Speaking of walking among various crowds... have you ever considered what it might be like to walk among appreciators of vintage motorcycles? I will be honest with you that the thought never once crossed my mind. Until about five years ago, and I met...
Maybe it all started with his Dad. Doug and his cousin grew up riding motorcycles all through their backyard, on motocross tracks of their own making. Or one would ride the motorcycle and pull the other on a sled through the snow. Do you ever wonder how we survived growing up with all the shenanigans some of us got away with? Still, Doug’s passion turned into racing, riding, and now restoring the sweet old bikes from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. He got me turned on to it the very first Christmas we spent together, when he restored a golden 1972 Honda CB175 and surprised me with it. After taking the riding courses offered at the local community college, and lots and lots of practice offroad and in parking lots, at age 40, they let me loose on the street!
Ok, that shot isn’t on the actual street. That’s on the dirt bike, taken on a day spent riding the trails in the Iron Belt of Missouri with my love. My “daily rider” is my cute lil ‘68 Yamaha YCS-1, cherry red with a chrome “toaster tank”. Do you see how I’m now able to throw out these wacky terms? I didn’t know any of this stuff, but I have become IMMERSED in the culture of old motorcycles, and of the love of feeling free to zoomzoomzooomazoom!! It’s like nothing else! Do any of you all ride motorcycles, too? There’s apparently more women riders now than ever before. We see ladies showing up on cool old rides every month at the event Doug and I put on, Vintage Bike Night St. Louis, which quickly grew to be the largest monthly bike meet-up in the midwest! Here’s one of the posters I designed a few years ago, complete with touches of handlettering and the retro style I love!
Just a few more notes about vintage motorcycles. They offer incredible inspiration for color palettes! Check out this juicy orange number, a Ducati from Italia:
The classic British Triumphs that come rolling up are always swarmed with admirers...
Vintage racing bikes are some of my favorites—not to ride or race—but check out these snazzy graphics and bold colors! I get some of my best ideas from checking out the designs on old motorcycles, everything from logos and lettering, to stripe combinations for patterns, the awesome old racing posters, gosh, the inspiration is endless!
Just one last one, because how fun is the tank of this Kawasaki, with the bright red streak surrounded by burgundy, white, and black? I can see that combo on Christmas card!
This set was designed in the spirit of this quote: “Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul.” With a motorcycle-riding dude in vintage goggles on a retro race bike, loads of cool, handlettered sentiments and accent graphics, plus greasy tire tracks and oil spots I created in my own garage by rolling my motorcycle tires through some two-stroke oil and then over a piece of paper! I am not afraid to get my hands dirty, as I saw this as a larger, heavier form of rubber stamping. ;)
I can already think of a few folks who would love a sporty card with a moto-theme, and I have to say, these stamp up with as much detail as my original drawing/painting, and that makes me feel stoked!!
Move the Soul would be perfect for the man in your life, the boys in your life, heck, even maybe some ladies you know! Let’s roll over to these fabulous Bloomies to see where they took these images!
We’ll see you back here tomorrow for one more day of sneak peeks — and then Monday, all the sets will be available for purchase in the Power Poppy Shop — PLUS A BIG OL’ BLOG HOP with the whole team showcasing one more card from this release. Enjoy your weekend!!
QUICK NOTE: We will be announcing the winner of the Cut It Out Challenge next week! Stay tuned for details!
3 comments:
My! This is one amazing bike! You keep amaze me with your incredible talent! Thanks for sharing your story. I love reading posts where the authors share a bit about themselves and the details of how they come about creating their work. It make me feel more connected to them and of what the post is all about. Wishing you and your family a wonderful weekend! I'm excited to see what you have in store for us tomorrow long with what the DT will come up with and who the winner of the Cut It Out challenge! I don't think I can wait until next week! LOL!
Oh, Marcy, what a fun post today...you really have another whole side to you...thanks to your sweet Doug!! I love you as biker girl! Hehe! Thanks for sharing the great photos and how you even developed the images...how fun to know the tracks are really from YOUR bike!! The gals rocked the release sneak peek today, and I look forward to the final set tomorrow. Oh, my, I can hardly wait until Monday to click and get the release! Hugs and love to all the family!
Tosha Leyendekker's page from the MISTI Blog Hop led me to this stamp which, in turn, led me here. First off, let me say that I really like this stamp set. Next, I say Good for You! Learning to ride and, more importantly, meeting all the wonderfully diverse people in the world of vintage bikes is so cool!
I, too, was 40 when my husband, Robert, introduced me to Vespas and the realm of scooterists. I never, ever thought that this was something I'd be into, but I love it! I can no longer ride myself, but we got a sidecar and I enjoy that even more! I'm closer to the road and that makes it is so thrilling. It's vintage, too, just like his "herd" of Vespas. LOL. It looks like an egg with a wheel. I ripped out the insides of the sidecar and made it all nice and cushy. People love it and ask about it all the time, even at traffic lights. Some strangers, I must add, have even asked Robert to pull into a parking lot and give them a ride!
I love the Santa on a scooter stamp you have and want to get it someday. I would like to make hand-colored Christmas cards for everyone in our scooter club, however I'm just now beginning to dip my toes into stamping. I have just a few, but haven't even tried them out yet as I have no ink! several components of your Move the Soul set would be great to use with a scooter image. Over the past year, I've been learning to color with Copics and all the blending and shading and what not using digital stamps.
I would really love it if you would draw another stamp set (or digi set) that included a Vespa-styled scooter image and a sidecar image that could be added. I think doing the add-on would appeal to folks around the world because some countries attach a sidecar to the left of the driver, and some, like America, put it on the right. You could even add interchangeable riders of bothe genders for both the scooter and the sidecar. Yeah, I know that's asking too much, but a gal can dream, can't she?
Be well and ride safe!
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