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I just had to quickly add the two pumpkins Paul and Laura carved this year...I haven't gotten any pictures of the grandkids pumpkins yet and don't know if Ben and Sibylle carved any so I guess first prize goes to Paul and Laura! What a couple of cool pumpkins! Just a reminder to check out Illustration Friday's Black and Orange Competion. It ends today.
Happy Halloween Everyone! So here I am on Water Street in Milwaukee, WI which is the most wonderful place to people watch on the Saturday night closest to Halloween. How appropriate to be drinking a brew on Halloween...don't you think? The big draw is the $1,000 first prize and the second prize Packer Tickets. I have to apologize at the onset of this post for the poor quality of photographs but I had to have you get an idea of what it is all about!
I don't know these people but this is what you do on Water Street...You walk around and take pictures of each other and sometimes the TV crews take pictures of you taking pictures of each other. And then you talk a bit and move on to meet some more folks.
My Grandson would have loved this couple.
Now this is the fellow who had the best costume there! Very slick!
I actually met Popeye and Olive Oil....My sister would be so jealous!
No Halloween is without Elvis and Marilynn Monroe.
Some people come alone but larger than life! You simply have to make it a point to meet them!
And some are so large they are intimidating!
These two came as a butterfly and a ladybug.
Milwaukee must be sporting a new kind of brew!
Some made some money while in costume....
Some didn't wear costumes but hammed it up for the camera just the same as those of us who did!
And then there were those of us who continued to walk around the streets flirting with men in tin costumes (WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN?). The best thing about the whole evening is simply this....strangers talked to strangers, young to old, People just out to have fun....there were no barriers of any kind. Some came in groups, some came alone....everyone talked to everyone....laughter was everywhere! There just aren't enough days like that! I think we should get dressed up no matter how old we get. I think we should have more days that it is ok to get dressed up! Happy Halloween Everyone!
Don't you love them? How does nature do it? These things of many shapes and sizes begin to grow from a little seed! It amazes me every year. And every year they are the subject of so much fun! I love Halloween! I love the pumpkins the best of all. I love to see the things everyone does with them. Everything from carving, to decorating, to drawing them. I love all the different shades of orange. I took these photos with a good friend in Door County earlier this season. I saved them for today to post. To carve your own pumpkin on line go to.... http://www.cubpack81.com/images/carve_pumpkin.swf carve your pumkin and then click DONE to see it light up.
Yesterday I had my boat winterized and stored all of the skis, tubes, fishing rods, and life jackets inside it. Today the whole package left my garage to go into storage itself for the winter. SAD! I waited for an Indian Summer weekend but we never got it. Tonight we dress up and go into Milwaukee where HALLOWEEN is NOT just for kids. I'm going to be a witch. (I am always a witch...I love being a witch but I am a good witch.) Faye is a Fairy, Ang is a beer can and I don't know what Diane is going to be. Water Street has a wonderful contest for the best costume. I have never seen such original costumes. My Grandson is going to be a pirate. Yesterday Jen called so he could tell me about carving his pumpkin and about eating pumpkin seeds which he seems to think is pretty cool.
Autumn is nearly over. I raked leaves this morning...they all seemed to fall at once. Last week they were still on the trees...this week they were in layers on the ground. My trees are looking naked. I did get an inspiration for this week's Illustration Friday while I burned a few leaves. The wind was very strong and I could only burn them in the screened fire pit with the top on it. I hope I can capture the way the wind took the smoke through the screen and swirling into the air and around the house! I smell like burned leaves. Gus is curled up beside me. We are both taking break before we take on the rest of the day. I think about you all and wonder...what are you doing for Halloween?
Little Boys have been scaring little girls forever....same goes for little boy ghosts and little girl ghosts. As I thought about this weeks topic I kept remembering the time I took my youngest son to find a mask for Halloween. It was just the two of us. He was in about 4th grade and into that age where he wanted to look scarey instead of wearing a cute costume....Do you know the age I am talking about? Scarey then wasn't like scarey now.... I did the "tsk tsk" motherly thing but he picked a green faced alien with lime green hair on it....He loved it!!!!!!!!! He ran out of the car to show the rest of the family...(By now it had gotten dark outside) and his little sister threw open the front door to greet us........oh my........It wasn't pretty! I didn't expect her to open the door to see him standing there in his mask! She didn't expect to see this thing....He didn't expect to scare her...I don't think so.......anyway.........as quickly as she opened the door she began to scream and in that very instant she slammed the door shut and continued to scream.....I got out of the car.....her dad jumped out of his recliner to see what she was screaming at.......Ben tore off the mask......anyway it was not at all what anyone expected! So that is what made me think of doing this illustration for this week. That's my story and I'm Sticking to it!
These are a few more of the old prints I have decided to part with on Ebay. I have kept these prints from the public for the last ten years. When I did this picture I wanted to have a place of my own for sewing. Now I finally have that. But I haven't been sewing! I have to quit working to get back to my passions of art and sewing! You can find this print for sale here.
