SANTA CLAUS BORN

1821-SANTA CLAUS BORN - This day the poem "A Visit From Saint Nicholas" was printed in the Troy Centinal a New York newspaper. Although it was published anonymously, a few years later a bible school teacher, the Reverand Clement Clarke Moore, claimed authorship.
In 1931, The Coca-Cola Company commissioned Michigan-born illustrator Haddon Sundblom to develop advertising images using Santa Claus -- showing Santa himself, not a man dressed as Santa. For inspiration, Sundblom turned to Clement Clark Moore's 1822 poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (commonly called "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"). Moore's description of St. Nick led to an image of Santa that was warm, friendly, pleasantly plump and human. For the next 33 years, Sundblom painted portraits of Santa that helped to create the modern image of Santa -- an interpretation that today lives on in the minds of people of all ages, all over the world

Gil Elvgren Pin Up Girl

"Christmas Eve Waiting For Santa" by Gil Elvgren the foremost pinup girl artist of the 20th century. Gil was very succesful from the thirties through the sixties and illustrated countless calenders, magazine articles, books and book covers. You can see why he was so successful. He was a fantastic illustrator.

Al Gore In Hell

I like doing political cartoons. There is always some politician saying or doing something nutty.
I find Al Gore seems to always be putting his foot in it, especially recently when he said the earths core is millions of degrees.
Come on Al, I'm a cartoonist and I know the maximum at the core is about 8,000 degrees, or about the surface of the sun.

The Party Of No

This is what happens when all of the branches of government are being run by the same party. Unfortunately the Democrats are in charge of the Congress, Senate and Presidency and are spending borrowed money like there's no tomorrow and the Republicans are made out to be the bad guys for saying, "stop we don't have the money".
You can't run a business this way without going bankrupt and some experts are saying that's just where we're headed.

I Like Chickens

I miss the little chicken pen we had in the woods outside Nevada City so thought I'd pay homage to the old hens and rooster. Nothing like a COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOO at 4 am. Then the rooster goes back to sleep.

Harry Reid

So Harry Reid says to Mary Landrieu (D. AL) "Hey, I'll give you $100,000,000.00 if you vote yes on my Health Care Bill" and Mary says " Make that $300,000,000.00 and ya' got a deal". So Harry says "Deal!" and Mary says "Deal!"
Wow! They sure can spend money like it was someone elses. Hey, it is someone elses, it's OURS!
I guess that's why they call him Dirty Harry.

Bill and a few friends

I got tired of looking at the crappy and expensive Christmas lawn decorations so decided to make some of my own design. Hopefully a little better than the store bought junk. First I drew out the characters to the size I wanted then transferred the drawings onto 3/8" fine ply wood, cut them out and painted. If the rabbits remind you of Thumper you have a good memory for Disney characters. Do you remember the Christmas Bunny?

The Lady Likes Red

A lady and her teenage son waiting for their ride home after a hard day of shopping.
8"X10" oil on wood

Waitning For Fay Wray

This poor guy is still waiting for a remake of King Kong and isn't aware that the starlett Fay Wray died in 2004 at the age of 96.

Rudeshiem

This was a really interesting little town along the Rein River. A tourist trap for sure but a really cute town that is known for its toy stores and cuckoo clocks and old timey architecture. Kind of like the town where you'd think Gepetto made Pinochio.

Halloween Treat

Here's another B.G. I fished out of the Filmation dumpster back in the 70's. This is from the Sabrina and The Groovie Ghoulies show. The Grovie Ghoulies were a take off on the popular Munsters show which was live action. I'm still amazed at how much great art was just tossed out in those days and I'm glad I was there to save a few pieces.

Little Church in Honokowai (Maui)

In Honokowai, Maui there is a little church that caught my eye a few years ago and I finally
got around to painting it.
We will be going back again next April and I plan to do a little painting, a little surfing and a little hangin' out.
5" X 7" oil on canvas board $45.00 (unframed)
If interested please contact me.

