Artist: Donald Zolan
Media: Oil on Canvas
Size: 12x16
Date: 2009
Santa’s Notes literally started out as a sketch for the painting of Santa’s Good Book but instead the painting turned out to be an outstanding work of illustration that stands on its own. There were a few times when Donald would create an oil sketch before starting the original painting but those were rare. The oil sketches are a prized collectible work of art due to their rarity.
Artist: Donald Zolan
Media: Oil on Canvas
Size: 30x30
Date: 2006
Twas the Night Before Christmas was the first Santa painting in the Christmas collection. Created in the Ridgefield, Connecticut Studio in 2006, the inspiration for Santa Claus came from Zolan’s two year apprenticeship with Haddon Sundblom, the creator of the original Coca Cola Santa. Sundblom not only thought that Zolan was a gifted artist but his final selection for an apprentice was also based on Zolan’s ability to play a good game of chess.
Artist: Donald Zolan
Media: Oil on Canvas
Size: 30x30
Date: 2005
The second painting in the collection, Letters to Santa, was initially sketched and photographed in Zolan’s Connecticut studio. The model for all of his Santa paintings was a very close friend to Zolan who always seemed to have a twinkle in his eye, a bright smile and the perfect Santa tummy. Zolan could not have imagined back in the late 1950’s when he was apprenticing with Haddon Sunblom that he too would be recognized 50 + years later for his paintings of the archetypal Americana Santa.
Artist: Donald Zolan
Media: Oil on Canvas
Size: 30x30
Date: 2007
The brick fireplace in the Connecticut family room was the place where all of Zolan’s friends and family gathered together for holidays and dinner parties during the long winter months. Zolan loved his fireplace and the family room was the coziest and warmest room in the family farmhouse. Christmas was always the favorite time of the year for Zolan and a train was always a part of the tradition since childhood.
Artist: Donald Zolan
Media: Oil on Canvas
Size: 30x30
Date: 2006
Santa’s List was inspired by one of Zolan’s daily habits which was making a To Do list early morning and checking off the items on the list by the end of the day. Zolan was not only meticulous but a perfectionist. And, of course, Santa too needs a To Do list. And, this delightful painting shows a very jolly squeezable Santa surrounded by a cozy cottage setting filled with holiday warmth and light.
Artist: Donald Zolan
Media: Oil on Canvas
Size: 30x40
Date: 2007
Zolan’s idea for the Santa Collection was to create each painting very unique and special. But the difficulty was where to find a reindeer model. On a wintry cold Thanksgiving Day in 2006 at the home of Jennifer Zolan’s Mother in Pennsylvania, there was an ad in the local paper to visit Santa’s reindeer at a nearby farm. Zolan was ecstatic to find an actual farmer with reindeer. It turned out that this farmer had only one reindeer giving Zolan the challenge to create four different reindeer from one model for his painting Merry Christmas to All.
That evening, Zolan sat and read the Christmas story by the fireplace and began his sketch of his famous reindeer pulling Santa through the midnight sky on Christmas Eve.
Artist: Donald Zolan
Media: Oil on Canvas
Size: 30x40
Date: 2007
This painting is one of the more whimsical in the collection with Santa having that quizzical expression. Santa and each of the reindeers all were created with a special personality and each with their own unique expressions. One wintry day while driving through Hershey, Pennsylvania, Zolan found a single story log cabin that was his inspiration for Santa’s home in the painting.
Artist: Donald Zolan
Media: Oil on Canvas
Size: 30x30
Date: 2008
In Santa’s Thermometer, Santa is checking the outside temperature to see exactly how cold it is. Zolan was surely depicting himself in this painting. He had bought the largest thermometer there was at the local hardware store and placed it outside on a tree near the studio. First thing in the morning, Zolan always checked the temperature especially during the winter months at the Connecticut farmhouse.
Artist: Donald Zolan
Media: Oil on Canvas
Size: 30x40
Date: 2008
One of the most extensive and intricately detailed paintings in the entire Santa collection, the house was a Zolan architectural design. Zolan had a great sense of perspective and always very precise with his drawings. This drawing was a labor of love that took one month to complete to his satisfaction. Zolan always said that “a painting was completed in his mind before he started the execution of the drawing.”
Artist: Donald Zolan
Media: Oil on Canvas
Size: 30x40
Date: 2009
The last painting to be completed in the Santa collection and the last painting that Donald Zolan created in his lifetime was Santa’s Good Book. It was a labor of love created in the Scottsdale, Arizona studio in 2009. Zolan was such a kid at heart filled with his own ideas of what Santa’s workshop should be. During the time that he was painting, he was also receiving intensive chemotherapy treatment. He finished this painting only two months before he passed away.