The Adventures of Art Lad

Guess what? I dreamed something moved my head and I waked up and the clock said 4-4-4.

I turned on all the lights and saw under my pillow my tooth WAS GONE!

There was a new envelope there and inside it was a whole dollar! Dad says that is LOTS more than he got. And Papa never got money. He said all they got was a bag of nails. This was in the olden days.

I think the Tooth Fairy bumped me awake.

We had art class today and I drew lots and lots of animals. But I took out one tooth on all of them.

Here is one.




See? It is a Sabre-Tooth Tiger that lost one of his sabre teeth. What will he do?

It's okay. It'll come back.

Back then, when he lost a tooth, the tiger put it under his head and went asleep. When he was asleep, the Sabre-Tooth Fairy would come and take it. They didn't have money then so guess what the Sabre-Tooth Fairy left him?

A piece of meat!

My sister got scared the Sabre-Tooth Fairy would come and get her when her tooth falls out. But I think it is funny!

I am so happy my tooth is out. I can eat everything now. Tonight at dinner I had three corn dogs and a crunchy piece of bread and a whole apple for dessert. I have been starving almost waiting for the tooth to come out.

Also I am sad too. I want to see my tooth again one last time. Where does it go when the Tooth Fairy takes it?

Well, bye!

Thomas

Guess what?

Mom was sick and Dad had to make dinner. He made corn on the cob because he forgot that my tooth hurts since it's loose so I ate it on the side of my mouth.

And then Dad yelled STOP! And I dropped the corn. Something was stuck in my mouth and poking me and Dad saw it!

Dad flew up on the table and knocked the butter over. He grabbed my head and a napkin and put it in my mouth and yelled GOT IT!

IT WAS MY TOOTH!!!!!!






That is the first tooth to come out EVER. I've been waiting a hundred days. It was a good job Dad saw it and flew up on the table because I was going to swallow up my corn and almost ate my tooth.

I thought it would hurt and be scary but it was great! My sister and the dog and me danced around in the living room. Then we told mom up in her bed.

Then Grandma called. Did she know already? She says the eyes in the back of her head can see a long way off. That's because Dad was a big stinker when he was little. She screamed on the phone. She likes everything I do. She has lost a lot of teeth too.

I wrote my letter to the Tooth Fairy. Is he a he or a girl?

I drew a picture to show the Tooth Fairy what happened.






And this is my for-real mouth where it happened.





I have to go to bed right away. I am up too far. But I will never sleep now!

My tongue keeps getting stuck in the hole.

Bye!

Thomas

SCHOOL WAS GREAT!


I am at a table with 6 kids. All their names begin with A. Except for me and Luis. And Taylor (she is a girl and she always says hi to me and taps my arm but I don't say it back).

We have P.E. class now. It's like recess but the teacher blows a whistle. I like it.

I eat lunch at school now while the baby kids go home. I sat with Evan and Cole and Duncan. Alyssa was there too. She is NOT in my room. She is across the hall but I drew her a map with steps to get to my room.

Recess was sad first day because I wanted to play the Frisbee but Andrew said no. He is mean. So I just stood up and watched.

Next day I got my own Frisbee and played with all the other boys who Andrew wouldn't let play. We made up our own game called Frisbee in the Tree. You throw it up and try to catch it where it goes but the branches get tricky on you so it's hard.

Then Andrew did it and his Frisbee got stuck! Ha Ha!

I showed my teacher Flip's Art Lad picture and now all the boys want one! Andrew wants one so he looks like Beast Boy. I said he IS a Beast Boy with a big piggo face and he can't have one. So Flip DO NOT MAKE HIM ONE!

We have art time too and I made some pictures. They need pointier crayons and pencils at my school. I need them sharp to do good pictures.

I made a new super lizard for that dancing girl Lucy. But when I got home Dad forgot and already sent the box to her Dad so I couldn't send it.

So here's the picture for Lucy.





He is wrapping around you to pull you into his cave. See how his tail comes on the other side?

See the middle thing between his eyes? Silly Dad said it was a birthday hat. IT IS NOT! He has a rhino horn but it doesn't look like a rhino horn because he staring right at you. Rhino horns only look like rhino horns from the side.

I have school again Monday. I will be going to school a lot. But I will tell you stuff and show my pictures from art time.

Bye!
Thomas

I start school TODAY! I am in the First Grade and will go for ALL DAY now.

We had a party at my school before and I saw my teacher and where I sit.

WE HAVE COMPUTERS! In the room with us! Before we had to go to the Smelly Room.

I told my teacher about my Web place and everyone who came and she thought I made it up. Then Dad said something funny and Mom had to step on him.

