Brrr!

January in Maine is certainly a month that takes it toll on things; people; streets; and animals. We had 16 inches of snow on the eighteenth, and a couple of nights before that a blast of arctic air brought temperatures down to -16 degrees F. in Portland. That made me very glad I live in the city, and not in the country, where it dipped even lower.

"Penguins"

"Penguins" is the picture I did for this year's annual Christmas print, which I give to friends. It got me mentally prepared for the deep freeze we were going to be suffering in January.

This was done on scratchboard. The board is covered with a coating of India ink, and all of the white areas get scratched away. I use an X-acto knife to clear the black off.

It gives the same effect as a woodcut or wood engraving. Since I'd done woodcuts for many years, it's a comfortable medium for me to work in. I have many scratchboards and woodcuts at the eBay store.

 

 

West End Deli

I've just finished my first "portrait" of a business here in town. I'll be delivering it to the owner in a few days. It's also done on scratchboard, a favorite medium of mine.

 

Latest "art of the month" Mailing

Here's the latest art of the month envelope, which arrived recently. This is the first time I'd ever gotten a puffy envelope. I couldn't wait to see what the surprise was going to be: two gloves, but not a pair. Of course not! That would be so boring.

A hand-lettered card accompanied the gloves. It says:

    "this pair of gloves has been created from two found gloves. each glove was found on the streets of Portland, washed and paired for your wearing pleasure!

      "stay warm!

      "art of the month club"

 

I still haven't come any closer to finding out who sends these wonderful things to me each month. With all of my contacts at Police Headquarters, from writing the crime articles for The West End NEWS, you'd think I'd be able to solve this mystery. Perhaps I'll try to get a couple of top-notch detectives to give me some lessons.

Of course that wouldn't be very difficult, since there's a return address with a post office box number on it.