Busy times and a family of Artists…

I have been madcap busy these past few weeks with several art projects and clients; sadly, when that happens my blog posting drops off the deep end. I promise to rectify that. 🙂

Due to one of my current projects, I have been searching through photos and memorabilia. As a result I found some amazing photos of my parents at work. For some this might seem mundane but for me it give me a closer look at the people they were and how they changed over the years.

My parents were rather artistic people. My father was an aerospace engineer and my mother was a graphic illustrator.  Being the hard working folk they have always been, they did not have time to take many pictures of their work or themselves in the process of working. I was told many stories and sometimes shown airplanes my father worked on or cartoons my mother inked but never got the chance to see them at work. They always encouraged my brother and I to do an interest in wildlife, artwork, study science and history. There’s no surprise that my brother is now a Ph.D in biochemistry, an artist in his own right, and I have worked as a exotic animal researcher, handler and full time artist.

My father passed away from prostate cancer in 2009 and I regret not talking to him more about his life.  He was a quiet man but would share stories if certain people asked. I am beyond grateful that my mother is still with us and in good health for a woman in her 70s. I try to spend as much time as possible with her these days; often she surprises me with things I never knew about or pulls out a photo I thought was long gone.

These are some of the wonderful stories and photos my mother surprised me with the other day; while these will not be used in my projects I thought they were too wonderful not to share. 🙂

In the 1960s my mother worked as a animation cell inker for the
legendary Hanna-Barbera Productions; she worked on The Flintstones,
Jonny Quest, Yogi Bear, The Jetsons and many cartoon advertisements.
This is her in the animation cell workroom.

Here my mother is working on practice animation cells of Jonny Quest at home.

Both of my mother’s coworkers and friends, at Hanna-Barbera Productions, this is the animation cell workroom. Of interest the hills in the back are the old Universal backlot, they would see them filming them The Virginian TV series all times of the day and night.

My father starting his career as an aerospace engineer, this was his first aerospace job after he served in the US Army as a MP and engineer.

My grandfather on my father’s side, circa 1910s. I found his pocket watch carefully stashed away by my father many years ago. From what I can gather it is the same pocket watch shown attached to his lapel on his left side of his jacket in this photo.

Here is a close up of the inside of my grandfather’s pocket watch, the engraving is just stunning.

I am grateful for these snippets into my family’s past and encourage you to do the same! You never know what wonderful stories and treasures you might find.

Until next time, Safe Travels…..