A Thank You Returns

I've been 'under the gun' to get art work completed for the Western Heritage Artists Show and Sale which opens on the 15th of March in Great Falls, but I also owed a Thank You to a patron. I completed a Harley motorcycle image for her in January, and simply had not had the chance to thank her for her purchase.

Yesterday, I received the card back as NOT DELIVERABLE. If I could show you the entire address line, which I won't, it can clearly be read by anyone who can actually READ. I suspect a machine could not read it, so therefore it was kicked back to me. I'm not at all happy.

It is now going back to the post office, and I will get an explanation for this 'human' error, because I can't accept this ridiculous rejection.

Two More for the Flyway

This makes an even dozen. I have one more to do and then I can start doing commissioned work that I garnered at the Footprints on the Trail Show.

Two More!

Two more sincere Thank You's on their way to patrons who purchased during the Footprints on the Trail show.

Two more Fly Away.

After being out of town for three days, I've returned to catch up with thank yous. More tomorrow as well.

Riding Shotgun and One for the Road

I wonder if I have any more wrecked car or gun related paper... Why, yes, I do. Now, to get my Thank you's taken care of.

Two More for the Mailman

It looks to me like I'm going to be at this for a couple of weeks. I only have one patent medicine left if anyone is interested...

Not to worry. The active ingredient in this one is tap water.

Red Dots Get a Thank You

Patrons who purchase art from me get what they deserve - a proper THANK YOU.

Fly Paper for the Fly Fisherman

Another piece off of the drawing table and headed to the Footprints on the Trail, Western Heritage Artists Show and Sale. Opening on the 16th of March, I intend to leave this one unframed for the show. This piece is dated the 16th of February, 1904, sent from Marshall-Wells Hardware Company in Duluth, Minnesota, to C. W. Rank and Company in Virginia City, Montana. I've not had a bit of trouble finding new homes for the four previous pieces of 'fly paper' I've completed, and I don't think I'll have a problem finding a new home for this one either.

The above image is of the top of the piece which I thought it best to include in this post, as well as the dimensions: It is eight and one half inches wide by fourteen inches tall, and would display nicely in a frame.

Footprints Success

I had eleven Thank You cards to send after the Western Heritage Artists Footprints on the Trail Art Show and Sale this year. This first one was not a sale, but a gift. These folks bought the very first piece of old paper that I framed up and sold off the wall at an antique show here in Helena. They've been patrons ever since. They came to my room this year and gave me a color proof sheet from the second printing of "Good Medicine", which was a compilation of illustrated letters and envelopes by Charlie Russell. The proof sheet is old and brittle and stained in a couple of places, but it is like gold to me.

The second is to the patron who purchased My Brownie Baking Company piece which I did for the Quick Finish on Thursday evening, and a fun piece it was! He wanted the Chocolate as much as Uncle Sam did.

The third is to the patron who purchased My Breakfast Brownie piece on Saturday evening at the Art for Causes Quick Finish and Auction. And a lively auction it was! Our primary cause this year was Breast Cancer Awareness and we raised over $11,000.

To call this year's show a success is an understatement. And to top it all off, we welcomed a new grandchild to the family at 11:00 AM on Sunday, the last day of the show. Her name is Celine.

Coaled Feet Too

This is the second of two letterheads that I acquired from the Waterworks Art & Heritage Center in Miles City, Montana, in the Spring of 2012. The Custer County Historical Society was forced to close their office, and the folks at the Art & Heritage Center allowed me to purchase any paper that I found that was of interest to me.

The letter itself is a bid submitted to the City for coal, delivered by rail from the mines mostly West and a bit North of Miles City by approximately 225 miles.

I completed the first of the two letterheads in July of 2012, and I posted it in early August. That piece sold in September of 2012 at auction to support the Waterworks Art & Heritage Center. This one will be going to the Footprints on the Trail art show and sale in Great Falls, Montana, opening the 18th of this month for four days.

Quick Finish! Western Heritage Art Show

I'm going to be participating in the Quick Finish and Auction fundraiser to support the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center on Thursday evening, the 20th of March during the Western Heritage Artists Show and Sale.

