I have always loved and respected Bronislaus Janulis' artwork. The things that I loved and was inspired by is the surrealism in his work with a little traditional landscaping as well. But the title is what really drove everything else home, Family Icon Illinois Landscape. I do a lot of work based on things that have an emotional comfort level or an emotional attachment. So I look at the three Legged chair and I can only assume that this is the family icon and it sends my imagination running. Is this a family heirloom that people passed around as a joke or is it symbolic? I chose to do a piece using ephemeral items from my life and things that I have collected. He does a lot of things with landscapes and things like that so i used a lot of natural twigs and I used a piece of paneling that was salvaged from my husband's family business as the base of it. The one thing about Bron's work is that he hand makes his own frames. His frame have very lovely detail and his initials are skillfully carved in.

So I chose to incorporate a frame door to keep with the diptych idea he's got in his piece and I did some wood burning as opposed to carving. My piece is called a Journey of a Souvenir. it's kind of going on that idea of traveling and things that are close to you and your heart, and still kind of containing some feelings of family.