Eric Sloane Week: Tuesday
As a teen, Eric Sloane exhibited a penchant for wandering, often covering great distances. On his final break from home in 1925, he absconded with his father’s Ford Model T, forging license plates for the vehicle. On his travels across the United States, he somehow bartered enough of his artworks to eat and to keep fuel in the ‘T’. He lettered windows and menus for meals, painted signs for businesses, and murals for lodging. When he couldn’t find work, he slept under a canvas tarp tied to the roof of the ‘T’ to make a crude tent. Though broke, he made it as far as Taos, New Mexico, already a burgeoning artist enclave that helped Sloane decide to become a fine artist.
It was in Taos, Eric recalled, that he fell in love with the sky. He never abandoned illustration and drew thousands over the course of his career, many of them for the nearly 40 books he authored during his lifetime.
Eric Sloane’s simplified guide to the three basic forms of cloud from his book Clouds, Air and Wind (1941). This themed week was proposed and written by Wil Mauch (Member 60,370).
Image courtesy of the Eric Sloane Appreciation Society and the estate of Eric Sloane.
