Cat Rocketship • New Signs for Rocket Assembly

New Signs for Rocket Assembly

I needed to pretty up my booth for Rocket Assembly’s showing at Market Day, and I have a mess of leftover cardboard - which I may or may not hoard a bit.

Since RA’s aesthetics are handdrawn, hand lettered and a bit rough-hewn, I thought cardboard would match up. So I culled a large box. Boxes in our house are like buffalo and native americans - they get used and reused and saved and folded and rebuilt and finally scavenged so that every part of their usefulness is eaked out.

And I set up the trusty projector. Using this projector is one of my favorite things about painting. It smells old and dusty when it runs, and fills my studio with the softest, whitest white. Were the bulbs not $7 a piece and special order-only, and if it didn’t use the energy of a small wind turbine to run, I’d consider using it as a lamp.

And got everything traced on and ready for black gesso in the background. I did this while watching a PBS doc on the Amish. when I look at this sign I will now always think of the Amish. Thanks, Netflix.

Then it was time to take a cat-mandated break.

Finished products! Both were drawn in several versions on white paper, traced and finalized on sheets of acetate and then projected onto the cardboard. I used markers and india ink to finish them off.