The Amazing Grace of John and Judy

I painted this sign for John Pedersen and Judy Kaufman's Amazing Grace music store in San Anselmo.

Amazing Grace will be moving soon to a new location, hopefully this year. Larry decided it would be a good idea to post these photos of me painting the sign and its placement in the store window.  Here you can see the plywood sheet with the shape of the sign painted in.

Here is the sign in the window.  You can see the reflections of the passing cars in the windows.  I think I will be reworking the lettering when Amazing Grace moves to its new location one building away.

Amazing Grace has been here at this location for over 30 years; my sign for 14+-years .

This sign is the first I ever painted and unfortunately I did not realize that there was sign paint created for lettering.  I used acrylic paint for the lettering which did not flow smoothly. 

The story of how the sign came to be involves a certain guitar. I was working in the store one day when I picked up this guitar and it would not leave my body.  I came home and talked about it with Larry and my mother and they both said I should try and get it. John and Judy are the kind of people who understand how important an instrument can be to someone. They came up with a creative solution of time and trade for me. I traded time in the store, my 1967 Martin guitar and the work creating the sign for the most wonderful guitar--a 1956 Martin 0018-- I could ever imagine. 

However, the irony of it all is that I painted one day straight for 13 hours on the lettering and injured my right hand.  I was unable to play my sweet guitar for 5 years and over the last 10 my hand has been slowly recovering.  I still have to decide which I want to do for any given day, paint, play my guitar or garden.  Even though the healing has been slow I am very grateful to have the use of my hand again.  Take heed everyone - don't over use your hand!

Striking a Blow for Creator's Rights:Or Larry and Sam Beat the Hell Out of Hardware Wars

Filmmaker Ernie Fosselius offered me a trade of a new  DVD of his classic Hardware Wars for video documentation of the destruction of the older unauthorized version (created without the approval or consent of Ernie Fosselius) which I owned.

Here are a few clips of my son, Sam, and I striking a blow for creator’s rights (I’ve left out many magic moments including those dealing  with power tools).

Molly's turn: A Wonderful Mother and Artist Remembered, Virginia Irvin

Gini working on bust of her sister Barbara

from sketchbook early 1950's

rough for color drawing using Gini's children Christie and Jamie

color drawing completed

San Francisco looking towards Coit Tower

Gini Working at The Seattle Times

Golden Gate Fields for the S.F. Examiner

This work done on commission for a Doctor's office

one of many drawings of models for the newspapers

Looking across S.F. towards the bay

Gini modeling for a Lily Co.

Home on Potereo Hill

drawing herself

Gini loved to use Japanese Ink Stick

Here again the Japanese Ink Stick

Pensive Virginia

Bolinas, California

daughter Molly, age 16, playing guitar

Mozart

This sheep is from a small sketchbook

Virginia's surprise 70th Birthday Party in Fairfax

Gini was an avid life drawing participant

these are just a few examples of her many many beautiful nudes

Virginia at her home in Fairfax     circa 2000

The month of March marks the 2nd anniversary of my Mother's death.  She was a huge influence in my life and I know she had many friends who felt the richer for knowing her.  She was born to artists, so it was natural and very comfortable for her to draw, she drew like we breath.  She was never without a sketch book throughout her active life and loved to record everything going on around her.  She was so adept at the quick sketch that many newspaper (San Francisco Examiner, Seattle Times, Portland Oregonian) hired  her as their "artist on the spot".  These are some of my favorite drawings by her as well as some photos which capture her lovely, serene self.  From these photos you would never know what a wacky sense of humor she had- but she did!  I miss my best friend.

Larry’s Cartoon Vault Pt II: The Cartooning Correspondence Courses

In the last post I focused on the early 20^th century cartoon instruction books.

Those booklets were easily accessible and were for most young hopeful cartoonists the only educational outlet available-- with the exception of the mail-order cartoon courses.

The premier correspondence course was Charles N. Landon’s Landon School of Illustration and Cartooning. Landon, a veteran cartoonist of The Cleveland Press and art director of NEA (the Newspaper Enterprise Association) probably wasn’t the first to offer a correspondence course in cartooning but his was most certainly the most successful.

The roster of graduates includes many of the most renowned comic strip, editorial and magazine cartoonists of the 1930’s,40’s and ‘50’s.

Among them were Milton Caniff , Bill Maudlin, Merrill Blosser, Floyd Gottfredson, Edwina Dumm, Carl  Barks, Jack Cole, Gil Fox, Chic Young , V.T. Hamlin, Gene Byrnes, Clifton Meek, Roy Crane, Dorman H. Smith (who started his own mail-order course years later –see previous post), Stanley Link, Edgar Martin, Ethel Hays and Bill Holman.  

Here from the Cartoon Vault is a sampling of the Landon correspondence course.

Landon placed ads in a variety of magazines such as Cartoons Magazines.

Students received lessons on a regular basis.

Students returned work for evaluation.

Landon also published Pen and Ink Magazine which published students work.



Larry's Cartoon Vault: Cartoon Instruction Books

In the olden days –the first half of the 20^th century-- if you wanted to become a cartoonist you would find few places that  offered formal training in comic art (Unlike today. Now students can study cartooning, animation or the aesthetics of the graphic novel at a variety of institutions including  the Center for Cartoon Studies, CalArts  and the Kubert  School of Cartoon and Graphic Art).

Young hopefuls used to rely on correspondence art schools such as the Landon School of Illustration and Cartooning, Correspondence Institute of America, W.L.Evans School of Cartooning or they purchased one of the many how-to instruction booklets.

Below is a sampling from my archives of some early cartoon instruction books:

This one is by George Lichty 1944

This series is by the great George Carlson



Dorman H. Smith was a fine editorial cartoonist.
He lived out the latter years of his life right here in Fairfax, Ca.



1938

Billy Hon from 1927

A caricature of Billy Hon by San Francisco cartoonist Douglas Rodger



Someone left clear evidence of the cartooning student learning curve.



Frank Webb 1948



Chuck Thorndike published numerous such booklets.
This one is from 1936

 

Ed Cullen's ultra-strange Kartoon Kadoodler concept.
It comes with a plastic "Kadoodler" template. 1951



by J.A. Patterson



from Cartoonist's Exchange 1941



by Gerald Findler. Published in London.

by Charles Stoner 1941



  by veteran Chas. Kuhn the creator of the Grandma comic strip.
This one is from 1921