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ST. PAUL (FOX 9) - Inside of his St Paul home, a local artist has a sign on his door reading "I support local police." Inside his art studio, he's showing his respect in a one of a kind way.
"My way of saying thank you for what they do," says Ken Fox.
Fox has an eye for detail and has been an artist since he was a kid. "People would sit for me and I would draw them, and I wasn't very good.
After serving in the Air Force, followed by 22 years of teaching at the former School of Associated Arts, the now 84 year old has walls full of charcoal drawing and oil paintings. More recently he's turned his talents toward St Paul police.
"I joke police officers look for people, I go around looking for police officers," says Fox. "I find them in grocery stores, events, in their car, restaurant, wherever they happen to be."
It usually doesn't take long for the police Fox encounters to be convinced to pause and pose. Working off the cell phone photos he takes, Fox is currently working on his 61st portrait, with hopes of drawing as many of the 635 officers on the St Paul police force as he can.
He says, "My main reason for getting involved with the police was after I hear what they have to go through I thought in my small way I might give them something. So that's what I started doing."
Chief Todd Axtell was so impressed, he hired Fox to do another drawing of his wife and her late father.
"It's so humbling to have someone in our community that has this incredible talent and keeps it to himself for the most part," said the chief. "And gives back in such a way to create that indelible piece of history."
Depending on the amount of detail, each drawing takes about ten hours. Officer Eric Reetz received his Tuesday. "I guess I kind of forgot about it because it's been a month," the officer said. "I was blown away how detailed it is."
Fox says the reactions he receives are better than money and why he loves putting pencil to paper every day.
"When I see how they look and what they say about it, you can't buy that."
More information about the artist can be found at www.aviationartmuseum.com.