Going Away Artwork

Hi All,

I hope you're all doing well.  I'd like to feature "going away art" today.  Here's what that is.  If you're part of an organization that may have members moving on every now and then, you may consider developing some type of art to reproduce as a unique going away gift.  It can be a nice memento that you can personalize easily as an added touch.

As a career Air Force member, I've done my share of moving around.  Over the years I've collected a number of plaques and photos and things from various places, given to me as going away gifts.  As an artist, I thought - "why not come up with something unique, reproducible, and maybe something that we could easily personalize or use as a fundraiser.  So I started developing pen and ink artwork that could be reproduced, given as gifts, and easily framed.

Prime BEEF - 11" x 14"
Pen and ink on bristol board.

The picture above was done for the 11th Civil Engineer Squadron (CE), in Washington, DC (where I was First Sergeant for a few years).  Their deployed mission is called "Prime BEEF" and is represented by a bull - so that was a major theme in the piece.  I also included a local flavor from DC and the CE corps badge (lower left corner).  I wanted to make it a fun memento that I could easily print up at Kinkos or a local print shop in a nice quality paper.  I left a "hole" in the middle to write a personalized message for the recipient.

55th OSS - 18" x 24"
Pen and Ink on Illustration Board

I developed a larger montage illustration for the 55th Operations Support Squadron in Nebraska.  They hired me to develop this as a piece they could reproduce and use as a long term fundraiser.  The piece represents the local area as well as scenes from around the base.   I did the same thing for the hospital at Offutt AFB as well.  They went over well...the hospital Commander even proudly gave one to the base Commander when he departed for another assignment.

Over the years I've done a few others as well at various places.  They're fun and can even make a few bucks for you or your charitable organization.  I'm sure this type of thing could be developed for various corporate offices, schools, charitable organizations...anywhere people come and go occasionally.

Take care all and have a great week........

Peace,

Tom