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Alicia Welker works on a mural located on the Century 21 Master Key Realty building in downtown Celina.
CELINA - Since officially debuting her business WrenWay Creations in June, Alicia Welker's custom artwork has been the talk of the town in Celina and elsewhere.
Welker specializes in canvas painting, seasonal window art, murals, wedding signs, chalkboard art and just about any other project her clients have in mind. She had previously completed work for family and friends but waited until a few months ago to gain LLC status and start a Facebook page.
Her vibrant paintings of bald eagles, autumnal pumpkins and other designs can be seen adorning the windows of businesses, civic organizations and other locations in Mercer County and the surrounding areas.
A cow donning a pink bow and apron licks from a double-decker ice cream cone held between its hooves on the door at Lake Creamery & Coffee in Celina. Another similarly-styled cow is featured on the business' garage door.
Celina Bulldogs add a touch of school spirit to the windows of six businesses, inspired by Celina High School's "Paint the Town Green" campaign last month.
A mural at La Carreta restaurant in St. Marys.
Over in St. Marys, a donkey pulling a cart looks as if it's about to walk off the grey brick wall of La Carreta II and onto to the sidewalk.
"I'm just really excited that people have been open to what I do and want what I do," Welker said.
For most of the year, Welker works as an art teacher at Van Wert Elementary School. Once the school day is over, she turns her focus to WrenWay, which is named after her and her husband Codey's two children, Wrenley and Waylon.
Welker said it's a balancing act splitting time between school, her business and family. She's able to do so with the support of her husband, whom she met at Celina High School before graduating in 2009.
Alicia Welker, Celina, adds finishing touches to her mural on South Main Street in Celina.
Now that her kids are a little older, she's able to commit more of her time to commissioned work, typically juggling two projects a week. Some clients have very specific ideas about what they want while others give her pretty much free rein to come up with a design.
Welker said she especially enjoys painting flowers and landscapes and has learned how to work on a variety of surfaces, including brick, walls and metal siding.
Word of mouth about WrenWay Creations spread like wildfire over the summer after Welker publicly introduced a massive mural on the side of a downtown building at 219 S. Main St., Celina.
Welker depicted a spectacular sunrise over Grand Lake, with a heron taking in the scene, perched atop shoreline rocks.
Welker was asked by the owners of Willow Lane Photography and Three Little Birds - the organizers of the First Friday "Art This Way" event held in downtown Celina on Aug. 4 - to pull off a somewhat last minute pop-up mural.
She accepted the challenge, beginning her work at noon on Aug. 3 and putting the final touches on her mural at about 2 p.m. the day of the event. The project was a volunteer effort, with the building owner granting permission and John Ellis painting the entire wall white before Welker began creating the mural.
A detail photo of a heron which is part of a mural on South Main Street in Celina.
"I wanted to do something just inspired by the lake, because I feel like that's just a big part of our culture in Celina," she said. "I love the lake, personally. We boat on the lake all the time."
Approaching the project the same way she does her other works, Welker first sketched out the lake landscape on her iPad before translating her vision onto the wall, mostly freehand.
Recalling being in the process, Welker said everything came together perfectly during a marathon session of painting. Her husband helped set up the scaffolding and daughter Wrenley, 6, even left her mark on the mural.
"I already had that image and I had it in my head, too, because I had worked with it," she said. "So getting it up on the wall was kind of like second nature at that point."
The mural was an immediate hit at "Art This Way" and soon went viral on social media.
"It was so cool seeing everybody that First Friday coming up, talking about it, taking pictures in front it," she said.
Welker is very proud of the mural, which is a culmination of sorts of her many years of training, first at Celina High School and then Wright State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in fine art with a focus on painting and a master's degree in art education.
"I like that when people pull into Celina … a little piece of me is there," she said. "I grew up here. I'm here. My kids go to school here. This is where we will be, and just to have that there is just really cool."
Orders for custom artwork came pouring in after the mural was completed. Welker said she is largely booked through November but may be able to fit in some other projects. She looks forward to hopefully taking on other big projects next year.
"I just like making people happy," she said about the responses her artwork has evoked. "It's just been really good all around."