 

There will also be a Quick Finish on Saturday evening prior to the Art Competing for Causes fundraising Auction, and I'll be participating in that one as well. For more information about this event, visit the Art Competing for Causes event Facebook page, or the Western Heritage Artists web page.

This years show and sale is the 33rd annual event to be held at the Holiday Inn, and it begins on Wednesday evening with the Preview event. Artists are encouraged to enter one piece in the Juried Lobby show and offers the public an overview of the art that they'll find in the artist's rooms through Sunday afternoon. Best of Show, People's Choice, Artist's Choice, Best New Artist as well as First Place in each category receive cash prizes and ribbons.

I have not decided which of the above pieces I will finish on either Thursday evening or Saturday evening, but I have done Russell 'Brownies' for the past two years for the Quick Finish events, and they've been well received. I'm not going to meddle with success until I run out of  'Little People'. I will have both of these pieces cancelled at the C.M. Russell Post Office on March 19th. This year is special since March 19th is the 150th Anniversary of Russell's birthday. These mail art pieces are all the more special to me, because Charlie is the reason I started doing mail art as a youngster. Old Soak is in the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming, and W.C. Fields is in the Russell Museum collection in Great Falls. I have seen both, and photographed W.C. Fields several years ago when it, along with several other of Charlie's 'Little People' were on display.

Willie's War Horse

Wm.Wrigley Junior Company

leterhead

This is a piece I will be offering at the Western Heritage Artists Show next week in Great Falls, Montana, during Western Art Week. It is a two page letter from Wrigley's explaining why NOBODY in the U.S. will be able to purchase Wrigley's gum until the war is over. Along with a copy of the first page, I am also including the original second page, as well as the model that I used for the image I included. Bill Mauldin was a cartoonist whose war time characters included two soldiers with the names Willie and Joe. They (and he) were revered by every soldier. And every soldier got his share of Wrigley's!

Candy Man - from C. M. Russell

The Western Heritage Artists Show will begin next Wednesday, March 13th at 6:00 PM, and will continue through Sunday, March 17th at 5:00 PM.  I've participated in this event for 4 years, and I'm pleased to say that every year it has become a more fulfilling experience. With an art show like this, each artist in a separate room, it is often difficult to get to know the other artists. Some return, some do not. There are several events that make it a little different than other shows in Great Falls during Western Art Week, and I'll point out just a few of them:

PREVIEW NIGHT

On Wednesday evening at 6:00 PM there will be an award ceremony and a welcome for the new artists for this year's show. The Lobby Show accepts one work from every participating artist, and the work is Juried earlier in the day. The artist rooms are open until 10:00 PM.

QUICK FINISH

to support the Lewis & Clark Foundation

Event begins at 6:00 PM Thursday evening 

This event offers patrons and supporters an opportunity to watch while the participating artists complete - or finish - a piece of art work in 45 minutes. It's like being in twenty studios and one gallery all at one time. The piece you see above will be completed by me. Last year's Quick Finish piece was a HUGE success, and I've used another piece from the C. M. Russell Museum Collection for this year's event. This little Russell 'Brownie' sits atop a birch bark and wooden candy box, and the Museum provided me with a high quality photograph to use as my model.

PAINT AROUND

and Roaring Twenties Sapphire Bash

This event begins at 4:00 PM on Friday, with the Paint Around beginning at 6:00 PM, as artists start a piece of art work, and then move to the next artist's station and work for five minutes using what has been provided by each artist. The event is followed by a Live Auction of the finished pieces. This event was also a HUGE success last year, and I'm participating again this year

.ART AUCTION BENEFIT
to support the WOUNDED WARRIORS PROJECT and
MONTANA WOUNDED WARRIORS

This is one event that shouldn't be missed. Beginning at 4:00 PM on Saturday March 16th, it will feature both a Silent and Live Auction. Please visit this page for a quick glimpse of what the Western Heritage Artists have provided to support our Wounded Warriors, not only nationally, but here in Montana as well. The piece that I have submitted for the Live Auction can be viewed HERE.

I hope to visit with old acquaintances and make some new friends as well!

