Category: drawing

Inching Along

pencil drawing on claybord

Progress? I’ve been drawing, so something must have grown here.

The gate! I did the gate! With all those intangibles and texture, I needed to try something that had a definite shape and edges.

I set up the drawing and stepped back. It needed a sense of a path beyond the gate, so I scribbled in where it should go. Also darkened a couple of things, which may or may not even show.

The fence boards – I can do those! They have a beginning and an end, with definite edges. They cover a decent amount of real estate on this 16×20″ claybord.

Yea. Progress. Cartwheels of joy.

P.S. I’ve never done a cartwheel in my entire 55 years. It is a figure of speech, an expression of elation. Feel the excitement?

P.P.S. I think this drawing is really pretty, and seeing it here on the blog helps me want to continue it to completion instead of procrastinating and daydreaming about the book I am reading right now.

Fourth of July in Wilsonia

Meadow Cabin

You’d think that when writing of the Fourth of July in Wilsonia that I’d show a cabin with a flag.

Instead, it is the sweet little cabin on a meadow without a flag.

Why?

Because it will be included in Wilsonia’s silent auction on Saturday, July 4.

She-Who-Runs-The-Silent-Auction thought this would have the most appeal, so here we go!

Yeah, yeah, I know I said I don’t give my art away.

Sometimes I do. Wilsonia has been good to me and I want to be good back to them.

The book, The Cabins of Wilsonia, is for sale there and here.

Drawing Lessons

For about 21 years I have been teaching drawing lessons.

This sounds formal. The more accurate description to my way of thinking is simply that I show people how I draw and thus guide them to do their own pencil drawing.

It is one of the most satisfying and rewarding (more than just financial) parts of my art business.

There are no lessons in July or August because it is too hot and attendance is traditionally down.

So, today is it, the last one until September 8.

This is Rosemary and her wonderful walrus.

Rosemary

Delighted and delightful!

If you are interested in taking drawing lessons, either in a small group ($55/month, 1 hour a week) or private lessons in my studio ($35/1 hour, $45 1-1/2 hour, scheduled as it suits), email me using “cabinart at cabinart dot net” (written that way to confuse the trolls who roam the internet looking for trouble). Or call me at 561-7606 (area code is five-five-nine, also written that way out of general troll paranoia.)

S L O W

This project is difficult and slow, oh so v e r y s l o w.

I often tell my drawing students, “You can be fast or you can be good. I get to be both.”

Not this time. I am S L O W. Or perhaps it is the claybord that is slow. Or the drawing. Nothing ninja crazy here.

Drawing on clayboard

Want a closer look?

pencil drawing on claybord

The good part is that I don’t have to duplicate every rose and every leaf. The bad part is that I can’t see very many individual roses and leaves, so I have to make up much of it.

Not gonna quit!

On the Drawing Board

Drawing board? Drawing table? Drafting table?

The piece of furniture where I draw pictures using my pencils.

Now that we have that figured out, let’s have a look:

Say what? Is that a typo? “Claybord”?

A customer found 2 antique frames at an estate sale. She loves my pencil work and asked me to do 2 pencil drawings, each one 16×20″ to fit in the frames.

Pencil drawings are on paper and when they are framed, they need glass, mat board and a backing. This stuff doesn’t fit into a frame designed for a piece of canvas.

A handful of years ago (feels like 4, must be 9 because I’m having fun so time is flying), I attended a very fine art show called “The Peppertree” in Santa Ynez, California. There were a few pencil artists, and I remembered seeing one’s work on board, varnished and framed as if it was a painting (without glass).

I called Dick Blick, the big deal art supply company that knows everything and has everything. Their product experts said “clayboard”. I thought that’s what they said. Actually they said, “Claybord”.

Wow, is this ever a challenge to draw on! Super over-the-top ninja crazy smooth and smeary.

On top of that, add in a HUGE size (normally my largest drawing might be 11×114″, multiply it by 2 and then consider the ambiguity of the various textures in the subjects my customer chose.

No problem. I am a pencil expert. Har har har, maybe I am and maybe I am not. This project is sort of a test of my skill on several levels. One down, one to go.

pencil drawing on claybord

Relevant Links:

Peppertree Art Show,

Peppertree Art Show Article

Claybord

P.S. I don’t know what “ninja crazy” means. I heard it on the radio and liked the sound.

Unfinished Paintings, Finished Drawing

These paintings have been waiting for attention for weeks, or perhaps months.

It is true that what comes easily is usually more fun. I find painting to be work. It is satisfying, but laborious and more often than not, it is difficult.

In troubling times, I gravitate back toward that which brings me pleasure and comfort. Drawing in pencil fits that description.

Perhaps I am just procrastinating. Or maybe it has to do with life’s difficult situations using up whatever extra oomph is needed for me to tackle more challenging projects. Whatever the reason, right now I am choosing pencils over paintbrushes.

Poppies at the Beach

Poppies at the Beach, graphite and colored pencil on paper, 11×14″, not for sale

11 Items in My Portfolio Life

“Portfolio life” is a term I found in Jeff Goins’ The Art of Work.

