SOLVED: Children's Book: Painting in the Sky? [s]

[K]

OK it was about a man who painted in the sky with this special paint he invented. He always drank coffee or ate donuts or something at this diner/donuts shop he went to everyday. His smile was really big and creepy. He painted a cow and advertisements in the sky to advertise for the diner/donuts shop.

[Cheryl]

A creepy smile? I'm guessing that was your own feeling, instead of what the illustrator intended?

When did you see this; how old do you think it might be?

[K]

It was when I was around 8 or so .. so mid-90s maybe! - What I mean by creepy smile is it was very big .. big white teeth, exaggerated ~ so to a child I suppose it was creepy.

[Cheryl]

ok, that's some good clues... feel free to bump every month or two...

[Frank]

Hey Kate,

Any luck finding this book? I just got a flashback of the same book from my childhood (early 90's) and only remembered a man in white overalls painting a cow and a banner in the sky. I searched the internet and couldn't find anything but your post. Thanks to you I now also remember the coffee and doughnuts but the rest still escapes me. This is gonna drive me nuts.

[K]

Hey Frank, no I have not and it`s driving me nuts still, lol. At least I know I am not crazy snd someone else remembers this book! :)

[Cheryl]

It's not If You're Afraid of the Dark, Add One More Star to the Night, is it?

If not, please feel free to bump this by adding a comment, even the word 'bump,' every few months so we remember to keep thinking about it for you.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Picture book or chapter book?

[K]

Thanks but thats not the book either :( It was a picture book for sure.

[K]

I FOUND IT!!!

After ages of searching google images.Slappy Hooper: The World's Greatest Sign Painter Published in 1990. Doesn't seem like they publish it anymore though.

http://www.amazon.in/Slappy-Hooper-Gr...

Looks like this is a legend type story and books on this character were published in the 1940s as well, but it's the 1990 one that has the creepy photos as I remember - no one seems to have posted the inside photos but the cover is definitely the book I was looking for.

Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions and asked questions trying to find this book :D