Journey Back To Oz

This is a B.G. I pulled out of the Filmation dumpster back in the 70's after production ended on the 'Journey Back To Oz' film. It was common practice to dump all the art work from a show after the show was in the can, so a few of us would just jump in and do a little "dumpster diving" to see what we could take home for souveniers. The back grounds were done in the style of Eyvind Earle who was the stylist for Disney on 'Sleeping Beauty'. If you aren't familiar with his work I suggest you do a search and take a look. He was an amazing designer and painter and it's well worth your time.

The Waiter

Here's another waiter I decided to paint. There's something about a professional waiter that I find fascinating. Maybe because they remind me of the nuns in catholic school. The uniform (?), stern expression (?) deliberate work ethic (?). I'm not sure but they do make an interesting subject to paint. SOLD

April In London

So I finally finished it. A London Street scene from our trip to Europe last spring.
24 x 30 oil on canvas

Granny runs over Obama Care

I don't usually get political here but this one's drivin' me crazy, besides it gives me an excuse to draw a cartoon, not that I need an excuse. So what's up with this government health care take over? Who needs it? 80% of Americans are happy with the insurance they have. How about just fixing Medicare and Medicaid so they will cover the 15% or 20% of they people who don't have insurance? How about fixing Social Security so that our kids can have something for retirement instead of debt?
The government can't take care of the programs they started but they want to start another one. No wonder nobody has any faith in politicians who get into office, screw around and in a few years retire with $ millions.
I don't know how some of these people sleep at night.
Watch this from the halls of Congress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=G44NCvNDLfc

Work in Progress

I've been working on this for a week or so and think I'm finally getting there. It's the biggest painting I've done in a few years and certainly the most challenging. It is a larger version of the London Sunset I posted a month or so ago. I'll keep working on it until I get it where I'm happy but here it is so far.
24" X 30" oil

1928 Ford pick up

I love old cars and trucks. I guess it's a nostalgia thing when life was a bit more simple and you could actually work on your own car. No computers, fuel injection, power steering or brakes. Everything just mechanical and it worked just fine, thanks. My brother owned a 1930 Ford two door Cabriolet when he was in high school and it was great fun. When he graduated he joined the Coast Guard and let his friend "take care of it until he came back". His friend was a dumb shit and totaled it while speeding down a hill. Man was I mad (so was my brother). So this is a little watercolor to remember the good old days.
Watercolor 8 1/2" X 11 1/2" matted to 11" X 14" if you would like to purchase this please contact me.

Sunset in London

I found I was getting too tight with my painting and decided to get as loose as I could with this one. This was done with a palette knife, popcicle stick and index finger. A photo from our trip to London was the inspiration. 10" X 8" oil on canvas panel.
If you would like to own this painting email me at toonsville@comcast.net SOLD

Bernhard Winery

I was in Auburn, Ca. last year and happened by this house with a large stone building in the yard. I took a photo and figured I'd get to painting it sooner or later. Well I finally got to it and here it is. I was impressed by the size of it thinking it must have been a wine cellar or cold storage place of some sort. After contacting the Placer Arts they told me the house in the background is owned by the Placer County Museum called The Bernhard House. The stone building is a winery which was built in 1874 and is now rented to Bambauch Wines.
12" x 16" watercolor If interested contact me at toonsville@comcast.net

Back Off

Some times I see people who give the impression they wouldn't hurt a fly but when pushed they will tear you apart, much like a momma bear protecting they're baby. You just can't judge people by what they look like. Things are not always as they appear grasshopper.
This is a little drawing I scanned in and colored with paint shop pro.

Livin' Large

You don't see very many over weight people in Europe so I was surprised to see this large lady at an outdoor cafe. She looked like a happy sort and was enjoying the company of friends while having lunch.
4 1/2" x 6 1/2" watercolor

The Brick Bridge

I'm still working with photos from our trip to Europe. This is a bridge in Holland I thought would make an interesting painting. Of course I took liberties with the subject to hopefully make a better layout. I'll be at Santa Cruz Art On The Wharf again this year with some of my new work as well as some old stuff. Santa Cruz, Ca. Sunday 7/19
Oil painting on canvas panel 9" x 12" If you would like to own this painting email me at
toonsville@comcast.net

