Hello, Rick Schroeppel here, from Nashville, Tennessee—Music City. (This is Tawny, the neighbor’s dog, not mine. I’m allergic. Too bad for me!) One reason they call it Music City is because there’s a ton of music publishing here, but it’s also well-known for book publishing. I received a lot of my valuable book cover design experience while working for several years in downtown Nashville as a Book Cover Designer at Abingdon Press. Previously, I had additional book design experience at Tyndale House Publishers in Wheaton, Illinois, another national and worldwide Christian publishing company.
In a way, I was lucky: I moved to Nashville from Chicago because of the job opportunity at Abingdon Press, not for the Music City side of things. But it just so happens that I do have a passion for music as a non-professional. For example, whenever I can, I like to combine the two: music and visual art, like listening to James Taylor or Amy Grant, or maybe classical music, while designing a book cover. I like to play the guitar for relaxation. I have fun trying to imitate artists such as Paul Simon, James Taylor, or Paul McCartney. I find it fun to make music with other people, too. Recently, I played for a sing-along around the campfire at a local church fall festival. Nashville affords a lot of that kind of thing. Everybody has a guitar. I remember once playing bluegrass and gospel with a few musicians, including several members of the Nashville Symphony, at a downtown United Methodist Church picnic. So I can say, along with my musical friends: “Only in Nashville!”
If I have a few moments in the evenings or on the weekends, you can find me doing other visual art-related pass-times, such as working with oil on canvas, sketching with a pencil on paper, or maybe creating a digital illustration on a computer. This eagle / American flag image is a photo of an oil painting on canvas from about 2018. For reference, I made a few sketches and photos of an American bald eagle I had found at the St. Louis Zoo. Then I added the American flag to give it more color and emotion. Such fun! This illustration can be found on my page at Shutterstock: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/american-flag-eagle-oil-oncanvas-1336731668
My fake storefront: One day, I found myself walking through Historic Downtown Franklin, Tennessee, a little south of Nashville. I took a picture of a brick building that I liked. Then I took that picture into Photoshop and added a classic car, a dog on the porch, and a sign in the window. I thought, “This is what my storefront might look like if I was working in Mayberry, North Carolina, back in the days of the Andy Griffith Show.”
If baseball is America’s pass-time, then the Cubs are America’s team. It’s well-documented that generations of fans in the Chicago area love their Chicago Cubs. I know it is true in my family. All the way back to Grandpa Schroeppel delivering his grocery route in his truck while listening to the Cubs on AM radio. Good grief, when I was a boy, I thought my Uncle Gene was the first person to call them the “Cubbies!” Jack Brickhouse was the announcer back in those days. And Harry Caray is probably the most famous Cubs announcer of them all. Nowadays, we have fans like Bill Murray and Jim Belushi. But the topper of them all came in 2016, when the likes of Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrietta, Jon Lester, and Joe Maddon led the Cubs to their first World Series win in 108 years! That is the record for the longest drought ever in professional sports. Fortunately, nowadays you can follow the Cubs whether you are living in Chicago Illinois or Nashville Tennessee.
A little more about me? On Sundays, I’m a Deacon and a choir member at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, Tennessee. Looking back on my life, I remember one day in the kitchen at age seven when I asked my mom about Jesus and gave my heart to Him. He and I have been walking together all these years. As Andy Griffith once said, “I was born again when I was eight years old, and I’ve always been satisfied with it!” One thing I feel is true: We have all been given gifts by God, and we should appreciate them and want to share them with others. As the saying goes, “Don’t hide your light under a bushel!”
If you will indulge me, I will share one more pic—A favorite of my beloved mom and I sharing an ice cream cone together in the park in the northwest Chicago suburbs. Grandma Schroeppel was probably there, too, taking the picture. I am quite thankful that I had what I consider to be a very happy childhood. I know this is not the case with everybody. Growing up, I remember summers vacationing every year for 2 weeks up in Crystal Falls, Michigan, with Auntie Ebba in her old country home with chickens in the yard and a grandfather clock in the hallway. And going berry-picking along the old abandoned railroad tracks with cousins, brothers, and sisters. My cousin John took me fishing under a small bridge along an old country dirt road within walking distance. I remember one time on vacation in Crystal Falls when Mom and I drove to an old abandoned wooden iron mine structure a few miles down the road. Each of us had our own oil painting equipment - brushes, turpentine, and canvas. I couldn’t have been more than 10 or 12 years old. Maybe I’ll find the results in the attic one day. Thanks be to God for good memories!