I Owe It All to Mom.

Mom was the queen of the PTA poster. Her precise lettering style and a real knack for drawing clowns and elephants made her the maven of marketing for our schools bake sales, carnivals and parent teacher conferences.

She had a precise lettering style that was done with a ruler making every character straight as an arrow and perfectly aligned. She learned this at Utah Technical College where her portfolio consisted of various lettering projects, ink drawings and painting of a laughing witch flying in front of an orange crescent moon.

Our house had large picture windows that Mom would decorate every holiday. Christmas depicted a jewel-toned manger scene in faux stained glass. The neighbors would stop and point as they walked by. Thanksgiving was poster board pilgrims and for Halloween, there were giant versions of Frankenberry, Boo Berry, and Count Chocula. One of my favorite pieces of her art was a drawing of various objects all in a crazy tangled mashup—a spool of thread, a screwdriver, a few crayons—a mouse. The caption read “It’s in the Bottom Drawer, Dear.” I was amazed at her creativity and stared at that drawing many times wishing I could do that, too.

She eventually got a job at Wolfe’s Sporting Goods where she hand painted the pricing signs for tennis rackets, fishing creels and ammunition. The career was short-lived. I assume it was due to the lack of balloon bouquets and cartoon piggies where her talents truly lied.

Mom and I would spend evenings taking turns at the kitchen table in a drawing game we created. She would draw a monkey. I would add a banana to it. She would add a wedge of cheese to it. I would add a stopwatch. This went on for hours inciting all sorts of laughs at the random and bizarre directions these drawings would take.

I grew up and went to art school at Utah Tech where I, too, learned to hone my lettering, design and cartooning skills. Schooling took me to a career in advertising and publishing where I became burned out after 30 years or so.

Mom is still going strong painting gourds, furniture and wall murals—creating everything from rock art to embroidery patterns. Her friends and family are constantly amazed at her wild imagination and prolific output. She spends her days on two acres of property where a lifetime of work is on display. She sold gourds for a while but now just gives things away as gifts. The best gift she gave to me was a a talent and a career in the art world. 

Thanks Mom. Don’t forget to wash out your brushes.