Aug monster to Rachael - downhilling

This could have been better. I think I have used up the ridged envelopes. The outline around the stamp is very close to the edge of the stamp which looks better than all the others. The idea to use a ruler to draw the outlines was a terrible idea. I remembered that Mary's clothesline was done with a ruler and all my previous clotheslines were done free-hand and were a bit slack. But Mary hand-drew all the rectangles on hers and I wish I had looked at hers before I drew all mine with a ruler.

As I said yesterday - the downhill portion of this process gave me some momentum. It reminded me of something I learned about something my son does. He lives in Whistler BC where they have extensive trails for people to ride bikes down the mountains (with ski runs) when there is no snow. It looks very dangerous to me. Like ski runs, the bike trails have different levels of difficulty. As I recall - it is green for beginners. Blue for intermediate. And then I think it is black diamond for the hardest trails.

Apparently, on the black diamond trails there is a rule that you can't stop. You have to keep going because there might be someone behind you and you can't expect them to stop. Sounds scary to me. But, I have also been watching a series on world class surfing and it's very similar. Once you choose your wave - you have to ride it out. 

Is there a parallel to penmanship? Stay tuned.

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Sometimes I try something on scratch paper before I do the envelope. I spent so much time on this one that I ended up sending the rough idea along - even though I ditched the idea. It would have needed to be done with gouache. And it would have needed better proportions. More light blue with mouths. It woulda been so cute.

This just in:

Photo of my son on one of those bike trails. Professional photographers park themselves out in the trees and take pictures - just like they do at other touristy places.