MAFFSStory

We have been taking commissions for original art for 50 years. My wife Billie and our two grown kids are also artists. This is obviously a gift as we have never had any professional art training; Billie and I are childhood sweethearts and got married shortly after my 19th birthday on 20 December 1965. Our first child was planned and daughter Lisa was born in 1968. Our son James was also planned and he arrived on the planet in 1972. Now our grandchildren are showing that they too have great talents in the arts.

Our Colorado Pioneer family heritage is now seven generations strong dating to 1861 when my great-great grandfather moved his family to Fountain. Billie was born in an apartment at the corner of Colorado Blvd. and Tejon. She lived a few doors away from my cousin in Pueblo and we first met at a summer camp function when we were six or seven years old.

Billie and I both worked hard full time jobs to get me through Northrop Institute of Technology seeking a degree in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering. With this curriculum I qualified for both my Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) ratings in 1968. I began working at LAX loading bags in the belly of Continental Airlines Boeing 707’s in 1965. After getting my A&P ratings I worked turning wrenches for Flying Tigers for 89 days before moving my tool box to the east end of LAX when hired as a flight line mechanic for the original United Air Lines in 1968. Thus I spent over 5 years working for the airlines in what was certainly the glamorous and glorious days of commercial airline operations at the beginning of the jet age.

I qualified for a position as a flight officer in 1969. However, Billie and I had worked so hard to pay for college and flying time that she wanted me to complete my degree before getting a front seat with United. I had been the company’s “Golden Boy” since I was a teenager and logged over 200 hours in the company simulators before graduating high school. Most of the time was in the venerable DC-6B and DC-7 since the jet simulators were only available after midnight.

After being accepted as a flight officer candidate in 1969 the Chief Pilot for United gave me unlimited jump seat authority as an additional crew member (ACM). Thus I was able to fly jump seat in all the various jets but my heart was back in the “High and The Mighty” DC-6B which allowed me to log lots of time on the only route the equipment still flew between SFO and SLC. That story is for another time but I certainly relate to the magnificence of seeing the Herc and darn near watch the 302nd equipment every time on of the mighty Hercules fly over our Broadmoor home and studio.

In late 1970 I was summoned to the Chief Pilot’s office at LAX where Captain Russ Cottle had a chat with me about getting into the next flight officer class scheduled for March 1971. Times were getting lean and this would be the last class to qualify as a flight engineer on the 727. At that time in history UAL was hiring qualified A&P mechanics for flight officers and the company had full time career flight engineers who never obtained any flying certificates. Times have certainly changed in the airline industry and there are so many wonderful memories we share of life during the time before deregulation when flying for the airlines was a glamorous job and real pilots who had served America during WW II and Korea had the top seniority numbers.

We moved back to our native Colorado and decided to settle in Colorado Springs because we had relatives in both Pueblo and Denver. Billie’s sister and Mom were living in COS and this was a great decision

I passed my commercial and instrument written tests before relocating to COS and when checking in with United at their DENTK training center learned that my 727 flight engineer class had been deferred to a later date. It was soon cancelled due to the recession and over capacity. I stayed on the furloughed list which included our class plus another 526 pilots that lost their jobs.

Thus our full time art career began in March 1971 and we have had over 40 years of experience creating commissioned art as our only jobs.

Flying lessons began when I was 11 years old and won a model building contest held at the Pueblo Memorial Airport. The contest prize was flight lessons and thus my flying career began 5 years before my sixteenth birthday solo at Jeffco on 13 October 1962. I soloed 8 different aircraft when I was 16. The Piper Comanche 250 being my favorite mount. The Cessna 182 was my second favorite aircraft to fly. Next year I hope to solo again to mark my 50 year anniversary of being an aviator. (There is a big difference between being an aviator and pilot. Read the famed aviation author Ernie Gann’s book “Hostage to Fortune” to learn the differences!)

When we are commissioned for an original painting there are an amazing set of parameters that go into creating the fine art. The MAAFS original painting currently in progress is something we have wanted to do for many moons. A few notes about how we determined how to depict this mission are submitted here for those considering investing in the fine art products we are offering of this truly historic work of fine art.

In reality – and this is true with about 90 percent of the paintings I create – When I go to bed I will think and wonder about the new commission while I drift off into sleep. I keep a sketch pad with pens and colored pencils next to the bed and will wake up from a flying dream about the painting and make notes. More times than not it is the notes that I have written or scribbled sketch that begins the foundation for all our paintings.

What we wanted to do was capture with our MAAFS original painting is not only capture true drama, but also the risky challenge of a very difficult MAAFS mission. There are a number of elements that go into the creation of every original painting that are consistent with accomplishing a masterpiece. Because our Starlite paintings change from day to nocturnal (or sunset for the MAAFS mission) the direction of the sun light is one challenge. This is a variable.

For our yet untitled MAAFS original painting we wanted to show a most difficult mission; flying into a fire in the heart of the Continental Divide. The mission elements we chose to capture are deliberate to ensure a safe flight. Having flown in the Rockies many times in light aircraft I wanted to make it certain that the C-130 is flying down a canyon. Hence the small mountain river is going downhill denoting the clear route out of the area of the MAAFS drop. I also chose strong but variable winds which are evident by a close study of the trees up close and off in the distance.

My Dad was a professional photographer of some note and served with the Fifth Air Force as a combat photographer and laboratory technician during WW II between 1942 and 1945. He died as a result of being radiated when he spent half a day on the ground at Hiroshima on September 21, 1945. Coincidentally when going through his vast photo collection I located a Kodachrome color slide Dad had taken in 1950 which was almost a perfect match to what we are creating for you.

I believe the photo Dad took was of the Gunnison River near Ouray, Colorado because my parents were very close personal friends with Fred and Lola Harmon of Red Ryder comic book fame. As a family we would go to Pagosa Springs and Durango every summer to see them and engage in my father’s passion for fishing.

In the background of your painting are both a highway and railroad tracks. If my hunch is correct this is the “million dollar” highway as we used to call it because when it was built it cost a million bucks a mile. That is some heavy funding considering that this was in 1940 dollars!

There will be two versions of this painting. The first iteration shows the legacy MAAFS system. The second version will show the new system and be created at a later date. We are also planning to create an original painting featuring the Herc with Pikes Peak in the background. This will be a tribute to the “Mile High Flyers” that will appeal to all.

We have never done a lot of marketing of our fine art paintings and reproductions. What folks don’t realize when commissioning a reproduction of one of our paintings is that it is a darn good investment too. Throughout history art collecting is recognized as worthwhile. What we have learned too is that the most important element for a potential collector to consider is whether they like the artwork or not. If you like the painting by all means get a reproduction! Our prices have always been about 60 percent less than fair market value.

As of today September 8, 2011 we have invested over 400 hours in creating your painting. We are closing in on the completion of the final elements of this very historic original painting.

We are fine artists with what we create. And there is a huge difference between fine art and illustration. Walt Disney once noted that the difference between an illustration and a fine art painting is that an illustrator has no emotional tie to their work. On the other hand fine artists show you a window to their heart and soul because they are creating art for future generations and want to have the viewer of their creation to be able to put themselves into the painting. The one thing that is common to both illustrators and artists is (that) it seems to us that we never complete a painting; we just reach a deadline!

To this end our family has always been tremendously blessed to do our part of capturing the true “Spirit of Flight” in a most unique and wonderful way. Thus we truly thank everyone who is making our MAAFS painting come from a dream into reality. Both the original painting and reproductions will be shared for many generations in the future and continue to tell your story ….