Back to the Easels and the Drawing Table

After several months of no work (i.e. lovely free time at the cabin without deadlines or guilt), work is beginning to trickle back into my days.

First, a pencil commission. (I still love to draw.)

This was the little sketch for the customer to approve or amend.

She made a couple of suggestions, and I scribbled a few notes for further verification.

This is a house I visited. Actually, I visited the people there, but the house really stuck in my memory as very attractive. It will be quite fun to draw.

I worked on the herd of buffalo for the upcoming show at CACHE, called “A Bovine State of Mind”.

It might be finished, but I will wait to sign it until I am completely sure there is nothing left to improve.

I remembered that the Holiday Bazaar in Three Rivers is coming November 18, 2023. This is the Saturday BEFORE Thanksgiving. It is time to think about beefing up my inventory of smaller paintings for this annual boutique at the Remorial Building. (Remorial, liberry, prolly. . . bet you can translate these words).

Yep, messy, but the first layers always are.

It’s great to be producing art again, both with pencils and oil paints!

Another Interruption, This Time for Drawing

 

Once again, we interrupt our broadcast for this drawing.

Ever notice the annoyance of the English language, where a noun and a verb can be exactly the same word? And I didn’t actually mean “broadcast”, because we are in a series of posts about cabin life. This drawing fits the category of cabin life but it isn’t about cabin life; it’s about pencil drawing.

Get on with it, will ya??

An old friend (that seems to be where most of my work comes from, but new friends and young friends are welcome to commission me; even friends I haven’t met yet are welcome here) expressed an interest in a drawing from The Cabins of Wilsonia. 

Alas, it was gone.

We had a few options: 1. Oh well, sorry; 2. Buy another book, Sir, and rip out the page; 3. I can draw it for you again.

My wise friend chose option #3.

Have a look at the original photo that I used.

As always, working from a photo isn’t straightforward copying. Every photo has its indiscernible parts, because real life is messy. 

Because my friend was wanting the drawing from the book, I used that old drawing to help me make decisions. (I didn’t lie: although the original is gone, it’s still on my laptop.)

Then, I thought about it a bit more and decided that I ought to be able to do a better job now. That was 10 years ago, and I was cranking out those 272 (was that really the number??) drawings at a rapid pace. This time, there was no deadline. My friend’s only requirement was specific dimensions to go with another drawing, like a matched set.

Here is the other drawing.

And here is its new partner.

(The difference in darkness has something to do with the computer reproduction, not a change in pencils or pressure on the paper.)

This picnic table appears in the chapter called “Brewer”, which is the name of the road in Wilsonia depicted in that chapter. (I got clever that way.) The funny part is that I could not remember where this photo actually was, and I just put it on Brewer because I thought it looked good with the chaise lounge. 

Apparently my friend thought the same. He has actually had a strong influence over my art career, so this makes sense.

Thank you, DB!

August is My Least Favorite Month. . .

 

. . . but it ain’t all bad. (Cabin Life series resumes tomorrow.)

Personal

Happy Birthday, 40-year-old Niece!! 

Yardening

The little bitty almost inedible grapes are ripening, and THE DEER AREN’T EATING THEM! (Thank you, Deer Out!) If they survive, and if my juicer works after last year’s lengthy repair, I will juice and freeze them.

But Deer Out is also keeping them from licking my kitchen window clean, not that they have ever done that.

August is usually very hot. That’s why these flowers are naked ladies; too hot to be clothed.

Tucker’s wound has healed, and he loves the unmowed grass, which is the thickest and healthiest it has ever been. This is the 4th year of not allowing Trail Guy to mow it in order to let it propagate and send deeper roots (he isn’t complaining).

The cucumber plants died, the zucchini will flower but not produce, the tomatoes are weak (but the plumber shared some of his), the sweet potato plants are looking healthy, and the basil is prolific.

Art

This involuntary sabbatical has been enjoyable. I am not worried, because God is my provider, not me.

After not drawing or painting for awhile, I got another wild hair to draw.

First, I warmed up by sketching in church. (Judge not: it helps me listen with my left brain when I keep my hands and right brain occupied.)

Then, I was ready to draw “Valedictorian’s Dad”.

Finally, I began three new paintings.

Don’t they look terrible? 

No worries. That’s normal.

Bonus:

One of my favorite bloggers had a great post yesterday: Tim Cotton Writes

Drawings: Finished and Begun…

… both drawn for fun, while I cowered in the studio with the air conditioner roaring. 

First, Slim’s Grandson is finished.

Second, Samson is begun.

The beginnings are always rougher looking than the finishes.

 

Drawing for Fun

 

Because I earn a living with art, I rarely draw just for fun. This is not a bad thing, it is just the way it is. 

A few weeks ago, Trail Guy and I were visiting with a packer for the Park. He is quite interesting to look at. The sun was shining perfectly on his shirt, and his hat looked imminently drawable (no excess straw weavings like so many hats have). Besides, I have avoided portraits for a long time, and with the current lack of real work, this might be a good opportunity to try faces again. (Hey, maybe I AM on sabbatical for learning!!)

Without him knowing, I took his photo. Later I converted it to black & white, because this helps me be sure it isn’t the color in a photo that is creating the interest.

Then one hot afternoon, I sat in the studio with the A/C roaring, listened to a few Mike Rowe The Way I Heard It podcasts, and did this.

The background will take some thought, because in reality, it is busy and messy. 

