My Favorite Art Stuff

You won't see these pieces of art anywhere else
except at Mikie's Fun House.
They were created especially for me, mostly by very good friends,
to celebrate some of the best times of my life.
Enjoy!

Space Window by Jerry Huyler
(click to enlarge)

Space Window - by Jerry Huyler
12" x 48", oil on fiberboard

A few weeks before I moved from Winnetka, Illinois to California, in 1977,
a great friend and neighbor gave me this wonderful painting as a remembrance
of our friendship and the good times we enjoyed together. He told me then
that he had never given or sold any of his paintings, and that was a measure
of how much it meant to him.

This painting has hung in a prominent place in every home I've lived in over the
years, so I get to appreciate his work several times each day, and I
am reminded of what a great spirit he has.

Jerry passed away on April 21, 2004. And he will be greatly missed.

My Waco biplane, Low and slow, over the surf, sunset, Del Mar, CA... painting by John Dormer.
(click to enlarge)

The Spirit of Adventure
by John Dormer

I knew early on that I would not be flying forever,
and I wanted something that would be portable, personal, and hopefully outlast me,
so that I could simply look in its direction and
it would bring back the thousands of memories of the
wonderful adventures I've had in this amazing biplane.

I have been wanting to take a photo, or scan, this painting
for as long as I've had this website (many years),
and have always wanted the result to be first class,
so I hesitated to just walk up to it and take a simple photo.
But that's what I finally did! And it turned out just fine.

The painting was intended to capture the moments
of carefree flying along the beach in Del Mar, just before sunset,
in front of my home, a flight I have taken hundreds of times.
On this flight I discovered what has become known as
"The Mikie Mooneuver"
in which a skilled and playful aviator can create
3 sunsets, 2 sunrises, 3 moon rises and 2 moon sets
(and in that order)
within 30 minutes.

Torrey Pines Hill, an original painting by an unknown artist

During the TeleMagic adventure, as we were preparing for Version 12,
I wanted our packaging to be something special,
and we had a few available dollars to commission this original art.
The advertising agency du jour handled the details, and this is what we got. I like it a lot.
I told them I wanted to have something that would give the look and feel
of running at high speed down Torrey Pines Hill in a race car,
and crossing the flats and up the hill into Del Mar
(the birthplace of TeleMagic software).
It is a run I have made thousands of times, at speed, in both directions of course.

It is a great and wonderful thing.
Truly a highlight of what industrialized Man can do to turn money into noise!
And Great Memories.

Enjoy

Frisbee on the Beach: To Fris Is To Be, an original work of art by Kate Van der Wende click to enlarge

"To Fris Is To Be"

The artwork above is a scan of a detail of an original work of art by Kate Van der Wende, who was my Frisbee partner for many years, as well as a talented artist, of course. This painting has been on my wall forever, and I have always been meaning to scan it and put in up on this website to share with my friends. Kate also hand-made a one-off T-shirt with this design, which I still wear on special beach Frisbee days, when the wind is just right, at low tide, late in the afternoon, around sunset. Kate is credited with the philosophical awakening summed up in 5 words: "To Fris Is To Be".

After all these years, I still can't say it any better.

Pelican to biplane morph by Anne LeBris
click image to enlarge
Pelican to Biplane Morph by Anne LeBris, 4"x10"

Anne LeBris is an artist and a flyer and a good friend.
She created this for my birthday in '96,
right after I got back from my coast to coast USA solo barnstorming adventure.

Anne knows I love the graceful flight of pelicans,
and I am intrigued by the drawings of Escher, and of course I love my biplane.
Put them all together and you have a gift that I will treasure forever. Thanks Anne!

Winged Woman by Shari Breton
click image to enlarge
Winged Woman by Shari Breton, 11"x14"

The concept of human beings with wings fascinates me.
It seems to be on our path of evolution.
Shari was a companion who shared my love of flying,
and she made this sketch as a gift, to feed some of my fantasies...

More art stuff coming soon...

Favorite artists include:
Leonardo da Vinci,
Michaelangelo,
Rodin,
Van Gogh,
Hieronymus Bosch
Eric Grohe Murals (a MUST SEE!)

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