MONROE - Racine-based artist Sharon Christensen is paying tribute to the land where she grew up with a poster of Green County she watercolored this year.
The poster depicts a map of Green County - including iconic landmarks such as the historic Courthouse and the Chalet Cheese Co-op - and is now for sale. She will be selling the posters at Turner Hall during Cheese Days.
Christensen, a 1993 graduate of Monroe High School, grew up 7 miles west of Monroe on a dairy farm. She teaches art at an elementary school in Racine now, but returns to her parents' home in Browntown frequently.
In high school, she took classes from art teacher Walter Pawlowski. She went on to get a degree in art at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Making a poster that celebrates the cultural traditions of Green County is a project she's thought over for a long time.
"I've always wanted to do some kind of map project," she said.
She finally got to work on it in February, sketching the landscape scene in pencil, then outlining it with a very fine black marker. Her final step was to paint over the outline with watercolors.
"I put more work into this than anything I've ever done. I'm guessing about 100 hours. I drew everything pretty much freehand," she said.
In a statement printed on the back of the poster, she writes:
"I wanted to create this poster to celebrate the many things that make Green County such a special place, not the least of which being the lush and rolling farm fields punctuated by the iconic red and white barns that symbolize the traditional family farm.
"I feel so fortunate to have grown up on one of those farms in the Jordan township in the northwest corner of the county. Now that I live in a city, I realize more than ever how blessed I am to have a country home to which I can escape, and where I can get 'back to the land.'"
Even the tiny Jordan Lutheran Church near her childhoood home is represented in the painting.
Posters are $20 and available at various locations around Monroe, including the Historic Cheesemaking Center and the Courthouse Cheese Days Store. For more information, search for "Sharon Christensen Watercolors" on Facebook or email her at greenstar10@hotmail.com.
- Katjusa Cisar
The poster depicts a map of Green County - including iconic landmarks such as the historic Courthouse and the Chalet Cheese Co-op - and is now for sale. She will be selling the posters at Turner Hall during Cheese Days.
Christensen, a 1993 graduate of Monroe High School, grew up 7 miles west of Monroe on a dairy farm. She teaches art at an elementary school in Racine now, but returns to her parents' home in Browntown frequently.
In high school, she took classes from art teacher Walter Pawlowski. She went on to get a degree in art at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Making a poster that celebrates the cultural traditions of Green County is a project she's thought over for a long time.
"I've always wanted to do some kind of map project," she said.
She finally got to work on it in February, sketching the landscape scene in pencil, then outlining it with a very fine black marker. Her final step was to paint over the outline with watercolors.
"I put more work into this than anything I've ever done. I'm guessing about 100 hours. I drew everything pretty much freehand," she said.
In a statement printed on the back of the poster, she writes:
"I wanted to create this poster to celebrate the many things that make Green County such a special place, not the least of which being the lush and rolling farm fields punctuated by the iconic red and white barns that symbolize the traditional family farm.
"I feel so fortunate to have grown up on one of those farms in the Jordan township in the northwest corner of the county. Now that I live in a city, I realize more than ever how blessed I am to have a country home to which I can escape, and where I can get 'back to the land.'"
Even the tiny Jordan Lutheran Church near her childhoood home is represented in the painting.
Posters are $20 and available at various locations around Monroe, including the Historic Cheesemaking Center and the Courthouse Cheese Days Store. For more information, search for "Sharon Christensen Watercolors" on Facebook or email her at greenstar10@hotmail.com.
- Katjusa Cisar