Since this was the first Magic Monday of December I thought it would be fun to start out with a look at some of the fabulous versions of Santa produced by our friend, Gene. Last summer he was kind enough to let me share his beautiful garden and I remember thinking I should ask if I could photograph his handmade decorations at Christmas time - totally forgetting that HM and I had a pretty good collection of his masterpieces ourselves!
These were all Christmas gifts that we received from Gene and his wife Laura thoughout the 1990's. I always look forward to unpacking them each year, they are the first decorations to go up and the last ones to get put away. This guy is the tallest, coming in at around 16". His head, hands and feet are sculpted of clay and his beard is made from wool. Those guys in ZZ Top have nothing on this Santa.
Unfortunately, I didn't notice that a bad kitty got a little too curious about the dolly just before this photo was taken. It's fixed now but I thought she looked even more adorable with messy hair.
I forgot to mention that Gene sewed all of the clothing by hand.
Another awesome beard on a soulful face.
This Santa is fashioned out of Sculpey polymer clay and hand painted.
In 1997 he made a coordinating Christmas card featuring Santa in a garden - that looks very familiar.
Finally, there's the Santa dressed in white. He has to live behind glass to stay pristine.
Santa is also the subject of this slightly enlarged, mixed media drawing.
I'll have to ask him if he ever made a Santa dressed like this
Can't forget the ornaments that for the tree. This one is made of painted canvas. In 1992 Gene won The Family Circle/Smithsonian Christmas Tree Decoration Contest with an ornament he made of Santa holding a bubble light. Wonder if he still has the article with the photo of it?
This is the smallest one, just under 3" tall.
One year, Gene made these cute tags to go on the Christmas presents.
There was no way it wasn't ending up on the tree!
Finally, one more Santa ornament. Although he is technically meant to hang on the tree, he has been adorning the top of armoire in our dining room. Everyone can still get a good look at him but his fabulous beard is safe from the entanglement of pine boughs and the reach of curious kitties.
I meant to join Marfi at Incipient Wings for Merry Monday but as usual I'm running behind. Sorry!
Many thanks to Gene and Laura for their friendship over the decades, with luck it will keep going for a few more! I hope everyone enjoyed the visit from Gene's wonderful Santas. Thanks for stopping by.
your collection is amazing.I love the smallest one the most:)
ReplyDeleteGene is so very talented!!
your kitties seem better behaved than ours..we have a smaller tree in the living room on a little table (in addition to the large tree)I found it on it's side yesterday morning. The tree skirt under the big tree was all rolled up into a ball. Someone (Rigby) had taken down a candy cane, unwrapped it, licked it, and left it stuck on the rolled up tree skirt!I guess they had their holiday party a little early, lol!
Thank you for stopping by and thank you so much for your lovely post!
btw, it's never too late to post! Happy Merry (Wednesday) to you:)
What is it with Christmas decorations and kitties, they just can't help themselves can they? Ha! Hope your little tree survived the party. Now that my guys are older they're a little less destructive but they still love to trash the tree.
DeleteThanks for hosting Magic Monday and thanks for visiting, too!