August is my Worst Favorite Month

My longest running drawing student Mae borrowed a photo of this cabin from me and drew it when she was brand new to drawing (but experienced at watercolor painting). She put in in an art show where local history buff and old friend Alan George insisted that it had been drawn by me, despite her name being on the drawing. That was a long time ago, but Mae and I still get a laugh out of remembering it.

I drew this one. It is the oldest cabin in Mineral King.

August always feels like the longest month to me. Endless heat. Sometimes wildfires start and then we have heat and smoke. Not my favorite month. To quote my niece when she was about 3, “It’s my worst favorite.”

Two in the Wild

A faraway friend got a thrill and texted me about it.

She was in the downtown area of her town, went into a gift shop, and was floored to see two pencil drawings of Mineral King. Upon recognizing them, she took some photos and texted me.

These were reproduction prints which used to be my “bread and butter” type art. It was almost automatic when I finished a new drawing to get it printed, sign, number, package, and sell it.

I guess someone who lives 700 miles away got tired of these two drawings and somehow they ended up in this gift shop.

This is Beulah, which was the historic name of Mineral King. The collage was done using historic photos, and these prints didn’t sell nearly as well as drawings of current scenes. It is priced at $295!!

That’s okay. I get tired of the art hanging on my walls and rotate it out. Unless it is my own painting. Wait, I do pull those off the walls if they seem appropriate for a particular show or a potential customer has expressed an interest.

This is my first version of Farewell Gap with the Crowley Family cabin. I’ve drawn it many times since, and if you look at the drawings in chronological order, the growth is evident. (The growth of the artist’s skill, not those trees, one of which is now history.) This is priced at $150 or maybe $195—my spy was so excited that she forgot the amount!

The shop owner was quite thrilled; having someone recognize the subject and the artist validated her selection of merchandise.

Thank you, ‘70s Ranger Daughter Mari for discovering this “vintage cabin art”!! And thank you for getting in touch to tell me the story and sharing your photos!

Interesting Inquiry

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Recently, I got this email:

Hello –
I have an artist proof -pencil drawing of Farewell Gap by Jana M. Botkin –
It is approximately 11 “ x 13 “ —
I would like to know the value –
Attached is pics —

Thank you ,

(name, which I have left off for privacy purposes)

This is the picture she showed me (but hers was an artist’s proof):

Oh. Ick.  This is my reply to her:

Thank you for asking. I drew that in about 1987 and had about 100 reproduction prints made, which allowed me to add 10 to the run as “artist’s proofs”. These reproductions only have the value that people assign to them, and since I am not dead (yet!), please don’t view it as anything other than a piece of paper with a reproduced drawing of the most popular view in Mineral King.

When I looked further, I saw that I only had 50 prints made, which means only 5 could have been designated as “artist’s proofs”. I sent her another email to correct my mistake.

Maybe I should have offered to buy it from her, and then run it through my shredder. 

She sent a second email, asking if an artist’s proof is worth more than a numbered print. I told her the same thing as before: such items are only worth what another person is willing to pay for it.

This is my most recent drawing of the same scene; you can see why I am cringing when faced with the old one.

Blessings on all you lovely kind people who bought my art back then.

Finishing a Plein Air Drawing

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Plein air means “on location”. Last summer I sat by the stream in Mineral King with a set of 12 colored pencils to see if I could complete a drawing on location.

Not a chance. 

My friend Carrie Lewis posted the project on her blog, and recently someone asked if I would complete the drawing.

Since nothing is pressing right now, I decided to finish the drawing in the studio, but this time using the entire set of 120 colored pencils (Polychromos by Faber Castell)

I’ll just show you the photo, then all seven progressive scans, minus any jibber jabber. (But you can ask me questions in the comments, if you want to know anything specific about the process.)

I am finished and the drawing is done. (Did you know that people aren’t supposed to be “done”?)

This is Vandever, the right half of Farewell Gap in Mineral King, as seen by the Honeymoon Cabin from the gnarly juniper.

Make me an offer! The highest bidder (if not too insulting) before March 31 will be considered. The unframed drawing is approximately 6×8″.

 

Look What I Tried Next With Colored Pencils

If you can’t see the photos, go here: cabinart.net/blog. Sometimes I just live on the edge. In 2019 I took a plein air oil painting workshop, wanting to learn the skills of slamming out a painting before the light changed too much. It wasn’t easy for this studio artist who is used to a fixed environment, working from my own zillion photos. It wasn’t easy for this near-sighted artist who has fought to see clearly her entire life to enjoy painting loosey-goosey. Blurry on purpose?? Why would anyone do that?

Being somewhat adventurous with my art doesn’t come easily to me. However, I took a clipboard with a piece of good paper and my box of twelve (times two) colored pencils down to a spot along the creek in Mineral King.

First I photographed the scene so I would know what to do if/when the light changed or if it took too long and I needed to finish it in the studio. (Please, please, let me work in my studio, you mean bossy fake plein air artist!)

Then I began drawing, this time using Polychromos, because they don’t need sharpening as often as Prismacolor and they don’t break as easily. I chose brown for sketching, because the plein air oil painting teacher had us put our first layers down in a brown.

This is hard. Maybe I should just do the Honeymoon Cabin as it looks from this perch in the dirt.

Never mind. Focus, Central California Artist!

Forget all that brown. I want to start coloring, because I know it will take umpty-umpt layers to even vaguely approximate the colors I see.

This is hard. These colors are inadequate. My hiney is sore from sitting on this dirt perch. Other people are hanging out together having fun.

Why exactly am I doing this?

No good reason. Guess I’ll stop now and head back to the cabin. 

Maybe I will finish this, and maybe I won’t. I have several paintings waiting to be done, and there will be payments when I am finished. 

Sounds like an easy decision.