Christmas

Here is some Christmas-related art.

First up, our cousin Wendy may have posed for this one.

The boy looking up at the reindeer is Deane’s grandson, Kenyon.

Christmas cards for clients.

John Condon worked at Ackerman-McQueen Advertising. Deane often did work for them.

For Tulsa attorney John J. Livingston, 1987.

The inside has the following written by Livingston.

For a drilling business, 1992

For a drilling business (the same one?), 1992

For Broken Arrow Medical Center

Christmas cards to Grandmother Doris, Deane’s mother. The first one, 1965 or 1966.

Cover

Inside

Another grandchild was added to this card.

Other Christmas related art. You can probably pick out Deane in two of these (Dickens and Christmases Remembered). Deane’s daughter and wife modeled for the A Christmas Memory ad. Last in the slideshow is the Christmas angel Deane carved that all the children cherished. It has since been repainted and now has a home with Kay.

First up is Zella’s cat.

Rhino Safari

Deane was commissioned by Ackerman, Hood, and McQueen Advertising Agency in 1987 to design a poster for the 1988 Brunswick Men’s Winter Tour Rhino Safari.

A tube was discovered but the contents would not come out. So, with the help of scissors, seven posters were removed. They were stuck together in the bottom left.

We did a bit of DIY restoration! Using a handheld steamer, we got the posters unstuck, although not completely! After deciding which poster will give a good image, another poster that had a better image of the pink tour date list was cut with an Exacto knife. Other posters were used to cover up imperfections (you can see this in the monkey slide).

After pieces were taped, I took digital images, uploaded the images to my computer, and used the design tools to ‘soften’ the edges.

If you move the screen to the right, you can see the other poster peeking out below the top one. I decided to leave it the way it is. You will also notice I attempted to clean up the bottom left corner. I accidentally covered over the printing date AND there is more printing above it!

Can you see the pictogram? I believe it is a Brunswick logo. I don’t believe Deane designed this. The clean version came from a 1988 Brunswick catalog found online. It is noticeably different from the poster version.

The official 1988 Olympic bowling pictogram. So far, bowling in the Olympics was just a one-time exhibition. Here is more information.

When we fully opened up the tube and spread out the posters, we could tell immediately it was designed by Deane. We thought it was likely. But, here is proof. The signature is in the bottom right.

A closeup view of the tour dates. You can find out about the winners here. You’ll see a few more dates added. This poster is only showing tours January 2 – April 30. Maybe there is a second poster for the second half of the year?

Follow the trail across America.

An image of the poster can be found under ‘Food & Entertainment’ in the catalogue.

Update on 1961 Zebco catalog cover

This is an exciting find! From clues I gleaned from the newspaper photograph/blurb in the previous post “1961 Zebco catalog cover”, I researched and found the Greater Tulsa magazine (thanks to Jennifer at Tulsa City County Library). And not only that, there was a big write up on p. 28 on Deane.

p. 28 A larger view of the text is below.

Therefore, Deane was an “import.” One thing I did not know was he spent a very short time working at a studio in California before coming to Tulsa.

1961 Zebco catalog cover

digitalized image, possibly by Cody Vignal of Zebco collectors

This is the cover of a Zebco catalog from 1961. Can you find his signature?

So, now I have three images of paintings with the ‘di’ signature. Louise Brushing her Her/I Do! and Deena, both circa 1959.

The Idaho Statesman put a blurb in their paper on Sunday, July 10, 1960. So, Deane would have been twenty-eight (in December 1959) or possibly younger when he initially designed it. Therefore, the catalog cover came later! You can view the whole clipping in Early Business.

Did you know ZEBCO is an acronym for something not even closely related to fishing?

“Since its incorporation in 1932, the Zero Hour Bomb Company had become well known for manufacturing dependable electric timer bombs for fracturing geologic formations. It had designed and patented technologies for shooting wells to increase oil and natural gas production. . . post World War II demand for its electrically triggered devices had declined. ” The “cannot backlash” reel was invented by R.D. Hull to help administer these timer bombs down wells but also made an excellent fishing reel.

View more Zebco art in Food & Entertainment.

Louise on blue couch

I will date this painting closer to 1980. Mom still has her dark hair. Do you see the lion statue? Kirk still has it on the front porch! When the photo was taken of the painting (possibly around 2003), the painting was stored upstairs which makes me wonder if he never liked it that much. I don’t ever recall it being on any wall downstairs. This photograph was a happy find because the image didn’t make it into the photobooks!

Makeover!

Deane, Self-portrait about 1970 – 1971

The exact date is uncertain but we know he started growing a mustache at around 1969. It first hung on a wooden privacy screen in my parent’s bedroom for many years, then came out and was hung above the floor furnace. It replaced the location of Anne, nude (!) I really hope to find an image of that one!

You can imagine that Deane’s portrait was just low enough to attract sticky fingers and pencil marks. And just three weeks before I got this from Kelsey to restore, it managed to attract a red marker (you can see that by scrolling all the way down)! Jill took a deep breath and painted over the white and the solid colors in Summer 2021 (this is twenty-one years after Deane’s death). It came out pretty good. Maybe because it is not varnished!! Will it need another restoration in fifty years? Well, I won’t be around to do it!

Did you happen to catch the scene in the crook of his arm? There is debate on who that could be. Some siblings say Gina, some believe just a random girl running through the roses 😀 .

Kelsey took Deane’s self-portrait out of the Ingraham house after the 2012 fire, among other paintings. It was in a bluish-gray frame, lower profile, much lighter. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made the frame. There was no frame shop label. The painting is on thin masonite fiber board, rough on one side, smooth on the other. It is very light for being so large ( 29 1/2″ x 48″) . In the image to the right you can see the back of the frame is charred. I regret not getting a close up of the front side of the original frame.