Indian Motocycle Rides Home on a BMW

I completed two pieces of Indian paper before going to the Western Heritage Artists show in Great Falls, Montana, the 14th through the 18th of March past.  Bob (and his wife) purchased a piece of Winchester paper in 2010, and they didn't find anything in my room last year that piqued their interest.

My theory is that if you offer a little bit of history with some art in the mix, people sooner or later will fall for a nice dose of both.

Bob liked Contact Point #2, which I tied with a leather thong to a BMW badge from a 1923 BMW motorcycle for his Thank You. Indian paper is not only hard to come by, but hard to hold onto. I love it when that happens. And thanks to my Brother-In-Law Tom Benson for gifting me the wonderful paper.

The Parrot Talked - and Walked! PFF #54

Back in November of last year, I posted an image of a Parrot Confectionery receipt - with an image of a  Poll-Parrot Shoes bookmark with which I had "enhanced" the old paper. This Parrot wasn't eating peanuts in my room at the Western Heritage Artists show the middle of March. It flew the coop like the little guy in the return address.

This is the Thank you I sent to a couple of folks who now have Breakfast Brownie Doughgirl and The Walkin' Talkin'  Good Tastin' Chocolate Bookmark.

I'm also in the game today for Postcard Friendly Friday, my 54th. If you like to look at mail art, hop on over to Beth Niquette's The Best Hearts Are Crunchy where she plays hostess for the day.

C. M. Russell Brownie

I was introduced to C. M. Russell by my parents in 1953. He was the reason I'm doing what I'm doing.

I've done my best to depict a small figure that Russell carved and constructed out of birch bark, twigs, moss and what appears to be cedar driftwood. It's in the C. M. Russell Museum in the lower gallery.

This piece is to be finished next Thursday evening at the Quick Finish event to support the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. It's exciting to be part of Western Art Week in Great Falls, and one of my only opportunities to meet a lot of people and expose them to something they've perhaps never seen before.

The attraction to Great Falls is primarily focused on - Western Art.

There are over a half dozen shows going on at different venues around the city during Western Art Week.  Over the course of thirty years, the Western Heritage Artists show at the Holiday Inn has been a constant. Some of the shows are focused on dead artists, but I've never met one of them at the Western Heritage Artists show.

Charlie Russell is an obvious main attraction. The Quick Finish event gives artists who participate (about twenty) exactly forty five minutes to complete a piece of artwork which is then put up for auction. A very good cause, and although this is not my first event of this kind, forty five minutes to do what needs to be done (in this case) makes it enjoyable as well.

This is what I hope it will look like, only better, since I have now settled on what I'm going to use for the lettering colors, and I changed the composition slightly to better fit the overall piece.

Indian Motocycle - Indian 4

The last time I posted it was 2011. It isn't as if I've been busy, because I have. I owe every one of you faithful followers a visit - or at least a note. At one time I tried to greet each new person who decided to follow me. I've been woefully lacking when it comes to doing that.

This is a piece of Indian factory letterhead, and one that I had not seen but infrequently on eBay. I've been told (by my understanding spouse of over forty years)  I have enough paper in my studio to last me a lifetime. I hope I get the opportunity to make that comment come true for both of us.

The Western Heritage Artists show open during Western Art Week in Great Falls, Montana, on March 14th and runs through the afternoon of March 18th. I'm also including a link to my page on the WHA site.  There are several events I would like to mention here, including a Quick Finish on Thursday evening, followed by an auction of the pieces completed by about twenty of us to benefit the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.

On Saturday evening, there will be an auction of juried art pieces in support of the Western Heritage Artists Association and Special Olympics of Montana.

On Sunday afternoon, there will be a Paint-Around, followed by an auction of the pieces created during the event. Groups of five to eight artists have ten minutes to work on their own piece before moving to the next artist's station in the group, where the artist has five minutes to "help". When you get back to your own you have ten minutes to finish what you started.

I've thrown my hat in the ring for all of the events.

Later this week I will post the before images of what I'm creating during the work-related events, and hopefully I'll be able to provide after images as well.

And a note to those artists whom I am following. I simply have not had the time to comment when indeed, I have often wanted to take the time to do just that. I'll make up for that as soon as I can.