LONGWOOD, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -
Jeff Sonsken is a carpenter by trade. But when the phone stopped ringing, he turned to a secret passion.
"I would stick these out in the yard and stick them under a tree," he said, pointing to a painting.
Sonsken is a self-taught painter. He'd never sold any paintings, but once, out of boredom, he decided to paint a fence in his parents' backyard to keep busy while unemployed.
"I had my drill in a pouch, and I had my screws in another pouch. I would make sure nobody was out there. I would bolt out there and put the screws up and then get out, because I figured I was going to get yelled at," Sonsken said.
But he wasn't. Instead, when neighbors saw his creation, they asked him to paint another portrait.
Then, people started making requests.
"It just spiraled out of control," Sonsken said.
By the Seminole Wekiva Trail near Longwood, Sonsken is now painting the path.
He attaches panels to a basic fence structure already in place. The wood costs about $1.25 a panel, and the paint comes from a trash dump.
"Technically, all of my paintings will be made out of garbage," Sonsken joked.
Now, Sonsken is using garbage not to just make a living, but it's part of the purpose he'd been searching for all along.
Sonsken will be a participant in the Uptown Art Expo at Cranes Roost Park in Altamonte Springs on February 16-17. Some of his paintings will be available for sale. You can also contact him at his website, PaintTheTrail.com, or his Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/painttheseminoletrail.
