a parasol for Sherry

Sherry Herschend's trip to Israel 2023

Sherry has asked me for a parasol before and I think we both were surprised how long ago it was. She was eagerly looking forward to this trip and was very excited to use this as an education tool for her group, a good visual for them to see in a crowd as well as shade. Because of all of this, it is much fuller than the one I did before. This is the image of the entire Parasol. I think it is colorful and visually exciting.

 

Sabra Cactus- otherwise known as a prickly pear. I think this one is rather successful that shows the growth pattern, the fruit and the flower. 

She wanted a biblical oil lamp. It reminds me always of the verse, "You are the light of the world".

Pomegranate and I am pleased with the slight color difference between the rind and the fruit.

Nazareth Village which is a park that shows how people lived, worked and ate during Jesus' times. This is Sherry's park. Here is a situation where I feel the limitations of the colors I have to work with. Trying to get subtle rock and greenery colors is almost impossible. 

Garden Tomb which is an example of how a tomb looks in ancient Israel. It is surrounded by a quiet garden where people can meditate on the story of the Tomb stone rolling away and the tomb being empty. Again, a situation where I feel limited in the colors I have to depict the subtle changes of rock.

Cyclamens a beautiful flower Sherry took notice of on her travels there. I don't think there's any spiritual meaning. 

Dome on the Rock of course has a diverse history at this point. The site of historic Temple for the Jews, also a significant religious site for the Islamic Faith. Again, challenged in getting shades of greens, how the light plays on the blues of the building. I was happy I had a brilliant gold pen I could use for the dome. 

  I don't know that I've ever been as tempted to visit as I was working on this piece. I'm excited for all those who were invited to travel with Sherry and I look forward to seeing their impressions of that part of the world. Safe travels to them all.

ten years in the making

 Hi all,

 I've neglected this blog, because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it, other than document some parasols over the years. It's fun to see all the special requests I've had over the years and I'm on my 10th year of painting them. I've had others and sometimes I forget to take photos before they go out. 

 Keep in mind that I am working with oil paint markers in 15 different colors and I typically spend 15 minutes on each parasol. (exceptions can be special requests). I try to be faithful to the history of the parasol painters in the Park. I try to keep some of the "old" designs going while responding to the newer things guests request. 

My general approach of painting images might vary from previous approaches. I like to draw ahead rather than wait for the order. I have several out there on display that the kids can choose from and then I just add a name. But, I only have one of each design out. I want each customer to feel like they are getting something unique rather than just a limited number of designs on a variety of parasols. 

I get bored easily, I admit it. I would go crazy painting hearts on everything every single day. I like to be fast and efficient and I like to challenge myself every once in a while, so I don't get bored.  Because of that, I have over 200 (last time I counted) designs I can do, but typically 20 really active ones at any given time. 

Some things are very trendy. Some are more timeless. Some appeal to kids and some to the grandmothers who buy for them. Occasionally, a grandmother will know what the kids is in to, but mostly, they are doing well to remember how they spelled the kids' name. In one case, it has become a family joke that grandpa spelled the kid's name wrong and bought another one the next year, and again this year. Everyone in the family teased him mercilessly. 

  I get to hear so many stories of getting them and still having them or wanting one and not getting one. Years worth of stories of parasols in the Park. Meeting little ones every year and seeing them progress into teen life. Little ice skaters and little home schoolers who fall in love with a subject for awhile. Literally years worth of stories and watching babies grow into toddlers and toddlers to children and children to teens. Snapshots of a year's worth of growth in 15 minutes of encounters. 

I don't know how long I'll continue with this job. I'm not sure what the timeline of this job will hold. I'm getting expensive for what I do. We'll see. In the meantime, I collect the little life stories as they come. 

  

Catching up

I am throwing a lot of images in to this post, catching up with a few designs over the years.

Above is a request for a Mardi Gras parasol to use in a second line.

A general shot of several parasols for sale on that day.

A customer brought her old parasol that was made long before I was here. It shows just how treasured these parasols end up being to some folks.

Occasionally, I'll be asked to make a parasol for a wedding. A couple of my co-workers were holding it for the photo. It was made for a wedding carriage ride.

Hippie Elephant

Dolphins are popular.

Stars are easy and effective.

Owls were very popular for awhile.

A special request for Sherry Hershend's trip to Israel and Petra. I went all out for our Park's Owner! 

A close up of one of the panels. 

A small customer who loves all things princess. 

A dramatic Wild flower design that sells well on Black.

Pixelated heart.

This cutie loved a matching parasol with her Christmas outfit.

Fidgets were a big thing for a moment.

Loved this family group. The same design on 4 different colors. 

another Princess with a steam punk theme parasol.

Unicorn Love! 

Sister rocking butterflies.

A special request for a family. Those are kidneys on the parasol representing the gift one family member gave to another. The gift of a kidney and life. 

a special request for a family. Each banner held a different name.

a happy design.

elephants are popular.

pandas are as well, but so much black makes things tricky for use in the rain.

a design another painter came up to mimic Minnie Mouse's bow. Copyright issues don't allow us to do disney stuff. (of course).

