Thanks for All The Fish

This commission was the most fun commission to paint because it was created for my high school English teacher who everyone thought was the coolest teacher ever. She is a very down-to-Earth, jazzy sort of person, which made it easy to learn from her - in my opinion. She retired this year and so when my cousin, the janitor of the school, came to me with the commission, of course I said yes. The rest of the teachers got together and submitted some ideas for the painting, which were right up my ally. All three buildings are icons of my hometown. The red one is the water tower, the blue one is my high school (the library wing), and the purple one was the grain elevator - sadly demolished a few years ago. All three buildings caught "fish" so to speak. The town flourished beginning with the water tower and grain elevator creating enough population for the school. The school represents a school of fish - the school in which my English teacher taught for so many dedicated years gathering us fish to grow and learn together. So the name of the painting, "Thanks For All The Fish", is somewhat of a nostalgic representation of the town.

Interestingly, when the picture of the prototype (the left hand picture) was revealed for the potential candidate for the final painting, one of my elementary teachers liked it so much that she bought the prototype off of me too! That's never happened to me before....And I just got word that Margi Corbet, my high school English teacher, had tears in her eyes after opening her fairwell gift. That is the best compliment and artist can get. Thanks, Margi!