It all begins with an idea

I was approached by a couple who had an idea. Kelly and Rhys had seen my work at a local brewery, Lat65, where I have my art on the wall. They had been searching for a local Alaskan artist to paint on an old pair of skis they had purchased. I was a bit worried. I had never painted on skis. They had told me a few artists had turned them down, not wanting to paint on them, but I was up for the challenge and excited about this project. We met and went through some ideas I had and some of my work, and we sketched up a design.

Original 1960’s Wooden Skis

The first step was to prep the skis for painting, and I had to sand off the varnish and stickers and then tape all the edges.

Kelly and Rhys picked out three different designs. An autumn painting of the interior of Alaska, my textured birch, and the Aurora dancing across the Alaskan ski.

First, I began with the Autumn painting. When doing a landscape, you always start from back to front.

Next I went to the other end of the skis and painted the Aurora dancing across the skis

The final painting was the textured birch. The skis were old, and I didn’t want to remove the binding afraid that if I did, the screws would be ruined, and I couldn’t get them back on, so I taped over the bindings. To get the extreme texture, I use a Golden Light Molding Paste. I love doing this and getting the experience of sculpting and painting simultaneously.

After applying the paste, it must dry for about 24 hours before painting.

The finished product turned out fantastic. The best part about being an artist is the joy you bring to others who love your art. What an honor to be asked to have my art hung in someone’s home.

Kelly and Rhys loved it and will now have a piece of original Alaskan art they can take with them where ever they are stationed.

I just love seeing an idea come to such a beautiful end.