All Illustrations ©2016 Carta Bella Paper Company
The Great Outdoors was a line of 24 papers plus accoutrements that I produced for Carta Bella. It's all about camping and having outdoor fun. But it's really all about me growing up in a family that loved to camp. Growing up my family were avid anglers. We were out camping and fishing up in the High Sierras on opening day of the fishing season. My grandparents lived just outside of Sun Valley, Idaho so every summer we'd go up to the Big Wood River and fish. I have wonderful memories of my camping days as a child. I still camp today, though I'm not a big fisherman anymore. If I'm not cruising on the Caribbean for vacation you can catch me camping Up North in Minnesota or Wisconsin.
Billy Sue (our trailer)....Growing up we had a small travel trailer with the name Billy Sue (left over from the previous owners) stenciled across the front. The white and blue trailer (top row, left) in the illustration was inspired by Billie Sue. We traveled all over the western US with her. From Yosemite to The Badlands of South Dakota to the Carlsbad Caverns and beyond.
My Brother Tom...This was a fun paper to create. I love badges and icons and was able to put that to good use. As a kid I was a Cub Scout. My older brother was an Eagle Scout and I was always proud of his ability to go so far in scouting. I saw pictures of him with all his badges. He was 20 years older than me so even as a kid, the pictures of him in uniform looked vintage.
My brother-in-law Greg and sister-in-law Kim...They have always dreamed of owning a campground. This is my homage to their dream. I borrowed their pet phrase "Runamok", which they use all the time, to create the camp name. I hope one day that it becomes a reality...and if it does I hope I have an Airstream trailer to come visit their campground in.
My Dad....In this collage of camping images the top left "Fish Fry" image is that of my Dad. At the end of a fishing trip we'd have a huge fish fry. He was very proud of his camp side culinary skills,. Rainbow trout never tasted any better than those fried under the pine trees.
My Brother Tom...When it wasn't fishing season at my brother's house it was prep time for fishing season. Tom was an amazing fisherman. He knew all of the tricks and nuances to catch the elusive Golden Trout. Hike up to 10,000 feet from base camp to catch one at 4am?...no problem.
As a teenager I'd sit in his garage with him as he made his own flies and lures. We'd talk about his mule packing rips into the Rocky Mountains and Sierras that he took with my Dad and Granddad when when he was a teenager (when I was a kid we went on cruises...no mule packing trips for my Dad once her hit 50). Tom passed away a few years ago and those memories will always be special to me. I hope he's having fun fishing up there in the Big River in the Sky with my Dad, granddad and Uncles!
Did anyone say trout?
My Dad...As a kid my dad was an aerospace engineer. He worked with NASA on the Mercury, Apollo, Skylab and Challenger missions. When we'd go camping we'd sit by the campfire and look up to the starts. he's point out the constellations and a few satellites that flew by. Wonderful memories.
My Mom...Sometimes my Mom would bring Paint-By-Numbers with us on long camping trips. I'd sit at the camp table with her and work on one of them with her. This is an illustration of Half Dome in Yosemite...it was inspired by all of the Paint-By-Numbers paintings that we did together when I was a kid. I believe that doing all those paintings helped me later in my career with selecting color and isolating color blocks.
Aunt Cleo and Mom....When we'd go on camping trips it was usually a huge family event. Many of my Aunts and Uncles and cousins would join us and it wouldn't be unusual to have 70 people together for a holiday camping trip. My Aunt Cleo and my Mom loved to pick wild flowers and they'd press them back at the campsite between waxed paper. They were the original Glampers back in the late 1960's. They'd decorate our campsite before Martha Stewart was ever on TV. It was always fun helping them and it made me appreciate all of the beautiful flowers you can find from the alpine meadows to the high desert. Our pressed flower designs were the first greeting cards that I ever made.
Ephemera and stickers that are all inspired by events in my camping life and my family and friends.
