How Artist Madeline Douglass helped me give a special gift
About a year ago, I started looking for ideas for a special gift for Christy. There was a significant wedding anniversary coming up and I knew I wanted to give her something special. So I started to brainstorm ideas. I knew this wasn’t something I could throw together at the last minute.
One of the off-the-wall ideas I brainstormed was to paint her a picture. That would be pretty cool, right? From Buffalo Mountain to the Blue Ridge Mountains to Point Loma to the mountains of Ethiopia, our story has had its share of breathtaking views. It would be amazing to paint a picture of a significant location in our love story.
Of course, the problem is that I don’t know how to paint. I could probably fake something that might have some slight resemblance of a sunset. But nothing like I was imagining.
I quickly abandoned the idea. It was just too impossible to pull together – even more than a year to go. Too bad, I thought. I’ll do something like that someday.
A random social media encounter
A month or so later, I was still trying to come up with something. No dice. Then I saw a social media post from someone I knew from back when we lived in Muncie. I knew she had graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design, but I had kind of lost track of what had been up to. Her post grabbed my attention.
Ooh, I thought to myself. Her pet portraits are pretty adorable. I wonder if she does landscapes? Or is that too much of a stretch to go from animals to landscapes? I have no training in the visual arts. I have no idea.
Portraits of our dogs would be great, but probably not the best anniversary gift, right? That’s another gift for another time, I suppose. So I visited the online art gallery of Madeline Douglass.
Stunning.
I wonder if she does commissions?
So I reached out. It turns out, she does do commissions – and landscape commissions, at that!
Madeline Douglass was so easy to work with
Madeline walked me through the process and we discussed pricing, timing, and the like. I sent her these photos of some iconic views from Milligan College University that included Buffalo Mountain and Seeger Chapel. That’s where Christy and I met. That’s where we fell in love. It only made sense. Right?
All I asked was that it be some type of sunset with a silhouette of Buffalo Mountain and it should include the Celtic cross that sits atop Seeger Chapel.
Then I let her get to work.
Madeline was quite professional during the whole process. She checked in with me several times and even gave me a few sneak peeks throughout the process.
She completed the painting long before the deadline and I was able to surprise Christy with this painting:
Isn’t it amazing?
It turned out better than I could have ever imagined. Madeline did an amazing job. I’m so happy I came across her Facebook post when I did.
Looking for the perfect unique gift? I highly recommend Madeline Douglass
Madeline’s work is amazing. I highly recommend her to anyone who wants to give a special, memorable gift. You can reach out to her via Facebook and Instagram.
Go ahead and tell her I sent you.
Hopefully she doesn’t charge you double for knowing me.
I kid. I kid.
(mostly)
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