I really enjoy making BIG paintings, but I only get to make them every once in a while, because I have limited storage space. So, when I sell one, I get to make a new one. I’m talking about paintings that are at least 3 feet by 4 feet in size. They can take up a lot of space if you have more than five or six of them around. The biggest canvas I have painted is 12 feet by 6 feet, and it is hanging at a hospital in Bethel, AK. We recently donated a 5ft x 4ft oil painting called Spring Skiing to the Anchorage Museum, and it will be featured in the live auction at the Gala. I recently finished a new large piece of the same size called Denali Sunrise, and I already built a canvas for another large piece.
Delivering Spring Skiing to the Anchorage Museum. Prints are available at my Etsy shop.The new large oil painting, Denali Sunrise, 4ft x 5ft, oil on canvas. The original oil painting, and prints are available at my Etsy shop.
Artist are sometimes overwhelmed by a large canvas, but I have always liked the challenge. You don’t have to cram as much detail into the composition, and when you do, it makes the painting all the more powerful. Big paintings need big walls, and big rooms, so the viewer can step back and appreciate the whole thing. I love walking up to a painting from across the room and noticing that it has a ton of detail. It makes you realize how long it took to make. I was at a gallery in the Hermitage Museum and I looked closely at a historical piece a few years ago and realized I wasn’t putting enough detail into my artwork. That painting was just incredible, you could count the hairs on the mouse in the corner of it. After I saw those pieces, I had a moment of growth as an artist. I haven’t achieved the same level of detail as some of those Dutch old master pieces in the Hermitage collection. However, I have stepped it up a notch, and my style has changed over the years.
If you don’t have the budget for a large painting, as they cost more than small ones, I recommend you get out and look at some in public spaces. The Anchorage Museum has a great collection, and the Wells Fargo branch on C Street and Northern Lights Blvd has some really amazing Sydney Lawrence pieces hanging in the lobby.
My mother has always been an intrepid traveler, and her travel bucket list included Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Armenia and Georgia. None of these places were even on our radar, until my mom invited us to join her on a five-week trip to the Caucasus region, which refers to the area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Scott and I had our 20th wedding anniversary coming up, so we decided to celebrate it in Turkey, and then we met my mom in Armenia for the rest of the trip.
Turkey
My mom had gone to Turkey the previous year, so Scott and I were on our own. After doing some research about the country, I learned that Turkey is big, and the places I wanted to visit were long distances apart. I didn’t want to rent a car and drive for 7 hrs at a time, and I felt overwhelmed by the task of booking airfare within the country, all the hotels, transfers, excursions, etc. So, I Googled “Turkey tours” and found a tour that included Cappadocia, Antalya, Pamukkale, and Ephesus on toursturkey.com. After reading positive reviews on TripAdvisor, I contacted the tour company, and they took care of everything. We ended up traveling around the country by airplane, private car and van, and an inter-city bus. Turkey has tourism on lockdown! Everything worked like clockwork, exactly as stated in our itinerary.
We spent two days in Istanbul before our tour began, and visited all the most important sites, such as the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the spice market, a boat ride on the Bosphorus River, Topkapi Palace, Basilica Cistern and the Grand Bazaar. Jetlag was a real struggle. At 4am on the third day our driver met us in our hotel lobby and took us to the airport for our flight to Kayseri, and our tour around Turkey began. We saw caves, underground cities, spent a couple nights in a hotel room that looked like a cave, experienced a Turkish hammam, enjoyed a much-needed day on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea, saw the well-preserved ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus, and soaked in mineral hot springs. While we were relaxing at a hotel bar next to the pool one evening, the lounge singer randomly sang Wonderful Tonight, which was the song at our wedding for our first dance as husband and wife. Perfect song to hear on our 20th wedding anniversary trip!
CappadociaAntalyaEphesus
Then we flew on an Armenian airline to Yerevan, and met my mom there. Yerevan is the capital of Armenia, and is nicknamed the pink city, because many buildings are built from pink tuff bricks. We had a fantastic guide in Armenia who loves her country, and knows a lot of history. We visited ancient temples, and monasteries, tasted wine and cognac, rode the world’s longest aerial tramway, saw a cave where the oldest pair of shoes was discovered from 4,100BC, and went to a UEFA soccer game between Armenia and Croatia. I had to scalp tickets for it. Armenia was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity.
