Lake Rianhard Celebration

Original acrylic painting on gallery wrapped canvas is 24x30 inches and wired to hang.

The Disney brand capitalizes on fantasy, entertainment, nostalgia, and utopian ideals. In the 1990s Disney went about planning out and building a community that capitalizes on that branding. Celebration is a small town near Disney World in Florida. Houses have porches, streets are lined with trees, and you can easily get around by bike or golf cart.

I like to focus on beauty, reflecting on our desire for wholeness. Celebration easily gives a feast for the eyes. It’s the opposite of fast-paced city life, with rocking chairs by the lake and little shops to browse in.

We visited one afternoon at the end of the day. The clouds were beautiful and the light was turning things golden. Bikes had been left temporarily as owners were probably dining nearby at an outside cafe.

I confess painting the bikes gave me a hard time. My photograph had distorted the sizing. I considered erasing them all together, spent time tracing and reworking. After different attempts, I ended up totally repainting the teal bike. As much trouble as I had, I liked what they added to the painting, and will probably have the bikes appear in future works in this series. (You can rent bikes here too, I could pose one around town if I wanted.)