Ocho! Here we go… oh!

When I was 18 years old, I took a plane ride for the first time in my life. Yes, I know, it wasn’t even until after I graduated high school… but, really, I had never taken a real, far away vacation like that before. So, for my “graduation gift” from my brother, sister in law, and first niece (who was just 1 year old at the time!), we took a trip to Alaska!

It was, honestly, the best vacation experience of my life, and really the only travel experience I’ve ever had, still to this day (though only a few years later). I was really thankful to get to go and see such a beautiful place… and I took a lot of pictures while I was there!

This painting, based on a picture I, myself, did take while in Denali National Park, Alaska, is probably the most breath-taking view I got when I was there!

The mountain featured in this piece is the peaks of Mt. Denali itself, a.k.a the tallest mountain in North America! I titled it “The Great One”, too, because that’s actually what Denali means in the native language of the Alaskas who named it.

We took a bus tour into the park preservation, and this picture was taken at the farthest point that the buses would go. Our guide told us that you could actually venture further into the park and even stay at a cabin in there… but they only rent that out to photographers and artists! So, maybe next time I go… right?

But, our guide also told us that the last guy that stayed out there got mauled by a bear after getting too close to it for a picture. So… maybe not, actually… 

We actually got to see a wild brown bear while on the bus, too. It walked, literally, 3 feet out from the buses, on the side of the road, eating grass and just minding itself. That was one of my “wow” moments of Alaska… although there were so many others, too!

Oh, I could talk about my Alaska trip for days…

But, this painting is also a little bit different from my others because, instead of regular ol’ canvas, I painted it on a wood panel!

This was my first time working with wood, and I found it just a little bit harder to use than canvas. Mostly just because my brushes kept sticking to the panel; they didn’t want to glide over the big areas so easily. It did, though, hold the smaller details a tad bit better.

I also love the way the edges look with the colors in this specific piece!

This painting is for sale on my Etsy site! It’s also on sale, too, for 20% off!

And, don’t forget, you can get 15% off everything else not on sale from my site with coupon code BLOG15!

Lastly… I just have to say it. I think the tip of the mountain looks like a toasted marshmallow. 

Let me know what you think, too!

–Kari