By Nancy Bowman
The Tipp City Foundation’s annual report is brought to life this year with the Hidden Picture Puzzles artwork of area artist Liz Ball.
The Hidden Picture Puzzles have been flowing off Ball’s drawing board for 30 years and now are featured in a variety of publications including magazines, books and on an interactive website.
The special puzzles created for the annual report feature the Balls’ dog, Tico, who is known as “Tipper” in the puzzles as he makes his way around town exploring everything from Tippecanoe Family Aquatic Center to the Mum Festival Car Show and the railroad depot.
The places visited are among the always growing list of beneficiaries of grants made through the foundation.
Ball said she has known Heather Bailey of the Tipp City Foundation for many years and was pleased when she asked her to work on the art to illustrate the annual report.
“It was really fun, I enjoyed it. I got to learn more about Tipp City, too,” Ball said.
A native of northeast Ohio, Ball came to the Dayton area to study at ITT. She worked in tool and die engineering including at Process Equipment Co. in Bethel Township, where she met her husband, Bob.
They have made their home in the Tipp City area since the early 1970s.
Ball said she has always done free hand art and was interested in writing for magazines and books as well as illustrating books. When she had her children, she was looking for something she could do from home and started working on the Hidden Picture Puzzles. She sent several to a magazine seeking submissions. “One day I walked out to the mailbox, and there was a check,” she said.
She has been creating for magazines since 1991. The first newspaper to publish the puzzles was the Dayton Daily News in 1996. The feature continues to run in the DDN along with many other newspapers in the United States and beyond. She also has done 14 Hidden Picture Puzzle books.
Ball also is doing interactive puzzles with ActiveLiteraure.com. The picture is pulled up and as the viewer finds the hidden items shown in the key, the picture fills in that item in color.
Ball said she still enjoys coming up with the Hidden Picture Puzzles and creating them. She does personalized drawings for individuals, say for a birthday, and for companies.
Ball also knows of doctors who prescribe the puzzles for patients for memory retention and has heard from teachers who said he puzzles help students with spatial skills and communication.
The foundation annual report project was “fun,” Ball said, adding she was glad to be involved in the effort because of the foundation’s support of so many organizations and activities.
She worked on the foundation artwork project off and on for a year. The project had a sad twist when the Balls lost Tico unexpectedly in September.
The foundation’s annual report will be mailed this month to all residences in the 45371 Zip code.
More about Liz Ball and her work is available on her website at www.hiddenpuzzlepictures.com
More information on the Tipp City Foundation can be seen at www.tippfoundation.org.