Got Flowers?

An old milk truck is the centerpiece of Saco artist Todd Mandeville's latest painting.

Wildflowers billow through the vehicle's rusted hood, poke through the wheel wells and surround the truck which sits in a grassy prairie, much like the ones found throughout Phillips County. The painting is, for now, titled Got Flowers? (a play on the Got Milk? ad campaign.)

"That was the name I was thinking of when I was painting it," Mandeville said. "Sometimes the names come to me right away, and that's what I came up with."

The name is only a placeholder, however, as Mandeville is looking for public input to name the latest painting. To submit names for Mandeville's painting, visit paintingsbymandeville.com and send him your messages through the "contact us" tab at the top of the website. Mandeville said he will have prints of Got Flowers for sale on the website in about a month.

Mandeville spent 12 months on his latest effort after he saw the milk truck in Columbia Falls outside a greenhouse shop. He snapped a picture of the truck, brought it home and put paint to canvas.

"Of course, in the picture, there was mountains but I changed that in the painting to reflect our area better," he added. "We got our sky and it looks pretty cool around here."

He started the painting in July of 2014 and took a break from it for awhile so he could finish up Grandpz – which depicts the front end of an old Chevy Pick-up with the sun glinting off the truck's polished chrome.

"It was supposed to be a quick paint, but it doesn't always go as planned," said Mandeville.

Up next for Mandeville on his to-paint-list is another truck, but this time not a left-for dead vehicle in a field, but rather a depiction of highway travel off into nowhere.

"The truck will just drive off into the hills and off to nowhere," he said. "This one will be from another picture I saw...I always have my camera or my phone with me in case I see something I want to paint. As soon as I saw that milk truck, I took the picture because I knew I was going to paint it."

Mandeville's paintings are currently being shown at an art expo at the James Memorial Art Center in Williston, ND., and can always be seen at local establishments including the Art Spot, Art's Furniture and Ray J's in Malta and at Pay N Save in Saco. You can also find Mandeville by searching "Paintings by Mandeville" on Facebook.