In the news...

     This is a banner that I created for the City of Plymouth in 2007 which was featured this month in the newspaper"Plymouth News", of January/February of 2009. This banner was the 2nd place winner in their 1st annual "Plymouth Art Banner Contest". The banners are hung each year in the fall along Plymouth Blvd. in the City Center area of town.

     The piece titled, the"Yellow Sapling" represents the new trees the city has planted in the last years in the area to help preserve the beauty of our town. My intent for this piece of art was to show the serenity of nature. Plymouth has a lot of beautiful parks, gardens and nature areas throughout town for the public to enjoy.

Alicia paints a house in sub-zero temps!

     I was commissioned to paint this house-portrait in Dec. '08, for a family moving to California. Although the original photo had no snow on the ground, I added plenty of it to give the house a cozy, "winter-in-Minnesota" feel. 

     Will the family look back upon their Minnesota-winters with a chuckle or with a sense of longing for hours of playing in snow forts and sledding down icy slopes? Winters are long in Minnesota but a long day of playing in the snow is always rewarded with a delicious cup of hot chocolate.

     If you would like to commemorate your abode, please email me at: www.alicia@aliciaschwab-online.com.

Who lives here?

     Here is a photo I took while hiking in the woods. My childhood home is nestled in a forest in southern Wisconsin. I grew up studying the trees. While other children made pictures from the cloud-formations, I spent my time looking up through where the knotty-twisted branches overlap, and visualized animals and shapes in the negative spaces between them.

     The light in a forest is very beautiful. The abundance of leaves in the canopy filters out the scorching hot rays of the summer sun and you are left with a million hues of green . In the cold seasons the branches hush the wind - sheltering our drafty house from the sting of the winter.
     Here is a fantastic tree that I discovered on our hike. You can almost see a secret door in the base of the tree. Who lives here? The possibilities are endless, I'll leave it up for you to decide. -Alicia Schwab (photo by Alicia Schwab, copyright 2008)

Rough & Tumble Boys

This is part of a painting of some boys playing on a rather simple piece of playground equipment in the 30's. I was inspired to study the human form as it spins around the pole. I do not normally paint people upside down, so it was both challeging and interesting.

Sword Fight

I recently got into a sword-fight with a pineapple.
It was dicey at times but I held my own.
Eventually, I was able to conquer my opponent.
Purée! I won!