Snowfriends!

For several years I have created a Christmas card. I call this card Snowfriends.

The children gaze straight ahead with their arms wrapped around their new friend. They are waiting for an unseen person, perhaps a parent, or another friend, to snap the picture.

When I passed the sketch around the office, one young woman perked up and said, "Oh I want to hug a snowman!"

When you work in a customer call center you find that between calls you have time on your hands. The trouble is you have to sit in a cubicle, headset strapped on, and wait. One year a young woman in the office gave out Valentine cards of Winnie the Pooh characters. I grabbed a sheet of paper and started drawing. Soon all the mothers in the office wanted a picture of Winnie or Eeyore.

Later that year I created an unnamed cartoon character that would give me a chance to lampoon the silly calls we often handled. I started drawing cartoons and posting them around the office. It was a hit around the office. I continued doing this character, with different gags, and created other characters.

Every year when the holidays came around I doodled ideas for a Christmas card, such as the one below.

"No mam, your warranty does not cover reindeer eating shingles,

... Merry Christmas any way."

I decided to send my Christmas cards to friends and family. That required the card become more sophisticated. I am no Norman Rockwell, but I do have a love of art.

Here are a few of the cards I have created in recent years.

You may recall the famous painting of Norman Rockwell doing a self portrait. That was the inspiration behind "Elf Portrait Artist". Santa is asleep in his recliner, while an elf paints his portrait. The portrait is of a smiling fully uniformed Santa, not Santa snoring in front of the fireplace.

Another Santa Card started as a quick pencil cartoon, and then became a painting. Mr. and Mrs. Klaus are wrapping up Christmas packages together. (My wife was sure I was picturing us.)

Some years I could not come up with a clever cartoon. In the place of these, I used serious art work. The one that I feel is the best was based on a large brick school house that stands imposingly over the tiny village of Silver Plume, Colorado. The school has not been used in years and houses a historical museum today.

Merry Christmas all!

I hope this electronic version of my Christmas card will cheer you and that you will feel free to pass it on!

If you want to order you own customized card with this or any of my other images, just click here! On my profile page you simply click on the image you like and follow the instructions on how to order the cards. It's easy, and more personal than just sending a mass produced card from a box in the department store!