Various Thoughts from a Drawing Machine.

That’s me. A drawing machine. This California artist has reverted to her roots of drawing cabins in pencil.

1. Yesterday I finished Wilsonia cabin drawing #92 and began #93. I try to always have one going on the table when I quit for the day. Then, when I return to the studio, there is no time lost figuring out what to do next. I can figure out the next step while I am drawing whatever is waiting from the previous day.

2. It is good to have close friends about the same size as oneself. Awhile ago, I made a list of things that I live by, including “Never give up the pursuit of the perfect denim skirt”. Because I had the thrill of helping my friend (aka The Captain) clean her closet, I may now own the Perfect Denim skirt. (On the other hand, it might be a weensie bit smallish. . .)

3. Concrete floors are cold; it is good to take slippers to work with me.

Yes, I did make them myself. Thanks for asking!

 4. Would you believe my very fragrant paperwhites are blooming and have been throughout our weeklong cold snap? (stop sneering in Minnesota at what passes for cold in California!)

5. While I drew this week I listened to Michael Hyatt, Chris LoCurto, Chris Daniel (local radio talk guy), Dave of Dave’s Killer Bread and a comedienne named Jeanne Robertson. She is probably hilarious, but Youtube doesn’t work very well where I live and all that stopping and spinning messes with her timing.

6. Sometimes I draw in total silence.

7. You can follow the progress of and thoughts behind The Cabins of Wilsonia at my other blog, Dubya dubya dubya dot the cabins of wilsonia dot com.

8. I’ve been contemplating the difference between inspiration and motivation. Perhaps there will be a blog post on that someday.

9. The local talk guy mentioned that lots of people are tired of being asked to “join the conversation”, sign up, create an account and a password, become part of a community and comment on blogs. I respect this. I will cease to ask you questions at the end of my blog posts so that I don’t annoy my faithful readers. However, you are most welcome to comment if you have something to say, or email me if you would like to have a private exchange or have a question. Interaction is always welcome. I just write because all that silence all day long means that lots of words and thoughts build up in my head.

STOP IT. Okay, thanks for listening.

Told You Yesterday That I Was Inspired

Yesterday I ended my post about inspirational beach photos by saying I felt so inspired I would go draw a cabin. You thought I was making that up?

Wilsonia cabin pencil drawing

This is a commissioned pencil drawing of a Wilsonia cabin. The cabin owners emailed me several photos with some specific instructions, and this is the result.

I love to draw.

Art History

I have art history. A piece of it arrived in the mail last week.

old sketch with a note

Bob, I’m forever grateful. You were one of my greatest mentors, teachers, encouragers and friends throughout my youth. Blessings on you, dear friend.

Redwoods, Redwoods, Everywhere

I still have a very large commissioned oil painting of redwoods to complete. Redwoods are sequoia gigantea, not to be confused with California redwoods. We grew up calling them “the big trees”, and I had no clue what a privilege it was to live so close. (I might have been a bit of a twit.) I choose to call them Redwoods now because I went to Redwood High School, and although I will skip the upcoming reunion, I have retained enough loyalty to hang onto the name. But, I digress.

Redwood oil painting in progress

The customer liked a similar painting that I made for someone else, which was based on the pencil drawing called “Redwood & Dogwood”.

You can see the drawing, plus a photo of a sequoia on my laptop. The reason the palette is on the floor is because I was kneeling there to work on the lower portion of the tree. You can see the primary colors running across the top of the palette and the redwood colors running down the side.

But wait! There’s more!

redwood mural, pencil drawing, photo and oil painting

Sheesh. This California artist has a thing about redwood trees. On the left is half of the pair of doors to the painting studio. I had to open them because it is sort of dark in there. Then, the swamp cooler had to be on high, so the doors were blowing around.

It’s rough being a California artist in the heat of summer.

Wah.

commissioned oil painting of redwood in progress

This is how it looked at the end of the noisy, dark, overheated day of painting. It should dry enough overnight to begin adding the dogwood flowers on top of the redwood tree. I mean layered in front of the tree, not up at the top of the painting. You knew that, right?

