2018 Sneak Peek: Holiday Light House
Tracy Larsen
Here is another sneak peek from Tracy Larsen, this month’s featured artist. He is pictured alongside the lighthouse table decoration (he created for this year’s line) that was inspired by the 1st in the Holiday Lighthouse ornament series.
Q&A: Tracy Larsen
Keepsake Artist Tracy Larsen was asked to give a little more background on some of his ornaments coming out later this year. Here’s what he had to say!
Flight of Fancy
Tracy: A few years ago, at a Christmas party gathering for the Keepsakes studio artists, we created robots out of a bunch of found objects that we brought to the party. The end result of the ones I created had a definite “steampunk” feel to them that I really liked and I thought that at some point, with the right project, it would be fun to do a steampunk ornament. When I got the chance to do a Santa in a hot air balloon I thought, “This is the one.” I researched different steampunk styles, flying machines, engines, clothing, etc. and started to sketch some ideas that the team was enthusiastic about. I like the use of different metals that I found in my research, along with boilers, goggles, steam whistles and a multitude of other items. I combined as many elements as I could, added some light effects, and ended up with one of my favorite ornaments that I’ve had the pleasure to work on in my 22+ years in Keepsake Ornaments.
Flight of Fancy
Tracy: We did some really fun lighting effects on some recent Frosty Friends pieces and I was looking for other ways to implement a similar effect in one of my ornaments. Of course, it has to be the right situation. Fortunately, I found it with Flight of Fancy. The question was how to show it off well. I decided to keep part of the balloon opaque and then let the light show through the other quarter pieces. I was also able to get a couple of flickering lights in the exhaust and in the boiler to simulate the fire aspect of a steam engine. As we got samples back from the manufacturing vendor, we made a few tweaks and adjustments so that the effect would be as good as possible.
Low N’ Sno Lowrider
Tracy: I love cars and the art that is involved in car design. I admit that though I was somewhat familiar with the “lowrider” car culture, I didn’t know much of the details or the language associated with it. It was a great experience to have the chance to actually sit down with Joe Ray and learn from one of the culture’s biggest proponents. In our conversations he would suggest elements found on lowriders that would be a good fit for certain styles of cars. For the 50s-style car that we use in 2018, he suggested headlight “eyelids,” a side window air conditioning tube, and of course, the shiny metallic lowrider plaque, among other elements. We discussed what colors might look best for that particular car and what kind of paint design would look good. He came up with the icicle scallops, which work perfectly for the lowrider snowman driving the car. It was a fun collaboration that definitely has Joe’s fingerprints on it.
Old World Santa
Tracy: The original sketch that inspired Old World Santa was actually of Santa as a nutcracker, done years ago. When I was asked if I’d be interested in doing a Santa for the premium line, I rummaged through some old sketches, made some modifications on the nutcracker Santa sketch, and added some mixed materials like crystals, a bottle brush tree and fur. We keep favorite old sketches around, just in case the right situation arises, and we can dust them off and use them.
Old World Santa
Tracy: I loved working on the Old World Santa because there is so much more I could do with it in premium materials. I had the green light to use porcelain with various mixed materials that I often don’t get to use. I have often teased Joanne Eschrich that she doesn’t leave any of the rest of us the chance to include attachments on our ornaments because she uses them all on her Father Christmas series. She may have suggested that I be given the premium Santa just to serve me right for complaining! It was a challenge, because I wanted it to be special, but it was definitely worthwhile. Hopefully, it will be an ornament that the collectors will enjoy as much as I have enjoyed creating it.
2018 Sneak Peek: Nostalgic Houses & Shops
Festive Firs Christmas Tree Farm
35th in the Nostalgic Houses and Shops series.
Here is a sneak peek of the 35th in the Nostalgic Houses and Shops series. This year’s nostalgic design features a quaint, small-town storefront for the “Festive Firs Christmas Tree Farm.” By Don Palmiter.
Featured Artist: Tracy Larsen
Title:
Hallmark Artist
Started at Hallmark:
October 1987
Started at Keepsakes:
August 1995
Hometown:
North Ogden, Utah
Lee’s Summit, Missouri
A longstanding artist with diverse and divergent interests, Tracy Larsen has contributed greatly to the Keepsakes legacy. From early pop culture pieces featuring Howdy Doody™ and The Three Stooges™, to his own recent imaginings of Santa, Tracy’s versatility and creative spirit continue to invigorate the art of ornament-making.
Like most preschoolers, Tracy Larsen spent a lot of time with cartoons—but instead of just watching them, Tracy studied them! He spent his childhood hours drawing characters from The Flintstones™ and Peanuts®. He also copied newspaper comic strips, but at the mature age of eight, Tracy moved to the more sophisticated material on the editorial page. The 1968 Nixon vs. Humphrey presidential race became a favorite subject. While looking through newspapers and magazines, Tracy started noticing the differences among artists’ styles—another aspect of his self-described “knack for art.” He studied everything he found around his house, from European magazine illustrations to his own personal favorite of the day: Mad magazine. Tracy did his first sculpting with clay-like kneaded erasers, but through his schooling, moved on to higher-quality materials and projects. He produced his first serious sculpture, a bust of Muhammad Ali, while he was still a teenager. During junior high and high school, Tracy kept honing his skills in his art classes, his primary instructor/mentor being the noted fantasy artist, James Christensen. What a great program those schools must have had, since Tracy is one of several classmates now working as professional artists.
2018 Sneak Peek: April Wallpaper
Soar into April on the wings of fantasy with this month’s free desktop or mobile device wallpapers featuring Flight of Fancy by Tracy Larsen.
Flight of Fancy
2018 Sneak Peek: The Beauty of Birds Miniature
Red-Tanager
In celebration of the changing season, here is a sneak peek of the 2018 miniature Red Tanager by Keepsake Artist Edythe Kegrize. It was inspired by the 2011 KOC Event exclusive Scarlet Tanager* ornament.
Q&A: Dream Book
2018 Dream Book
Every year, the Dream Book is one of the most anticipated, most exciting happenings in the world of ornaments. Not only is it fun for collectors to dream about upcoming ornaments, it’s also a great way to catalog ornaments from Christmases past. This year, Hallmark Art Director Ron Arens gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what went in to the making of the Dream Book for 2018.
2018 Dream Book
Keepsake Ornament Club Edition
Ron Arens: The biggest change this year is the size. The in-store Dream Book is now 7 ¾” wide x 10 ½” tall, which is 40% larger than in previous years, and also the size of a standard catalog. I know they say size doesn’t matter, but in this case, I disagree. The larger book really highlights the ornaments, the artists and their families. And the Keepsake Ornament Club Edition is specifically tailored to the club member, with unique photography and stories throughout. Collectors will love it!
2018 Sneak Peek: Upon This Rock
Upon This Rock
This charming stone church ornament is a sweet reminder of all of spring’s blessings. Keepsake Artist Don Palmiter created “Upon This Rock” based on a local stone church.
For Keeps: Volume 17, Issue 2 Spring 2018
See what’s coming and what’s going in 2018, take a look inside the making of the Dream Book, and meet your fellow club members.
- A note from Anita
- A new year of memories
- First and finals
- An inside look at the Dream Book
- Crafting with Keepsakes: Make a wabi-sabi planter
- Meet the members
- Jerry B.
- Catherine P.
- Claudia B.
- 2018 Keepsake Artist Signing Events
For Keeps – The Official Newsletter of the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Club.
Online Dream Book Release Date
2018 Dream Book
The online version of the 2018 Dream Book will be posted on Hallmark.com on Thursday, April 19, 2018. A downloadable copy of this year’s Wish List will also be available at this time.