Did You Know I Have Another Blog?

Join me at the table in Wilsonia (figuratively speaking, of course.)

I have another blog. It is called The Cabins of Wilsonia, because that is the title of a book I wrote/designed/drew/published in 2014. Here is the link to the blog, and it will open in another tab. (Thank you, Sharon!)

While I was working on the book from 2011 until it was completed in 2014, I regularly posted about the process and progress. Then the website stopped working, as tech is wont to do. (Isn’t “wont” a weird word??)

After a few years of ignoring the site, it got repaired, but I didn’t have much to say. The book was published, and I stopped spending time in Wilsonia. (I have my own place in Mineral King, and my husband actually likes me and wants me to be with him there.)

Then I had a chance encounter with some Wilsonia folks, so unexpected and delightful that I felt compelled to write about it. Hint: it happened on the Mineral King Road. (You can read about it here.)

After that, the ideas and words began flowing again. I don’t know how long this little writing spurt will last, but you are welcome to visit my other blog and even subscribe. (I promise it won’t be five days a week of posting.)

P.S. The Cabins of Wilsonia is available for sale here. It used to be $80 and is now $50, because book prices are wont to price drops several years after publication. 

P.P.S. STOP WITH THE “WONT” TALK ALREADY!

P.P.P.S. Your Central California artist is wont to sometimes obsess about words.

Drawing Sawtooth and Listening

Happy Birthday, Carol!

Sawtooth Peak is figuring large in my work life lately. Sometime last week I spent a few days in the studio listening to the reassuring hum of the air conditioner and listening to my own thoughts, and finally, listening to podcasts. This was all to keep me from falling asleep while working on a new pencil drawing of Sawtooth.

While listening to podcasts, I jot notes, and when I take breaks from staring at teensy details through a magnifying glass, I look up things. Gretchen Rubin’s podcast “Happier” mentioned a dish pattern, and something called a “corkicle”. . . had to see those things. She mentioned a writer named May Sarton who has a memoir called Plant Dreaming Deep; of course I had to click on the link to Amazon, then read about it on GoodReads, and finally, look for it in my library’s online catalog system.

Victor Davis Hanson uses big words to convey large ideas, and occasionally I write notes or look up words online when I hear him speak. Usually I just replay his interviews a few times to see if I understand his concepts.

All this listening helps me get through the seemingly endless miniature details of the current drawing.

And in spite of all this listening, learning, and thinking, I still haven’t decided if it is a good thing or a bad thing to put links within my own blog. Perhaps you will be so kind as to let me know if that is helpful or annoying. . .

 

No Head Banging Necessary

My horsey friend didn’t respond to my request for help on the drawing that is too hard; my horsey drawing student did, and we experienced a serious role reversal!

She offered detailed advice and supplied photos to help me understand the things that weren’t visible in my photo.

I followed her instructions as best as I could, and then decided I didn’t care if the horses were rideable or not, had 3 or 6 legs, or if they needed a veterinarian (or an eraser). When I couldn’t think of anything else to fix or change, I scanned it and sent it to her, saying that I’d listen if she had more suggestions that I’d listen but it would be after banging my head on the wall.

Here is what my horsey helpful drawing student/commission coach said:

“Instead of banging your head I think you should sit back with a cold drink and celebrate…this looks REALLY good. I think the recipient will be thrilled. 

While I might have been able to offer suggestions, I definitely could not have drawn this, so my hat is off to you. Well done.”

Lessons are free for her in September when we resume classes.

Phew!!

P.S. Someone else saw the completed drawing and thought the mule’s ears were still too small. Bummer. The drawing is now at the framer, and I am DONE with it.

My Favorite Bridge in Oil Paint, Chapter 6

I thought about calling this “Final Chapter”, but I hope I live on to keep painting the bridge and improving with each one.

We made it through about 23 oil paintings of the Oak Grove Bridge. There were repeated views, color adjustments and exaggerations, brighter versions, muted versions, paintings with sharp clean edges, paintings that looked sort of blurry, and the last one from a completely different angle.