UEFA Soccer GameTemple of GarniMt. Ararat
We crossed the land border from Armenia into Georgia very easily and quickly, and arrived in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Tbilisi was built next to mineral hot springs, and is divided by the Kura River. We had a different guide and driver in Georgia. In Tbilisi we enjoyed Georgian cuisine, soaked in a hot springs banya, tried wine ice cream, and went to an amazing Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra concert. Then we left the city and drove to beautiful Lake Paravani and visited a small village on the lake that had a monastery with only seven nuns. The nuns earn money by making and selling artisan cheeses and chocolates. We saw several more monasteries and fortresses, and walked over a kilometer through Prometheus Cave, but the most impressive place in Georgia is the cave city of Vardzia, built by King Tamar to protect Georgia from invaders. Soldiers lived in the caves and when anyone tried to invade, they could never get past the surprise attacks from the soldiers at Vardzia. King Tamar was a woman whose father insisted that people call her King, not Queen. During her reign, Georgia enjoyed an era of prosperity.
TbilisiVardzia
We flew from Georgia to Azerbaijan, and on the drive to the hotel from the airport, we could tell that Azerbaijan had more wealth than Armenia and Georgia, mainly from all the oil. We spent a couple days exploring Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The city is beautiful! The architecture was inspired by European styles, and also incorporates Muslim elements. We saw a mountain that is literally on fire, because gas fumes from the ground have been burning there for 2,000 years. I also learned that the Nobel brothers made a lot of money from oil in Baku, and invented the oil pipeline there. We also saw the world’s first oil well in Baku. Then we left Baku and spent three days on the road, exploring little villages, vineyards, very old temples, and petroglyphs that are 34,000 years old.
Modern buildings in BakuYanar Dag Burning MountainWorld’s first oil well
We flew from Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan, and arrived to our hotel at 3am. The next day we had a city tour at 9am of Tashkent. After the city tour, we had a break for twenty minutes before the food tour began. The food was delicious in every country, but I really enjoyed the food in Uzbekistan. My favorite dish is called Samsa, which is a flaky dough pastry filled with lamb, beef, onions and spices, and baked in a clay tandoor oven. The main bazaar in Tashkent has been there since the 15th century, and we spent some time there browsing all the baked goods, spices, produce, and dairy products I had never known about. We were no longer on a tour in Uzbekistan — it ended in Azerbaijan, but my mom had booked an excursion for each day. We took the fast train to Samarkand, which used to be the capital, and saw incredible architecture there. Amir Temur was a great ruler in Uzbekistan and conquerer who successfully conquered countries on three different continents, and brought back architects, artists, animals, and many other things to Uzbekistan. Under his rule, many beautiful schools, mosques and palaces were built in the 1300s, which are still there today. The next day our excursion took us to the mountains where we visited two ski resorts. Uzbekistan is encouraging foreign investment by giving developers tax breaks, so several new ski resorts are being built by European companies.
RagistanShah-i-ZindaRagistan Light Show
On our way back home we flew through Istanbul, and had a layover overnight, so we booked a hotel on the Black Sea. My mom went on her own to Qatar. We were hoping for a beach day, but it was very windy and chilly, so we just went for a walk on the beach and relaxed in our hotel. Our flight to Amsterdam was delayed, and we missed our connecting flight, so we had to spend a night in Amsterdam. Luckily, the hotel had a nice spa, we enjoyed a tasty dinner and an incredible hotel breakfast. The last two flights home via Chicago were long and I vowed never again to fly to/from Europe when the direct flight from Anchorage over the North Pole is not available.
The Caucasus region is no longer a mysterious, unknown place to me. The countries we visited are vibrant, the people are friendly, the food is incredible, the scenery is beautiful and the history is interesting. We traveled a part of the Silk Road, and visited places where civilization began. I’m grateful to my mom for encouraging us to travel to places that most American tourists don’t visit, but after going there, I can highly recommend these destinations.
Real Art Is Better! 