We decided it was time to take a break. Our Son had just returned from his tour in S. Korea. His family had moved to Florida for their next duty station. Kelly needed to squeeze the grandkids.

Kelly and our daughter-in-law had been cooking up things for me to do during our visit. Some included wall art for the new house.



We arrived, and the lighted airplane/fan toys from Cracker Barrel were an instant hit! hahaha.



We hit the beach to do some serious floating around.



Caden wanted a surfboard on his wall. Hey Presto ... there ya go!

(Yes ... they are old swim trunks ... regulation painting outfit). hahah.



The boys liked it.



During the beach day, Kelly supported Caden's Boogie board from underneath, and he climbed on and struck a pose. The pic inspired an idea. I fiddled with photoshop, and the mouse .. for several hours. Didn't have any stylus but used the mouse to stroke in a shark, altered the boggie board into the surfboard I'd painted on the wall, and removed Kelly.



With the final file in hand, we hit Walmart - had a poster printed, and bought a 20 by 30 frame. Hopefully, it will be something he'll enjoy for years.

Our daughter-in-law had the idea of making up framed pics of the family, and posting them on the wall of the entrance hall. She thought a "family tree" would be neat.







Everyone liked the tree. Jodi will fill out the tree with the family pics.





Our grandaughter, Haylee; wanted a high fashion stylized peacock feather on her wall. She liked it.


We had a fine time. Great visit. Got some rest. The paintings will only last as long as their duty station here ... but the memories and pics will last longer.

Ready to get things fired up again in the shop.

Thanks for taking a look. Yeah ... I know you missed me ... hahaha.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2011 04:20AM by barnespneumatic.

I have a couple of painting chores you could do far better than anyone else...how about you drop by on the way North?

I love those wall art paintings. I'm certain that the family does too and they will be bragging on you right up to ten minutes before the next visit! Really, anyone who visits can clearly see that grandpa cares... even if he is a bit crotchity!

OK so this confirms that an artist on summer vacation gets to be an artist on summer vacation.....
Good to see the kids love it though!
Cheers
Neil

i guarantee he was thinking about lathes,jigs.... rifles......... even when his was sitting in the floaty
steve
btw nice family and photos

That's pretty darned neat GB. Heck of a Grandpa you are. Them kids are pretty lucky. Looks like a ton of fun and sure it's well deserved.

Gary,

Drop by before you go home, I need 4 huge murals painted. Just one solid color should be fine for all four.
Lon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2011 06:28AM by Bigbore.

Would have loved to, had I only known

Neat way to customise the grandkids rooms. It's a shame that they'll have to paint it over when they PCS, but I guess that gives you an excuse to come visit them again!

That shark pic would have freaked me out as a kid, I 'm glad that Caden likes it. Back when the only thing I knew about sharks was from the movie "Jaws", I was scared to death of them. I swear I was seeing ominous shadows and glimpses of sinister dorsal fins in swimming pools thousands of miles from the sea.

Hey. I'm no shark fan either. But a puppy or gerbil just wouldn't fit the template. Haha. You know. We've had a decade of efforts to paint sharks as simply "misunderstood". You can only fight so many battles when you get old. Haha

Way cool, dude !!!!

Thanks Bill. I'm glad you like it. It was fun to do something that resulted in smiles in a few hours.

Well, I'm back in cold, soggy, Maryland.

46 F and raining this morning as I went to town. Instead of 77 and sunny where we'd been. AND ... that 77 was considered a rude cold snap down there.

I had to go for copper fuel line and fittings to fix the mess left when the line broke months ago. You recall the great oil leak of New Windsor. Well, I needed the furnace again. I felt about 99 years old squeezing into the areas I needed to get into, flaring pipe, wrenching.

One thing was made extremely clear, once again, as we left warm and returned to yuck. Gary's gonna have to move way south if he's going to keep working. I felt pretty good down there. Felt like a very old man who'd been mugged, in the cold rain this morning.

Gary

Cool artistry Gary! Your talent is splashed all over the walls. It's neat how your skills translate to all these media. Looks like the kids love it too.

I think Kelli will notice if you start attaching helium balloons to the house and shop a la "UP". Just wait for that southern breeze to kick up.

Thanks for sharing,

Kent

Hi Kent,

That's as good an idea as any I've come up with. Might try it.

I don't remember Fall, around here, hurting this much when I was younger.


Gary