This painting is from a sketch I created years ago while sitting at my old Alaskan cabin looking across at what we used to call Eagle Island, but now that it is actually my own little Island, I have appropriately dubbed it MAD Island!  So crazy how I used to daydream about having a little artist studio out on that island, and I can finally start to make that dream a reality.  If we dream it, we can make it happen. 

​I will be creating a beautifully eclectic artists haven with colorful little cabins and whale watching posts throughout the island with lots of little artistic details using reclaimed beach drift and whatever other little goodies I can find washed up on the neighboring shores.  I'm going to try and create all of the structures with as much repurposed and upcycled products as I can find, get access too.  Which isn't an easy feat as the only way to get to Meyers Chuck, AK is to get a floatplane to take me there or no someone with a boat.  Luckily my brothers all have boats of some sort or another so I will have to pester them to help me out, haha!

I will be going up there this summer for a couple of weeks just to soak in the peace and quiet and get a few little out buildings up so that the next time I go I can get to work on the main cabin and have a place of my own to stay.  Can't wait!

In Keeping with my efforts to minimize my carbon footstep and live a more environmentally/sustainable lifestyle I've started using Canson recyclyed Bristol Paper, which is what this painting was created on.  And as always, A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this original painting will be donated to ReWild, a conservation organization I have collaborated with, and contribute to, to help “conserve the diversity of life on Earth".

Last year I started created my MAD Doodles and they were exclusively created on 11"x14"Bristol Paper with Sharpie pens.  Most of them were black and white, with a few colors mixed in every now and then.  A few weeks ago, it struck me, why not try and do my doodles as paintings?!  Duh, haha! So, I created the first two doodles on 19"x24" recycled bristol paper and LOVED the way they turned out.  But, then I got to thinking how it would be even cooler to create them on 16"x20" stretched canvas with the sides painted the same as the underlay background, and so my new MAD Doodles have evolved into what I am creating now.  ​

​I usually paint them in the morning to get the creative juices flowing.  They are fun, graffiti style PoP Art paintings that just allow me to go with the flow.  They are also a practice in color combinations and design elements that I use in all of my other artwork.

Both black and white sketches, and the paintings, are available for purchase HERE.

Check out my YouTube video painting one of my MAD Doodles!