To The Printers

Our girl's getting married and I'm taking on the invitations! I've dabbled in calligraphy for years and love it. My first big project was twenty nine years ago when I addressed envelopes for our wedding. I have a standing offer to my nieces and nephews that Uncle John will address their envelopes as a gift. Some have taken me up on it, and they were rewarding to do. Being of German descent I really enjoy writing out some of the traditional names. They look sharp in calligraphy.

For Amy I wanted to do it all from scratched. I pitched the idea after coming up with comparative costs to commercially available offerings, and they "gave me the job". Amy went with a pocket fold format, with individual cards for RSVP, Reception and Map. With invitation they are folded together in a pocket fold envelope. She had the idea of the owls, so I came up with a simple sketch after looking over the Internet for sample owl sketches. I needed to find out what "makes an owl" with minimum line work. All my work is done large scale and scaled down by the printer. I've gone with an off-set printer (good stuff) because my dad was an off-set pressman and I wanted it done in a way he would be proud of, since he's not here to see the event.

The last picture also has a mock-up I made to illustrate the concept. I'll have more pictures later of the finished product.

PS: I finished the roto-tilling this weekend and didn't blow my cool once!

Be Patient, Doofus!

Sometimes things happen that seem bad initially, but have some merit in the long run. For example, this bruised fingernail. It will take months to heal, and is a constant reminder that patients is a nice virtue. Every year, before the snows come, we like to till the garden with organic matter so it can rest the Winter. I had problems with the roto-tiller (again) and I worked myself into a frenzy. Slamming that nail between a flying strap buckle and the utility trailer rail came along to refocus my attention.

Tomorrow I'll rent the roto-tiller again to start the new growing year. The weather is going to be nice and Wilma says it's time. Not even going to try the old roto-tiller. I'll see if I learned anything from a few months ago.

Broken Borders

Wish I could say my absence was because I was abducted by a space alien and I was just returned home after months of human experiments. But nothing so grandeur. I just fell out of the habit due to a splash of activity and never got back in the saddle. There is probably a deep seated psychological explanation, but I'm not smart enough to figure that out. I do know that even though I wasn't sketching, I was viewing the world in terms of what would make a good sketch. I'm addicted. So here I am again.

Border's Book Store is going under. That's old news to anyone not living under a rock. As a family we like to shop book stores. Each of us may have a favorite but we like them all. In most towns in Kansas we don't have multiple choices in each city of the BIG book stores. Take out a BIG store and it changes things like family traditions. When we visit Lawrence, we usually hit Border's. Guess now we won't. We'll still have our independent book stores, but things will be different.

On The Arkansas

Well, it's 1 a.m. and I just got home from a business meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. Figured what's a few more minutes of no sleep in order to post the journal entry I sketched while I was there.

A couple of my peers recommended the river trails built along the Arkansas River in Little Rock. Drove to Murray Dam and Lock and spent the time until sundown walking this great trail. The city built a HUGE bridge for pedestrians over the river and lock system. As if that wasn't enough to gawk and sketch, a crew was repairing the shoreline rock, right under the bridge! I had a front row seat, as did the dozens and dozens of citizens coming out to walk/bike/run/photograph on a nice full moon evening. This was a jackpot way to spend time away from home. I pulled out my sketch gear and got busy.

Headlamp

Times have changed. In the old days, when a headlight was out, you needed to buy a heavy glass sealed beam. Remove and replace took some time. A bracket around the face of the lens sometimes moved and the headlamp would need to be re-aligned. These days it's a lot easier. Amy's low beam went out on the passenger side. The new halogen beams are a snap to replace. Then I got to lookin' at the old bulb. It was actually a busy piece of equipment with many surfaces interacting, and a very colorful O-ring. The chrome base of the glass bulb even had ornate cut-outs. This thing just called out to be sketched!

Pictures for Winna

At my friend, Winna's, request, here are pictures of our house, with a fresh coat of paint. The pictures don't show the left and right parts of this crooked ranch style house. Didn't paint them and I wanted to show the paint. The siding is Masonite with imitation wood grain. The siding came alive with the new paint. Didn't realize how dull the old paint was.

In the first picture, note the intersection of the porch roof and the house roof. That's where the wasps came out of to sting me.

In the second picture, the eave is 16' above ground where the walkout basement is. That was one tall ladder I had to climb. Glad I don't freak out with height.

I just took these pictures tonight because we have major rain moving in from the Gulf Coast tropical storm. Won't see the sun for a while, and it's the sun that makes the color pop out. Next I'll recondition and refinish the deck and porch woodwork. Never-ending.

Ah-Fresh Paint

Time to paint the house. Mostly done as I post this. Took a while to get started because of rain, heat, and other obligations/fun. It sure looks nice now that it's done. Just wish it lasted a few more years between paintings. These latex paints sure beat the oil-based paints of my youth. Painting buildings around the farm was a protracted effort. Clean-up was a real job. The youth of today that learn how to paint won't know what they missed.
Note: The main color of our house is yellow, not the version of salmon that my scanner chose.