Then, I began working on the commissioned oil painting that combines the bridge with Homer’s Nose, a prominent landmark granite rock outcropping. The bridge felt too hard in this one, so I decided to do a smaller version of the exact same view in order to work out some difficulties.

“Difficulties”? I might be a slow learner, or perhaps a bit simple. I’ve painted the thing 23 times and still have difficulties?

Just try to be polite here, ‘kay?

Here is Oak Grove Bridge XXIV in a few steps (although it took many more than a few steps to do this).

As you last saw it. . .
Beginning to tighten things up, like the tree/shrub on the far left that overlaps the bridge, ditto on the right, and adding light and detail to the bridge posts.
A few minor adjustments remain, but it is SOLD!

There were some shenanigans by some hooligans while I was trying to concentrate.

This photo tells me that perhaps when I have finished all the commissioned paintings and drawings, I might do a bit of shelf straightening.

My Favorite Bridge

My favorite bridge is the Oak Grove Bridge, 6.5 miles up the Mineral King Road. It is also my favorite subject to draw and paint. There are three reasons for this (maybe even more, but we’ll go with 3 for now):

  1. A bridge is the perfect blend of architecture with landscape.
  2. This bridge is a fantastic surprise on a winding mountain road, one that is so rustic that it doesn’t even bother with a center line or fog lines.
  3. This bridge is a bright spot of architectural dignity in a county sorely lacking in such landmarks.

I used to only draw in pencil. This is the first time I drew the bridge, from a view upstream of the bridge. I didn’t draw very well back then, but people were polite and encouraging.

First pencil drawing of the Oak Grove Bridge, 1990

I drew it at least once more, but was very casual about keeping records of my work.

After learning to oil paint using only the primary colors, I decided to see if it was possible to do a full-color pencil drawing using a box of only 12 colors. It sold. (I think I could do a better job now.)

Oak Grove Bridge in colored pencil, 2006

The most recent pencil drawing of the bridge also sold. This one is a popular design on notecard packages that I continue to reprint. 

“Rural Dignity”, the Oak Grove Bridge in pencil, 2011

I would draw it again, but pencil drawings don’t sell very fast. People prefer oil paintings, or color, or both.

Come back tomorrow and you can see some of my paintings of this beautiful bridge in Tulare County.

 

Art: Inspired By Mineral King

Farewell Gap, a pencil drawing, will be available as a framed original for $400 and in card sets.

After 7-8 months of painting toward a show about Mineral King and (almost) in Mineral King, it is tomorrow!

Is it considered shouting to use bold type? Or is that only for capital letters? I’ve always always always considered italics to be whispering, so maybe this paragraph will be more soothing to your ears.

Four artists with cabins in the Mineral King area will be showing and selling our work on the deck of the Silver City Store tomorrow, June 30, 10 AM until 3 PM.

The Silver City Store is 21 miles up the Mineral King Road. It is a long way there, a long and winding road, and it is well worth the effort it takes to get there. The store is at about 6700′ in elevation, and it is no longer called “The Store” but now is “The Silver City Resort”. The store itself has been remodeled into a new rustic elegant interior; the artists will be on the spacious outdoor deck.

Linda Hengst, Joan Keesey, John Keesey and I will be there. Linda paints in acrylic (or is it oil? Hard for me to tell the difference), Joan does tight realistic botanicals in watercolors, and John does whimsical playful watercolors of somewhat stylized scenery of the area. Linda’s work makes you say “Ahhhh”, Joan’s work makes you say, “Ooooh”, and John’s work makes you smile. My work? Um, let’s see. . . “How much for this one?” 

I am taking 23 oil paintings (some of which I have shown you on this blog), 5 pencil drawings (all of which you have seen on this blog), Mineral King cards (old and new designs), a few reproductions of pencil drawings (also of Mineral King, duh) and some copies of my book The Cabins of Wilsonia. (The Cabins of Where? Yes, they have been requested.)

