The First Altered Print

Some pieces have a story before they even reach your hands.

At first glance, it was a simple print— Some deer standing peacefully near the water, framed in a warm, wood that had seen better days. The stillness of the scene begged me to find the hidden mystery among the trees and bring it out to be seen. A print that shows what most may never experience and only very few have seen once in their lifetime. It just felt that something was missing and that was the mysteries of the mountainous woods.

This print has another like it and naturally I brought them both home, eager to begin its transformation. The first step was restoring the frame . I carefully sanded away the wear and smoothing the surface to make way for a new identity. As I applied coat after coat of rich ebony stain, I let my imagination wander. Thats when I knew what the piece truly needed— a cryptid visitor hidden within the wilderness watching its prey.

While waiting for the stain to dry, I picked up my brush and began painting, stroke by stroke, Sasquatch emerged from the trees, his towering figure blending himself or at least trying to, so quiet the deer hardly noticing. His presence felt natural as if he had always been a part of the scene, watching, waiting, — just as the legends say. Much of my inspiration comes from my own small obsession with cryptids myself listening to podcasts like “Wild & Weird” or the “Sasquatch Chronicles” or reading cryptid books on a rainy day imagining what it would be like to experience what others had or be able to even try to capture what they might have seen.

By the time the final coat of the stain dried the frame was complete, so was the wild and wonderful cryptid itself. What started as a plain slightly worn wood frame is now a part of the one-of-a-kind duo you see available on my site now.