Art and Autographs

I recently commissioned one of my favorite artists to do a couple new 5x7 drawings for me, Beck Kramer of Beckadoodles.com. She has a great flexibility and can do cute kiddie stuff and also amazing pin-ups. You can see both styles at her website above. Earlier this year she had a sale trying to get rid of some 5x7's that hadn't sold and I picked up a couple, Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Hermione form the Harry Potter series.


After getting the first two pieces I talked with Beck about doing a couple more pin-ups for me. I love the Harry Potter series and decided to have a couple more of my favorite characters done. I first went with Harry's future wife Ginny Weasley and then with a character that I wish was in the books (and films) more, Nymphdora Tonks.


As Beck was working on these I came up with another idea. For the Harry Potter pin-ups I wanted to try and add a little something to tie them into the movies. The best way I came up with is to try and get autographs of each of the actresses from one of the multiple card sets that are out. Now this may take a while and I don't think it will come real cheap as Emma Watson's (Hermione) autograph is always limited in each release. I'm please to say that as of today I've got one down and, at the moment, two to go!


I'm going to get other characters done as well including the Patil twins, Bellatrix, Fleur DeLacour and Cho Chang and match them up with autographs also. The pieces that Beck did for me are matted but I'm looking around and seeing if there is a good way to display a 5x7 and a trading card together. I hope I can find a nice display and use it for each of the drawings I have done. Thank you so much to Beck Kramer who does amazing work. If you need great work done at a good price don't be afraid to talk to her.

Getting the Fun Stuff

So, two posts in one day. Boy are you guys lucky!! Actually I'm going to post today's mail that I got about an hour or so ago. This isn't going to be a regular feature or anything but when I went down to my box and opened it I found five packages waiting for me including a couple that I've really been looking forward to. So lets start. First off i got my monthly group break cards from I Am Joe Collector. Nothing too special here, no hits this month but did get a nice 2008 Bowman Chrome rookie refractor of Luke Hochevar. Luke is 5-4 with a 4.96 ERA. Not great but nobody on the Royals staff this year has great numbers.


Next in the stack is an Essence of Fairyland sketch off E-bay by Andrew MacLean entitled Captured #1. As you can see some lucky collector has caught and labeled the Fire Fairy in a dome, not that the fairy seems too happy about it. I imagine he's using some sort of word we will not repeat on this blog to express his displeasure.


Next I have a double purchase also off E-bay by the fantastic duo of Jason Potratz and Jack Hai. These are two amazingly talented artists that combine their skills into wonderful sketch cards. I was lucky enough to win two of their latest works from the Harry Potter series. One card of Ginny and one of Hermione. I love all the detail they put into the cards every time.



Next I opened an envelope that I've been waiting on for six months or more. Artist Leah Mangue offered last school year to draw a PSC if you donated money to her son for a school fund raiser. This seemed a perfect way to get a card done and I sent the funds on the way. Leah soon realized that she may have bitten off more then she could chew as she was apparently overwhelmed with requests. I wasn't overly concerned either way if I got my sketch or not as I know the money went to a good cause but today it finally came. I now have another PSC Boomer from Battlestar Galactica to add to the collection.


Lastly is a card I've been wanting since the set came out. The set is Press Pass Showcase 2010. Cards from these boxes have been nothing short of amazing and not only does it include current NASCAR drivers but has legends as well. My favorite driver of all time is the current Fox announcer Darrell Waltrip. Darrell has several cards in this set but I was kinda picky on what I wanted one in my collection to look like. I wanted an autograph, of course, and a multi-color relic piece. I didn't care if it was a firesuit or sheet metal but leaned towards sheet metal if I could. Well the card came today and it looks even better in person! A beautiful on-card autograph with a 3 inch by 1 inch hunk of three colored sheet metal. The card weighs a ton and the colors are great. This is now one of my favorite cards in my collection. Right up there with the Jordan auto and the Peterson NT.


Thanks for letting me share my mail day and here's to hoping the rest of the day is just as good!!