Sequoia 4 seasons

Collage of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in 4 Seasons, pencil and colored pencil, private collection

Portfolio life doesn’t mean being a jack of all trades, or being the master of one, or being ADHD. It means your work life is full of variety that all relates to and supports your chosen line.

Indeed! Forsooth! (an archaic word for “indeed”)

Check out this list:

Blogger – writer, photographer, a tiny bit computerish
Oil painter
Pencil artist
Drawing teacher
Muralist
Sign painter
Bookkeeper/office manager/marketing director
Web site upkeeper
Author (So what if it is a picture book – it has words!!)
Publisher
Public speaker

“Sign painter”? Only under duress. I’ll let you know more when there is more to let you know.

Item #6 may be more accurately titled “Odd Jobber”. . . I’ve painted a sign for a houseboat, Christmas ornaments, old windows, umbrellas, quilt patches, and saltillo tiles. Those are just the odd jobs I can remember on the spur of the moment.

A Central California artist has got to do what she’s got to do.

It is an honor to be thought of when someone needs an artist.

Anyone else out there living a “portfolio life”?

Maybe I should go vacuum the studio or pull a few weeds. (Should I add janitor and groundskeeper to the list?)

What’s A Central California Artist to Do? part 2

beach birds

Beach Birds, pencil, size forgotten, sold

If you are a Central California artist, you may occasionally have times when: taking inventory is boring; ordering packaging supplies for notecards that aren’t moving very quickly feels like a waste of money, planning for paintings when one’s current body of work is collecting dust feels futile, writing blog posts is difficult when technology fails and photos won’t load; calling on stores and galleries feels futile when they don’t keep their posted hours or end up closing altogether.

So what?

One of my drawing students and friends often the line blurs) gave me a sign that hangs in the painting studio. It reads “Put on your big girl pants and get busy”.

Getting busy looks like this:

order envelopes and clear bags for notecards
order some of the card designs that have sold out
edit newer photos and order prints
call or email the names on the waiting list for drawing lessons (One lady said “I’m waiting for you to give a watercolor class”. She’ll be waiting a very long time, because I don’t know how to watercolor paint.)
blog ahead
update the inventory, where-to-buy and events pages on the website
put more sticker decals on the covers of The Cabins of Wilsonia
package notecards
take care of the hassles and realities of tax season

AHA! Tax season. Could that be the reason for the current state of mind? Thanks, IRS. Way to wreck the most beautiful time of year.

Guess I’ll just pretend as if someone has forbidden me to work on the business of art. That should light a fire under me!

How do you remain productive during your slow seasons?

Same County, Different Bridge

In February, I told you of my drawing of the Clover Creek Bridge up in Sequoia National Park and a man who saw it and contacted me. (That post will open in another window if you click here.)

The man, named Todd, had googled “pencil drawing of a cabin” and found my site. On my site (the old one) was a drawing of the Clover Creek Bridge.

clovercreek_bridge_1

Todd practiced drawing by copying my picture. It is the easiest way to learn how to draw and is what my 6th grade teacher had us do. (I credit him with teaching me how to draw.)

I thought he was doing a fine job because his proportions were correct. That is the most important thing when beginning a drawing. It is comparable to having your foundation level and your posts vertical if you are framing a building.

I also gave him a couple of tips about hard edges and soft edges. Real life doesn’t have black outlines separating things; it has edges. Hard edges are clean exact edges, where one item ends precisely and another begins. They draw the viewers eye and are very noticeable. Soft edges are slightly fuzzy transitions from one to another part of the same thing. They make things not stand out.

(I don’t see any black outlines – I just wanted to give him some tips because he was thoughtful enough to contact me.)

Todd gave me permission to post his work here:

todd's clvr crk

I hope he finishes the drawing and continues to draw.

Broken Communication in an Information Age

I got an email from a stranger in Kansas who googled “pencil drawing of a cabin”. YEA! This brought him to “Cabinart”! He had seen a drawing of the Clover Creek Bridge on my site and then could no longer find it. (Since the site has been rebuilt, I left off some of the older pieces because I don’t like how they look with a watermark across them.)

clovercreek_bridge_1

I sent him a mess of pictures of bridges, trying to determine which one he was asking about. (love those bridges) I didn’t even remember this one, and finally he sent me photos of his sketchbook where he copied my drawing.

He didn’t ask my permission to draw from my drawing, but having stuff on the internet means that people can either be ignorant of copyright laws or just ignore them. (Same root word – anyone know Latin to further explain this?)

I didn’t mind, and was happy to help him. It is fun to help people draw better, so I gave him tips for drawing, and then I asked his permission to show you his sketch.

He didn’t respond.

My email? His busy life? An unreasonable request?

This is broken communication in an age of information. . . cell phones, texting, voice mail, email, regular mail, normal telephones. . . and still we lose opportunities, lose clarity, lose focus, and lose our train of thought.

If he replies with permission, I’ll show you his sketch. He did well with proportions before asking my input. I hope that he’ll incorporate my tips and send another photo. It would be fun to show you his before and after.