media: Oil Painting on Handmade Paper

Final Mask This mask is the Tlingit Shaman Mask. It is a way of living that they follow and I believe in up to a point. I wanted to see if I could get it to have the depth and feeling that the mask I used for an example.   Summer Fireweed The first summer I was at the gallery I was painting fireweed in my sleep trying to keep all originals. I asked David and he suggested we take the best one and make prints. That way I could keep up with the sales. I have painted fireweed so many times just trying to perfect the likeness.				I have this belief, that each original piece of art that I do belongs to a person, and someway, somehow, they will have it.
Talking with Paula... Can you share any tips or techniques?
I don't sketch; I take a flower, picture or real, visually take it apart, then paint it back together. I use a paint thinner to make it look like watercolor, which gives them that delicate feel; and using a white background gives me the option of using them for my cards. When I use the red cedar bark handmade paper or the colored papers, sometimes it works for the cards, other times it doesn't. I have worked on fireweed, iris, lupine, and forget-me-nots - flowers for the tourists, in bloom when the tourists are here. They like to take a bit of Juneau home with them. The other flowers are for me. Primroses for the Primrose Society Poster; the blueberries were done for a lady that loves blueberries, and, the Eaglecrest Blueberry Festival Poster (for three years).		I am also one of those starving artists that spends more to sell my art than I make, but it makes me happy, and my art makes a lot of people happy that buy it. I started out in Juneau doing craft shows and sort of saturated the market for locals and decided to go with the gallery. Working at the gallery is great for me because I get to meet the people that buy my art and you would not believe the things that happen after they go home. I got a bouquet of roses from a couple in California, I get emails from a lot of my clients and I love it. If I could afford to give my art to people that love it and can't afford it, I would. I have done that, but I have a guardian angel, my adopted Alaskan daughter, that keeps me from giving it all away.				I have sold art all over the world and my brother thinks I am the best. I wish I had started selling 20 years ago, but I didn't know how to paint then. For the rest of my days I'll paint and enjoy it. I have this belief, that each original piece of art that I do belongs to a person and, somehow, they will have it. If it sits for a while, I know that person hasn't been by yet. Do you make your own paper? Sometimes I buy it locally from another artist. When I go to Boston and New York to visit family I go to paper specialty shops in SoHo and Brookline.

Red Salmon

Blueberries 2005 Poster for the Blueberry Festival at Eaglecrest What was the most difficult thing you ever painted? Iris and I still don't have them the way I want them. On Golden Pond Do you work on painting a specific amount of time or just when you feel like it? I have very little time to paint, so I paint while preparing dinner, on the weekend and whenever I can. I do my shopping during the week so I don't have to leave the house over the weekend. That is, unless I have a craft show. I do my best painting late at night, but during the week I can't stay up all night and paint and go to work the next day. Have to be alert when you work for the State. Blackberries		Yellow Columbine This is another one that I wanted to do on black because I wanted to see how the Naples Yellow would look with it. The original will be my sister's one day.
		I guess my inspiration comes from the challenge of what will work with what kind of paper or surface and colors. Also, challenging myself to see if I can paint something that is really special. I started painting on floor tiles, like 12x12 and 9x18 and that is fun because you can create something that will last a long time in doors or out doors depending if you seal it properly. My friend is an avid gardener and I was always going to her garden and taking pictures of her flowers; coming home and painting them on tiles. Messed up a lot of brushes, but the tiles sell really well, so they paid for the brushes. You can take a tile and depending on how it was made and make mountains, crevasse, or just about anything from the design in it. The same with wood, if you work with the wood grains. • Alaskan Bear Dreams I painted this one a while back, decided to take it to the gallery and had so many people ask about it so I had prints made. It has been one of my best sellers. I wanted to see if I could paint a bear and this is what came out of a few tries. It was in a box for about five years. Everyone like it for the eyes and nose.took two other paintings and inlaid the transparent fish and blueberries to give it that Alaskan look. This will be new this year at the gallery.
On Moonlight Bay

	Paula M. Wright lives in the Mendenhall Valley with her husband and three yorkies (her dogs are all under 4 pounds). She lived most her life in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, and painted wild flowers, fish, and animals from these areas. Paula has made her home in Alaska for the past ten years.
You can see more of Paula's work at Juneau Artist's Gallery and www.ArtofAlaskans.com