A Texas Sized Vacation

Hi All,

Hope all you fathers had a great Fathers Day.  I did.  Well - I'm going to have to keep this quick today.  I'm  doing a quick update because I'm about to get on the road and drive to Texas.  I'm on my way out to Texas to see my parents and some other family as well.

I've got a long day on the road ahead of me so I've got to get going.  I just wanted to say Hi and I'll be back here in about a week and a half.  So have a great week - make it your best week ever.  Today is the only day we have (you know the old saying....yesterday's gone, tomorrow's not here - we only have the Present...that's why today is a gift).  Yeah - it's a little bit cliche, but very true.

Have a great day and see you soon....Aloha,

Tom

Self Portrait Cartoon - circa mid 90s.
I did this when I was an illustrator in the Air Force.
(and a few years younger)

Special Postal Event Products

Hi All,

Recently I took on a project to put together some designs and artwork for custom products for the US Post Office in Cascade, Wisconsin.  This post office branch was having a special event -- first: the zip code, or postal code was going to match the date 53011 (May 30th, 2011), and Cascade, WI is having a Centennial Celebration this summer.

So what did they want to do?  They wanted to commemorate these events with a special postmark rubber stamp, a collectors edition envelope, and they had a special postage stamp made for the occasion as well.

First I started with black and white artwork for the postmark; used to cancel stamps on mailed letters and packages.  Now - Cascade is, by all accounts, a wonderful and beautiful small town in rural Wisconsin, however, it's not a town with many landmarks.  So the Postmaster recommended we use the bridge over Cascade Falls.

Cascade Falls Bridge; Pen and Ink, scanned and touched up in Photoshop

This pen and ink artwork was then dropped into a design for the rubber stamp.  I did provide the artwork, but someone on the other end developed the final rubber stamp (postmark), design.

Final Postmark using the Cascade Falls Bridge artwork

Once we had that taken care of, we focused on the envelope.  The postmaster gave me many photos and some basic ideas for an envelope.  She sent me some examples of what has been done in the past to look at also.  These envelopes as strictly collectors items and not for actual mailing.  As most of you may know, collecting stamps and other postal paraphernalia is very popular in certain circles.

Cascade Commemorative Envelope - 3 5/8" x 6 1/2"

The artwork is the size of a number 6 3/4 envelope.  I took some of the photos from around town and prepped them for the envelope as well as the town welcome sign.  I wanted to put a map in the upper left corner to show where Cascade is.  I drew an outline of Wisconsin and colored the background in a very loose shading - to match the loose coloring on the envelope background.  The background was painted using some custom brushes, layering semi-transparent colors, using Adobe Photoshop.  In the background, a very light image of the old mill stands out in the upper center, but not be dark enough to distract.  The top and right parts of the envelope would be kept "clear" of solid or dark imagery so the stamp and postmark could be applied.

The last piece is the postage stamp.  A local Cascade artist developed artwork based on the old mill, to be on the stamp and the postmaster ordered them for the local Cascade Post Office.

Custom Postage Stamp of the Old Mill in Cascade, WI

At the end, you put them all together: purchase an envelope and stamp, put the stamp on it and get the special postmark applied to it.  Then you have the collectors item to add to your stamp collection.

Mockup of the what the final collectors edition envelope would look
like with the stamp on it and the postmark stamped on to it.

Note: In the spirit of full disclosure; my cousin Kaye Kreienbrink Kielbasa is the Postmaster of the Cascade Post Office.  I took this on to be a fun, special project and I received no compensation from her or the US Postal Service.  I hope there are stamp collectors out there who have enjoyed the custom products and are proudly displaying them in their collections.

Have a great week everyone and let me know what projects you need help with.

Aloha.
Tom

Childrens Dental Month Artwork

Hi All,

I'm highlighting a couple of fun pieces that I created while working as a medical illustrator several years ago.  At that time I not only did anatomy illustrations, but I got to work on fun projects like this one too.

This project started when some of the people in the Dental Clinics were planning educational presentations; to visit schools and teach kids about Dental care for Children's Dental Month.  So they requested some fun posters that they could use to support their  presentations to the kids.

Enamel - 18" x 24"; marker and airbrush acrylic
on illustration board

The first was a representation of Enamel.  I made the posters about 18" x 24" and used markers, acrylic and airbrush.  All totaled I created 6 posters.  The presenters could set them up in the classroom and discuss the topics on the board.  This allowed the kids to learn some good information in a fun way.

Acid - 18" x 24"; marker and airbrush acrylic
on illustration board

The second poster is Acid.  Again, the same idea as the other poster.  A serious topic - Acid - something that can be bad for teeth, presented in a fun way -- as a mad scientist.

I do have to note one thing.  I've since touched up the images in Photoshop.  Unfortunately, I have a record of the originals on 35mm slides.  I scanned them in to the computer a couple years ago - and they needed a little help.  So, I "fixed" them up using Photoshop and my Wacom Tablet.

This was a fun job and as I recall they were a hit with the kids.

Have a great week everyone.  Let me know if I can assist with your future presentations.

Aloha.

Tom

Apache Man Artwork

Hi All,

Today I wanted to showcase a piece I did to round out our Southwest style living room and dining room.  It's suitably titled, "Apache Man."  (a picture of a man from the Apache Indian tribe).

The Backstory; My wife and I moved back to the southwestern United States about a year ago.  We lived out here many years ago, and have always liked the southwest style, with the pueblos, cactus, cowboys and indians, etc...so ultimately, we wanted some southwestern art in the house.
Now, I'm the artist in our partnership, but she's the interior designer.  She listens to some of my input (and I occasionally have a good idea), but it's something she has a knack for, and it's her "baby."

One of the features we have in our house is a front living room with an adjoining dining room and we decided to go southwest with it.  Sue had found great living room furniture and I'd eventually do some artwork for the walls.  A few months ago, we took a day trip up to a town called Payson.  It's an old Arizona cowboy town up at higher elevation where it's cooler and has trees (as opposed to the hot Phoenix desert).  While up there we poked around some of the local antique and art stores, and found the frame that we had to have.  It's a great frame made from reclaimed wood with old barbed wire around it...perfect for the dining room theme.  We hung the frame, before the artwork was done.

Frame close up - the inspiration for the picture - reclaimed
wood with barbed wire...love it!

Next we needed a picture to fill that frame.  I wanted to do something very Arizona-ish.  The southwest themes usually include warm colors like oranges, yellows, browns.  I wanted to hit that color pallet, and wanted to find just the right subject.  I already had an acrylic painting of a native American woman in the living room.  When I found the photo reference of this Apache man, I knew I had the starting point for my picture.

Apache Man - colored pencil, airbrush on
Canson paper; 18 x 24

I started with a piece of peach/orange colored Canson paper.  I love the way it takes a nice soft colored pencil and graphite pencil; it has a great texture.  I worked the picture with colored pencil, using a warm pallet that complemented the background.  I used some very dark graphite black pencils for the blacks.  To finish, I added some airbrush colors, adding some dark tones and shading.  I tried to be subtle with the airbrush, so it didn't become an "airbrush" painting, but just to add some smooth colors and dark background.

Hanging on my wall

When I was done, I trimmed it up and mounted it in the frame.  And, it now graces our dining room wall.  I'll be doing more southwest style fine art in the future and will share with you.

If you need artwork to decorate your place, let me know -- I can help.

Have a great week all...Summer is here, so stay cool.
Till next time,
Tom