2006 Christmas Card

This was my second Christmas Card and the first in color. At this point I'd been living in Milwaukee for 12 years, the longest I'd lived anywhere, so it had really become home.

This is a view of the skyline from over Lake Michigan, based on a painting I had done. The gaslight building has a giant artificial flame on top that lights up differently depending on the temperature and weather conditions. Because of that, it kind of looks like a candle from afar. I decided to color the buildings to look like candles in an Advent wreath. The tallest building, the US Bank building is really white. You also see the distinctive Hoan bridge and the one-of-a-kind Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum in their actual colors. The "greens" are the waves on Lake Michigan which, unfortunately, sometimes actually look green.

I thought I better reinforce the concept by putting another, more traditional, Advent wreath inside. Still most people never saw what I was trying to convey on the outside.