Joyce Batcheler, Animal Artist

This profile of Joyce appeared in The Palm Beach Post on December 12, 2001:

Christmas bulbs with a hook: Your pet's picture

by Christine Davis

No matter what time of year it is, Joyce Batcheler is up to her eyeballs in Christmas bulbs.

That's because three years ago the Loxahatchee resident left her job at the post office and started painting pets on Christmas tree ornaments. She calls her business Animal Hang-Ups.

Right now, she's putting the finishing touches on her last bunch of bulbs, getting them ready to go to the Red Barn and Wellington Feed.

Then she jumps into production for next year's batch. "I have to do it all year long to have enough stuff for Christmas," she said.

They come in all colors, shapes and sizes -- the pets, that is. The bulbs are ivory, frost, red, green, gold, light blue and violet.

She started out painting horses because that's her favorite pet. But it wasn't long before other animal lovers had her painting their pets, too. For instance, there's the ivory bulb with two freshwater shrimp. She's not sure what the relationship is, but she got the picture and did the job.

"Somebody once asked me to do an aye-aye. I didn't even know what it was and had to look it up. It's this ugly little cross between a squirrel and a rodent." she said.

It wasn't an adoring owner that asked her to paint that animal though. It was the San Francisco Zoo. One year, the zoo asked her to paint all sorts of animals for a holiday event.

That fit with her goal to paint one of every animal. She consults her breed books to come up with the more exotic animals.

"A man told me I wouldn't have his dog. It was a Canary Island dog. I pulled it out and showed it to him. It looked just like his dog. He loved it. I even have a Peruvian Inca Orchid," she said.

That's a dog, not a plant, by the way.

"I've also painted a dirt bike, an old-fashioned telephone and a deck of cards, but these are not the things I choose to do," she said.

People buy what they like. "I have one lady who bought nothing but my horse ornaments. Another wanted only my appaloosas. Some have wanted an entire tree of one type, whether it be giraffes, pigs, frogs or koalas," she said.

And now, even though she's painted just about everything, she still insists she loves horses best. She has an assortment of Christmas colts that includes Santa riding a white one. Another is pulling a ribbon on a wreath. Another has a candy cane. One has a red ribbon on its tail. She also has another horse assortment with Christmas stuff, a tree, wreath and star.

She likes color and whimsy; those are the most fun to create.

For those who want their own pet's likeness on a bulb, she paints from a photo. The hardest part, she says, is getting the photos. "No one wants to part with them."

But it's the pet connection that makes her work worthwhile. For one thing, she said, people never get rid of their ornaments.

"You just pass them down," she said.

And since pets are very important to their owners, having them on their ornaments is very meaningful.

"Sometimes, for people who have lost their pets, it's a memorial," she said.

Ask her how many bulbs she's painted and she has absolutely no idea. Ask her how many she's broken and she'll answer, "Just a few, thank goodness."

She loves her work, up to a point. When she's had it with paint, she heads for the real thing.

"I grab my horse and go for a ride," she said. She bought her first horse with her first paycheck from her first job. It was an 18-month-old stallion named Risky.

"I learned on him," she said. Now she's training her 4-year-old mare, Reina.

She's in the Mounted Citizens Observation Patrol, enjoys trail rides and has been on an equestrian drill team.

Christine Davis writes about horses for Neighborhood Post. Send mail to 2751 5. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, FL. 33405. Call 820-4763, fax 837-8320 or e-mail her at: neighborhood@pbpost.com

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