Nathan has been a part of my life for around 25 years now, and through all that time his seizures were an ever present annoyance, but I must admit that the call still came as a shock.
This last weekend was his memorial and the night before it took place I was asked to write "Welcome to Nathan's Celebration of Life" on a poster board to put next to the road to show people where to park. I felt that since art is what I had to offer, art is what I would give.
I have always been a fan of the art nouveau style, and Nathan was a fan of brewing his own beer, so I tried to make it feel a bit like a beer bottle label. The beer bottles are there to help with the composition, but also because he brewed his own beers and had been considering opening a indie brewery in Eugene, OR. I also took the info they had and made a program for the event, which I felt was important and was well received. I wish I could have done more, but for being asked to do it the evening before I am happy with the results.
Strangely enough, I found that our yard sale sign seemed to be designed perfectly to fit that size paper. A convenient break I hadn't thought about since I never buy poster board. One thing I learned from this was that I need a better ventilated area if I am going to spend 2-3 hours with Sharpies. :\
After the event, my brother and I, as well as our friends Mikey, Shana, and Karen went to the pub Nathan and I used to frequent to drink a shot in his honor. Whenever we found ourselves back in our hometown at the same time, we would go down to the Black Sheep, have a pint or two and throw some darts. I am not a whiskey drinker, but Nathan was a fan so I downed a Jameson. He would have laughed at my expression.
He was a great guy, and he will be missed.
