Now That I've Got Your Attention

"I try a subtle suggestion-
a more direct approach.
But I can't make a connection...
You're beyond reproach" - The Raconteurs

Here we are folks...the dream we all dream off...
Happy Almost New Year! I've been doing so many side projects,
I figured I may as well post 'em and finish 2008 strong.
I do an annual calendar for my family's Christmas party and
decided to take this year's cover back to the 80's when the graffiti guys
used to bomb our apartment hallways with tags.. The clan at the
bottom row beneath the title are my parents, brothers, and sisters.
It was well received at the party...



My four year old nephew Max was born on Christmas Day, so we wanted to get him something special this year. I created a stencil of him on a swing in Photoshop, and created his name using the chains. I printed it on heat transfer paper and ironed it on an oatmeal heather tee.
His reaction when he opened it was priceless-
"It's Me!!! IT'S MAAAAAAXXXXXX!!!!!!! MOMMY!! IT'S MAAAAAXXX!!!!!!"
He took off his sweater right then and put it on at the party!
Here's a little montage:




and finally, the week before we were to go to our in-law's house for Christmas Eve, I put the pencils on afterburner
and finished a portrait of them I'd been nursing since November...



Coming Soon!
The "Wicked" mural in my daughter's room that I've been working (more off than) on for over a year! I figure if I can't get it done this week,
I may as well paint the entire room over...
and I'm hoping to throw down a tribute to legendary pin-up beauty, Bettie Page, who passed away this month,
with my fellow bloggers during the month of January.
I'll also be dropping my annual 2008 music playlist, so while all the other bloggers are making
resolutions that they're bound to break, feel free to ring in the New Year
with Yours Truly-
FrogDaddy Ink
It always go down smoothly...

It's Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

"They're singing Deck the Halls
But it's not like Christmas at all
I remember when you were here
and all the fun we had last year"- U2 (covering a Phil Spector song, I think)

Happy Holidays!
Do you believe the end of the year is already upon us?
Crap! I just finished putting away the Halloween decorations!
The girl just turned nine last week...NINE!!!!
She's starting to question whether Santa really exists or not...
but she's asking it in a roundabout way in case there REALLY
is a Santa and he'll angrily pass over our house Christmas Eve because of her doubts.
I'm sure her friends at school are telling her the way things really work.
I know it seems cruel, but we're not going to tell her....
Because once that myth is busted, the whole business of the Easter
Bunny and the Tooth Fairy will be exposed as one big, fat, hairy lie.
And we've been lying to her about it for 9 years! She'll never trust us again!
She'll figure it out on her own, eventually- just like I did...three years ago...
I'm taking the last week of the month off and sincerely hope to finish
the mural I've been painting in her room, so this may be the last post
before the New Year...keep it happy and healthy my friends, and with a
lot of luck (and our new president), here's hoping that 2009 brings a lot
more joy to all of us than this year did....
Peace-
FrogDaddy