Welcome to the official Jingle-Jangle Art Gallery. This is a complete collection of every whimsical animal-themed oil painting I created between 2010 and 2019.

The project unofficially started when I came upon a blank 8" by 11" wooden hobby plaque. It seemed to call for a fun rendering of a classic golden era cartoon animal, so an exuberant baby bird and her bespectacled new friend popping his head out of a ruby red apple were the results.

A few months later my girlfriend, who was running a daycare center at the time, was throwing out a cute little wooden hobby wagon with bright red wheels. Again, a cheerful little bright-eyed critter begged representation on it. What I came up with was a multi-limbed insect reading three books at once. I guess that's when I was bitten by the Jingle-Jangle bug that caused a burning desire to paint more images of vintage-syle funny animals on found pieces of wood.

For the next couple years I had a great time scouting out interesting pieces of wood that I thought were worthy of an oil painted Jingle-Jangle critter. I've immortalized them on cutting boards, cheese boards, pizza boards, slices of tree trunks, cabinet doors, and old wooden snack serving dishes.

From the praises this batch of fifteen oil paintings received from art gallery showings, I took the advice of one of the gallery owners to expand the series which is what I did. This time around I wanted the paintings to have a more substantial and thought-provoking quality to them. I wanted the collection to be taken more seriously and for it to be considered legitimate art. I also wanted the series to be viewed for its intent: a passionate and loving tribute to the funny animal art (animation...comic books...comic strips...) that my parents grew up enjoying who, subsequently, exposed me to and made me an even bigger fan of.

 

So, between the years 2017 and 2019 I painted sixteen more oil pieces, this time on much larger traditional surfaces--mainly wood panel board. I wanted each painting to be epic and not so much just charming and delightful--although those descriptor are mandatory for ANY Jingle-Jangle art I create. For some of the more recent, larger pieces I drew much of my inspiration from the work of Sir John Tenniel, the legendary artist responsible for the original "Alice In Wonderland" illustrations. I always loved how his creatures and characters were based in fantasy but they were rendered somewhat realistically with gorgeous detail.

I hope you enjoy what you see and if these Jingle-Jangle oil paintings conjure up a smile on your kisser then my tribute to vintage funny animal art has served its purpose.

Thanks for stopping by.

Les Toil



 

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