A Detour Through Creativity -Every Friday!

I've decided to try something new to make this blog more fun for you to read and more fun for me to write. I've decided to dedicate Fridays to my art; not just the marketing of it, but the creating of it. Each Friday, starting today, I'll talk about a different painting. Some new, some old, some for sale, some sold.

 

  This painting, "Marquette Dreams" is what I did for the Upper Peninsula Children's Museum when they hosted their annual Celebrity Auction. One of the gimmicks of the Auction is that most of the 'artists' are not artists at all. They're simply prominent or well known people from the community like politicians, radio hosts, musicians, sports figures, etc. These people are asked to step out of their comfort zones and push themselves in a way that they aren't used to. 

  I'm not a  politician, radio host, musician, or sports figure. I'm an artist. I actually felt that I might NOT fit into THIS art auction! So I did what everyone else had to do: I pushed myself in an unusual way and did something I wasn't used to.

   "Marquette Dreams" is a landscape painting of a well known Marquette, MI landmark. What's so unusual about that? I paint landscapes all the time! Well, this landscape has hidden treasures in it!

The worn and rounded sandstones have images 'etched' into them of Marquette's two most prominent examples of sandstone architecture.The stone just below the gull displays St.Peter's Cathedral in Marquette. Also notice the root of the tree behind the bird becomes a staircase.

 Can you see the Marquette County Courthouse in the stone next to the grass?  Notice I separated church and state!

The rock is in the shape of a great, slumbering dragon, outlined in orange. Fitting, since the actual outcrop is ancient lava rock from a long extinct volcano.

Is the lighthouse perched on the rock, or is it hanging from the tree branch, like a bird house? Are you sure?

There are four faces in the tree branches. Can you see them? They're four of Marquette's early historical figures. In the upper left corner is Chief Charlie Kabawgam. To the right is his friend, Peter White. Below Mr. White is one of Marquette's founders, Amos Harlow. Too the left of Mr. Harlow is Bishop Baraga. 

  

"Marquette Dreams" was a big hit! It was fun to watch people walk by and look at it, then look closer, then stand back, then suddenly realize that "there's things in it" as the eventual buyer put it. 
   Still, I was nervous about the auction. Would anybody want this painting? It was fun to look at, but would anyone buy it? My worries were alleviated when the bidding opened at $250. That was a little higher than retail at the time. 
    I watched as the bids went up to $500. Then $750. $900!! After the heated bidding, this painting sold for $1000! I was stunned and pleased. I'm thrilled that I got to help the museum, and I'm very happy with the bragging rights!