For Dennis Brown, Christmas isn’t just one day or even a season.

An artist for 35 years, for Brown, Christmas is pretty much a full-time job that lasts all year. His speciality: hand-molded, hand-painted Santas.

“I typically don’t do the Coca-Cola Santa Claus, the red-and-white Claus,” Brown said.

Instead, his creations are more, in his words, magical or fantastic. He seems to definitely aim for the whimsical in all his work, which besides Santa figures include wizards and other magical creatures. Still, Brown is quick to add Santas are his focus.

Why Santa?

“It started a long time ago,” Brown said. “I made one for a gift and it just went from there.”

For 14 years, Brown’s Reason to Believe shop in Kirkland featured nothing but Santas. Brown left Kirkland a few years ago and eventually landed in a much smaller shop, still dubbed Reason to Believe, in Bothell’s Country Village in February. Brown said he is more than happy with the smaller space and glad he finally decided to come to Country Village.

“This place is kind of cool,” Brown declared, saying it has a bit of a magical feel to it, especially around the holidays. Starting this year, the credit for that feeling rests to a great extent with Brown. Part of the deal that brought him to Country Village included his having a big part in transforming the rural-themed retail center at Christmas time.

“I just like Christmas,” Brown said, “I like this time of year.”

Brown added that he and another shop owner started decorating the large Country Village Christmas tree well ahead of the season. He earlier had reported taking on test runs of the sleigh that helps Santa fly down from the rooftops of Country Village to its main square during the center’s annual holiday celebration. Brown said he added a few new decorations to Country Village this year, but actually had never seen the village decorated for the holidays.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but now we’ll take it from there,” Brown said, stating at one point that he hopes to “take Christmas over the top” at the village in coming years.

As for Brown’s Santas, they have attracted their share of attention over the years. Brown’s work is collected by various celebrities. First invited to send a figure by President Ronald Reagan, Brown has sent a Santa to the White House for 20 years.

Brown also has been featured in numerous magazines, his work displayed at galleries and museums around the country. Brown also has created model figures for several well-known collectibles companies including Enesco, the Franklin Mint and, most recently, the Danbury Mint.

For all of his creations, Brown works with the same type of modeling clay used by many animators, including Disney.

“I’ve used the same exact clay for 40 years,” he said. It takes him about an hour to make one of his typical faces.

“When I start a piece, I kind of have some idea in my head, but it evolves as I move ahead,” Brown added.

Surprisingly, his favorite piece — the only thing in his shop that is not for sale — is not a Santa, but a wise-looking elf with glasses and a fancy hat, seated comfortably. What makes the piece special?

“It’s hard to say,” Brown said. “Everything just worked, his facial expression, everything… I couldn’t duplicate it if I tried.”

Still, for Brown, in the end, it always comes back to Santa Claus. He has 1,500 Santas of all types in his home, including several life-size models. A fact that apparently is just fine with wife, Lynda, and sons, Zachary, 8, and Skylar, 6, the Santas are on permanent display.

“The only thing we take up and down is the tree,” Brown said. “Otherwise, it’s Christmas year-round.”