Flamingos!

A special request for a cat that looks like her cat. 

The photo I worked from. 
 

A Leftie on display

 Where I work is quite public. I'm basically in the path of everyone who leaves the park in a timely manner. That means that I do get seen by not only those interested in purchasing a parasol, but everyone who is leaving the park (numbers in the thousands every day).
  I am a left handed person and, at times, it feels like I'm on exhibit in a zoo. I am amazed by all those who instantly see I'm left handed. Who really notices that on a daily basis? I'm left handed and I don't do that. I've been left handed all my life and I've gotten used to the drawbacks, also two out of three of my kids are left handed so, we rule in the house!
  I've had people say some really outrageous things about me being left handed. (mostly religious and mostly having to do with the devil) Then, I also have long involved stories from others who are lefties or those who had a relative who was a leftie.
  I sympathize with those older folks who were forced to use their right hands. It wasn't necessarily as evil as it seems. Imagine being a teacher in a one room school room and the hand writing instructions don't even have a version for lefties. This was the educational standard, the hand writing  they were expected to teach, what everyone was expected to learn to do. So, what to do with these outliers? Make them conform. The bigger question was, why didn't they make a version for lefties?
  The word "left" means "sinister". Not a promising beginning is it? When you go home to heaven Jesus is sitting on the RIGHT side of GOD. The Bible is filled with everything good being on the right, everything bad on the left. God fearing folks didn't want anything in their life that smacked of evil so no one wanted a left handed kid. There's some stories about people wiping their butt with the left hand, thus shaking hands with people was always done with the right. (It's a old wife's tale people tell me).
Being a leftie in a right handed world is sometimes hard. Potato peelers are sometimes impossible to use. While Fiskars scissors are a godsend  because they are for both lefties and righties, good scissors (sewing scissors) are definitely left or right handed.
Trying to play an instrument is confusing to me. If you string a guitar for lefties, the chording is with your right hand and, it seems like that should take more dexterity than strumming, but maybe I'm wrong.
 Sometimes the silliest thing can trip you up. Ladles with a pour spout, for example, really tripped me up once at a salad bar.
  My horror story has to do with a calligraphy class before there were felt tip pens and I had to use the old dip pens. The ink was wet, and you had to write (in English) left to right, thus smearing the ink. My solution was to learn to write down the page, making all my letters sideways. It's easy to skip a letter that way and I can't tell you how many times I had to start over on a project. I admit that, after starting over 5 times, I might have just decided to take the hit on a misspelled word from time to time.
 

So, here I am, writing names on parasols in wet paint. Sounds like my old nightmare of a class all over again doesn't it?

2nd line parasols

 I had a customer the other day that requested a parasol for her. She's part of a Jazz club and she wanted a second line parasol. After some research, and giving her some options, we settled on this design. The gold at the bottom are in reference of the iron work found in so many locations in New Orleans. The balconies and gates and fences. Then we alternated masks with the flur d leis. The colors were traditional Mardi Gras colors of gold, green and purple. Although the parasol looks blueish in the photo, it was really purple. I ended up doing two, one for her and one for her friend.
  In looking at some of the 2nd line parasols out there, well, thy are REALLY out there! Feathers, beads, ribbons and sometimes 3-D items on them. I left her plenty of room to add any of that she wishes, either along the bottom or along the spines separating each panel. I hope she has great fun with her 2nd line parasol.

Names- a brief overview

  One of the most interesting things about the job of parasol painting comes when it's time to put the names on them. This is the last thing we do, and the hardest part of the job for me. 

 

 I am left- handed (which will need it's own entry someday) and I put the umbrella at my angle to write and just write it in cursive, with a very few embellishments.

 

  Names fall into a few categories.

1. traditional family names

2. traditional names with a twist

3. names that make me think their parents are old flower children

4. names I can't pronounce.

5. trendy names.

 

There are names in each category that make me want to say, "poor kid".

some examples in each category:

 

1. Eleanor, Emily, Lily,Corra,

Evelyn, Rebecca, Elizabeth and Emma

 

2. Emilee, Emaleigh, Emilea,Lilly, Lilie,Ashleigh, Mirandah , Jorja , Abegaylle

and anything with Lynn added to it.

 

3. Eden, Karma, Serenity, Midnight, Genesis, Electra, Journey, Lorelei, Verity,

Stormie, Destiney, Fantasy, Cougar, Sparrow  and Hendrix.

 

4. Haarika, Kajah, Evhya,Cabela, Arya, XoXo, and  Xochitl (I mean, really, how do you say that?)

 

5. Nevaeh ( heaven backwards) , Kennedy, place names like Jersey, Georgia, Cheyenne, Dakota, Ella (and none of them have seen the movie?) , and to my ever-loving shame, Delaney is  making a strong showing in the trendy name category. My only defense is... my husband picked it 18 years ago. She's ahead of the trend.

 

 

Fun for everyone

 

One of our customers posted this picture. Isn't it adorable?

Their young daughter bought this mini parasol with the angels on it and then, when they got their new kitten, she did this.