I get up lots early and today the clock said 5-2-1 and I woke Dad up. He was surprised! He is really funny when he gets up. He doesn't talk in words until he drinks a coffee.

Last night I had a funny tummy. I went to draw a cat, but this came out.







It is a dinosaur RAT that eats everything!

I drew another picture with no colors in it.






That's how my tummy is.

But then I drew this.







He turned out good. He looks all smarty.

I tried to draw me as a super guy like Flip does for me. People are hard. So I just looked at her pictures. I am taking one to my teacher so she will know about Art Lad!

I will tell you how it was later!

I have to go pee!

Bye!

I am all better! I was 103 hot then 99 hot. Then ba-zow! Better!

It was good and lucky that I got better because today was the big party down the street for all the kids before we go back to school. All the moms and dads go and talk A LOT and all the kids play. All the kids on my bus were there. Alyssa was there and her brother and Cole and Drew and Lillie and Duncan and Alyssa too.

I already said Alyssa already.

Guess what? They had an art table! I made a spider for my sister out of fuzzy twisties and a piece of egg carton.

They also had a spinny art thing. You put your paper on the spinner then squirt paint on it while it spins. If you use a lot of paint you can do a picture on the spinner and do one on your shirt at the same time!

I WANT A SPINNER!

I spent ten hundred hours making spinny art pictures. I almost got dizzy.

(I'll tell you the secret: You have to blink while you do it so you don't.)

I wanted to make a spider web, because spiders spin them to make them. But it was hard. It took a lot of times. But I did it! It looked like a Web for real!

I can't show you it, though.

(I gave it to Alyssa.)

Then we played baseball with the giant red ball. Alyssa and I were partners so we had to kick the ball and run together.

I had a bunch of fun.

Later, Dad brought all my other spinny pictures home.

My next favorite after the spider web I can't show you was this one.



I think it looks like a dragon's eyeball.

When I was making it, I could see him blinking at me.

Bye!

I have a flu. I was 103 hot yesterday and my face was all red. I still don't feel much good. Kinda hot and cold at the same time.

I asked Dad to bring his little computer to my room and read me what people said about the earth picture. That made me happy.

It's hard to be a good drawer in bed. I tried to do a book but I only got to the first page. Mom wrote the words on top.



My eyes feel all big like the leopard's. Maybe I will get spots like him too.

I will draw more later. I need some juice now.

I got my bus pass for school today. I start really soon!

Art class was my favorite thing about school last time. My other favorite was learning about the planets hanging out in space.

I can name them: Pluto, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune. I don't know if that's the way they go.

And there's this one:








That's us!

Dad needs a bigger scanner.

I like learning things about the planets. There's a storm on one that's been going on forever. At least a hundreds of years. A bunch of them have rings. And some of them are just balls of gas with no land. Saturn is one. And Uranus is a big ball of gas too.

Dad says planets can be funny sometimes.

I guess.

I just stepped on a splinter today and it went in my toe. Dad got it out. It was three pieces long! There's a big hole in my toe now and it hurts to walk so I can't go out and play. Dad said we could go on the computer.

I went to some neat places where people have my pictures now. WOW! They are all over the place.

I like other kids drawings. Cheruboy is really good. He is 10. Thanks for coming to see my pictures. I will go to see yours a lot!

The Twinkie girl sent me this. It is really good. It looks like the window in church.




One of Dad's friends just sent him this. It's a place you can go and do paintings on the computer! It's hard to do the mouse but we practiced in school.

Here's the first one I did. It's not so good, but I did the words too.

The Wolf in the Web

When you look at it, the brush draws the drawing REAL fast, faster than I really did it. That is cool!

I also went to Mr. Feiffer's place. He is my other favorite to Mr. Gaiman and Mr. McKean.

He writes AND draws at the same time. He did a book called BARK GEORGE! about a dog that swallowed a lot of animals and makes different noises. It's really funny.

I sent Mr. Feiffer some pictures once. I gave him a painting of a wolf I made up named QRITSU and a dinosaur herd running down a volcano. He traded me this.



It's a dinosaur talking to George! It's on my board in my room.

He also told me about these neat paint pens that aren't too messy. I got them for my birthday and used them all up. I hope I get more my next birthday.

He draws really good dogs. I get the ears wrong.

Gotta go draw now!
Thomas

Guess what? Mr. Gaiman came to see my pictures and told everyone!

This picture is for him. It's a snake that ate a chicken egg and got the chicken spots.




He wrote two books I like. One is about a boy who trades his dad to get some goldfish but has to get his dad back. The other is about a girl called Lucy who has wolves in her house.

