MUNCIE, Ind. (NewsLink)—Many people have fond memories of the holidays each year. However, those in Delaware County have been fortunate to experience scenes on local businesses windows. These scenes have been created by a single man who inspires to provide joy for the children during the Christmas season.
Thousands of scenes have been painted over the holidays by the artist, Ron Davis, known as Mr. Christmas. He has spent hundreds of hours painting windows with iconic images like Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus. Those scenes though are only the frosting on the cookie because he also will cater to what the business needs.
Mancino’s owner, Jeff Calligan said that he has continued to display Davis’s work because customers enjoy seeing those iconic characters being displayed on his windows.
“Then, after he did it, I saw the joy the customers got out of it, the great detail of artwork that he put on the windows and just the added looks that it gave to the buildings during the holidays,” Calligan said.
Calligan purchased the restaurant in 2007, and remembers Davis coming into the restaurant asking permission to paint scenes on his windows. Calligan had no idea what window painting was and was concerned what this old man in his restaurant was going to do.
However, Davis said that pitching the idea to new owners is one of the hardest things about the job, but the reactions that he can get from owners is priceless.
“So, I don’t have to go into much detail with them, but it is kind of fascinating and it is sometimes kind of comical the impressions that I get when I say that I’m a professional window painter,” said Davis. “They just think I’m going to trim out the window and paint but not put art on the glass.”
Davis told NewsLink Indiana that the process can be time consuming, but he has to thank Julie Kirk for getting him involved. He was driving around Muncie trying to find work, when he just happened upon Kirk painting a window scene.
“So, I circled back and went back, grabbed a cup of coffee and I was sitting back watching her on a chair, and she finally just looked at me and went: ‘you want to learn how to do this,’” Davis said.
The need to provide for his children is what got Davis driving around Muncie in the first place. Now, though, he does the paintings to provide the children something to see and have wonder of.
“I gear it towards the kids, because I love kids,” said Davis. “I love to see the reactions. I like to see the reactions of older people. I like to just see the reactions of people anyway all the time.”
Even though Davis has been painting backwards, and jokily told NewsLink Indiana that he may be getting dyslexia from all of the reverse painting he does when applying it to the windows. However, Davis said that he will have a hard time leaving this county. The only place that he will leave the county for is the White House. With politics not being a factor in the decision.
“It doesn’t matter what president is in it, because I’m not painting for the president. I’m painting for the public,” Davis said.
Be on the lookout for Davis’s holiday creations again this fall when he starts painting them in November.
For more information regarding Davis’s work, visit his website at: classicartco.com.
