Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Miner's Cabin sketches drawn by George Mathis in Coloma, California

Good morning. Tina here. It is a beautiful day, we are in between rain storms. That is a good thing to report since we are experiencing a very strong drought. I am thinking about going down to Coloma and taking some pictures.

This little cabin below, in Coloma, once housed James Marshall, credited for discovering gold in California.


When I worked at the Sierra Nevada House III in Coloma in the early seventies, one of the tourists' favorite stops was at the Friday House, where George Mathis had his studio. He sold watercolors, prints, cards, etc. of his art work, and much of what he depicted was in the Coloma area.


If you were lucky, and he was in the right mood, he might draw for you a little sketch of a cabin, and present it to you as a gift. No bigger than about 3 by 4 inches or so. He would always sign, and sometimes date them.

I have two sketches, the one below which is on a piece of paper which opens up like a small card, and the sketch that I got from him in the very early seventies, which is the last photo shown. I am irritated with my younger self because I folded it in the middle, so it now has a crease.


Below is the sketch I received from George and promptly folded! The crease is visible at the top middle.


I wonder how many times he drew his little cabin. And how many survived.

Enjoy your day!

7 comments:

EM said...

Wonderful! One of the things I like about your blog is the love of history of place. Thanks for sharing the memories.

gracie@ohgraciepie said...

I bet there are hundreds of them! He must have gotten good at whipping those up real quick!

Heidi Ann said...

I went there with Garry once, and he got one of those little sketches - I thought it was really cool, and I remember wishing it was mine! Who knows whether or not he would have kept it, or what would have happened to it.

Pat Orr said...

I have one of those small sketches that he did when we visited his house. It is signed and dated 1975.

Rebecca said...

I have one dated 1964. I also have a 9x13 of the Sierra Nevada House where I worked from 1964-1967 while I went to El Dorado High School.

Dan Scott said...

I just found one in a pile of stuff from my parents' house.

Framed, dated 1974.

writedesign said...

I have one from the Breuner's Mack Road Grand Opening in '72. I attended specifically to get a signed sketch as I was already a collector.