BILLINGS — Dan Granger first moved to Billings in 2018 and quickly embraced his new space by touring around town. Years later, he still finds the city beautiful and is dedicating this year to a project to show off the beauty in Billings.
"Going around to different places, whenever I’m eating, I always have sketchbooks and I sit down and paint something. And so, I started doing a lot of buildings,” Granger said at his downtown studio, Da Vinci's Workshop. “There’s a lot of really cool places around Billings.”
He quickly noticed that people enjoyed his watercolor paintings of Billings buildings and decided to launch his Paint This City Project at the beginning of 2023. He plans to continue painting at least one "tourist location" or park a month for the remainder of the year.
“People are coming in and seeing it and saying 'hey, it looks like you’re making Billings a place to be, or Billings is becoming a place',” he said.
He has already completed multiple paintings of various locations such as the Moss Mansion, Western Heritage Center, Skypoint and Rail Line Coffee. He offers a monthly subscription to his work where people can receive a sticker for $10 a month or a postcard-sized photo and sticker for $15.
He also offers commissions for businesses that would like paintings done.
“This project is one that it is getting interaction of people just seeing where it is, click on the maps and making you want to walk around and look at buildings,” Granger said. “That’s what this project is for. Helping people find connection and the beauty is our city.”
