Boxcar Rocky

Recently I acquired a couple of pieces of Great Northern letterhead, and although this one is dated 1902, Rocky the Mountain Goat had not yet made his official appearance. He's headed to the framers so that he can make his appearance at the Western Heritage Artists Show and Sale during Western Art Week. The Railroad of my youth.

Sody-Licious Too!

Back in 2009 when I was just getting my feet wet with this old paper business, I found two sheet of this letterhead in a large Priority Mail envelope filled with paper from a business in Spokane, Washington, called Northwest Chemical and School Supply. I began researching the company using the fabulous web resource called Google.

I found a gentleman in California who collects this type of bottle. It is called an ACL, which stands for Applied Color Label. These bottles are usually only one applied color, but some may have multiple colors. I had not seen what the bottle looked like, so I contacted the gentleman to see if he could supply an image. My request was answered in short order. Although I offered to pay for the photograph, he agreed to give me several photos in exchange for a scan of the letterhead that led me to him.

I had intended to portray the reverse side of the bottle on the second sheet of letterhead, but after considering my options, I decided to portray the front side as I had back in 2009. 

No matter how small or intricate the subject, you always discover something different the second time you approach it. This was no exception. My first attempt, I really abused the paper. This time I did not, and I'm happier with the color this time around as well.

And for the record, the reverse side has the following: "Famous Brands of Kittitas County and Sody-Licious Beverage Company".

Bronco Billy visits Virginia City

They loved their fireworks in Virginia City. I have completed several pieces with the same theme, all with various line items for 4th of July celebrations. All are dated in June. In this case, plenty of time to get munitions from St. Paul, Minnesota. This image is a mash up of a package and a label. The label was displayed on the web at a vintage label site. The package had a different label, and I wanted a red package to go with the label.

The above image is the paper before I started removing characters. One hundred and sixty-three to be exact. Slow and steady. I left no holes, despite the thin, brittle paper. You will notice the characters GIANT FIRE CRACKERS. I incorporated them into the art work.

This is the label before alteration to fit the document.

Shop Dope from Harley Davidson

Like the Willys Knight Plaid Side Sedan, this is a commission for a wonderful patron who decided she wanted a story to tell with a piece of paper. This is what she is getting.

This is the photograph which she loaned to me. After discussions with my brother-in-law and looking at hundreds of images of Harley Davidson motorcycles of the period, I'm ready to send it off to a new home.

  

Russell Vignettes from the Past

This is a piece of mail art for a couple that were subscribers to my First Day Covers in the 90's. They also purchased a number of Russell related covers from me. I have no idea how many of these I did, nor the number of Russell images I produced in miniature. The Reinke's are more than generous patrons. They are friends. They hung my "art mail" on the wall and made me feel like family. They still do.

The envelopes were produced in 1989 with two runs through the press: The first run was the frame, and the second run was a colorized (by me) version of the stamp in the upper right corner, which was from a C. M. Russell painting entitled "Jerked Down". Some of the envelopes from the first run were reserved, and the one above is an example of an image that I did twice - hence the number 2 behind the title in the lower corner.

This one includes a little extra line treatment on the basic frame by way of the crown, and the color of the frame is different. One of these days perhaps some more of these will see the light of day.

Memories are made of this.

Willys Knight Land Yacht

1930 Model 66b Plaid Side Great Six

Although the Hendricks Auto Company letter, signed by Mr. J. A. Hendricks himself is dated the 8th of November, 1917, this beautiful high end automobile came out of the factory in 1929. This is the first piece of old paper that I've done since March, and the first art I've done since early June.

It's going to the folks who commissioned it very shortly. I'm back in the saddle.