This is the other pencil drawing that I will enter in the juried show at the County building.
Now, I just need to think of a good title. “Grapes”, “Reworked Grapes” – nope.
How about “Before M&Ms. . .”?
Yes. I like that!
What do you think?
Sometimes my pencil art doesn’t sell. It might win awards, sell as a reproduction print, garner much praise, get borrowed by someone to decorate their vacation rentals and second homes, but just not sell. It is a mystery.
Sometimes I can look at a drawing and see what it is lacking. Sometimes it needs a bit of perfecting or polishing. Other times I see that although it is technically well done, the subject doesn’t speak to anyone in my circles.
This is one of those drawings that lots of people have been happy to buy a print or borrow the original but not willing to actually buy it. Some people say it is because my prices in general are too low; other people say it is because the price is too high. By now, I don’t even remember what I asked for it back when it was out in the public eye.
Recently, I pulled it out of its frame, studied it and made some subtle changes. Next, I’ll rephotograph, and reframe it and touch up some scratches on the frame.
Why?
There is an opportunity to put some art in a county building, a juried show where the pieces need to be relevant to Tulare County, larger than 2′ in either direction, and finally, for sale.
So, why not? No one can see it on a shelf in my storage area. New people will see it inside the county building. I don’t know what purpose the building serves, but it houses offices. People who work in county offices ought to be reminded of the good things of Tulare County.
A year or so ago I bought some new colored pencils. Blackwing manufactures something called “Blackwing Colors”, and I am a sucker for new pencils. With the box of 12, I did this 5×7″ drawing.
I posted it on Instagram (if you like Instagram and want to follow my very occasional posts, I am JanaBotkinArt) and also emailed it to Pencils.com (where I bought the pencils). Someone from there emailed and asked if they could use it on their blog. I said okay, and then nothing happened.
Last week I got an email from someone at a magazine called “Colored Pencil Magazine” (How’s that for over-the-top creativity? I think they were going for easy-to-find-on-Google rather than cleverness, which is probably smarter than being cute and calling yourself something like “Cabinart” which no one can remember.)
I am writing to let you know that we are interested in using your Pumpkin piece as an example of Blackwing Colors in the June 2019 issue of COLORED PENCIL Magazine in the Spotlight section.
Being a sensible person (in spite of making a mistake in naming my art business something that no one can remember), I said yes. Then I looked at their site and see it is both online and in print. I’ve never heard of this magazine before.
I wonder if it will be wise to show colored pencil work when I am now primarily an oil painter? I wonder if it will be wise to show colored pencil work when using colored pencils hurts my wrist? I wonder if it will be wise to show colored pencil work when it rarely sells? I wonder if it will be wise to show colored pencil work when I prefer graphite (ArtSpeak for regular pencil)?
Life is full of unanswered questions. I think this falls in the categories of It Never Hurts To Try, and We Regret More of What We Don’t Try Than What We Do Try.
As usual, more will be revealed in the fullness of time.
So far we have learned that I love to read, love the beach, and have wondered if it was possible or necessary to learn to paint plein air.
I have a virtual friend (is that what it is called when you are in touch with someone you have never met in person?) named Laurel Daniel who paints very well. She paints plein air and she teaches a few plein air workshops every year. She even gave me a list of tips and helps when I had to do some public plein air painting 4 years ago. It helped, but didn’t make me feel any more confident or competent. (One painting session does not make an expert.)
Remember that I loved some books by Eugenia Price based on St. Simons Island? That is one place where Laurel teaches. When I learned this, I was gobsmacked by a great desire to attend her workshop there. This probably doesn’t surprise you.
How about this for a surprise? Last summer I was with a childhood friend at her family cabin, and we visited her cousins at their neighboring cabin. Her cousin lives by St. Simons Island! Again, I was gobsmacked.
Tomorrow I’ll tell you a little bit more.
When I was a kid I loved to read (and still do). My mom took us to the Ivanhoe library, where I worked through the kids fiction section until there was nothing left that interested me. Eventually I realized that some of Mom’s books might be good, and I read a couple of historical novels based on St. Simons Island off of Georgia. Of course I wanted to go there.
As a family, we spent time at both the beach and the mountains (we lived in the Central Valley of California, so both were accessible), but I tended to like the beach best. Now I am torn between mountains and beach, fated to live forever between both.
Why am I telling you this? To be continued. . .
In the month of March, I am teaching a beginning drawing class to six people, two hours per week at Arts Visalia, a very fine non-profit gallery in downtown Visalia. (This is the county seat, the town we usually mean in Three Rivers when we say we have to go “down the hill”.)
The six folks were all new to me, although we have found a few connections, as one does in a place like Tulare County. We worked through my regular beginning exercises on the first evening, and they were terrific. Easy to work with, understood and followed directions, asked good questions that helped me clarify my instructions, and they all did very well.
I suggested that they bring photos they might like to draw from for the second lesson. That night, I woke up with such a good idea that it could only have been inspired by God.
It is based on the idea that there is an order of difficulty in drawing. Here it is from easiest to yikes:
I went through my zillions of photos and chose a stack that will give a beginner a reasonable chance at success. Then I chose one to try out – could I draw this quickly? Could I scan it successfully and make a printable tool for my new students?
Yeppers.
I like this! This means I have 11 more tracings, drawings and scans to do. Good thing I love to draw.
I actually made progress on the tree pencil drawing, in spite of the spontaneous field trip to Kaweah Lake.
But first, look at the season’s first iris, blooming in a pot outside my studio. (I seem to be suffering from Shiny Object Syndrome these days.)
Now, to the drawing table.
It took me just as long to do the house itself as the entire background. Maybe longer. The drawing is 11×14″, which means the porch details are miniscule.
Here’s what I had to work with, once back in the studio.
I put on a podcast, an interview with James Clear about his new book called Atomic Habits. (Wow, what a practical guy. I might buy the book, but probably will wait a few years until I find it in the local library system.)
Using the enlarged version of the original photo on my laptop, the original paper photo, and a couple of new ones printed on paper, I drew for awhile. I broke my rules about drawing from left to right and top to bottom.
When the podcast ended, I listened to another one, and almost fell asleep at the table. Guess it was time to call it quits.
During a recent drawing lesson, I opened up my envelope of just-in-case snapshots, and this one was on top. Why not draw it? Demonstrating is a good method of teaching.
Both the trunk and branches are confusing to me. If I can’t see it, I can’t draw it. I can make stuff up, but since this was on The Captain’s property, we decided to go see it.
I told her it which flowers were blooming in my photo, which informed her of the location. This involved a rather messy slip-slide through very slick cow poo, hidden under leaves, with apologies to my jeans for the damage done. (Sometimes art is a dangerous profession.) I recognized the tree, or felt fairly certain when we got there.
Using a sketch book along with my camera, I began sorting out the twisted branch pattern to understand which was connected to which.
Really, come on, now. It is a TREE. How can it be wrong?
My goal is to make my work believable. Another goal is to keep pushing myself to understand what I am seeing, to not coast and make things up. Other times the goal is to push myself to make things up.
Sounds as if I am perpetually confused. . . What am I seeing and why am I drawing it?
Right after sketching it, I flipped to another page in the sketch book and saw that the original photo was taped inside. I planned ahead and then forgot. The Captain and I got a good laugh. We need good laughs to get us through losing The Cowboy.
I didn’t hit my head when I slipped on the cow poo. This is just how I am these days.