Inspired by life

The decay of old metal and concrete from bridges, signs and cars help inspire Judy Minter in the creation of multicolored textures on walls and canvas.

The artwork placed around her two-story Rathdrum home is evidence of this inspiration. Canvas paintings adorn the walls, demonstrating the faux painting she specializes in — a painting technique that creates the appearance and feel of wood, marble or stone on any surface.

One painting in particular, her latest, sits on her easel on the second story landing she uses as her workspace. The work illustrates a textured faux background of a copper patina, with a chicken focused in the bottom half of the painting.

Minter was named 2015 Artist of the Year by the Coeur d’Alene Art Association, of which she has been a member for about four years.

“I was pretty surprised because there are a lot of really good artists in that group,” she said. “It’s a good group to be in. They encourage you to do paintings and bring one in every month to their meeting, which gets me motivated to at least paint.”

Through her interior design business she started 32 years ago, Design Details, Minter does faux finishing and murals in homes and businesses on walls, concrete countertops, furniture, and kitchen cabinets. She said she is also inspired by her life experiences to create “whimsical” paper mache art. One of these hanging in her dining room is a paper mache of herself from when she rode an ATV, a zebra alongside her donning sunglasses.

Minter incorporates animals into her art and said she has a fondness for the Humane Society, and for animals like her Jack Russell Terrier named Jack. She wore a necklace with a sterling silver pendant she made of a dog with a circle around it that read, “No outfit is complete without a little dog hair.” She sells these and donates a portion to the Humane Society.

Minter has lived in Rathdrum for 22 years after moving from Chicago, and lived in California before that. With her master’s in photography, Minter was an aerospace photographer for McDonnell Douglas-Boeing for four years before she started a family more than 30 years ago.

“Photography was a big part of my life until it wasn’t, Minter said. “I still take pictures and I love doing it, but it’s changed so much.”

Minter said she did darkroom photography, and with the digital cameras changing every year and always having to buy new equipment she doesn’t do it for a living, but said taking photos is still one of her favorite things to do and displays her photography each year at Art on the Green in Coeur d’Alene.

When her two daughters, who she said are now “30-ish,” were young is when Minter said she began painting murals on walls and other art.

“Arts and crafts were good when my kids were little, because then I could do it whenever they were sleeping,” she said. “I did a lot of sewing and calligraphy and that kind of thing, and I taught craft classes to both kids and adults.”

Her daughters were born in Vacaville, Calif., where they lived for about eight years before moving to Chicago. She taught photography and took interior design classes at the College of DuPage when she was asked to paint a showcase home for a contractor whose wife worked in the interior design department.

“About 60,000 people went through and I started getting booked for painting homes,” Minter said. “And that is when I quit teaching photography and started painting full time. One thing led to another and then we moved here, and I was painting both here and in Chicago for about four years. I would go back and forth because I still had a lot of clients there.”

Minter’s work can be seen at some of the local businesses. She has done murals for Triple Play and Skate Plaza, and has paintings at Satay Bistro in Coeur d’Alene and Steelhead Bar and Grille in Spokane. Some of her paintings are also displayed through the end of December at Frame of Mind Gallery in downtown Coeur d’Alene.

Minter still does art instruction occasionally and will be teaching a class on chalk painting Feb. 10 at Redbrick Art Studio in Coeur d’Alene.

She has an Etsy site where she sells her WildBeast Creations — wine cork toppers of various animals — and many photos of her work are posted to her website at www.judyminter.com.