LAKEWOOD, Colo. -- When most people look up on their roof they see shingles, vents and maybe even some solar panels. When Roger Wimmer looks at his roof he sees something a little different.

"My sons, who are professional painters, painted a 40 foot Kokopelli on the roof," said Wimmer.

A Kokopelli is the Native American god of fertility. It is usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player. The character is also described as a trickster and also represents the spirit of music. Wimmer has numerous Kokopellis inside and outside his Lakewood home.

Next to the Kokopelli is a 10-foot painted yellow sun.

Wimmer came up with the roof art idea in July, 2009 when he and his wife were looking on Google earth for a building in another part of the country.

"I said why don't they put something on the roof to identify the building and make it a little easier to find? Then I thought, wait a minute, not a lot of people put things on their roof that's a character or their name or anything else, so that's where the Kokopelli idea came from," said Wimmer.

Google Earth doesn't have it yet. Neither do the other mainstream internet maps with a satellite view. Roger and his neighbors check every month or so for a map update. "Google doesn't have it, but the Teraserver satellite did capture a photograph but the image isn't very good," he said.

The image is not very clear from directly above on the Teraserver, but in oblique mode, the image of the Kokopelli is very clear.

"I just like the Kokopelli character. It's a fun-looking character playing the flute. I thought that if I put something up there I didn't want to offend anyone or put some kind of words or phrases. And the Kokopelli is southwestern, and it's just a universally liked character so that's why I put it up there. Plus we have Kokopellis all over the house and in the yard, I just didn't have a 40-foot one now we do," said Wimmer.

Wimmer's house was built in 1960 and the roof has always been plain. The roof is different than typical suburban houses. It is made of a special material, polyurethane foam, and the slope is not steep. It needs very little maintenance, except for the occasional repainting job which made the art easy to paint on.

Wimmer's youngest son first drew the image freehand on the roof with a marker and then painted the area. "It took about 3 or 4 hours to draw it on and to paint it the first time. They have already repainted it once and that took a few hours," he said.

Wimmer said his sons charged him to paint the Kokopelli and the sun on the roof. "It cost a few hundred dollars to pay for the labor and the paint."

One of the best views of the roof art is from neighbor Vanda Howell's outdoor deck.

"I like it. I've gotten used to it now. Its fun art and it's a different and a nice conversation piece. Most people can't see it from the street level so this is kind of nice to have a private viewing session," said Howell.

"For the people who know me well they really weren't surprised. They thought he is just constantly amusing himself and this is just another example," said Wimmer.

"My first reaction was, it's Roger. I didn't know what it was until I asked Roger what it was. I come from an art background so I like all kinds of art, so it is fine," said Howell.

When Wimmer told his wife about his plan to paint the Kokopelli he was pleased with her reaction. "She didn't roll her the eyes. She knows me well enough. It's just one of those things where I amuse myself."

Several companies have asked permission to paint their name inside the 10-foot sun. Roger turned them down, opting to keep it generic and just have the sun and Kokopelli there. "I plan to leave it there. I don't see any reason to take it down. When I go to Google earth some day I can say there is a Kokopelli on my roof," he said.

Wimmer has not asked Google to take a look, instead deciding to wait for the automatic satellite updates to happen. From what he estimates, the Google update should happen any time, and he is ready.