My goal is to Blog once a month. I am really down to the wire on September. It’s been a busy month!!

 

Lots of last-minute impromptu projects and.... I always say yes. Why not? Life is short… 

 

The first project has been super fun with a collaboration with Big Ray's, a local sporting goods business in Alaska. They are celebrating their 75th anniversary on October 1, so they approached me and in collaboration with Xtratuf boot company commissioned me to paint a set of boots for each of their three locations in Alaska. I have created fishing/boating boots for kodiak, northern lights/sleddog mushing for Fairbanks, and flowers and moose for Anchorage. It was kind of intimidating because painting on rubber oily boots is not a great base. There’s no "how to" on this. I contacted the Xtratuf boots company, I contacted the acrylic paint company, and did a ton of research. Eventually I figured it out enough (via YouTube and the Internet) to paint the boots and they are beautiful.

But the caveat is these boots cannot be worn they are for display only!

 

They are so stinking cute, if I say so myself…

 

And then I was asked to paint a pair as a donation for the Alaskan Boys & Girls club auction (also on October 1.) I have been affiliated with this group as a board member and now as a trustee since the 90's. They are a wonderful agency keeping kids safe in Alaska. 

 

Their theme is Blue Hawaii, so I created a super cool underwater theme with a turtle and a seahorse and lots of colorful fish.

Another beautiful pair of boots that are for display only!

 

In July I was approached by a friend of mine, Margaret Griffo, an Alaskan Police and Fire Chaplain. She works with service dogs that show up in emergency and crisis situations. (She took two of her dogs to Uvalde this summer.).  She asked me to create a logo for her service dog and I painted it with lots of forget-me-nots.  This depicts all those who we will never forget.

 

We discussed creating a coloring book and it somehow morphed into a story of her dog Halo and his heroics. We received a grant from the city of Anchorage and have recently submitted another grant to the Rasmuson foundation to fund these books. Grant writing is not easy, nor fun. But hopefully we will receive both grants and continue on with our project. We are both donating our time and the only cost will be the production of “Halo Hugs Alaskan Heroes” coloring books that will be distributed free. We are offering them to all Alaskan First Responders in all situations. Stay tuned…we plan on this becoming a series. 

 

Personally… our Alaskan summer has been very wet. The wettest three months on record, I believe. It’s just been gloomy. This was good for work production but not so good for state of mind. John and I leave next week for Mozambique. Just to make life interesting I came down with Covid on Monday. (This is the first time I have had Covid and John has not had it).

So we are isolating, and counting the days down to our trip. I don’t feel that bad. It just feels like a bad cold. Knock on wood.

 

When we return from vacation let the games begin… November rolls right into the non-stop holiday season. I am booked for quite a few shows this year and several new ones that I’ve never done before. 

 

And I am also working on some fun commissions. A good friend that lives in Florida has me painting pelicans which are super cute and my Wendy’s franchise owners are opening a new Wendy’s in Muldoon. So I am creating another set of paintings depicting that area of town.  I love that I get to add to my "Hometown" painting collection via my collaboration with Wendys!

 

I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and happy and I hope to see you in person at an upcoming event.

Please feel free to share.