WILKES-BARRE-- Giuliana, Haily, and Kendall love to paint. Now, they are doing it on a while new scale.
The three girls from the Back Mountain came to the Barnes and Noble in Wilkes-Barre to create a mural of the Wyoming Valley.
Haily Yakus said, "It's different to paint on a big canvas because you have more room and you can make more things on it."
The activity was planned in anticipation of RiverFest. The waterfront festival along the Susquehanna begins June 19.
The organizer, Jan Lokuta, has a special motivation. He said, "My prime purpose is to get people to see the beauty around them and if they don't, create some."
While it may not be as well known as the Hudson River Valley, this area has a distinguished history of landscape painting. Jasper Cropsey's the Valley of Wyoming hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lokuta said, " During the 1800's there were several well known, world class painters who were inspired by the landscapes of Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Susquehanna River.
The girls say painting landscapes of the place they call home changes how they see their surroundings.
Haily said, "You can see the mountains as blue and you can't really see that a lot."
Now, they will see Luzerne County's hills and valleys as artists.