This was one of my favorite prints to create. It was so close to my heart because It was something my son, Ben said everynight when I left his room after tucking him in. I created it so that his little night time ritual would not be forgotten. It simply says, "Good night, Sleep Tight, Hope you had a nice day, Have a nice night, Sweet Dreams" Copyright Ben Rohling 1987. The image was licensed to a rubber stamp company and became quite popular at the time which made the value of the print higher than most. You can find this print here on Ebay.
This print matches the larger heart print that I posted yesterday. The two of them were some of the best sellers from that year. I just love hearts. You can find it for sale here.
I like this bathroom print and did it in 1990. It reads, "Squeeky Clean, Cleanliness is next to Godliness, Clean as a Whistle, Scrub behind your ears." It is framed in a scuffed shabby chic silver frame and is for sale here.
I did this print for teachers everywhere! All these prints measure 5" X 7". It reads, "Educating a child is like making a quilt....All material is important to the finished product. But, some pieces hold treasured memories and give the final effort beauty." I wrote and copyrighted this piece in 1985. All of these prints were done before we had a computer. Actually hardly anyone had a computer then. I hand letted my pieces then...now I find that kind of quaint. You can purchase this print here.
This was one of my very best selling prints. It reads, "Families are for growing up in, going away from, and returning to." You can find it here.
You may be familiar with this print from a previous post I did about it. This piece was one of our best sellers for years. I know...it's a little dated now but I dug it out of the archives to sell it here...I held it back for a period of time before I decided to sell the rest of them. It's funny what time does to make the heart grow fonder! It reads, "A Good friend, like an apron, is comfortable, protecting, and alway appreciated alot." I copyrighted this in 1986. My favorite story about the saying has to do with my daughter. I did this print when she was young. Years later... I was at work when she called me sounding very excited. "Mom!..."she said,"You are not going to believe what happened! I bought a new Gooseberry Patch cookbook and I was relaxing and reading through it. There was a quote from Walt Whitman on one page and Mark Twain on another and then I turned the page and there was a quote that said,"A good friend, like an apron is comfortable, protecting and, always appreciated a lot." And then it said..."Claudia Rohling". Mom, I couldn't believe my eyes!" I, of course, had to laugh really hard. I was so happy that the folks over at Gooseberry Patch had made me look good to my daughter! There is no one else in the world that I would want to impress more than my children! But, that's not the end of the story...this piece also became a cross stitch pattern for Leisure Arts in their Autumn Celebrations publication in 1990. You can find this print for sale here.
If you are interested in purchasing any prints email me here. I do sell wholesale to gift retailers. Please feel free to contact me at any time.
Well here is a blast down memory lane! This is one of several old prints I have decided to part with. Those of you who know me personally know what a big part of my life these prints were. And....all of you helped me out in so many ways! I will be periodically posting them on ebay. You can check out all of my listings at http://my.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyeBay&CurrentPage=MyeBaySelling&ssPageName=STRK:ME:LNLK or type my name into a search and it will take you to my page of listings.
This week's challenge for Illustration Friday is "Smitten". Since it is October I am submitting two vintage looking pumpkins that appear somewhat smitten with one another! The pumpkins are done in marker and pen and ink. Happy Halloween! Please remember all images on my blog are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without permission. Thank You.
The first time I saw James Bond in action I was a young teenage girl! I loved his comebacks....I loved his cool, calm attitude....I fell in love with this man who oozed sophistication and sexuality!!! The world was intrigued with James Bond and longed for a hero that could save us all from the end at the hands of a maniacal bad guy! We were children that were raised with the threat of the atom bomb. The Cold War was reality and so was the war in Vietnam. James Bond represented hope...both on the world wide front and on the personal level that someday we would actually grow out of being just a teenager, know how to talk to the opposite sex, (*ahem*) and do our part to save the world. I started by buying a pair of hip huggers and growing my hair long! That was my outward manifestation. Inwardly I began to think about these films. What where James Bondisms? What kind of a man was this? And the Morality of his actions....what was that all about? Now we can read about the philosophy behind the man and his character. THE MOST EXCITING PART OF ALL OF THIS IS IT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY MY SON-IN-LAW, JACOB M. HELD AND THIS IS THE BOOK TO PROVE IT! Yes, I am proud of him! Mostly I am proud of him for being a good husband and father (and son-in-law). But this is not a book review (which you can find on the back cover below). This happens to be MY Blog! And this is the book he has edited. I have read it cover to cover and it has made me continue to wonder.....about the man that we call "Bond, James Bond"!
The book can be ordered through Amazon, Barnes and Noble , Open Court and book sellers near you. If the cover looks different, it is! The booksellers just had the prototype. This the real thing. The content is the same. Happy reading! Congratulations, Jake!
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