Or: A brilliant CAREER in Wallpaper…
Three things conspired the other day to take me unawares. (Well, four actually, the first being my general obliviousness…) The copy of National Geographic that I picked up in a used book store because it is the issue from the month I was born, an e-mail from a high school friend and an old box of comics in the attic, remnant of the days when I actually collected Marvel and DC (shudder)…
National Geographic brought back to me the world of my parents when they were about my age. And what a world it was, full cars with tail fins, cheery holiday cruises they could never have afforded, and all manner of shining appliances that now look like something out of a retro sci-fi movie.
Anyway, the National Geographic must’ve softened me up somewhat, because when I got the e-mail, I dug out the comics…
The old comics brought back Winky.
Nestled amongst all those wonderful ads about how not to be a wimp at the beach (WHY didn’t I write to Charles Atlas I wonder, I sure needed it… not that I spent a lot of time at the beach, mind you) sell Grit (catchy name for a newspaper if there ever was one) or buy a paquet of Sea Monkeys, a pair of X-ray Specs or a Raquel Welch pillow (only $1.99!), there was always an invitation to DRAW WINKY. You could not only win a scholarship with a FAMOUS SCHOOL, you could be taking the first step towards a BRILLIANT CAREER. Isn’t that just TOO GOOD to be OVERLOOKED?
My aforementioned friend and I must have been bored out of our skulls in math class or something, so we drew a Winky each and posted them off. (In fact, we spent most of our time drawing and trading pictures in just about every class except art class; he still owes me a rendering of a space gun.)
To our amazement and consternation, we actually received a reply! And a proposal to meet Mr. Winky the sales rep in a dark and deserted parking lot (the kind with tumbleweeds rolling in and out of frame…) well, actually at the Keremeos Motor Inn. (Keremeos was the name of my home town in the Similkameen, but I lived in Olalla, a few miles out. Now doesn’t THAT sound like geography from a Robin Hobb novel?) So, on the fateful day, my Dad drove me down, picked up my friend and we went to catch a glimpse of our BRILLIANT CAREER futures. (I still can’t believe my Dad actually took us to see this potentail child kidnapper… Actually, he was probably waiting discretely outside the inn gently tapping a tire iron against one palm… my father was the unobtrusive no-nonsense type with biceps the girth of my waist.)
We sat in the café with that sinking feeling you get when some proselytic salesperson with reinforced toes to stop you from slamming the door on them has actually gotten inside, and listened to a lengthy pitch on how BIG ENTERPRISE was just CLAMOURING for designers, how MONEY would just FALL out of their pockets into OURS and had we ever thought that WALLPAPER was designed by TOP-CLASS designers who their ART for a FORTUNE. I can’t remember the rest, but it sure sounded BRILLIANT besides being NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED and ACCREDITED. And all this at OUR OWN DOORSTEPS through ONE-ON-ONE correspondance courses with DEDICATED PROFESSIONALS.
Buoyed up by the certitude that anybody over 20 was definitely a loser, we were immune to his promises as future wallpaper design icons, and swept our encounter away under the rug of youthful forgetfullness (an operation probably completed by the time we got back in my dad’s pick-up) …until last week.
I wonder where Mr. Winky is today…
And I wonder if I could’ve MADE IT BIG in wallpaper design. Life seems to be a series of missed opportunities.
Exhibition in Neuchâtel
This coming Friday, July 4th, there has been a slight change of plan for the afternoon. Given that there are a limited number of invitations available for the cocktail at 7 pm, we have decided to change things ever so slightly.
There will now be an aperitif and signature session from 4 to 6 pm, Friday July 4th at the Théatre du Passage, no invitations needed of course. See you there!
The sword contest I mentioned a while back is at last up and open to all fantasy swordsmiths. Of course, you need not forge the blade you submit, you can do it with pencil and paper.
Details can be found at: http://www.fantasyvault.net/content/page_17_0.html
I’ve agreed to be one of the judges, and believe me, I honestly plan to give everyone foolish enough to send something a very hard time. So sharpen your wits and get aquainted with what a sword is before you sharpen your pencils. It’s a fantasy sword competition, but for the sake of an image, were you to whip it out of the scabbard in the fantasy world you’ve designed it for and your adversary suddenly falls to the ground and rolls around laughing, that is definitely what you DON’T want.
Gandalf: Wizard-in-Progess
More pictures from Oscar Nilsson…
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Left: Gandalf’s face. Wrinkles demand a lot of thought and precision. They will be smoothed out somewhat before going to the oven.
Centre: Prolfile
Right: Gandalf going places
