#49 Hammer & Nail

#49 Hammer & Nail
Click image to down­load full-​size print suit­able for framing.

Hap­py Labor Day Weekend.

Ham­mer & Nail, #49 in the Amper­Art series, hon­ors all of us who labor for a liv­ing. This edi­tion, Ham­mer & Nail, pays spe­cial trib­ute to those jour­ney­men who build hous­es to give us shel­ter & offices to help us work — like my broth­er Rob and my friend Mike. Rob­bie, I love you like a friend and Mike, I love you like a brother.

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chazsezLOGO-85x64I hope you enjoy your work as much as I do mine. My tool­bag con­tains sev­er­al graph­ics pro­grams, a mon­i­tor & scan­ner, some left­over designers markers from the pre-​digital era, an Xac­to knife which I still use on occa­sion & of course my box of 120 Cray­ola crayons which is always right in front of me. (My favorite Cray­ola col­or is blue-green.)

Some­times I could use a ham­mer, though, when the com­put­er crash­es. On the oth­er hand, it feels good when I nail a logo on the first try.

PRODUCTION NOTES
Orig­i­nal dimen­sions: 20″ x 30″
Pro­gram: Illustrator
Font: Impact (mod­i­fied)
Amper­sand: 8 gauge 16D common
Back­ground: graph​ic​stock​.com

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#22 Mother & Child

Happy Mothers Day

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Amper­Art #22 Moth­er & Child

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I can still feel my soft yel­low baby blan­ket with the satin embroi­dery and pas­tel col­ors, cradling me so lov­ing­ly in my moth­er’s arms.

This Amper­Art piece, “Moth­er & Child,” hon­ors that very spe­cial woman who brought each and every one of us into this world.

If you are a moth­er your­self, I wish you a Very Hap­py Moth­er’s Day.

My amazing mother

I am proud to tell you how blessed I am to have been born into the arms of such a won­der­ful moth­er as Leona L. DeS­i­mone, 1916 – 2001.

Though I felt her love as an infant, as a child I favored my dad who spoiled me (being the first­born) while Mom tried to instill some dis­ci­pline. Dad­dy would buy me toys and bring home good­ies for me all the time, and I resent­ed my mom for being the strict one.

Not until after our dad died when I was 10, did I real­ize what a tremen­dous job our moth­er had try­ing to keep us all in line. I gained the deep­est respect and love for my mom, espe­cial­ly since we were rather poor and she some­how kept us fed, clothed, and the house in order. I remem­ber her cry­ing when she was short of mon­ey, count­ing pen­nies to pay the bills, and walk­ing miles to work when the bus­es went on strike. She did an amaz­ing job rais­ing four kids all by her­self, includ­ing an espe­cial­ly spoiled brat who drew all over the walls with Crayolas (guess who).

Always smiling

Mom always had a smile for every­one, and she proved to be more pop­u­lar and loved than any of her chil­dren knew, when over 200 peo­ple showed up for her funer­al. We were blown away! We had the organ­ist play the lul­la­by she used to sing to us, “All Through the Night,” which you can lis­ten to here.

I admire, respect, and love you, Mom.