12/30/15
12/17/15
12/16/15
12/13/15
12/8/15
12/7/15
12/5/15
12/2/15
A Little Santa Humor
No Spare Santa Greeting Card.
I created this card several years ago and it continues to be one of my bestsellers. (I even saw a crude imitation of it posted online once.) This fun card is available in several different sizes and quantities. You can also get shirts, coffee mugs, magnets, and more with this image as well. Click here for purchasing info.
12/1/15
11/28/15
11/27/15
Holiday Art & Fun
Welcome to the holiday version of the Carefree Artist. Over the next few weeks I will be posting lots of holiday cards and other products created by me. There will some free printable holiday coloring pages as well as a number of holiday items you can purchase online. I sincerely hope you won't tire of all the items I will be sharing. But please try to remember I'm a freelance creative, and selling my art and designs is my bread and butter. In addition, I have a personal charity project I'm trying to fund and expand as well. So thanks for your indulgence and best wishes for a happy holiday season!
11/22/15
Art Mends Update
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| Just some of the art supplies donated this time. |
Purchasing and delivery the supplies is such a joy! And the appreciation shown by the hospital staff for providing materials that the hospital really does not have the budget for is heartwarming. And even though it is a shoestring operation -- I am never quite able to buy as many supplies as I would like -- I plan on continuing to do this at least twice a year for years to come. So, it is my holiday wish this year that somehow, some way, (or by some miracle) I can expand this project and turn it into a full-time passion.
Thanks for all the support for this project from family and friends (and a very special thanks to a wonderful person and friend, Diana S.!)
Visit www.ArtMends.org
11/17/15
The Holidays are Coming...
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| Desert Celebration Greeting Card |
More holiday cards here.
11/6/15
Creating Art and The Things I Will Teach You
I love creating art. However, being a freelance creative often means fussy editors and art directors, tight deadlines, and limitations on style and media -- and that can really diminish the creative joy. But then there are those rare occasions when I am turned loose and I can't help but thoroughly enjoy what I am working on. Such is my experience with this book, The Things I Will Teach You. Lovingly written by a mother and dedicated to her sons, this joyful children's book celebrates some of the milestones occurring in a lifetime and demonstrates the ways a parent, family member or caregiver can shape a person's life throughout -- with love, commitment and involvement. You can find the book at PumpkinSproutBooks.com.
10/31/15
10/26/15
Doc Holliday and the O.K. Corral Shootout
On October 26, 1881, John Henry "Doc" Holliday, Wyatt Earp, Virgil and Morgan Earp got into a shootout with a group of local cowboys in what is often considered the most famous gunfight in the history of the Wild American West. The showdown on a dusty side street in Tombstone, Arizona only lasted about 30 seconds but it left three cowboys dead and Virgil and Morgan Earp wounded. Learn more about Doc Holliday by downloading a coloring page at GilaBen.com.
10/25/15
National Chocolate Day!
According to some calendars October 28th is National Chocolate Day. So, in honor of the day, I've dusted off a piece of art I created years ago for the C. R. Gibson Card Company. It was originally part of a series of notepads but now it's been reissued as Post-It® Notes and they are available at Zazzle by clicking here.
By the way, if you are a collector of published artwork you can buy the original piece. It comes complete with overlays, production notes, and etc. Click here for more info. If you are interested in securing the licensing rights contact me here. Look for more original pieces of art for sale here in future posts.
10/21/15
Vampire Knock-Knock Joke and Coloring Page
Here's some fun Halloween humor to print out and color.
Just click on the image.
Just click on the image.
10/2/15
9/25/15
September 26th is Love Note Day
Sometimes in our fast-paced world we often forget that it really is the little things that matter most in life and love. So take a moment to create a handwritten love note for that special someone.
Below is a pattern for a heart note that folds into an envelope. Print it, write your special message, cut it out, fold it, then slip it into the love of your life's briefcase, lunch bag, backpack, coat pocket or some other special place and surprise them with your romantic thoughts. Just click on the lovebirds, the heart or here to download the PDF for printing.
9/12/15
Martian Fun
Some of the scientists and authors that have craters named after them are Isaac Asimov, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Giovanni Cassini, Nicolaus Copernicus, Charles Darwin, and Carl Sagan.
Looking over the list you may have noticed that all the names mentioned above are male. That's because Mars, named after the Roman god of war, is associated with masculinity. But don't worry girls, you did not get left out -- you have your very own planet, Venus! Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty and all the craters on Venus are named after famous women or have female first names.
To download a PDF of the Mars Maze activity pictured above just click on the image or go to:
www.markix.net/fun/mars_maze.html.
