fire map. There is no fire in or near Mineral King. Well, okay, how does one define “near”? We define it by listening to people who know the area and know how fires burn. None of those folks are worried or feel that Three Rivers or Mineral King is in imminent danger. Sure, if there was a catastrophic windstorm or more lightning strikes, it could get bad.
But neither of those things is in the forecast, so for now our beloved Mineral King doesn’t appear to be in jeopardy. That’s good news.
I don’t want to talk about wildfires, evacuation orders, plagues, epidemics, or politics. I just want to draw and make my customers happy.
This is before:
And this is after:
Now I am waiting for my customer to tell me if this is what she requested. I can keep going, if I have good instruction. It is a pleasure to work for people who know what they want and express it clearly.
The rosy color is probably a result of the light through the window that is tinted by heavy wildfire smoke.
Much of the time while drawing this, it was very very smoky out the window, and as I drew the pine trees, I kept thinking, “Torches, they are torches!”
Last I heard, they are still standing and green.
P.S. The customer stopped by my studio and we decided that the driveway is too undefined and that we’d like some color in the drawing somewhere. My commissioned jobs are not finished until the customer is completely happy.
