maple syrup drawing

My father-in-law has a good friend who is starting a maple syrup business. He wanted to give him a small piece of artwork to commemorate the start. Ashley (my wife) sketched out a great idea/layout and I added some hatching and cross-hatching to tone it out a bit. Throw down some script type for the "252 Buckets and a Dream" and it is done. 

Ashley's sketch...

My final rendering...

great artwork you don't see in art history textbooks #3

Every once in a while we see things (in this case, Art) that stop us in our tracks. The image(s) stick with us. They leave an impression that never leaves. I love it when these things happen. They cause us to love our days above ground and also, when one wishes to be an artist, cause us to wonder if we are capable of having others feel this way about our works.

Rich Kelly is making posters that do this for me. A truly talented man. The elongated characters and the angled depth and uniquely created space make for an image that never seems to feel uninteresting. I smile with that sense of envy and love that always comes from great art. 

so good....so good you see.

matt's first pinewood derby car

Lacking the necessary tools sure does limit the prospects of winning one of these events. My son Matt and I decided on style over speed....(thank goodness!!!!) He wanted a Batman themed vehicle so I Dremelled out a generic shape for the hood and fins on the back. He wanted his Lego Batman to be driving this beast so I had to make room. I almost lost a finger on the seat section using my Ryobi sawzall. It was not meant for that job. I had to drill multiple times across the floor, under the seat, to get that section to fall from the block. The rest is almost all Matt. He painted it black. He used an eraser from the tip of a pencil to apply the headlight paint. He cut out the ovals for the Batman logos. He traced over my sketches to blacken the logos. He applied gloss medium to the back of the ovals and placed them onto car. He then used a hammer, with some precision, to set the nails that hold the wheels. I used a flat head screwdriver to keep the nail heading in the right direction as Matt clobbered the nails and the plastic tires. We had a blast and he was most proud of his creation. 

I made sure that he was okay with the fact that he had little chance of winning the derby but he would have a car he could really be happy with. It now rests proudly in the living room above our Village of McKee sign.