Stanwood A five-year resident of Merrill Gardens at Stanwood, artist Laura Christianson has received the honor of having her artwork featured on Merrill Gardens corporate holiday greeting cards.
Her painting of a homey holly-trimmed fireplace with red Christmas stockings will appear on thousands of cards to be mailed by Merrill Gardens Retirement Communities in Marysville, Monroe, Mill Creek, Queen Anne, Admiral Heights, Bellingham, Northgate, Olympia, West Seattle as well as Stanwood. Along with the prestige of having her artwork selected, Christianson will receive a monetary gift of $100.
Laura began painting at the age of 70 when she lived in King City, Ore. She met an energetic mentor there who promised Christianson that anyone could learn to paint.
I started with monochromatic landscapes, Christianson said, then I branched into colors.
Christianson especially likes to portray trees in oil and is inspired by Henry David Thoreau who once said he would walk many miles to keep an appointment with a birch tree.
I love to paint things I remember, she said. She recently sold a painting of a surveyor on her family farm.
Her apartment is filled with wonderful memories on canvas and her work has been featured at many resident art shows at Stanwoods Merrill Gardens
When shes not painting, Chrisitanson enjoys dolls, books and poetry.
Especially poetry, she said.
Merrill Gardens, LLC corporate offices are located in Seattle, Washington.
For further information go on the Web at www.merrillgardens.com.