So, I know I haven't posted in a while.  Sorry.

BUT . . . that doesn't mean I haven't been making art - it just means I haven't been  POSTING art. 

BIG DIFFERENCE.

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I've actually been making quite a lot of art for Kim's classroom lately.

A LOT!

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Here's an example of some of the art.

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I made a cartoon body for each of the 5 Fourth Grade teachers, to which they then affixed funny headshots.

They came out pretty good, I think.

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Here are FOUR of the FIVE cartoon bodies.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the last cartoon body (for Ms. Tracy Patterson) before the headshot was put on it.

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HERE'S MR. STEPHEN HINKLE'S CARTOON BODY 

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HERE'S MR. ERIC ANDEXLER'S CARTOON BODY

HERE'S MRS. ANITRA WILSON'S BODY

AND, HERE'S MRS. KIM SCHOOLER'S (my beautiful wife) CARTOON BODY

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I don't have any pictures of the cartoon bodies with the headshots right now but I'll get them and post an update.

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I've also been painting things in Kim's room in black light paint . . . you know, so it'll glow.

I'll post pictures of that too.  Soon.

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'TIL NEXT TIME, KEEP ON DOODLIN'!

. . . GROOVY!

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This past Sunday I volunteered to paint for the morning service & was very glad I did because I had a blast!

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It was Mitch's third & final sermon in the series,

"The Gospel & The Beatles."

So, I thought:

"Hey, you know what might be fun - painting on vinyl records because, well, it's different, & funky, & my kids would have no idea what they are or what they're for, & the Beatles actually cut records so, why not."

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So, that's exactly what I did, & here are the results.

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FIRST, I needed something to display the records on so I built a plywood platform I painted black & stenciled yellow submarines all over.

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(I'm sorry about the glare)

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Here's a close up of one of the submarines because, you know, I painted like a gazillion of them (okay, just 18) & I want you to be able to see it.

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SECOND, I decided it would be difficult to freehand three full size records (72s) in the amount of time I had (& I didn't trust myself to get the lettering correct) so I went ahead & drew my designs in white paint ahead of time.

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(I'm REALLY sorry about the glare & focus.)

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THIRD, I got a bunch of bright, acrylic paint pens, and after you add one wonderful sermon, a beautiful cello solo by the talented Rachael Ridenour, a fun children's lesson, an offering, some hymns, a lot of prayer, & one frantic artist, an hour later you get . . .

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Here's a close up of the first record - FAITH. (my favorite)

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The second record - HOPE. (Did you see the fish?)

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And, here's a close up of the third record - LOVE.

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1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: Faith, Hope and Love. But the greatest of these is Love.

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I need to give a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Kim as she made the labels which read: "The Gospel & the Beatles - June 27, 2010."

Otherwise you'd be able to see the records aren't Beatle records at all (are you crazy?!) but, instead, one is Liberace, the scond Crystal Gayle, & the third a gospel group from the late 70s called Renaissance (ever heard of them, me either).

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'TIL NEXT TIME, KEEP ON DOODLIN'!

AND KEEP ON TRUCKIN'!

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So, here's what I was hinting at in my last update with the banana doodle . . .

NORTHHAVEN CHURCH IS MONKEYING AROUND!

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No, really, we are!

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See, about a month or so past J.J. asked me to help with a church fundraiser to raise money for putting in monkey bars in the playground.  I said sure, because it sounded like a fun project.  And it was.

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I made a set of monkey panels in which members (and visitors alike) can place their face and get their picture made as a monkey.  (Now, I could tell you that some people in the church don't really need the prop to look like monkeys but I won't.  But I could.  You'll just have to wonder who.)

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Here's a picture of the panels with the removable monkey faces (which were painted on pieces of shower liner and affixed to the back of the hinged, wooden panels with Velcro.)

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As you can see, as many as 5 different people can get their pictures made at one time. There's the young, swinging monkey on the far left panel, there's a couple in the middle panel who are making silly faces at each other (monkeying around) and a rough & tough guy on his knuckles, and then there's the old, white-haired guy on the far right panel.  (Notice the old guy has hair growing out of his ears and a pair of glasses on his nose.  Hey, it happens)

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Here's a close up of the far left panel.  Recognize the model?

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And now the far right panel.  Same model.

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'TIL NEXT TIME KEEP ON DOODLIN' (or MONKEYING AROUND)!

So, what have I been up to lately, as far as art activities?

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I've been designing a school mascot but I couldn't say anything until now.

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I had to keep it quiet until this past week when the mascot was presented to the Truman Primary & Elementary schools.  Of course, Kim and the boys saw me working on the design but they had to keep it quiet too and they did a really nice job.  Not even the teachers were aware of the new mascot.

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So, after 20 years of being the "Truman Trailblazers" but having no mascot, I give you . . . HARRY!  (The principals named him "Harry" as in Harry S Truman.  I thought about "Bomber" but that might've been in poor taste.)

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Truman will be split into two different buildings next year because they have about 850 students and have outgrown a single building.  So, I was commissioned by the graduating 5th Grade Class of 2010 to create not one, but two pictures to hang in each of the school offices.  Here's the second picture.

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It's kind of like those "Spot the Difference" games, huh?

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If you are interested in learning more about some of the considerations that went into designing the Truman mascot, as well as Truman's 20th anniversary, then click on THIS NORMAN TRANSCRIPT ARTICLE by Nanette Light from May 27th.  (I didn't realize the press was at the assembly or that I was going to be quoted.)

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'TIL NEXT TIME, KEEP ON DOODLIN'!

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TEASER: I have another project I have also been working on in secret and will share it next week.  Click on READ MORE for a clue.