So Where Did the Ideas Come From? On this page I am displaying the photos and ideas that gave me the inspiration to design each painting. Each one has a little story, and I hope you enjoy them! SCROLL DOWN TO BE SURE YOU SEE THEM ALL... I'm still constructing this page, and need to add more, so come back often to see my progress.

Will the Real Scarecrow Please Stand Up? When my youngest son Jeff was in the 5th grade, his halloween costume was a scarecrow. I painted his face with face paint, and made a burlap covering for his head and shoes. We stuffed his over-sized shirt and stuck raffia under his hat for his hair. I had him pose on the bench in front of our house, next to the stuffed scarecrow we made and put out there each year. They happened to be about the same height, and I thought they looked so cute next to each other. I used acrylic paint on canvas, and the original painting is about 16" x 20". ~ Art Print ~ FolkArt Quilt Pattern with Fabric Panel Back to Top

Bessie and Jocko, 1909 The photo is of my husband's grandma, Bessie May Cowlin, taken in August, 1909. On the side someone wrote "Jocko and Bessie", and on the back they wrote "Bessie 5 years old". The picture is actually the front of a postcard, and the post mark on the back says "Chicago, ILL, Aug 23, 3-PM, 1909". I painted it on wood, with acrylic paints. The original name of the painting was "Are You Hot, Too, Jocko?", and it was the August picture of a 1990 calendar. Art Print ~ FolkArt Quilt Pattern with Fabric Panel ~ Note Card Back to Top

The Engineer This is my nephew Derek at the age of four. We went to visit them, and my husband, who loves trains, just had to buy this little set for him. Derek thoroughly enjoyed playing with the train set and his uncle, and of course, had to wear his engineer hat. We have an old 1950's Lionel train set (including the blue car with the yellow giraffe that pops up), with many of the original boxes, so that is where those things came from. The clown in the painting was modeled after a toy stuffed clown that I had when I was a baby and toddler. I still have it, although it is a bit worn by now! The painting was done with acrylic paint on wood, and measures about 16" x 18". My sister (Derek's mom) owns the original painting. Art Print ~ FolkArt Quilt Pattern with Fabric Panel Back to Top

We Give Thee Thanks One day the idea of two Pilgrim children and two Native American children praying together popped into my head, but I needed a model to paint from. So I asked my pastor at the time if he would pose his two boys, and his two little neighbor girls kneeling in a praying position and take pictures for me. He took several shots, and I chose the ones I wanted to use. I simply added the costumes, the background, and the quilt laden with food (and a squirrel!) in the foreground. Art Print ~ FolkArt Quilt Pattern with Fabric Panel Back to Top

Trick or Treatin' Teddies As much as I hate to admit it, several years ago two of my friends and I actually made halloween costumes for our teddy bears, complete with trick or treat bags. I had them sitting on the love seat during October, and got the idea for the painting "Trick or Treatin' Teddies". So I asked my neighbor if I could photograph her daughter Danielle, age 4 or 5 at the time, in costume. As you can see, she is posing on the love seat sans teddy bears - I put them back on there later and shot a picture of them, then combined the two photos to use as the model for my painting. The original was painted with acrylic paint on wood, and was about 18" x 22" in size. Art Print ~ FolkArt Quilt Pattern with Fabric Panel Back to Top

We Believe in Santa A good friend of mine gave me a copy of this old photo taken of two of her uncles posing with a store Santa in about 1915. Otto Papacek is the youngest, born 10/10/1910, and was about 5 years old at the time of the photo. Jim is his older brother, and they were brothers of my friend's mother. I was struck by the charm of this old photo, and had to do a painting - however, I decided to change one of them into a girl, so I had to redesign her coat and hat, of course. I then added the background of the snowy North Pole, with Santa's cottage in the back- ground (he even has a snowman in his front yard). The original painting was done with acrylic paint on wood, and I sold it to another friend many years ago, for her to give to her daughter. Art Print ~ FolkArt Quilt Pattern with Fabric Panel Back to Top

copyright 2004 Jacki Neitzke All artwork, fabric panels, and patterns copyrighted by Jacki Neitzke, and may not be reproduced in any manner without written consent of Jacki Neitzke. All rights reserved. All finished items produced using these patterns are protected by Federal Copyright Laws and may not be reproduced for commercial use in any form whatsoever without the written consent of Jacki Neitzke.