I often kid about finding a few good homes for my paintings. What seems to be only a few years back I met a wonderful couple, Mike and Marilyn Figlestahler, who fell in love with a painting of cast lead men in business attire. Marilyn called the lead people “train people.”  I found the description delightful, and perhaps that is exactly what they are. The little guys were made by the Barclay Toy Company when toys were made for children out of cast lead. The paintings below are images of toys often referred to as lead soldiers. Both civilian figures and military figures fall into this category where collectors are concerned. But for Mike and Marilyn, they will always be “train people.” Note that I framed the actual Marine lead soldier used as my model in the matting of the original painting. The soldier was 3.5 inches tall. The painting is a whopping 60 inches tall!

Mike and Marilyn have a beautiful home and over the years they have filled much of it with my artwork. They are both fun loving people and have taken a liking to my whimsical style of painting.We have become good friends and share more than the flavor for art that warms the soul and touches the heart. While in Columbus, Ohio, Sheryl and I enjoy dining with Mike and Marilyn at their favorite European & Pacific Rim restaurant, Spagio.

Marilyn tells me that she often likes to sit in different stations
inside the house and view my paintings. She once told me that
she could make an entire vacation doing just that. I took that
as the supreme compliment.

Mike is always clowning around. Here he poses in a robotic
stance with a few of his robot friends and Uncle Sam.

I had done a commission for Marilyn last spring. Before I delivered the new painting, Mike called and asked if I still owned Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam had found a home on my own wall in our family room, but I reluctantly gave him up. As I explained to Mike, “I really cannot afford to collect my own work.” I think that Uncle Sam and crew are enjoying life and doing very well at their new home with the Figlestahlers. There s never a dull moment with Mike and Marilyn. It must be the perfect place for any one of my paintings to “hang out.” The best thing about it is that they will never ever get lonely because there are so many of them.

Jack & Penny Boyle Commissioned this special painting, entitled, "Boyle's Oil", completed in the winter of 2008. Jack is a successful architect currently living in Kansas City. He and Penny had seen my artwork and asked if I would consider creating a commission that combined memories of his father's Phillip 66 service station. Jack supplied me with architectural examples of Phillips stations from the era and I submitted drawings for his and Penny's approval.The objective was to create a "toy" station without too much detail so as not to detract from the focal points of the painting.

Jack and Penny own a beautiful 1946 Chrysler Town and Country that Jack restored from the ground up when he was still living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The couple wanted to use a Wyandotte pressed steel toy of the same convertible pictured in front of a 66 service station. He also desired to include an art deco car transport loaded with streamlined car toys of the era.We created a logo of Boyle and Son for the side of the transport. A rubber ball, marbles, single jack, and penny were included to both establish scale and personalize the painting.

It was a fun project and the Boyle's, though demanding, were enjoyable to work with. We did a print of the painting and Jack gave it to his father for his 80th birthday.