Uneeda Biscuit Boy

In October of 2009 I was struggling to find paper. Although there was a lot of NBC paper available on eBay,  I was more interested in finding paper from their factory here in Helena. This particular piece was glued into a ledger which I examined over a year ago. It was the first piece of NBC letterhead I'd ever seen.

If you compare this piece with the Biscuit Boy I completed in 2009, you'll see that I wasn't as concerned back then about letting the printed portion of the document remain visible through my image. I'm going in a different direction these days. Although it's time-consuming to eliminate the printing where it interferes with my art, the results are well worth the effort. I don't know how long this will last. I'm using an ink eraser that was available years ago, and has now become a collectible. Any of you paper artists with suggestions, my ears are turned on.

I failed to identify the artist of this image in 2009. I started looking for more of the history, and I discovered an archived listing at Robert Edward Auctions that's worth the read. Although his name is misspelled in the lot description, his name was Frederick Stanley.

This is actually the first piece that I sold at the Western Heritage Artists show in Great Falls during Western Art Week. I didn't need the Biscuit Boy's rain slicker until we were packing up on Monday last to drive home. Good weather, despite the fact that we usually get snow around St. Patrick's Day. My paddle was in the water the entire time. I don't have a timetable for posting the rest of the art and the Thank You's that are going to be done. 

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. 

Brownie Drummer PFF #53

 

This is my last post for the year 2011. The next time I get a chance to post we'll be into the new year. I leave Monday for Seattle to visit my brother Dan. Just Because.

Every good business needs a good drummer. I think this one has always fit the bill, even if he's always marched to his own beat. He was good. Really good - at both the first and second definition of drummer as the word is defined in Merriam-Webster.  Besides that, the Baker's (Grandpa, Sonny & Pops) at the Breakfast Brownies Company really could use a good  DRUMMER, second definition. Perhaps Dan will take the job.

This one has not been mailed yet. The reason it hasn't been mailed is that I want Dan to see it when he opens his mail box, and I want to be there with him when he does. So, I will launch it on Saturday. Just Because.

Make certain to stop by The Best Hearts Are Crunchy, where Beth Niquette is the Hostess for Postcard Friendly Friday, and to see what other drummers are doing!

All the Best - To You & Yours - From Me & Mine - for the coming year. And Thanks to all of you who follow me, or who stop by for a peek via Google.

Breakfast Brownies for a Penny

 

My sister Penny and her spouse Chuck Pefley produce a Christmas card every year, as they have since 1992. A collaboration - His image and Her verse, and it's always a welcome bit of Christmas Candy for your eyes.

And your heart.

Thank you to the both of you for making this Christmas so special to me.

The little critter in the upper left hand corner? His name is Do-Bee. That's Chuck on his Vespa. There's Bob on his sled, and Genie just pulled a gold Penny from his bag. I don't think that the little fellow witth his nose in a book is named Mark, but perhaps.

Meet the Bakers of Breakfast Brownies

 

From left to right:

Pops. He's holding the spoon.     Sonny.      Over on the Right is Grandpa.

You've seen this piece before. The artist (I'm not calling him a rip-off artist just yet) hired by the Breakfast Brownies Cereal Company created two, two  column advertising "cartoons" for them. You've seen them both, actually. At least in part. Of the images that I know of for newspaper advertising of this fabulous chocolate cereal, both the boy and girl are well done. The Brownies in the originals? Not quite. I tried working with the little "Brownies" the artist developed, but I kept having to fix them. They just didn't look right.

Then I rediscovered Palmer Cox, and decided I could become an advertising illustrator and come up with characters who could better represent the company.

The paper is not old. The same family friend that cleaned up the Palmer Cox Brownies used for my Christmas mail art was also able to clean up the original piece of Breakfast Brownies Company letterhead that I hold. I then had this recreated piece of letterhead printed on new paper. I'm also going to try using fifty year old toned paper to give the viewer the illusion that they are looking at a real document.

For now, this is a first go at creating a pair of documents to be displayed together, along with the continuing story of the Baker Family.