What a Week!

Awhile back, my friend Denny Rewerts (Economic Development representative in my county) told me about a cool idea called "Fast Pitch".  The concept was that you could take an idea and present it at this event being put on by Stark and Henry county.  There would be several divisions (retail, non-retail, good idea and student) and after a brief explanation of your idea and some questions, they would pick winners. They held a very informative pre-meeting and then gave us an opportunity to do a "dry-run".  I decided to show what I've been working on:  1. custom carved artwork in composite decking 2. dimensional hand painted murals. The decking sample includes a local school sports team. One of the samples for the carved mural concept is based on a mural I'll begin very soon in nearby Toulon, Il.

At the awards ceremony, I was thrilled to find that I had won in the non-retail category.  The prize was $5000, consultation with a company that specializes in patenting, and $25,000 in radio advertising. I told the group, "Now I have to explain to my daughter why NOT winning an ipad was good (an ipad was second place)." 

The next day was just as busy!  I had to complete an initial design for another mural that will begin later this summer.  It is for the town of Arcola, Illinois as part of their Walldog event. I am the project leader of a team that will paint a mural for the World Famous Lawn Rangers of Amazing Arcola. They are a wild, fun group that marches in parades using decorated lawn mowers and brooms while wearing masks..  They also haul around a large concrete statue of Elvis.  I can't imagine how my friend Scott Lindley picked me for the job!  My goal was to create an image showing some of the icons associated with the group, and still have some fun.  I thought it would be interesting to create the "Lone Ranger" mask using the lawn mowers as eye holes...it may be confusing up close but the mask should become clear at a distance.  I'm sure it will have some changes along the way, but the event will be a blast.

There was so much happening, that I've decided to break it up into a couple entries...so stay tuned!