Sandpoint, ID artist Larry Blodgett tells you about himself and his work.

About the Artist

Anything is possible, if you have faith.

I remember telling my Mom when I was nine years old that I was going to be a wildlife artist.
At that time, there were ads in newspapers that had a drawing of a little deer character
called "Winky." You were supposed to send these people your drawing of Winky, and they
would let you know if you could be accepted at their art school. I sent in my drawing of
Winky, but I never heard back from the art school.
I didn't give up my dream of being an artist, though,
and later, I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

In the early 1990's, I lived in Moscow, Idaho, where I had been commissioned to do some
reproductions of C. M. Russell's paintings. In 1996, I moved up to Sandpoint, Idaho, where I work at Wal Mart and spend my free time painting and enjoying the beautiful area and abundance of wildlife. I do a lot of work with acrylics, but my favorite medium is egg tempera, because it is both flexible and demanding.

Part of my job at Wal Mart is to take incoming jewelry freight directly from the receiving area to the jewelry department. In 1997, a wonderful lady came to work in that department, and we became friends. She used to keep a Gary Larson calendar in the department, and we laughed at that and lots of other stuff, every day.
One time, I told her that I had always thought it would be fun to have a pet lobster and name him Claude and walk him around town on a leash. For my birthday that year, she and her friend gave me a little Beanie Baby lobster, with its own leash!

Sometimes, if she was crabby, I'd draw a little sketch of a witch, just to make her laugh. I always liked
The Wizard of Oz! Sometimes she was Glenda, and sometimes I kept an eye out for flying monkeys! But we always laughed.

We talked a lot about art, too, and she asked me to do a painting of her dog, Emma. I said that I really don't like to do pet paintings, because they never look exactly like the pet and then people are disappointed. She was sure she would love my painting of Emma, and after Emma died, I agreed to do the painting, but I was still reluctant, and uninspired. Every few weeks she would ask about it, and I always had an excuse. Finally, I told her she would probably have to nag pretty consistently if she ever hoped to get her painting.

I guess she didn't want to be Nagatha, a bad witch,
so she found another way. A $3.00 toy lobster from
the clearance aisle. She named her Claudette, and
promised me that Claudette would meet with some
peril or other every single week until the painting of
Emma was finished. And the next Friday, a picture
was delivered, showing poor Claudette being put into
a pot on the stove! Claudette is the reason there are
little lobsters hidden in some of my paintings.

Many months went by, and Claudette traveled the country, endangered on every adventure. In December, the painting of Emma was finally finished! Check out the "Other Works" page and see if you think the painting looks like Emma!

After my friend Betsy left the jewelry department, and Wal Mart, she built my first website for me. This is the second one, a replacement. Thanks, Betsy.

As I said, anything is possible when you have faith. I'm a Christian, and I believe in the Spiritual Light, which inspires all my artwork. I hope that each work relays the joy, peace, and hope of my faith. Here's a picture of me, at Sandpoint Digital in Ponderay, signing the first print of "The Guardian," which I gave to my Mom for Christmas in 2006. Thanks, Mom, for believing in me.