But now, since the old frame was not very usable, I bought the first frame that would work – a large, returned frame with scrollwork that was discounted by almost 90%. I got it for $41 from Hobby Lobby so I thought that was a steal! The frame is not an exact fit, about 3″ too wide and 1 1/4″ too tall. So I glued the original painting to a thin hardboard using Liquid Nails; this also helped the painting from bowing!

The black line is NOT shadow. It is the thin hardboard painted black that was glued to the back of the masonite board the self portrait is painted on. The strip of tan is the part of the frame that creates a shadow box look; it is set back from the scroll-front about 1 1/2″. And now, this painting with board attached to the back and the frame is a whopping thirty-two plus pounds!

Deena, 1959

Deena, 1959

This was one of the first pictures I put up on the blog. I am putting it up again because I discovered something about it whereby I can date the painting!

The signature! I just glossed over it the first time. It is the same signature Deane used in I Do (see the previous blog). My recent conversation with Deena’s son, Nathan, prompted me to take another look!

The image of Deena above is rounded for effect. Please see the painting in Gallery – Early Paintings.

Girl on a Bench

Girl on a Bench, about 1960

In mid-April, Jill heard from a user in North Carolina. He stated he was looking up a painting’s origin. He really enjoys it. His wife’s parents are/were amateur artists in Tulsa; they bought it (sometime around 1960) and brought it to Florida. JS and his wife have it now and live in North Carolina.

Thank you, J & L S. I wish I could give the backstory on this painting! I don’t know who the model is. Looking closer, I see a car in the background and the girl is holding a dog or a teddy bear. Deane’s signature is vertical on the rock at the right.

The family was pleased Mr. S. sent in this story! I hope to hear from more!

The painting can be viewed in a photograph in its original shape in Gallery-Early Paintings.

“I Do!”

Louise, brushing her hair, 1959

Deane and Louise married May 28, 1959.

I am surmising that the painting was a wedding gift to Louise. There are slides and photographs that show her in the same robe. I rounded the corners of the painting, thereby cutting off the signature. I enlarged it here. This is a special signature denoting a special event. There is no other piece that I have found marked “di”.

Correction! I have found two other pieces where Deane signed his work “di”.

One of a Kind

Deane was commissioned to make an abstract for Phillips 66 Shield magazine in 1977. This is the only abstract I have seen, so truly one of a kind. One day I will ask to browse through the Phillips 66 archives to see if there are other art that I don’t have. The image below is just a snippet and you can view the full page in Petroleum & Energy Related Ads. You should be able to make out two people with their arms out. This is the golden driller, twice. But there are three in the full size ad! Can you find the third?

A Man’s Life

Deane created a story with text and pictures in the mid-80s. There are eleven paintings that tell snippets of the story. The family does not remember what he titled the story and only one daughter remembers seeing the book of which no copy or text has been located. The paintings got moved around after the fire. Sketches are included in this set until the rest of the paintings can be located. Deane was the model for the war image and the last three images. Below is a reimagined version of the text by middle daughter Jill. The first paragraph corresponding to each image explains what is happening in the story. The second paragraph are the words on the images.

A young man of modern age on the cusp of adulthood is visited by an apparition who warns him of trappings that would keep him from a successful life. He envisions a portal to a bedouin past.

Wind chimes, colored glass, prisms shooting shafts of light through its forested interior   An aviary for songbirds, organ-like chasms recreating the roar of a fast, green river  Cool pine scent wafting across its fern-choked banks – a universe in clay  But so light it hovers  above the arid courtyard

The apparition tells a story –

“What is my life’s path?” a youth asks an elder.

Life’s path, you say  life’s path  you shall follow the three-fold way  of all youths of no inheritance       War, drink, sex now go away,  I must-must contemplate

The elder drops his jug.  It shatters.

The rebels invite the youth to fight with them.

Dust, confusion, battle banners, bugles blaring – the exhilarating striving to master the exacting art  of maiming one another

The rebel leader notices the boy cowering.

The glories of war are not for you, boy  You’ve not the fine competitive spirit, the pure lust for gore  Even the horses scare you,  but come,  I’ll buy you a wine and send you on your way

The youth enjoys the wine and drinks until he hallucinates.

What do you see flickering in the forefront of your mind that others can’t see?  When the morning breeze blows away the alcoholic haze, will this phantom also disappear?

The youth becomes infatuated with a woman. 

Two shy young bodies clash and thrash in inexperience.  Two expectations carom giddily in a shower of phantom light.  Ah, well  Practice will make perfect.

The woman leaves. The young man has yet to give up the drink.

But, oh, the price.  As though all you dreamed of has disappeared in this one effort.  The last phantom light winks out.  You who have never mastered the relationships of living beings  are left bereft of any company

Much time has passed and he is now an aged man.  He wanders and stumbles upon a broken jug that reminds him of asking the elder a long time ago what is life’s path.

A hill, a grove   A broken jug, somehow familiar.  the unwise wiseman – yes.  Such a long life ago  And now you are as fragmented as his jug.

If you could patch the scattered shards of your self as you would the scraps of a broken jug

Memory gone blind – A head once filled with shape and color – empty of light

One night, an apparition appears.  She grants him one memory.

One memory – perhaps that will suffice

The man is repentant for not heeding her advice of long ago.  She replies,

“I’ll share your road as I hoped I’d share your life.  I’ll be the light-always in the forefront of your mind”

The young man who had this vision and listened to the apparition’s story came away much wiser.