Schwinn Stingray Makeover

My Father just purchased two used Stingray Chopper bicycles for my kids.  I will admit I am vicariously living through my sons though and their level of excitement over these bikes was minimal compared to mine. Fortunately I live across the street from a master mechanic (josh) who cut his teeth on bikes as a kid, so when it came to getting everything back together I wasn't worried.
We started with the black one and as you may see there was a fair amount of rust on the handlebars and the forks. When we took the forks off the chrome had started to peel which was the main reason we ended painting them black. The stickers had also suffered from some weathering and they to had to be removed. I have to say though the bike looks and rides great. I'm on the lookout for some ape hangers which should make it  look that much cooler! Thanks Grandpa! Part 2 coming soon.

Praying For Rain

iyard

Summer! It's hot and the bermuda grass is finally greening up and getting thick. For most that means dreading the lawn mowing but not for me. Its the perfect time of year to start lawnscaping. This is actually the second scape of this year. My first was a simple triangle and when my neighbors asked I told them it was "The Bermuda Grass Triangle." No one laughed. This little beauty is a shameless attempt to get Mr. Jobs to take note and send me a new high powered machine. Steve...are you listening? 

No Joke!

This photo was just taken about a week ago outside a little country store somewhere in Arkansas. 100% for real, in fact the owner actually showed us the teeth. Real nice set!

New Watermelon Carving

This was fun. I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I really liked the end result. It has some squinting eyes at the top but you can't really notice in the photo. Besides, the teeth are whats cool anyway. Kids love to eat watermelon when its served up gross like this.

New Caricatures

Friends, Nik & Travis.

Inspiration from meeting today.

Monster Doodle

As promised and thanks again to Brian's hard work,

Monster Doodle is now available for your ipad on itunes

for ONLY 99¢! You will be amazed at how easy

and fun it is to make monster after monster.

Below are a few samples or you can click here to see more.

If you want to send me some of your creations,
I'd be happy to critique and post them here on the blog.
Send them to huckart@cox.net

FACE DOODLE iPAD app

I'm happy to announce FACE DOODLE! The first in a series of ipad apps that feature some of my handy work. My good friend and co-worker Brian Haught is the developer and genius behind this. About a year ago we were just discussing how we could do something fun together that would utilize our creative juices. At the time Brian was in the midst of teaching himself how to build ipad apps and I was, well...doodling a lot. He had this idea of an app that would allow anyone to pick face shapes and features and build their own cartoon faces so FACE DOODLE was born! It's easy, fun and very entertaining for all ages. See some examples of it here.

Once we got started we quickly realized that we needed to do more with varying themes so we're close to releasing the second in this series and hope it will be released within the next two weeks. I can't wait and you're going to love it! I guarantee it.

Snowed in!

FInally!!!!
Ever since I was a little kid I've had a fantasy of being snowed in. I'm not just talking about 8-10 inches and no school. I mean the kind of snow that only happens once in a lifetime where you spend the rest of your life comparing every snow event to that one. The kind that makes you start opening cans of food that you've had in the back of your cabinets forever because you don't want to risk getting out on the roads. Well, today it happened! I woke up to a phone call from my neighbor telling me he was stuck out in front of our houses. When I looked out the window I was literally in shock! Never have I ever seen 2 feet of snow in Arkansas of all places. So we're looking at somewhere between 18-24 inches at last measure. Here are the photos to prove it! By the way, our dog Truman had to come in and get warm in his bed after getting buried by the kids in the snow. I blame my wife for spoiling him.

Halloween Sketches....Again!

Who loves Bubbles!

I love bubbles. I think everything is better with bubbles. Parties, garage sales, car lots, funerals, etc... My kids had a bubble machine a few years ago and I have to admit I miss that thing. It made any day better. I would often go outside, hang the bubble machine in a tree and just sit back and watch the wind. Here is an amazing video of some of the world's best bubbles.

My Kid Can Draw This!

Its not everyday that I post something one of my kids have drawn, but I should. They draw so much and go through so much paper. I'm like most parents I guess when it comes to being proud of their creations and I try and bestow the proper amount of praise without overdoing it but really, my kids can draw. Most kids would prefer a new toy when asked but mine will often request new markers & paper. The recycling guys definitely get their moneys worth at our house on recycling day each week.

My sons favorite tool of choice are typically the Crayola brand markers that we're all familiar with but just the other day my eldest son who is seven started using a pencil. He said he was sketching. I think he must have heard me say that and saw that I was using a pencil to do it with so he was hold up in his room for over an hour hard at work on these robots. When I saw them I was very impressed by several things. For one, the simplicity of the lines. Look at how he used the empty spaces between the lines almost the way a comedian might use the pauses between jokes. Second, I love the confidence in his line work. I will often talk about this when I visit schools. Children are not afraid to mess up so their lines are bold and deliberate. It's usually around 4-7th grade that we as artists become more self conscious and afraid that our drawings will be less than good so we begin to draw lightly and without confidence. The third thing I like is how varied they are. He actually had names and descriptions for what each robot would do for us in the future. Can you find the the 3 headed flashlight? By the way, most of these are all remote control and do things like vacuum or cook our food.

Your Heart. God's Love. My Yard.

Preparing my yard for the next Google Earth photo shoot.

Wall Aquatic

Not long ago I painted this aquatic mural in the boys play room. I still have several fish to finish but summer kind of got in the way.