 

Normally on Tuesday. . .

. . . I would be teaching people how to draw. This happens at the Courthouse Gallery in Exeter. No lessons in July or August because in the past, the attendance was abysmal during those months. Besides, it is just hot!

I’ve been teaching people how to draw since 1994. Looking back, I’m not sure I really knew how to draw or how to teach back then. People learned anyway.

Some of my students call what we do “art lessons”. I usually correct them and say “Drawing Lessons – I’m just teaching you how to draw.”

Whenever I take this 2 month break, I really miss my students. The interaction among each class is fun. They learn from me and from each other. I learn from them too. We all become friends, and it is just a thrill to see the progress each of them makes.

Hush up, California Artist, and show us what they have done!

Mrs. Bob's Italian Village

 

Limey Girl's old fashioned rose
Even tennis players can draw! This is plum blossoms, in case you were wondering.
Mae's A-mae-zing Pears in colored pencil

 

For more blog posts about drawing lessons, click here.

Eight Reasons this California Artist Chose Pencil

My last post ended with this question: if I am so taken with color, a “color junkie”, then why did I choose graphite as my medium?

Simple – I love to draw. Oh come on, there must be more to it than that! Okay, yes there is.

1. It is easy to find pencil and paper and draw any time. The back of the bulletin in church, a piece of paper from your printer, an envelope from the trash. . .

2. Pencil drawing doesn’t make a mess. No paint brushes to wash, palettes to scrape, clothing to change.

3. Pencil drawing sets up and gets put away easily. How many boring office jobs did I have where I finished my work, and then pulled a drawing out from under my typewriter to fill up the rest of the day with? Lost count!

4. Pencil drawing isn’t very expensive to reproduce as prints or cards. This makes them affordable for you! (I am sorry my shopping cart isn’t working. You may email me via the contact page if you’d like to purchase something.)

5. Pencil used to be a little complicated to reproduce well, so people couldn’t reproduce my work without my help and permission.

6. Pencil erases.

7. Pencil is easy to frame. There aren’t very many mat colors or frame styles to use that won’t just overwhelm it, so it keeps your choices down.

8. I liked to draw so I drew a lot so I got better so I drew more because it was easy and fun because I had practiced so much. Or as my now retired husband likes to say, “Success breeds success”.

Drawing for upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia

Next post will cover the benefits of working in pencil for so many years.

Why Artists Choose Three Rivers, a rerun

Because I just began year 5 of blogging, I decided to repost some of my earlier blogs for my newer readers.

When my art studio was in Exeter and I lived in Lemon Cove, people assumed I lived in Three Rivers. I’m guessing this was because of my occupation of pencil artist. (Given the choices of of towns in Tulare County, this is a reasonable assumption.) Now that I actually do live here and have become a painter, I recognize a multitude of reasons that any artist would want to reside in Three Rivers.

We are surrounded by beauty that takes no effort to see. There are incomparable views from my yard, studio, mailbox, and even from in my neighbor’s pool. The beauty continues as we go to the post office, the Memorial Building, the golf course, or maybe even from the dentist’s office!

Then there is the beauty that might require a little more effort to take in: the North Fork, the South Fork, Kaweah River Drive, and the Salt Creek area of BLM land come to mind. If you are able to walk, there is so much more that becomes visible.

Another great enticement to living in Three Rivers is the shorter drive to Sequoia and to Mineral King. In less than an hour you can be among the big trees and in a little longer than an hour, you can be in a valley that I have heard resembles the Swiss Alps.

Everywhere I look there are subjects to paint. The wildflowers could keep my brush flying for several seasons. The gates alone could occupy my pencils for a year. I could produce an entire series of drawings and paintings simply of loading chutes. Curves in the road, bends in the river, the autumn leaves, light on the rocks, Moro Rock from every possible angle, Alta Peak from every attainable viewpoint, sycamores all around town, the grand oak trees of every variety, the assortment of fence styles – every one of these subjects could be depicted in pencil or paint.

