JACKSONPORT, Wis. (WBAY) – Tucked away in a workshop in the woods just outside Small Town Jacksonport, you\u2019ll find artist Mike McCartney hard at work. His inspiration?<\/p>\n
\u201cPuppies. Dogs. They got that contagious smile,\u201d McCartney said, beaming at his own dog, Joey. \u201cThey\u2019re entertainment. They\u2019re therapy. You take them for a walk out in the woods and let them do their thing and watch their nose.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born and raised in Chicago with a knack for art, Mike and his wife, Dede, moved to Door County when he was 21 to be closer to her family.<\/p>\n
While working in a shipyard in Sturgeon Bay, hours away from the bustling art scene in the Windy City, Mike was still able to scratch his itch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always drawing (at) little fairs around Door County, caricatures,\u201d Mike explained. \u201cIt was fun to do but not a living. I went to the other shipyard and lasted about ten years there and I go, \u2018I got to draw.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a weekend favor for his mom that would change the course of his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom asked me come to Great Dane National. I had no idea that I\u2019d be drawing dogs,\u201d Mike recalled. \u201cIt was pretty easy, because if I\u2019m drawing a person like yourself, I really got to make, get it right, otherwise people go, \u2018That doesn\u2019t look like me.\u2019 When you do the dogs, one Great Dane looks like all of them. It was a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fun and success led Mike to another dog show and then another.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe third dog show I went to, I told my wife, \u2018I think we could do this. Let\u2019s go all in.\u2019 She was all for it,\u201d Mike said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone says \u2018You\u2019re never going to draw and make a living, all the way up.\u2019 I was just the school of hard knocks. Stumble, trip and fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike fell into a cauldron of success, turning his black-and-white card drawings into a full-scale operation with catalog deals, run with the help of his wife and kids, all on the family property in Jacksonport.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had all the kids working here, our son and daughter\u2019s high school friends, and then I had a lady who would come in the evening and just run prints. They would just print shirts, cases, and cases of shirts, just keep printing shirts,\u201d Mike recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made the big leap from black-and-white into color, then we did some posters, and then those mugs I told you, we made travel mugs. We built this barn and found out what kind of equipment to do and how to do it ourselves. Little at a time, that\u2019s it. It was a good family operation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Decades later, things have calmed down a bit. The kids are grown and moved away to chase their own careers, and Dede owns and operates a wine shop in downtown Sturgeon Bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo more employees,\u201d Mike said. \u201cNo more traveling to dog shows.\u201d<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean the 70-year-old artist isn\u2019t keeping busy, with pup Joey always by his side.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeven days (a week) drawing that calendar. It\u2019s a lot of drawing, a lot of time to compose it after you draw, ink it and pencil it,\u201d Mike said, referring to a cartoon dog calendar he creates annually, selling them on his website and in Dede\u2019s shop. \u201cThey\u2019re all whimsical. It\u2019s all rated G and colorful and funny and silly. It\u2019s all just to make you smile.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Small Town artist with immense talent, and a love for his art that will never fade.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t think of retiring. 70 years old, I just keep drawing silly pictures,\u201d Mike said. \u201cMake a drawing last all day.\u201d<\/p>\n