The Blue Bicycle

I think there are almost as many bicycles in Europe as people. Bikes are everywhere. No doubt the Europeans find riding a bike much cheaper than owning a car, especially with the price of gas.
It is rather charming seeing all those people riding bikes on a sunny day but they look miserable in the rain.
Watercolor 12" x 16" If you would like to own this painting email me at toonsville@comcast.net

Boat at the Dock

This is another interesting scene I ran across in the Netherlands. There is so much water in this little country they use boats for delivering goods and supplies.
watercolor 8 1/2" X 6 !/2"

Girls at the Louvre

A couple of girls at the Louvre checking out the art. The Louvre (in Paris) is the largest art museum in the world with the largest collection of art. From ancient to modern art, from paintings to sculpture, they've got it all. It's also easy to get lost, but if you do there's plenty to look at .
Watercolor 6"X8"

I'LL HAVE THE CHEESECAKE PLEASE!

I took several photos in different restaurants while we were in Paris. This is from a place we had lunch one rainy day.
watercolor 9"x7"

Happy Birthday Donald

Donald's first appearance in the short cartoon "The Little Wise Hen" 1934.
Thanks to Tom Sito for the picture.

Paris in April

Paris is such an interesting city with so many things to see it's impossible to see everything. This is a bridge across the main river Sein which bisects Paris. It is a large river with a slow moving current. This is Ile, Saint Louise and this is the very end of it. The city is full of large apartment buildings that are at least a hundred years old with stores and shops on the street level and most of the streets are very narrow and picturescue. I can see why artists are drawn here to draw here (arf!).
oil on canvas 18"x22"

Little Fishing Boat

I saw this little boat in Hayle, England and couldn't figure out what a small boat with a winch could be used for. (How about a small boat with a wench..) I'm guessing the winch is used to pull up the nets.(?) If any body knows please tell me, I'm curious.
This is an oil painting on a canvas panel 8"x10"
If interested in purchasing it contact me... Sorry, it's been SOLD

Day Lilly

This is the sure sign of summer. A blooming Day Lilly. We've got several different colors of lillies but I like this one for the bright colors. This is framed in a plain wood frame that will stand on a table by itself. If you would care to purchase it please contact me,
Oil on canvas panel framed to 11"x9"x2" $45 plus $9 S&H
Have a great day.

Bird In A Boat

I saw this gull who had taken charge of a little row boat and couldn't resist painting him.
watercolor in a matte for an 8"x10" frame

Cafe In Paris

The waiters in Paris are quite distinguished and very professional. They all wear white shirts, bow ties, black slacks and shoes, a black vest and white apron under the vest. Very sharp. This is my impression from our trip through The City of Lights.

Netherland Windmills

There really are windmills in Holland and they actually pump water through the canals. The ground water is about six inches below the dirt, very wet. The whole area is amazing and beautiful.
Debi and I had a fantastic trip to Germany, France, England and the Netherlands. I took lots of pictures and will be using them for inspiration in the few months.

Things That Fly

I did this as a study for a mural I was going to paint on our grand baby to be's new bedroom wall. Our daughter changed her mind and decided on another painting I did of Jack and the Beanstalk. I think amural would have been fun to do, but I still have this little watercolor.

Sita Sings the Blues

This is an absolutely brilliant indie film by Nina Paley free for the watching at
http://www.thirteen.org/sites/reel13/blog/watch-sita-sings-the-blues-online/
The color and design is beautifully done and the animation is a delight with music by Annette Hanshaw who was a blues singer from the 1920's. This is a must see.

Little Orange

Here's a little navel orange from our dwarf orange tree in the back yard.
It tasted as good as it looks.
5"x7" oil on canvas panel

Birthday Bouquet

Our son sent his mom a pretty little bouquet for her birthday and I couldn't resist painting it.

5"x7" still life in oil
visit my store at www.toonsville.etsy.com it's a great place to buy art and stuff.

A Boy And His Dog

LUNCH TIME
I think I enjoy drawing cartoons just for the pure fun of it. Nothing serious or controversial to say, just something to smile about. This my first attempt at gouache which is an opaque watercolor, mainly used by illustration artists. SOLD