It is true that there is beauty in almost any location if one learns to recognize it. I certainly had plenty of subjects available in my former locations.  Now, the accessibility of paintable scenes is almost overwhelming!

The Kaweah Post Office V, oil on wrapped canvas, sold

Fourth Blogiversary

Today, April 16, I begin year #5 of blogging. There are many reasons that I blog. Since lists float my boat, here is the list for you:

1. It is fun. Remember Show-and-Tell in grammar school? For some kids it was a chore (and a chore for the rest of us to listen). For others, it was the highlight of their day. I tried to only participate if there was something I was really excited about. That is how I feel about blogging. Every day!

2. It keeps me accountable. Ever tried to work alone, day after day, week after week for 19 years? How did that turn out? Unh-hunh. You HAVE to show someone. You HAVE  to tell someone your progress. (Pity my UPS driver and the mailman!) The blog takes out some of the party-of-one-ness and forces me to produce even when the distractions are oh so very inviting.

3. It gives my work credibility. Published, even if it is online and even if it is self-published, is public. If it is worth putting Out There, it is Real. It counts. (Remember Steve Martin getting all excited about seeing his name in the phone book? It is sort of like that.)

4. It provides a record of my work. (No, I don’t want to keep a journal. The more stuff I own, the more stuff I lose.)

5. It allows me to connect with those who like my work. They can tell me what they think, and I can learn from them. “They”? Who is this “they”? It is YOU!

6. It is a bit like an online brochure, continually being updated, always available. That is a business thing, or perhaps a marketing thing.

7. I am building a platform. Doesn’t that sound fun? No hammer and nails required. It has to do with developing followers so that when I have something to share, there are people to participate.

That is why I blog. I’d love to hear why you read it. Not so I can gather compliments, but so I can learn what is interesting to you and what I should skip!

Completed pencil drawing for upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia

Product or Process

In knitting, there are regular discussions about whether one is a product knitter or a process knitter. This is in reference to one’s motivation – is it the journey that you enjoy, or is it the destination?

When it comes to drawing, I am both a process and a product artist. The pencil feels like an extension of my hand which is an extension of my eye and my brain.This makes it immensely satisfying to build a drawing.

In addition to enjoying the journey, it is always a thrill to see the finished piece. Getting to my destination never loses its buzz. My latest drawing is usually my favorite.

(Painting is a completely different story, and in the interest of not going into a navel-gazing session here on the blog, we’ll just stick to drawing for now. You’re welcome.)

Seems to me that in order to finish a project, you have to want the product AND enjoy the process. One without the other equals more unfinished stuff, or UFOs, as knitters call them. (Un Finished Objects)

Finished pencil drawing for the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia

 

Drawing Tools

Hmmm, that could mean “creating a picture of tools using a pencil”. It doesn’t. It means this blog post is going to explain to you some tools used in drawing. I probably used all the techniques (except the last one)  in this drawing called “Release”.

An eraser shouldn’t need explaining. It erases; you get that! But, did you know an eraser can do these things too:

  • It can draw. (yup, it can draw light things onto dark spaces)
  • It can soften hard edges. (especially helpful if you need to add on to something)
  • It can smear things that were too specific.
  • It can create hard edges.

An erasing shield looks like a 2×3″ metal template. It is used by architects and engineers to isolate small parts in order to erase only them and not their neighbors. (so called “friendly fire”). But it can be used for these things too:

  • It can serve as a block to shade right up to a straight edge.
  • It can act as a template.
  • It can provide a shield so that you can create a hard edge with your eraser.

Now that I give it thought, a pencil can do more than just draw or write.

  • It can shade (duh!)
  • It can smooth out previous shading
  • It can make an impressed line (meaning scratched into the paper so it doesn’t take any more color)
  • It can scratch an itch in your ear (not recommended)

And thus we conclude another free drawing lesson.

Can you think of any other uses for these tools?