RK's Pfalzhood

Randomness and 2010

RK — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:21:09 +0000

At this rear end of the year I’ll declare we made it through another Christmas season. Best gift? My wife’s cancer victory. Each day gets better and better. Worst? I was assaulted by some sort of flu, but it seems to be retreating. Along the way there was a mess of good stuff-dinners with the Kid and his girl friend and her parents; a great party at Motoart Studios- they’re folks who make wonderful furniture from old airplane parts; good friends and neighbors who brought over every sort of baked goody, and on the work front, a collection of delightful oddities and puzzlements:

The summer of ’85- a client commissions what is still the largest painting I’ve done. This thing was/is 69″x48″ and depicts a B-52D- a big painting of a big airplane. I spent several days just priming and sanding the hardboard panel. Especially sanding.Too big for my easel, I’d paint one section while it leaned against a closet door, an edge resting on the floor. Then I’d flip it around and work on another part, tilting my head. Surprisingly, glopping on the color didn’t take as long as the panel prep! It was all pre-drawn, as usual, but the spraying and smearing on of the pigment took maybe three days! Finished July 30, 1985, the client soon picked it up.Gladness all around that the monster needn’t be shipped………

The rest of the story: a few weeks ago, out of the blue, I was contacted by the owner who told me she’s considering selling it. She asked if I would help spread the word so I told her sure- I’ll see what I can do. So, if anybody reading this is interested- or knows somebody who might be- contact me at the usual e-mail address and I’ll pass along any questions or inquiries. It should be said that it’s not exactly an “inexpensive” piece. The top segment of the composite photo shows the painting as it is currently- and disregard the bit of flash fur in the photo. The lower part of the comp is the painting right after it was completed. My late father is holding it up out in the summer grass in ’85- scanned from an ancient photo! Funky colors and fuzz! Give it a thought or three………

Another bit of work related news is the debut of a much more recent work. Early this year, I was contacted about doing a cover for “Over the Front”, the magazine of the League of World War I Aviation Historians. The request was for a specific scene featuring two Nieuport fighters of the Lafayette Escadrille. This sounded interesting so I agreed. I finished the piece in May and sat back to await publication in the Winter 2009 edition. A few days ago, I finally saw the printed version. Hmmmmm…. something had veered off. The painting was on the slightly “cool” side- the printed cover had an overall “hot” and saturated reddish glow. It made a truly striking cover, but it really didn’t represent the painting. “Backstage”consultation revealed that the wrong file had gone to the printer! But it DID make an eye-grabbing cover, and I hope it helps visualize Alan Toelle’s absorbing account of the Lafayette Escadrille contained within. Ronny Bar’s great color profiles also enhance Alan’s article.
We’re preparing to offer a print of this one soon, along with another Over the Front cover I did some time back, but be forewarned- the Nieuports will appear more like the original painting than the “cover girl” version! The composite photo shows the magazine next to an un-cut proof of the print- the difference is….um….noticable! Availabilty? SOON!

Closing off before 2010 stabs me in the eye with a sharp stick, I’ll mention Facebook. Yeah, I’m over there. I joined back at the year’s beginning, but never messed with it much until recently. Mostly I just pop up and say dumb things to friends and family. But there are a bunch of us av/art folk there and sometimes something clicks and we post (holy cow!) something of substance! Hop over there and become a fan! We even run the occasional Facebook Fan deal!

Well, there’s about 6 hours left of 2009 right now, right here……keep your eyes open for more Williams Brothers box tops and Albatros Productions Datafile covers in the coming year, and I hope y’all have a great 2010!
Robert
P.S. while you’re at it, check out Ronny Bar’s stupendous WW I airplane profiles at: http://www.ronnybarprofiles.com/
and visit the dreamlike world of my sister Kimberly at:
http://gerushiasnewworld.blogspot.com/