Let’s roll! See you tomorrow??

Art: Inspired byMineral King

Show and Sale

FOUR ARTISTS: Jana Botkin, Linda Hengst, Joan and John Keesey

SILVER CITY RESORT, 21 miles up the Mineral King Road

Saturday, June 30, 2018

10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Honeymoon Cabin #33, 6×18″, $160 inc. tax. (I like this one so much that if I saw it in a gallery, I’d probably buy it.)

Mineral King 2018

Opening weekend in Mineral King in 2018 was cold, drizzly, foggy and not conducive to any photos. Besides, my camera battery was dead.

The skies cleared briefly on Sunday evening. I borrowed Trail Guy’s camera for this:

Monday was glorious, sunny, bright, and warm(ish). I took this from our friend’s porch

The little cabin is actually an outhouse. It is where I found that gigantic snowball in March. Wow, 2-1/2 months later, and now the snow is only on distant peaks.

Finally, here is the classic photograph.

Would this look like camera distortion if it was painted in oil?

And thus we begin another summer season in Mineral King.

Painting Drawing of the day:

Farewell Gap #4, pencil drawing, framed to approximately 11×14, $400 including tax

Sit On It

Have you heard that thing “Sitting is the new smoking”?

Hogwash.  

Been thinking about chairs recently. My cabin neighbors are replacing some living room furniture, and it would be awful if their old pieces went to the dump. My couch needs recovering, so why not cover theirs from the ’40s and dump mine from the ’80s? And if I move a chair from the living room to the studio, I can put theirs in the living room. . .

The neighbor’s old chair
My newly recovered chair

This blue chair from the living room could replace this red one in the studio. The red one is very hard for people to get out of, so this makes sense.

Studio chairs

The red chair is outdoor furniture. (What kind of dork puts outdoor furniture inside? This kind of dork, that’s who.) Sorry, the wooden chair isn’t for sale. I could draw it for you. . .

Today’s art is of chairs, all pencil or colored pencil drawings:

Favorite Parking Place, colored pencil, framed to 14×18″, $300, available here
Cabin Kitchen Corner, pencil, framed to 11×14″, $150, available here
Cabin Retreat, colored pencil, 11×14″ unframed, $150, available here
Willow Window, pencil, approximately 11×14″, unframed, $75, available here
Hidden in the Leaves, pencil, unframed, approximately 8×10″, $100, available here
Rock On, pencil, framed to approximately 11×14″, $200, email or use the contact button to buy because it isn’t on my website
Cabin Chair, pencil, framed to 11×14″, $150 (also available as cards here)

I could keep on going, but this is just getting embarrassing. What is the deal? Am I a closet sitter??

Too Twee

Last year about this time I lost my long time friend Jennifer, or “Jennifah” as she said her name, being English. She taught me so much throughout our friendship, including fun words. Among those words, “twee”–cutesy, sweet, precious– was one of the most useful.

When S sent me the photos of the barn where we got the kittens, she told me it was particularly cute when there were kittens in the planters by the barn. A few days later, she sent me these photos. Look closely!

After a bit of thought, I finally decided that kittens are just a bit too twee for my calendar. Here is the finished drawing.

Painting of the day (nothing twee here):

Long Way There III, 12×16″, $290 with California sales tax

Pick Something You Love

When Trail Guy and I went to our friend’s barn to choose our kittens, I was struck by how appealing the outer wall of the barn looked. Alas, I didn’t have my camera with me. (Just hush up about smart phones, will ya?)

2 weeks later, another friend, the amazing S, emailed me a photo of the very barn wall because she happened to be there and thought I would like a photo. She knows me well and is a very thoughtful friend.

I set aside another drawing that has been putting me to sleep and started on this.

One of the things I continually tell my drawing students is, “Pick something you love because you will be staring at it for a long time.”

This will be an excellent addition to my 2019 calendar. 

THANK YOU, S!

Today’s painting:

Rusty Fowl, 8×8″, $108 with California sales tax