We had the good fortune of connecting with Blake Treadway and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Blake, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I grew up in the Ozark mountains of Northwest Arkansas. I spent my youth playing in the woods, building forts, playing in creeks, catching lightning bugs, and listening to the cicadas buzz away the humid evenings. I was always infatuated with birds, and I believe it’s this early life as a naturalist that led me to begin painting birds when I picked up the watercolors. One of the first birds I painted was a Belted Kingfisher. That bird has been my friend on countless days fishing on lakes and rivers across the country. When I was 9, my grandpa was taking me to fish a pond near his house in Missouri one drizzly morning, when thump, a bird hit our windshield and flew into the ditch. He stopped the truck and I didn’t know what kind of bird it was, but I knew it looked different than any bird I knew of until then. I found it in the ditch, it was dead, I picked it up and was shocked by it’s beauty. The Belted Kingfisher has been my close ally on the water ever since. I even have one tattooed on my chest.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My life thus far has been primarily dedicated to pursuing athletic endeavors; rock climbing, mountain biking, alpinism, and fly-fishing. I always considered myself to be creative, but never an artist. In fact, I had always claimed to be unable to draw a good stick figure. Over the last couple of years, I have been doing some deep personal work to overcome past traumas and to be a more emotionally available person for my friends and family. Through this work an artist emerged. I hurt myself this past August in a mountain bike accident. I suffered a broken foot and then a torn labrum in my shoulder that required a surgery. During all of my downtime, I became bored with books, tv, and whatever else I was doing to occupy my time, and so I picked up an unused watercolor set that my mother in law had given to my wife the previous year. I used a how to book to do a couple of projects and soon began painting photos that I had taken over the years. I have always had big love for birds and they remain one of my primary subjects for painting. As I started to share my works, friends and then strangers began to ask for prints and even to buy my originals. I am now starting a website, and two of my pieces have just been shown at the February Bird Invitational at the Smith and Vallee Gallery in Edison, WA. My painting ‘Mind Exploration’ is currently on display at the Spring Juried Show in Lynden, WA at the Jansen Art Center until July, 7. Check it out! My art as well as some other incredible artists can be seen @bellinghamartistalliance. You can count on a continued stream of art from me…

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Welcome to Bellingham, WA. We’ll start our first day exploring the beautiful alpine scenery of North Cascades National Park, and finish down on Chuckanut Dr. at Taylor Shellfish, cracking oysters and chucking shells into Chuckanut Bay.
Day two will be a mountain bike ride on our local trails with a trip to my office at Transition Bike Company to have a cold beverage and some delicious food at our Outpost Eats food truck.
Day three will be fly-fishing for Smallmouth Bass on Lake Whatcom down the street from my house, followed by a sunset mission to the beach where we’ll pull some crab traps with our paddle boards and boil crab on the beach.
What do you want to do with the rest of your week? Vancouver, BC, Old Growth tree stands, Komo Kulshan/Shuksan mountain views, the PNW is your oyster…

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My wife Jesse Kirkpatrick for giving me the love, support, and encouragement to always follow my heart. Jesse’s mother Cindy Felix for the watercolor set that started it all.

Website: blaketreadwayart@gmail.com

Instagram: @blaketreadwayart

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