“Interesting” Era

RK — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:57:10 +0000

Holy Cow! Almost two and half months since I last wrote anything here. I have a few excuses/rationalizations/reasons…..I hope.
I was swamped with box top and book cover work- then something came along that dwarfed all this.
A few weeks ago my wife was diagnosed with a type of skin cancer on her upper lip. The “C” word is about the scariest word there is. Two weeks back she had surgery and so far all seems to be proceeding well- very well. They got it all and have started the process to rebuild the destroyed tissue around her mouth. THAT’S proving to be a royal annoyance- she’s eating through a straw for the time being and her new motto is “I’m hungry”. Her answer to any question is “I’m hungry”. Just sitting around she’s apt to blurt out “I’m hungry”. Mumbling through the bandages, she’s likely to respond to any comment about anything with “I’m hungry”. But she’s up and active!
This explains the delay in whipping up a Christmas card for this year. It’s late- but we figured better late than never. (Click above on “Christmas Cards” for details and purchasing). I lacked the time to whip up something totally new so after some thought it hit me-I have a perfectly appropriate image already in existance. Originally painted late last year for a book cover, this year’s image first appeared in early 2009 on the cover of Curtiss Jenny Volume 2 by Colin Owers, published by Albatros Productions . I’ve done lots of work for Albatros Productions, but until now have never used any of that work for any other purpose. I figured that a classic airplane- on skiis no less, with snow, ought to make a dandy Christmas card. Never mind the ticked off moose…..he’s only mad because he didn’t get invited to this year’s party after what happened last year. You’ll have to ask HIM about that……..
Cecilia was the driving force behind this project and between blurtings out of “I’m hungry” managed to make sure I did it right, contributing a bunch of ideas and corrections.
And I’m still feverishly doing the box tops and book covers. BUT I can finally reveal two of the things I’ve been working on- both new box tops for Williams Brothers Models. Have a look- head to:
http://www.williamsbrothersmodelproducts.com/
Scroll down to the news on 11-9-09. First up is the box for the rerelease Amelia Earhart’s Electra 10, followed by the return of the classic 1/32 Wedell Williams racer from the 1930′s.
Also, while you’re at it, turn your eyeballs to :
http://gerushiasnewworld.blogspot.com/
That’s a whole ‘nother world from aviation art. Named for a distant great aunt, this features surreal collages, altered photographs and general eye pleasing images with an undertone of “something else going on”. Weirdness with a thin veneer of folksiness. This is my younger sister’s work and if any of you have ventured into the non-aviation areas of my site you’ll see that I didn’t get all the strangeness in the family. She’s been doing this for years and some stream of deranged vision seems to have dropped onto both of us.
That about does it for this time- maybe next time it won’t take so long!

Have A Look, Let Me Know

RK — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:40:26 +0000

Well shucks- I guess it’s time again.
Firstly, the pre-WW I BE2 over Stonehenge and the red-bottomed FW 190D from the last posting have indeed been “printified”. Scroll down a bit to refresh and recharge your eyeballs and read their stories! They’re both ready to go.If you’d like one, head to:
http://karrart.com/karrart/PRINTorder/sepspec.htm
Or click on “Specials” that’ll drop down to “New For September” at the top right here.
Those two got me on a kick to see what other “old” work I might have that folks might like- some of it’s not even that old! Click on the goofy square thumbnails and have a look. These little images have not yet been perfectly color and light balanced- but you can get an idea of what’s going on with them.Except for one, I’VE not printed any of these before and may not print any of them. I don’t know!………….
First up is a little P-40. The original might qualify as an “exercise”. It wasn’t very big. It was painted on illustration board rather then the usual hardboard. It was painted with a sort of “graphics” look about it instead of a full-blown realistic treatment. The painting process wasn’t a “major campaign” lasting weeks. I only spent a couple of days on it. Nevertheless, it sold, but not before I snagged a good file of it. This is the one that has a slim printing history with me- a few strange little versions were made in 1999 and sold one year at the Chino air show by a gallery as more of a “souvineer” type of thing. But not a full blown, wall hanging piece of arty wonderment.So- maybe I’ll print it. Maybe I won’t.
Next is the art work that appeared on the AmTech 1/72 EC-135 ALOTS/ARIA kit. If you have the old kit box top, you may notice that it doesn’t exactly match what’s seen here. This is the original, in its original format that was squeezed,squozed and shoehorned into the kit box format complete with a signature move into the box frame. It’s a little insight about what’s sometimes done to fit a picture onto a box top, especially when there’s a deadline but the final format of the box isn’t yet known.I still have this one, all 20″x28″ of it ( and yes, it’s available- contact me if interested). From time to time it talks to me and says “Hey- I’m not THAT bad. I kinda like myself. Why don’t you print me? Did I do something wrong?” OK,OK. So- maybe I’ll print it. Maybe I won’t.
Now we come to the blazing B-17B, screaming out of an “Inland Empire” dawn. For the non-locals, the Inland Empire is the part of Southern California that’s “out there”, leaving Greater Los Angeles and heading into the desert. San Bernardino. Riverside- those places. And Riverside is where March Field was/is. Its function and designation have changed over the decades, but it IS still there- and in the 1930s was a hot bed of hot ships, including the then-new B-17. I painted this one only because I wanted to. A few years later it was noticed……. It was in the 2002 mass-market “Bombs Away” calendar from RML PRODUCTIONS. So it does have a bit of a public past. If you snagged a copy of this calendar at your local Barnes&Noble and have yeaned for a print of just this one for your wall- you might have a chance. Maybe. I don’t know yet! The original sold quite some time ago, but I managed to grab a hi-res scan of it before it left. So- maybe I’ll print it. Maybe I won’t.
Last up is the Fokker V.7 experimental triplane. This one is only a couple of years old and was painted specifically for the cover of Over the Front, volume 22, number 3, fall 2007. This publication is the journal of the League of World War I Aviation Historians….join today at:
www.overthefront.com
Anyway, as I was saying…….This particular offshoot of the well known Fokker Dr.I triplane was used to test the exotic Siemans-Halske counter-rotary engine. At first glance it appears to be not that different from the regular triplane, but looking deeper it will be seen that the landing gear legs are longer to deal with the larger diameter prop that was needed to absorb the extra output of the S-H engine which needed a larger cowl and the whole mess needed a longer fuselege for center of gravity issues. The above mentioned journal has a wonderful article about this beast which was the reason this picture was painted. This triplane underwent climbing tests against a standard Fokker Dr.I and beat the pants off it, hence the sputtering standard triplane in the background. These tests were flown in the extremely cold January of 1918 and that accounts for the cold blues in the sky and ground. Again, I don’t know……..So-maybe I’ll print it. Maybe I won’t.
Now, this was all leading up to questions I have for you, the reader. Do any of these light your candle? Would you like to see any of these printed? Let me know. Shoot me an e-mail or post here. There’s no obligation. This isn’t a formal scientific survey, it’s merely a quest to get a vague idea about where to head next. There’s no guarantees- but I AM curious about what you folks out there might have to say.
Back to the Williams Brothers racers box tops!
Thanks!
Robert
August 31, 2009 AD

