Alaskan artist-JoAnn Lesh

Being talented in many ways seems to be a necessity in the Alaskan population.  DIY was pretty much the only way to get things done in the fairly recent past, and so Alaskans have developed many areas of expertise.  JoAnn Lesh is an example of one of these hardy souls.  She is a community organizer, a Mom, an innkeeper, a gardener, a party planner, and most recently a really talented water color artist.

There are examples of two of her teacher's work hung throughout the many rooms of the Inn, but my favorites are the innkeeper's work.  Lively, colorful and expressive, they all reflect the joy that JoAnn so clearly feels when she paints.

I would imagine the slower pace of winter after the summer season of gardening, inn keeping and hostessing would be the only time she can find to express her creativity through artwork.  And express it she does!

King crab...good for eating and painting!

Glacier Bay-mixed media (if you look closely you will see that she has added dimensional white paint, which creates abstract shapes.  Brilliant!

Flowers in the garden

Flowers in the house

Poppies

More poppies

If they had been for sale, I would have bought one of them.  The only problem would have been to decide which one!  However, perhaps when I return to Gustavus, she will have enough on the walls of the Inn and will be willing to part with one. Have I mentioned that poppies are my favorite flower?

And return to Gustavus and its well-run Inn is something I am definitely hoping to do...after laboriously losing the weight I have gained over this week of gourmet (on the part of the Inn staff) and gourmand (that would be me) dining at breakfast (sourdough pancakes with spruce tip syrup and homemade granola, lunch (wonderful homemade soups, halibut burgers, and salads, and always those tummy enlarging fresh sourdough rolls) and dinner (fresh fish of all kinds, caught that day, vegetables grown in their gardens and luscious desserts).  Come back and visit for a few of the Gustavus Inn recipes which Dave so generously shared with me.  The Gustavus Inn won the prestigious James Beard award in 2010.