Signs by Beth Building Sketch – 8″ x 10″

“A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”
– Grace Murray Hopper

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Signs by Beth Building Sketch – 8″ x 10″

Here’s the initial sketch for the Signs by Beth sock monkey painting.  I wanted to get involved in the sock monkey project and do my building, too.  I am tickled with my jeep.  I never dreamed I’d be able to draw it where you could tell it was a jeep.  he he

About Grace Murray Hopper

Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, the American computer pioneer, was the first woman to become a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society. She was born in 1906 in New York. By age seven, she was taking alarm clocks apart to see how they worked. She worked for the U.S. Navy developing the first compiler, which allowed people to write computer programs in real language rather than machine code. When she found a moth inside a computer, she coined the term “debugging.” She died in 1992.

Sign Shop Sampling

“Character is simply habit long enough continued.”
– Plutarch



Sign Shop Sampling

I blog about art, tossed in with some positive affirmations.  But,  most of you know that I do have another life…. my sign shop.  Signs by Beth, LLC has been in business 19 years.  It’s a hoppin’ little place and last week was a doozie.

Here are just some of the signs I produced last week.  The first 6 are 4′ x 8′ signs.  Whale’s Tale is a 3′ x 6′ sign and the box van is 7′ x 15′.  Of course I did the front and back, too.  My week also included a combination of other small signs and some trucks.  I don’t have any employees, so every sign is made by me.    Ryan (asmalltowndad) asked me to show him some of the signs I make, so here ya go. 

About Plutarch

Plutarch, the Greek historian who penned more than 46 anecdote-laced biographies of famous Greek and Roman figures in his Parallel Lives series of books, was more interested in exploring the influence of character on a man’s personal destiny than in writing dry histories. He was born in Greece during Roman rule, most likely in the year 46. He traveled extensively through the Roman Empire, finally returning home to become a priest of Apollo at the Oracle of Delphi. He died in the year 120.

White Flowers

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”
– e. e. cummings



White Flowers – Acrylic on Canvas

What do you think?  Screaming for color!!!  he he he  I have a very ambitious goal today and tomorrow.  I am going to try to complete eight 4′ x 8′ signs.  I don’t have employees, so I will tackle this task solo.  That means the computer will pretty much be ignored for a couple days …except for my morning blogging. 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

About e. e. cummings

The writer who became known as e. e. cummings was an experimental poet whose idiosyncratic typography complements the music of his poetry; he published more than 900 poems, two novels, and four plays. He was also an accomplished painter. He was born in Massachusetts in 1894 and entered the ambulance corps in World War I but ended up in a detention camp after expressing his pacifist views. He died in 1962. “In Just-” was his most famous poem.  (Check out the link.   It’s a poem about spring.)

Longing and the Gorilla Head Bar

“Tears are like rain.  They loosen up our soil so we can grow in different directions.”
–Virginia Casey

 
Longing
2.5″ x 3.5″ Watercolor ATC

This little window is just a product of my imagination.  Would somebody please let the dog in. 

On the lighter side, I thought I’d share a little something from the sign side of my life (excuse me while I change hats).  This is a logo I designed for a little beer bar that’s opening soon in our area.



I really love the design part of my business.  Sometimes I get to work on really fun projects, in between the normal and regular stuff.  It perks me back up, when I’m tired of the same old thing.



I also designed this one, but they wanted the more serious gorilla.  They brought me that gorilla head, so I figured they’d go that way, but I tried to make it more touristy, since we are on a lake.  Win some, lose some. 


Today is my 18th Anniversary with Signs by Beth, LLC. I have enjoyed nearly every day of it.  I am very proud of my longevity and am looking forward to starting my 19th year, tomorrow.

I can’t find anything on Virginia Casey on the net.  The quote came from the book – Each Day a New Beginning, Daily Meditations for Women, by Karen Casey

Karen Casey

Millions of people around the world spend a few moments in quiet reflection with Karen Casey every day. Karen is the best-selling author of Each Day a New Beginning, the first daily meditation book written expressly for women in recovery from addiction. Published in 1981, Each Day a New Beginning has sold more than three million copies and has been translated into ten different languages. Over the years, readers around the world have come to regard Karen as a trusted companion on the recovery journey. Among her other best-selling inspirational books are Keepers of the Wisdom, A Woman’s Spirit, Fearless Relationships, and A Life of My Own. In her newest book, Serenity (Hazelden, 2007), Karen shares favorite passages that gently convey simple lessons for living with greater peace, hope, and trust. Karen enjoys golfing and riding her Harley with her husband. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Naples, Florida.

Pretty Pink Sheep

“Hope is the feeling you have that the feeling you have isn’t permanent.”
– Jean Kerr

 

Pretty Pink Sheep
3.5″ x 5″ Watercolor

Sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you don’t. 


Lately, I’ve been having a hard time concentrating on the Sign business.  There are times when all I want to do is art.  Today, I am going to rein myself in and make signs all day.  I envy artists who are able to make their living at art, but I feel really lucky to have my sign shop, too.  I have been doing this for 18 years and have been able to make my living being creative.  I guess it’s only natural to have periods of boredom, doing the same thing day after day, year after year.  You full time artists must experience something similar.  It’s hard to be “on” all the time.  So, today, I am going to go ahead and jump in with both feet and have some fun being in the sign business.  I may even be seen wiggling my butt! 

About Jean Kerr

Comedic American author Jean Kerr is known for her wry take on married life in the suburbs in such books as How I Got to Be Perfect and Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, which was turned into both a movie and a TV series. She was born in Pennsylvania in 1922. She often collaborated on plays with her husband, drama critic Walter Kerr. She also wrote a number of plays by herself, including the extremely successful Mary, Mary, which ran for nearly 1,600 performances. She died in 2003.