Friendly Holiday Vehicles

You wouldn't think at first that cars and other vehicles would make a festive subject for holidays.
There are many places that cater to people with vehicles who would like something charming on their windows for people to look at while their cars are being worked on.

In places that snow, (where I've never lived) I can imagine that kids like to hear the sounds of big trucks that clear the roads for the cars. It probably means they don't have to go to school that day and get to play in the snow instead.

I also really enjoy making houses in holiday scenes quite a bit. I like how people decorate their places for holidays and always imagine what would be this home's decorating style? Here's another show plowing truck in a mural scene...

All you really need to do when you're an artist to make a van look friendly, is to give it some big red lips, eh?




Even Santa can drive a car and wave!
If you'd like to see more of the detail in any image here so you can read the "Reindeer Relaxation" sign, just click on the image to see a larger version of it...

Here's hoping that you have a safe and happy Holiday season this year!

Get some art on your windows!
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Dashingly Decorative

It's really fun to have something graphic on your windows when you have a whole lot going on inside of your shop. The bold shapes give an organization to what's inside.  When you're inside a place looking outward, the colors of the decorative images light up light stained glass.

This place to the right is a car dealership for older, classic cars. People used to push their faces to the windows while looking at the cars, so I had to be mindful of where I put the colors  - above eye level!

Any door of any size that has a window can use a wreath. The nice thing about window painting is that, unlike other holiday decorations, it doesn't take up any space inside of your shop.

Some people just like flowers. There are flowers that have been themed for every holiday. Poinsettias are some of my favorite flowers. The fit so nicely in with ribbons!

But I think my favorite flower to draw is Wisteria. Partly because it smells so good, but also because it's got such gorgeous blossom clusters....and it's a PURPLE flower!

But sometimes, I just like to make up flowers and pretend they exist. Don't know if this one really exists somewhere. I may have had a gardening catalog in hand when I got inspired to do this one. It was part of a series of windows, all with the same sort of flower on each of six different windows. It's always fun to have a white background to work with. Most often, all window backgrounds will disappear into blackness.

Here's a good example of a really nice design that can cover a lot of window space. If you have really big frontage and want something on it, ribbons and snowflakes are the way to go. (Click on this to see the detail in the snowflakes in a larger version.)

Some places, like this garden shop, just want me to cover up some construction. See their animal portraits? (A labradoodle and a pussycat on the right side.)

Although I cannot paint when it's actually raining, (because my colors will run!) once the paint has dried it is not affected by rain. You can tell it's raining when I took this picture!

415 250-0024

Sweet Holiday Scenes...

Here's some quirky subjects that I've painted for the holidays. Hope you enjoy them!

(415 250-0024 is how to get in touch.)

When you're an artist and have to come up with ideas on the spot, what do you put on the window of a Charming Mexican Tacqueria?

Dancing Chile Peppers, right?

Nothing like the charm of a cabin in the woods just after the show has fallen....

Others enjoy the mischievous elves, who are always getting into everything...

But nothing beats Santa on  your window when he's out there "product testing" a BMX before delivery, right?

 Unless... you happen to place that offers guided nature walks in Hawaii during the holidays,... (You can click on any of these images to see them bigger.)

Whatever you decide would be cool to get painted on your windows, remember to avoid overdoing the scope of your zealousness for decorating... Is this possible when your idea is to "take a selfie with an elfie" ?




 To get in touch... 415 250-0024

Snowmen?

 Another subject I really enjoy painting for holiday art
are snowmen...

Santa is Coming

There have been many, many Santa portraits that I've had the pleasure to paint over my many years of drawing on windows. Santa of course, can do many, many things, just like any of us. 

Things aside from smiling knowingly, which is what he's doing here on the window of this Mexican Restaurant.. In case you don't know, "Hola!" is like saying "Hi there!"

I thought that Santa should have a pair of
 "Bunny Slippers to wear when he was at
home sipping hot chocolate....while sliding
along the busy corridors of his vast work areas...

 Here is another Santa, who must spend an inordinate amount of time carrying presents, not to mention wrapping them...while have to avoid tripping over yards and yards of ribbons...

                             


Then there's the issue of how to get those presents down the chimney, without being noticed by a rather sleepy moon....  I did this one on both sides of the glass at a diner-type restaurant where it's the first thing you see when you come into the front doorways.

It must be hard keeping track of every child and what they would like to have for their presents...

 You'd know that Santa also does sports, like bowling...  (Hint, if you'd like to see any of these photos a bit bigger, you can click on them...)

....and to get the toys to kids who live in really exotic tropical places, Santa EVEN SURFS!

Whatever the sort of Santa you have in mind to picture, it's always a fun scene to imagine! 

Halloween is over...

But don't you still want to see what happened?


This is a cool mural I painted for a Fright Shop in Waimea, HI at Tutu's House.

This was part of a much larger mural covering four eight foot panes, but the people in the restaurant liked the castle with the limo out front the best because it shimmered in silver.

As a subject that covers the time between Halloween and autumn, pumpkins, crows and scarecrows do a pretty good job.

This was for a hunting, camping and fishing store that wanted people to enjoy the great outdoors...

But some people just enjoy having seasonal flowers painted on their windows....and cool little scenes about what sort of weather is happening.

These flowers look sort of like generic daisies, but they are actually echinacea purpurea.

 These flowers caught the light really nicely in the afternoon sun. It lit up the painted colors sort of like a stained glass window!






After the autumn trees drop their leaves....

 ....Then comes
COOKING TURKEYS!

Whether you decide on a mural to cover a blank wall or just something to give your business a little color, it's always a cool thing to have work from a real artist around!

Chocolate? No, Just Clay.

Looks like chocolate, doesn't it?
It's pre-fired clay that I made in a ceramics class. Things have changed in the technology of ceramics since I first learned about it in my pre-college days. Will let you know if it makes it through the kiln. But wanted to take a pic of it in this state to show how ...edible...  it looked.
Have you made things out of clay?

Here's what the finished dish looks like, with some blue opalescent glaze on it. It's not completely perfect, but I think it looks pretty nice, don't you?

Some Tiles

 So I got fascinated with these tiles that could be matched up on every single side. (They were originally inspired by M. C. Escher.) I got curious what they would look like if I could vary the pattern indefinitely.

Then I made a version in the form of teeny paper tiles, (all 16 variations!) and started playing with them. Wasn't satisfied, because these little pieces of paper were so small and they were hard to handle...so I made them bigger. Still wasn't satisfied because even though they were bigger, they curled. And they were black and white - and they were two dimensional.

So I mounted another version on cardboard, cut them up to size with a paper slicer...after coloring them and covering them with some mylar to protect the colored pencil from coming off. Then I had to color-code the backs, so I could tell which way they were facing in case I wanted to re-create the design on "real" tiles. Imagined the pattern in various places where I'm living. Signed up for a ceramics class, who informed me that making tiles wasn't an option. Meanwhile, the tile saw was dismantled and put away, but here are these little pieces you see above that I'm still playing around with...

Cannot imagine why I went to all this trouble, but the whole thing is explained when I put these little pieces together - and out pops the variations of all these connecting patterns, like brambles. Maybe they should be the surface of a lampshade, so the patterns can be projected into a room... Do you play the game "Entanglement?"

What would you do with these?