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May 11, 1999
Markku Kivekas Dear Markku: Many thanks for the birthday presents. Those books of duck stories make a big impression on people here. Thanks, too, for sending the color photo of the little landscape Marko Leppala bought at a Christie auction. I haven't much record of the painting. My sales book says I sold it to Bill Grandey in 1988 for 600 dollars. It is one of a few subjects that I used for experiments in composition and color in the 1950's and 60's. Some were watercolors and gouache, some acrylics, and some oils. This subject, "Utah Color", was one I did over and over with mountains of different shapes and colors. The buildings were adapted from a lesson sketch in an old time watercolor instruction book. I invented the sheep and foreground field. I can't remember if this painting started as a watercolor on heavy paper stock and then was finished with heavy opaque gouache, or if it was finished with oil colors. It is a good example of how I slowly changed from a black and white ink cartoonist into an "artist". Am glad you like the short poem I wrote about the Disney ducks. I was inspired by letters I often receive from fans saying they like the way I taught little lessons in human decency and sensible behavior in my stories. Believe me, my first aim in constructing scripts was to make the situations funny. The little lessons crept in as part of the fun. I am pleased to see so much interest in the duck stories and paintings. It proves that Duckburg and its citizens are part of the whole world's culture and lifestyle. In spite of the present shutdown of duck comics in America, they will make a comeback even here. I think it will be in a form that readers download from the Internet instead of in flimsy books that sell on Newsstands. Good luck to you and all the folks at Aku Ankka. I continue to live on in fairly good health at 98. My eyesight is growing dim, but otherwise I'm enjoying good luck, too. Sincerely, Carl |
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