Two Oldies Revived

RK — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:27:42 +0000

While waiting for paint to dry on current projects, I’ve been going through old work and checking for signs of life. Hence we see these two.
Up first is the BE2 Over Stonehenge from 2001-click the thumbnail to catch the entire painting, all 18″x24″of her spritzed, sprayed and slathered hardboard…… It was a fun painting to do and I learned things while doing it- for instance Stonehenge doesn’t look like this today! One mass of rock toppled over in 1797 and stayed where it plopped until 1957 when it was raised and reset. The painting shows it as it was in 1914. Things like this delight me and help keep the eye and mind fresh.
The painting has had a roller coaster life since being birthed in 2001. She was shown at the San Diego Aerospace Museum as part of my one-man exhibit that ran there from September 2002 through January 2003. After that, she hibernated for a couple of years until a poster company licensed her image for a year. I guess that was OK, but I didn’t renew the rights when the contract was up. Once again owning her completely, her image next appeared on the back cover of Cross & Cockade International Journal on the Winter 2005 issue, volume 36, number 4. where she gathered a bit more notoriety. Next, her original self popped up in the summer of 2006 in an exhibition of my WW I work held in conjunction with the staging of the musical play “Billy Bishop Goes To War” at the Colony Theatre in Burbank California. Her image was also worked into the graphic design of the play’s program and publicity. She’s been resting now for a few years and I’ve been toying with the idea of doing her up as small giglee print, something in the 13″x16″ size range and wobbling around the $30 price range, a little more, a little less.I don’t know- what do you think?
Next up is proof that though I may be most well known for my WW I work, I have done other things! I originally painted this Fw 190D in 1987 after first seeing this striking paint scheme in the Monogram Close-Up10 booklet on the Fw 190D. It was a great experiment in red glazes and undershading! Her public debut was in 1991 when I entered her in the big annual EAA art competition and she was one of the winners. This took all 24″x30″ of her to Oshkosh for a year where she was seen by thousands of folks. After that she went into hibernation until about 2000 when she woke up and realized she needed some correction. The pressure for correction had been building for some time. In the years since ’87, new information about these red-bottomed beauties had appeared, notably in 1993 with the publication of a decal sheet and booklet from Experten Aviation Historical research out of Calgary Canada. Their publication History, Camouflage and Markings of JV 44 and JG 6 Focke-Wulf 190 D-9s was a gold mine of great new material. That cooked in my head for a few years then the web explosion filled in a few more missing bits and I was ready to strip off her varnish and give her a makeover. The corrections were somewhere between “tweeking” and “patching”, but they were necessary to my eye. She’s not perfect, but she’s alot better. Her re-debut came with the aformentioned San Diego show. But that’s been about it for any major showings. We’ve aired her out at a couple of local events for a day or two, but nothing major. The entire painting has never been printed, no mass publication at all. The airplane- JUST the airplane was excised and cobbled into a 5″x7″ print one year for an airshow where we doing the vendor thing. Only five copies were made and that was it- and these were sold to kids as a “gateway drug” to get them hooked on aviation history and art. Mostly she’s been hanging on a dim wall in a backroom for years and has rarely been seen even by visitors….until recently. Out of the blue, week before last, somebody bought her! Shock. Stunned amazement. Gasping. In this economy it’s close to a true miracle for anyone to buy an expensive original. Yet it happened. BUT, in all this time, I never had her image professionally captured. The client agreed to let me have her for a few more days for cleaning and scanning. I deframed and cleaned her, then off she went to get flat-bedded at Paradigm Imaging Group in Costa Mesa California. ( BTW, an unsolicited plug for these guys- they do fine,FINE work see www.paradigmimaging.com). She returned from that experience and is now happily hanging in her new home and I have a fabulous near-200meg tiff file that I’m contemplating. It’s odd to have her rocket back into my brain after years of benign neglect. If the economy was better she might well have ended up as a full-blown large lithograph……..but that’s not terribly feasible these days….yet people still need plenty of brightly colored airplane pictures hanging on their walls so I’m thinking about doing this one up as another small giglee, again about in 13″x15″ range, again flopping around the $30 price bracket. And again, I don’t know- what do you think?
And IF I do print these two, and IF you join my mailing list, you’ll get some sort of cheesy discount when ( and if) they first appear……..( and that List stays HERE- we share it with no one).
Comments very welcome- e-mail me or make a comment right here on this here blog dealy. Thanks!
P.S. Williams Brothers racer count for those of you keeping score- 2 1/2 down, 4 1/2 to go
Robert

