Dad's Second Washington Shop - and our Marquetry Picture

This picture shows Dad and me laboring to put together the picture we made together in 1991. Dad drew the picture off of a tapestry that grandson Ron Blood had sent them from Vienna in the late 1970's. He wasn't happy with his drawing, so I took it and added a bit more to it, and had the Ozalid copies made for him for Christmas. My gift became a real gift, because he insisted that we make the picture together. I did the left half and he did the right. We actually each made two large sections, and when we tried to put the four together, it was quite a task - sort of like sewing together all sorts of bias pieces. (You sewers will understand that kind of talk.) This shop area was at the front of his two-car garage. In order to heat it a little more efficiently, he installed a large canvas drop between the car and pickup and his work area. He had veneer stacked all over - in the cupboard in the back, the shelves behind us, and the shelves under the bench we were working on. You can also see the old press behind us. The new Delta multiple speed scroll saw was there, as well as the Hegner. He had a little electric heater, but it was still pretty chilly working there. We completed the picture by the middle of March. We spent some very precious time working together - especially since it was that fall that he and Elna decided to move back to Cody.

One other thing about this picture. Dad decided that I should be the keeper of it, since it fit exactly over my piano. However, he really let me know later that he would like to have it after all. Ron solved the problem by taking the picture (59" x 29") to a professional photographer in Olympia, who made an exact copy, had it mounted on a sturdy board, and we presented that to Dad at Cody. He was tickled with it. When he died, I decided the copy should go to nephew Ron Blood, whose tapestry began the whole thing. The original hangs in my living room. The history of it is woodburned on the back.