It doesn’t matter. There is no deadline, nor is there payment awaiting at the end of the job. That’s why I call this “drawing for fun”.  And as far as portraiture, there is precious little face that is visible in this picture.

A Little Bit of Design “Work”

 

“Work” is in quote marks because this was simply a gift for a friend. She has had just one too many cars come flying up her driveway instead of following the curve of the road and is ready for a gate.

I drew a few ideas, then we looked at them together. She picked one she liked the best, and together we worked on it, adding a tree here, a rock there, moving a line, adding a line. Then we looked at her second favorite and did more of the same.

First favorite:

Second favorite:

After studying them, the second favorite became The Favorite. I sent it to the gate builder, and next we will learn if it is a design that he can build. I think some parts might need a bit of modification for strength. I also wonder if perhaps I shouldn’t have used the back side of something printed (but I bet you can’t read it).

It will be thrilling to see this as an actual gate.

We did get things a little bit backward, because if her driveway is so wide that it requires a double gate, we will have to redesign it. 

She mentioned to me that gates in Three Rivers are so interesting that she has thought they might make a fun calendar. I have often thought it would be possible to do a photo (or drawing or painting) book of the gates here, and simply call it “A Gated Community”. 

It might be fun. Speaking of fun with gates, check out this photo.

If you came here for Mineral King news and are disappointed, you can check the Mineral King website to see if anything new has been posted.

Drawing and Thinking

The business of art is fickle, always changing. An artist can just make whatever she feels like making and hope it sells. However, if an artist wants to earn a living, she needs to pay attention to the ever-changing world of what people want, what they can afford. She also needs to pay attention to selling opportunities, another ever-changing set of circumstances.

For a handful of years, there have been three places that sell steadily for me. One was next to a popular restaurant, which has now closed, diminishing foot traffic by the gallery. Another is a seasonal store in the mountains, and it most likely will be unable to open this year due to a ruined road. The third is in a building which recently changed hands, the lease will expire so things will go month-to-month, and with Sequoia National Park being closed so long, the traffic in town has diminished tremendously.

This may or may not be connected, but I have no commissions.

The murals which I thought were in the bag have fallen into indecision on the part of the customers.

So, I am drawing simply because I want to.

I will continue to think, and continue to share my thoughts.

Two bird stories

Bird Story #1

I am working on a book, doing the transcribing, editing, and book design. This is for a friend of a friend, and the book will only have 25 copies, distributed to the friend’s friends. The friend of a friend’s friends.

Never mind.

The book is a collection of stories over ten decades of an extraordinary life. The writer and I have only spoken on the phone once, after I published her first book. By “published”, I mean everything: transcribing, arranging the stories into an order, editing, choosing photos and editing them with Photoshop, proofreading, helping someone to write a foreword, formatting the interior, designing a cover, writing the synopsis (“blurb”) for the back cover, sending it to the printer, proofing it for the umpteenth time, getting it printed. It was fun!

She doesn’t email or text, so when I have questions, I write her a letter, and then wait for the response. This is a slow but good way to communicate, because if one forgets what was asked or answered, the information can be found on a tangible piece of paper.

There are a few references to birds, and a poem about birds is included. So, as a surprise for the writer when she receives her book, I am including a drawing of a bird above the poem. Why not? I love to draw!

The process of shepherding a book from typewritten pages to an actual book is complicated, challenging, and very rewarding. It is a privilege to be able to do this kind of work, especially for such a remarkable person.

Bird Story #2

The title of this post is “Two birds”, so here is the second bird story (no photos).

Pippin was carrying a scrub jay in his mouth while another one was squawking overhead. I grabbed little Mr. Orange Bob Square Pants, shook him, and the bird fell out of his mouth and flew away. Sorry, Buddy. Birds, no. Rodents, yes.

Drawing For Fun

A friend of mine drives for Sequoia Sightseeing Tours.* He had some passengers from Michigan and learned that one is an artist. So, he told her about me. Because people can’t get to Sequoia through Three Rivers right now (wrecked roads from winter floods), they sometimes don’t know how to spend their time. My friend suggested they visit my studio (not open to the public but open by appointment.) 

He called to ask permission to give them my contact information. I said yes, then I vacuumed the studio, made sure things were put away, and hung out the flag. 

I thought that it might be fun for them to see a piece in progress, so I opened up my flat file drawer labeled “In Progress” (Captain Obvious here) and pulled out a drawing that I started so long ago that I can’t remember when or why. I think it had something to do with drawing for fun.

I began working on it, realizing that I draw for money, not for fun. This is because:(1) if I drew for fun, there wouldn’t be as much time to do other fun things; (2) if I didn’t draw for money, I’d have to get a job; (3) if I drew for fun, those flat files would be so full that they wouldn’t open; (4) if I drew for fun, I wouldn’t have paintings to sell, only drawings; (5) if I drew for fun, I’d end up putting a ton of money into framing, and where would that money come from since I wouldn’t be drawing for money?

This is from a photo taken in 1997 and used to draw the little picture you see next to it. It is the light, shadow and detail that appeal to me. (This drawing was on the back cover of the dust jacket for The Cabins of Mineral King, by me and Jane Coughran, published in 1998, long since sold out.)

I looked up from the drawing and saw this out the window.

Back to the drawing board.

In spite of listening to an interesting podcast, I almost fell asleep at the drawing table. That’s because I got up really early to go walking. I’ll show you tomorrow.

P.S. The people didn’t call. Maybe they fell asleep. 

 

 

 

*If you take a tour with Sequoia Sightseeing, ask for Steven. He is terrific!