This is Tulare County, pencil drawing, from Mineral King. It is Spring Creek. It could be anywhere. If I have this at a show and someone says, “Oh! Is that Yosemite?!”, then my answer will be, “If you would like it to be Yosemite, then it is Yosemite for you”.
Let the record reflect that YES, DRAWING WATER IS HARD!! (Tee hee hee, perhaps the title of this piece should be “Hard Water”.)
When deciding what to draw next, this particular subject seemed like a good compromise of my theme of Tulare County and what I want to draw because I want to draw it.
Strawberry fields have become a common sight in our area over the past 10 years or so in the springtime. That makes this drawing qualify as Tulare County art, yes?
Using colored pencil for extended time periods hurts my wrist. This little bit of color is possible without injury, and it is very pleasing to see one item in color. Not every picture has a place for color, but this was an easy decision.
Sometimes I want to draw because I love to draw. I want to draw what I want to draw, and don’t want to think about what might sell.
I ignored my common sense, ignored my theme of Tulare County, and this is what came out of my pencils. (as if it just showed up on its own, no effort or decision on my part, I was just a tool, a vessel, and a victim!)
This is an arch that is part of the Roman aqueduct system along the Mediterranean at Cesarea Philippi Maritima in Israel. As you may recall, I love architecture, stone work, bridges and archways. We had about 3 minutes to view this and then BAM, back on the bus! It just grabbed me. . . the beauty, the antiquity, the Med Sea . . . I was gobsmacked.
So, I took a few photos, and now here it is as a drawing.
My sister, niece and I were all just thrilled to be at the Mediterranean. We were the first and the only people in our group to run to the water and get it without any discussion or delay. It was one of the highlights of the entire Israel adventure for me.
The sharp eyes of one of my fellow Israel travelers caught my mistake in the location of this drawing. I knew better and have no excuse. Thanks, Cog!
What Should I Draw Next could be the call letters of a radio station east of the Mississippi – WSIDN. Okay, there are one too many letters, but tell me how KMJ gets away with only three?? I stole this from Anne Bogel, Modern Mrs. Darcy, with her podcast WSIRN – What Should I Read Next – a wonderful resource for readers.
I digress.
I will be participating in an art show of pencil in May and June. Right now I am in between jobs – murals, coloring books, and fall shows coming, but all are waiting for decisions. That makes this a good time to draw ahead for the upcoming show.
A crystal ball would be helpful. There are too many ways to make this decision:
Life is full of decisions, or as my Wise Friend often says, “Choices and Consequences – life is full of choices and consequences.” Oh yes, a crystal ball would help.
Now, what should I draw next?
I have 3 nephews. 2 of them are “creatives”, one an accomplished graphic artist supporting a wife and 2 children, and the other about to start his junior year in college as a music major. Might be performing arts, might be music theory. . . can’t remember exactly and embarrassed by asking him too often.
Music Nephew and I have been having an email conversation about “the arts”, and he mentioned how a musician friend of his gets in the way of his own success. I responded with something that I think you might enjoy, Oh Blog Readers (all 4 of you or so. . . maybe 6 or 7, but I still don’t know how to access or read the blog stats).
Most of us trying to make it in the arts are usually in the way of our own success. I’m gradually learning to redefine success. I know I don’t want to spend hours and hours on social media trying to build up a following, so I’m not – that’s success. I’d rather have real people that I know just happily following my blog and thinking of me when they have an art need – they do, so that’s success. I also don’t want to do the crazy hard work of building up a body of work that might appeal to galleries, which I’m not, so that’s success.
My life’s work is to discover and display the good things of Tulare County, a place I love to hate and hate to love. Sigh. Thus, the mixed ideas about success – I am portraying this place, but sometimes I want to live somewhere with a less hostile climate, cleaner air, and richer more educated populace.
If you made it to the end of this bloviation, you deserve a reward. Here, have a look at a successful pencil drawing of a bridge.
Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait.
I’ve added colored pencil to the commissioned pencil (graphite?) drawing that commemorates a beautiful place on a beautiful day with a beautiful friend.
Ahhhhh. . . .
Outstanding idea, my creative Found Friend!
The commissioned pencil drawing will have a touch of color, but first I have to spray fix it so that the graphite doesn’t smear into the colors.
Here’s a thought-provoking question for you: Why do I say I work in pencil instead of saying I work in graphite? I don’t say that I paint in “brush” – I say I paint in “oil”. A pencil is a tool as is a brush; graphite is the medium as is oil paint.
Clarity is probably the answer. I’m talking to regular people who say “picher” for “picture”, “prolly” for “probably”, “hite” for “height”, and “gotta” for “got to”. Regular people most likely won’t understand “graphite” as the medium in a pencil. They prolly think it is something to unstick a lock.
Here is the commissioned pencil drawing in graphite, minus the color.
There is a bit of graphite where I’ll put color because it will serve to deepen and darken the color.
Clarity: what’s the difference between “deepen” and “darken” when discussing color? I dunno. I’m a regular person who prolly doesn’t always get stuff. Gotta go, see ya!
Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait.
Of course a commissioned pencil drawing is fun for me. I LOVE to draw in pencil.
When I draw, there are several steps. First, I choose the size and location on the paper. Second, I lay out all the shapes in a light outline. Third, oh boy, this is the party, I shade.
Shading is how things go from a 2 dimensional piece of paper with height and width (in case you were wondering, the word “height” is pronounced “hite”, not “hithe” ) to an apparent 3 dimensional scene. Shading adds distance, texture and depth.
I don’t expect you to be all chills and thrills about this, but you’ve got to admit it is starting to “look just like a picher” as people often say to me when I do art events. Those folks probably say “hite” and “gotta” too. Prolly.
Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait.
A commissioned pencil drawing is a drawing someone pays you to draw specifically for her. Found Friend asked me to draw a view out the windows of the small chapel at St. Anthony Retreat Center in Three Rivers.
First, I took photos.
Second, I did 2 sketches to see if either one fit her vision.
Found Friend chose A.
Tomorrow I’ll show the beginning of the commissioned pencil drawing.
Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait.
What is book design? That’s a question I asked back in 1998 when Jane Coughran and I published The Cabins of Mineral King.
The answer was too complex and computerish for me to comprehend. We paid someone to prepare our book for printing, and I had no understanding whatsoever of what was involved.
When I published The Cabins of Wilsonia, I figured I could do that stuff myself, being the owner of a Macbook and having written this blog for 5 years (at that time).
Holy guacamole. I had no pickin’ idea. It involved buying InDesign and learning to use it. This necessitated 2 trips to Seattle for training and many desperate calls for help. It also involved a huge number of uncharitable and unChristian thoughts towards Adobe, the makers of InDesign and Photoshop Elements, the latter of which is supposed to be simple to use.
Fall down laughing. . .
In spite of the difficulties, I got ‘er dun.
This gave me a false sense of confidence in believing I could do the book design for someone else, 2 years of forgetting later.
Oh my. This calls for a calming picture, and I’ll have to continue this little saga tomorrow.
