The drawing above was done by Don Stephenson on the back of a plastic bubble mailing envelope. Artist Don Stephenson of the Dayton, Ohio Carving Club amazes his friends and neighbors alike because whoever admires his creativity becomes an instant friend.  He is very generous with his drawing art often giving a drawing to an admiring stranger as well as his many friends. He has always drawn since a young boy and benefited from art instructors who expanded his creative horizon.  One of his jobs in earlier days was as an illustrator for the Yellow Pages telephone directory. His artistic creativity became very active to be able to respond to a wide variety of illustration subjects as needed for the directory. At carving meeting someone with mention an idea or a theme of a particular subject like a dragon, a skunk or a fish and Don will draw a themed illustration in the blink of an eye.  Whenever he mails me some of his drawings of carving ideas he also draws on the outside of the envelopes.  Early on in our friendship I gave him the moniker “The Idea Monster.”

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