Christmas in ... June?

OK... so last Christmas I gave my wife, Jenny, what she's been hinting at for years - Peanuts lawn characters (to put in our yard at Christmas-time)! Like a throwback to the 70's I drew these guys out on particle board, cut them, and painted them and gave them to her for Christmas! These guys are roughly 4 feet tall (with the exception of Snoopy being a little smaller). Jenny's way more saavy than I am regarding stuff like this so she ended up weatherproofing them recently while I took the opportunity to photograph them. My neighbors were impressed that I didn't trace or stencil these guys, and I assured them that's not my bag... nor is weatherproofing evidently. But yeah... if you're gonna make your wife something cool for Christmas - never, ever, EVER trace them ... jeez, really?? I will say, though, that mine are not the only hands that touched these guys... my son, Forrest helped me cut and bondo the rough edges, my 7-year-old, Willy, and my neighbor friend, Joe, "helped" me paint them, my daughter made sure mama was out of the house long enough for me to work on them, and my son, Dylan, helped me hide them all winter long! (so yeah this one was a team effort.)

Happy Birthday, Zoe!

Zoe's 15! Happy Bday, Zoe! (I think she likes it!)

NEW! Handmade Custom Wooden Characters

I started making custom wooden characters for friends and family this winter! I'm really happy with how these little guys have turned out. I attach the head and arms with simple small dowel rods so the arms and head can move/turn. For Ryan's - I also included some finer detail with the little tattoos peeking out of his sleeves. I dig these guys a lot and plan on making a bunch more! (Contact me if you would like to have a one-of-a-kind wooden fella made just for you.)

Here's A Reason to Take More Vacation Days!

I took a vacation day and was wandering around the craft store last Thursday looking for some stuff for another project I was working on - and ran across a cool canvas. The concept for this painting hit me as I was standing there in the aisle, so I grabbed it up and rushed home to get started!

(I need to take a random vacation day off work more often... especially if I continue to fill my dwindling "spare time" with painting!)

Acrylic on canvass.

Hope you dig.