9/4/15
The Friendliest Gila Monster
Meet Gila (HE-la) Ben. Gila Ben is the friendliest Gila Monster* in the Grand Canyon State and he has his own website where students and educators can find facts and more about the state of Arizona. Below is a coloring page from his website featuring the Arizona State Bird, the Cactus Wren. Be sure to visit www.GilaBen.com for more fun pages to download.(* Real Gila Monsters are very shy -- they are also very poisonous! While unprovoked bites are rare, for your safety, DO NOT approach any Gila Monster you might encounter in the wild!)
8/28/15
Friday Fun: "A-mazing" Ants
Here's a fun little activity for the little ones. Just click on the image and you'll be directed to a download page. Happy Friday!
8/21/15
In the Wild Dot-to-Dot
You can find this activity at the visitor's center. Not visiting there anytime soon? You download the PDF at www.MARKIX.net/fun
8/14/15
Raising the Costa Concordia
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Above are illustrations I created for the July/August 2015 issue of ASK Magazine for a feature about how they raised the Costa Concordia. The Costa Concordia was an Italian cruise ship that capsized and sank after striking a submerged rock formation on January 13, 2012. The ocean liner was on a trip around the Mediterranean Sea with 4,252 people on board. Sadly, thirty-two lives were lost in the disaster.
By the way, the little cartoon characters on these pages are not mine. They are characters the publisher uses in each issue and were added after I did the art.
8/9/15
Life as an Artist
(Click on the image for a larger view.
Use the browser "back arrow" to return to main page.)
Use the browser "back arrow" to return to main page.)
8/5/15
Bricks, Buses, and Playgrounds
Anyway, a school in another state recently sold bricks that people could have inscribed with personal messages as a part of fundraising effort to build a new playground. To honor their parents, who have driven school buses for the school district for over twenty years, a former student of the school and his family purchased a brick. He said his parents have always been known as fun bus drivers so he wanted the brick to be imprinted with my "Happy Bus" image from EducatorClips.com (originally featured in the Discovery Clip Art Gallery). Naturally I granted permission and provided a higher-resolution image for free.
Above is the finished product and the new playground with the bricks installed around it. Thank you Brian for the photos and best wishes to you and your family!
*If you are using my images illegally I hope you feel guilty now and send me tons of cash or buy lots of my books and cards so I can properly fund my personal art supply charity project, Art Mends.
8/3/15
Ranger Book and Coloring Pages
Recently I did the art for an upcoming ranger activity book for Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks. I also did a little volunteer work and created the Pika coloring page below for rangers to use for their interpretive programs. I will be doing more coloring pages and activities on a volunteer basis for the Parks as time permits.
If you don't plan on visiting Sequoia or Kings Canyon National Park in the near future you can still download and color the picture by going here.
7/29/15
Back-to-School Time for Teachers
Need education clip art? Go here to learn about my collection of clip art just for teachers.
Hopefully someday all the art in the Gallery will be updated with vector images. But in the meantime there are still many pieces of art that still work great for many projects in the classroom or at home.
7/20/15
Need Spot Art?
7/15/15
Art Mends People
Clinical research has shown that art can be an effective way to help ailing patients mend. Yet, many hospitals and other care facilities lack the resources to provide art materials to patients. That's where my personal charity project, Art Mends, steps up. Art Mends provides free art materials to children and adults coping with challenging illnesses. So far, through small donations and sales of my artwork, I have purchased hundreds of dollars worth of art materials and donated them to my local county hospital.
I see expanding Art Mends into a nationwide charitable organization providing art supplies to any and all care facilities that may need them for their patients. I'm not sure how I'm going to do this, but I'll keep working on it and figure it out along the way like I always do.
Update: Sadly, my plans for Art Mends have changed. I have turned my focus to hereditary cancer awareness and prevention because of a tragedy in my life. See "An Individual Doesn't Get Cancer, a Family Does"
Above and left are just a few of the art supplies I've donated so far. Please visit https://artmends.org/
7/10/15
Boommer & Pudtz
Boommer & Pudtz are a couple characters of mine -- an old guy and his wiener dog.
Please note: Boommer & Pudtz is an
"old" creation of mine that, unfortunately,
has been put on hold while I work on pressing assignments and other miscellaneous art
projects.
Pool Party Time!
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| A bit of carefree fun. |
This popular card was originally created by me for the C. R. Gibson card company back in the early 90s. (available here)
7/9/15
Let me slip away on you...
The Road to Carefree. What the Carefree "Highway" was like in my childhood.
Acrylic on canvas. 24" x 36" Private collection.
Acrylic on canvas. 24" x 36" Private collection.
Let me slip away on you...
Acrylic on canvas. 24" x 36" Private collection.
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