July 23. Happy birthday to me!!!

Always so fun to celebrate my July birthday and this one is a BIGGIE!!!!

This Summer has been elusive and very dreary, cloudy, windy and cold…

But since I am still re-habbing my knee replacement, I am using this time to get caught up on commissions.

My atrium is a beautiful place to paint, but when it is sunny, it is just too hot. So this cloudy weather has been very conducive to painting.

My latest Wendy’s franchise commission features Wasilla. I didn’t realize how many wonderful things originated in Wasilla: the Alaska railroad, gold mining, colonial farming, home of the Iditarod, and all surrounded by Wasilla and Lucille Lakes. Stay tuned for updates on this painting. The easy part is research. The hard part is determining what is going to go into the actual painting. Is it going to be a lot of very small images or larger focal images with smaller accents? and it’s important to not forget iconic images and businesses and to depict them accurately.   It’s like creating a puzzle.

I was also commissioned by a local pizza shop to create an iconic image of their downtown location. This is turning out to be a lot of fun. I took a video on-site of their pizza maker, tossing the dough in the air. Hopefully I can capture that image of movement on my painting. It will definitely be a challenge, but I’m looking forward to it.

A friend of mine wants me to create a painting of sleeping lady to remember her husband. This is a painting of love, and is very special to my heart.

Slowly but surely, my garden is coming along. I have sunflowers that are reaching about 8 inches tall. No buds yet, but I am optimistic.

As a birthday present from me to you, I am offering a buy one get one free on some of my large paper prints.

These are approximately 16“ x 24“ and are $75 each. I have quite the assortment so if you are interested just text me at 907-433-9211.

Happy Summer!