NEW STUFF!

RK — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:26:26 +0000

I guess, as always, it’s been awhile. A month? More? Yikes.
Maybe it’s just the lingering effect of Paso Robles!
But there is actual news. Yes, news. New product news.
But before that, a quick word about what else I’ve been up to. Painting. Lots of painting. I’m marching through the 1930s race plane series for Williams Brothers models. I don’t think I’m revealing any company secrets by saying that I’ve finished the Wedell Williams box top and am working on the Hall Bulldog and GeeBeeR. Whenever and whatever order they’re released in is another matter. Squeezed in between these two was another Datafile cover for the good folks at Albatros Productions Ltd. Anyone who reads Windsock magazine will know what it is. I’ll just say it’s the very next scheduled release and it was the quickest cover I’ve yet done. Two weeks ago this picture didn’t exist and now it’s been delivered.
Now, onto the new junk! First up is an original painting, and matching print of a late WW I Airco deHavilland DH4. For an assortment of reasons, I’ve been sitting on this one for awhile ( Well, maybe not sitting on. Hardboard is good stuff, but sitting on it is not recommended). It’s a rather flashy and strangely lit picture, but I like it. Call it a tribute to Jo Kotula, the master of bizarre skies, familiar to all of a certain age who remember his covers for Model Airplane News and his striking box top paintings on the long-gone Aurora line of kits. I’m usually a meat and potatoes blue sky kind of guy, but sometimes a little psycho-wackiness is needed. Hence this DH4 picture. Not yet in Kotula-land, but approaching the most distant outskirts. The subject itself is one of those slab-sided wonders with a kind of charisma and purposeful look. It was a big two-seater that plowed through the air behind a Rolls Royce Eagle engine at well over 100mph, dropping bombs, or taking photographs or whatever it was called upon to do.
Next up is an old friend, or at least an acquaintance. It’s Ltn Schliewen in his good ol’ Fokker D.VII. Some of you may say “Heeeyyy-wait a minute…..I’ve seen this before….what’s wrong with you?”. Hang on-the painting was finished in the very early ’00s and departed these premises long ago, but before it left a decent file was extracted from it. Some prints were run off, but there’s always been a few things that nagged me and I finally figured them out. There were some cruddy places that only I would notice- but I knew they were there- so I cleaned them up. Also, I reformatted the image area. Now it can reburst onto the scene. Think of it like an old movie that gets remastered and rereleased. Plus anything with that many polygons deserves a second chance.
And for all you folks out there who are on my mailing list, we have a discount deal on one or both of these prints. For ordering info, head to:
http://karrart.com/karrart/PRINTorder/newprints.htm
If you’re not a member of my mailing list, but would like to get in on the deal……..well……join that dang list!We don’t give, sell, distribute or in anyway circulate anybody’s information. Drive around the site until you find the list-joining particulars!
And if any of you wealthy folk out are interested in the DH4 original…shoot me an e-mail……..
Well- I told you- real news. Real product news!
Robert