The pictures in the wolves book are SCARY, but then when we went to see Grammy and Grandpa, Dad got this for the ride and we listened the whole way.



He tells the stories to you on the CD, like the goldfish one and a rhyme about a boy with really Crazy Hair. He told the wolves one too and then it wasn't scary. Now I like it! It made my sister cry. That was funny!

Mr. Gaiman sent me a letter on email too. He said the Crazy Hair one is going to be a book with Mr. McKean doing the pictures. I can't wait!

They are my favorites.

I would like to do books some day.

Bye!
Thomas

Yesterday I drew this tiger. He is the second-biggest tiger in the world!





I scraped my hand doing the ears. It was like the tiger bit me! R-r-r-r!

I like my chalks but they are dusty and scrapey. And then I finish and rain comes and wipes it off. Or Mom drives over it.

But this time Mom took pictures.





There's a little baby tiger on the edge there. Do you see it?

Bye!
Thomas

Alyssa is coming over!

Alyssa is a funny girl in my class. She will be in first grade with me. We ride the bus because she lives on the other street near me. Her brother is my friend.

She is coming over right now!

Her mom had to go out so she is coming over til she gets back. Her brother is coming too.

Last year Alyssa sat at my table. I made her this picture.

But I didn't give it to her.





It's rainbows and lightning all together.

SHE'S HERE!!

Bye!


[Note: For a smidge more back-story, click here and scroll down to the Epilogue--The Dad]

Today I painted some gourds.





With my sister.






Mom got them. Gourds are plums that got turned into stones. And then you can paint them.

It's hard to paint because you have to keep going in circles.



My arm got tired.

I painted a bunch. Here they are.



This is "The Rainbow"






This is "The Garden." See the flowers?






This is called "The Squeezy Pumpkin"






My favorite is "Desert Lizard"






This last one is called "Hot Air Balloon." You know why?







THAT'S why!




Bye!
Thomas

WOW!

I really like that everyone came and looked. Dad said a swear word when he saw the number today.

But I REALLY like this picture that Flip sent me:





Is that me? It's like a comic, it's like Teen Titans!

I'll trade you one of my pictures. Here it is:





The little dinos are dryosaurus. I made up the big ones. I call them

TIG-A-SAUR-ONS!

Well, bye!

Thomas

I start the first grade soon! I really liked my teacher last time because she did art class and always put my pictures up on her desk. My favorite part was when we did squirt painting. You had stencils and you could squirt different colors on them. Guess what happens when you pull the stencil off? You get a picture!

But the stencils were all flowers and puppies.

NO DINOSAURS!

"Where are the dinosaur stencils?" I asked Mrs. Dodd. "They don't make them," she said.

So I made one.

I drew a picture of a raptor in a bunch of parts and then had Mrs. Dodd cut them out. That's what a stencil is!

Then I did this. Later I went back and did branches and stuff.



This was hard. I had to do like a bajillion of them until I liked one. I got paint EVERYWHERE! It was great. I like this one pretty good.

Thank you EVERYONE for talking to me on my place here. I can even read some of them all by myself but Dad has to read some too. And Animal Planet Lady put me on her place and so did the lady who works at the statue place and so did Twinkie's mom. And Mr. Nickerblog put me at the top today! I am sending Lucy a picture just for her. She's a funny dancing baby girl!

Bye!

Thomas

My sister like brownies and pink things. Anything pink.

I tried to do her a drawing on a pink piece of paper. Here it is.



That's a dog with a bird on his back on a hill. She likes dogs and birds. And brownies and pink stuff.

I wanted it to look like when the sun goes down. You know how it's dark and pink at the same time? So I tried to draw it on pink paper and have the pink show through. I don't know. It looked better in my head.

I tried to do the lines like in the picture in my sister's room. I like his pictures. He lived a long time ago. My dad says he went crazy and cut his ears off!

Maybe his mom yelled at him a lot.


Gotta go draw!

Thomas

Hi! This is my Web place, The Adventures of Art Lad! My Dad put one of my pictures on his Web place and all his friends said I should have one. So now this is my place to show you my pictures. I hope you like them.

You can read more about me in the About Me place. But I am 6 years old and I like to draw and paint. I REALLY like to paint but Mom says paint is messy so I don't get to do as much.



Crayons and pencils are ok, but they look like a baby did them sometimes.

I'm good at pens. I can do really good pen drawings.

I'm just learning to read so my Dad is helping me. He types what I say and makes sure it is spelled good.

A lot of people liked this picture a lot when my Dad put it up. Do you know what it is?



I'll tell you. It's a T-rex coming down to bite you up! See the teeth?

I will put up more soon.

Gotta go draw!

Thomas