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Each print of Derek Hess' "Blueprint to a Brownie" is one a unique blueprint of Municipal Stadium.

(Derek Hess)

A unique gift from a fan inspired noted Cleveland artist Derek Hess' latest project: a stack of blueprints dated Sept. 30, 1930 from Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

"I started thinking, wow, what can I do with these?" says Hess, an internationally-known artist who got his start designing punked out gig posters for bands playing the Euclid Tavern in the 1990s.

"What stands out most in my memory about Muni Stadium is the Browns," he continued. So Hess decided to use the pages for a limited edition of 100 prints of his own interpretation of classic Browns mascot Brownie.

"Brownie was such a cool mascot," said Hess, who had a tasseled cap bearing his image as a boy growing up in Cleveland Heights. "I was really glad when the Browns brought him back a few years ago. I bought some of the newer Brownie gear."

Hess' Brownie, inspired by the 1940s original, is done in true Hess fashion: a pen sketched, muscular and elongated elfin creature caught in athletic stride – created in a dark orange.

"It took a while to get the colors right on the blue background," says Hess. "I didn't want it to end up looking like the Denver Broncos."

The prints, titled "Blueprint to a Brownie," are available signed and numbered in a limited edition of 100 at derekhess.com ($225). Each is on a unique blueprint page from Municipal Stadium.

Hess says to his knowledge no one from the Browns has yet seen the print, but he'd be happy to give owner Jimmy Haslam one to change the name of the stadium back to its original title.

In addition to the creating the Brownie blueprints, Hess – who has works in the Louvre, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the Grammy Museum - has also been busy preparing for his first solo show in Cleveland in almost three years, opening Friday, Nov. 15.

Titled "Internalize Conflict Externalize War," the show at smARTspace at 78th, Cleveland, will include new pen, ink, and acrylic works from Hess; a selection of illustrations done on 8-track tapes; and new work from his Playboy Collection, which consists of grease pencil nudes done on vintage 1960s and '70s magazines. Hess will also be signing his new book "He Ain't No Vargas, " referring to the famed Playboy pin-up painter Alberto Vargas, and documentary about Hess by Nick Cavalier will be screening.

smARTspace is 1305 W. 80th Street, Suite 116, Cleveland. The show is at 8 p.m. on November 15.