Open Call to Snowman Fans Everywhere

Galdalf the Purple by Edgar Garcia

Today's Snowman has been on sabbatical the past couple of months due to the snowman book being turned into a spectacular TV Christmas special. Along with writing a script and beginning around-the-clock production, I am also working on my next book all while continuing to do television and radio interviews as a snowman expert (today I was on a daytime talk show in Iowa). While I want to apologize for the lack of snowman updates, but in the long run this non-stop work load will mean big times for the snowman in the near future and reach more people on major television so it's all good. The show will be an one hour documentary geared for adults yet humorous and will include interviews, beautiful animation, historic reenactments and celebrity appearances.

In the meantime, I want to ask all my readers if they have any interesting snowman stories or collections or snowman antiques worthy of inclusion of a special to please share it with me. Please send our story and pictures to snowmanexpert@pipeline.com

Special thanks to Edgar Garcia of Bloomfield, NJ for building and photographing the wonderful Galdalf the Purple.

Snowman from the South Pole

From an old friend and talented artist Michael Bartalos who had a chance to be in Antarctica as part of the Antarctic Artist's and Writer's Program.

And the Winner Is...

The winner of Today's Snowman snowman contest for February/March is Snowstorm in Toronto! Photo by Hans Havermann of Toronto, Canada. Congratulations! Runner-up was Dancin' Snowmen made by Deborah Villarreal, (principal of the award-winning film studio Screen D'Or Pictures).


Thank you to everyone who entered. (The first place prize is a signed copy of The History of the Snowman and I draw a personalized cartoon in the book.)

Meanwhile, please check out a new exciting feature to the right called SNOWMAN VIDEOS by the scary talent English animator "Celestial Elf." Thank you, Celestial Elf.

New Snowman Contest!

Well, it's time to parade out the next group of amazing snowmen and it's no surprise that, with the recent snow storms in Great Britain, this round is dominated by English snowmen. Tell your friends, call the family, woke up the dog...it's time to vote for the next snowman of the month. Vote by clicking on your snowman on the poll on the right of this post. Without further ado...


1) Snow Shaman Created by Minnesota sculptor Patty Carmody Smith a Today's Snowman favorite.


2) Watching the BBC From Nick Thomas of Birmingham, England. From the two cups, obviously there was a second snowman that got up from the show.


3) Snowman Drawing This beautiful drawing was made by a beautiful little girl named Allie from Sutton, Massuschusetts.


4) Spotted on Rt. 280 "I was driving home on an snowy day in January from Jersey City to West Orange, NJ." From Diane Letulle who runs the amazing popular blog Wine Lover's Journal. How did that snowman emerge on the island between lanes of highway traffic?


5) Snowstorm in Toronto this lovely photo and snowman is by Hans Havermann of Toronto, Canada.


6) English Broad Phil Stylianou & James Drury of Herts, UK made this naughty creation...and yes, that is product placement. (Black bar added by the uptight editors of Today's Snowman.)


7) Lockport Snowman I'll let Jason tell the back story to this snowman; "We had just got done with a tackle football game and decided we were going to build the biggest snowman we could. The weather was just perfect for rolling up some snow. We started with 4 base balls that were each 5 feet tall. The town we built this in was Lockport, NY."


8) DISQUALIFIED for Cheating–Snowboy Guarding Van


9) Dancin' Snowmen was made by Deborah Villarreal, principal of the award-winning film studio Screen D'Or Pictures who writes, "It was an enchanted snow fall in Montclair, NJ. I started building your regular '3 rounds' snowman when these 2 emerged!"


10) Vintage SnowWoman Submitted by Debbie Kogan of Soquel, California; "My husband David...found this snow-woman made by his Aunt Lucille (an artist, now deceased). The photo was taken in the early 1940’s we think."

And the Winner Is...

The first winner of Today's Snowman snowman contest of 2009 is Lisa Love! Made by a girl from Long Island named Sweets, this is her first professional victory in snowman-making competition. Congratulations! Runner-up was the beautiful The Perry Family Snowmen from Somyr Perry of San Diego.
Thank you to everyone who entered. We will start the next contest by tonight and you'll want to see this next group of amazing snowmen. The first place prize will a signed copy of The History of the Snowman (and I draw a personalized cartoon in the book).

LAST DAY TO VOTE and from England; Another Snowman

ENGLAND – Over in Great Britain there has been the most snow they have had in over twenty years. As a result, I've been busy speaking over there on a regular basis as a snowman expert. Just last night I was woken by a call in the wee hours by the BBC to discuss snowmen. I went from a dead sleep to being live on the air!

In other news, Today's Snowman monthly snowman contest is about to end and we have already begun the receive beautiful entries for the next contest. If you would like to enter please send your snowman in within the next three days. So vote and email me your snowmen! Thanks!

Snowman Contest 2009

Finally, the entries for the first snowman contest in 2009. It's time to vote! Get your friends, call the family, wake-up the dog, nudge grandma, log-in to Facebook, sign-up for MySpace. It's here–Election 2009! It's free! It's fun! There's prizes!

Without further ado...



1) "March of the Snow People" Yes, that's Napa, California and this first entry is from two great artists, Dana and Ingrid. A vote for them is a vote...for them.



2) "Lisa Love" by Sweets, a sweet girl from Long Island who is a newcomer in snowman-making competition but is expecting to make a big impression with her first very strong entry here. Good luck, Sweets!



3) "Sno Ho" is by the noted photographer Barry Doyle of Open Salon (his work can be enjoyed here. It's very good.). This family photo from Lake Tahoe is not so innocent when one takes a closer look at the anatomically correct female snowman and daughter Tory pointing this out. A vote for Sho Ho is a vote for family snow porn.



4) "The Perry Family Snowmen" from Somyr Perry of San Diego is also from Open Salon. She went to the Rocky Mountains of the Salt Lake Valley to shot these snowmen "built by toddler and husband, and accessorized with rock eyes, radish noses, stick arms and newspaper hats, by me. May they stand tall in my parent's backyard all winter as a reminder of our most awesome Christmas...thanks for the inspiration, Mr. Eckstein." It sounds like they are taking this competition quite seriously. Throw them some support!



5) "Christmas Present" was sculptor's Patty Carmody Smith's beautiful Christmas gift for her husband. "The experience was fun and really got me thinking about the symbolism of the snowman. For me I see a lot of the archetypal father figure."



6) "Picasso Snowmen (or Snowmen At the Hair-Dressers)" by artist Dan Picasso. Wow. I love Devo! (and check out his cool website!)



7) "Alabama Snowman" Okay, I'll admit there's not much here but this was made in A-L-A-B-A-M-A and wait until you hear this heart-breaking story from Pat who sent in this entry; "This snowman was created out of very little (not much snow generally falls in central Alabama) but these 2 kids went about getting all they could gather up and made this little guy. He later appeared on the town's calendar for December...They made the snowman under the branches of several large pecan trees, and used pecans for eyes and buttons, and twigs for arms; his nose is a standard peeled baby carrot. It was their first snowman ever, and probably their last until they have kids of their own to build one with." I don't know about you but I'm crying my eyes out here.



8) "Steve & Kris' Snowman" This final entry is from eastern Oregon and these people mean business. Kris explains their snowman is going for that pushcart peddler look. I think they nailed it! Good luck!

The voting poll is in the top of the column on the right under "Snowman Contest" in the middle of the blog....just click on your favorite snowman. One vote per computer. A signed copy of The History of the Snowman, snowman posters, mugs are among the possible prizes.