Small colorful paintings of scenery grace the walls of Great Northern Coffee. As you sit and enjoy your cup of coffee or tea, canvases bursting with nature surround you. But who created these Picasso-like paintings?

Chico State alumna Morea “Mo” Milgrom is the artist behind the delicately painted scenes. She hosted the reception for an art show March 8 as she took photos and chat with gallery viewers about her work.

Milgrom dabbles in copper jewelry making and figure drawing, but oil is her passion. Oil on canvas is her preferred method of art. It has a much thicker consistency compared to acrylic.

“There’s something about oils. I like how it’s slow to fix and won’t dry in an instant,” Milgrom said. “I love the history of oil painting and my favorite artists are oil painters.”

While backpacking, camping and hiking, Milgrom photographs the setting and uses those as a basis for creating masterpieces. Some of her paintings include redwood trees, lights, animals and more. She also does custom pet pieces, where buyers submit a photo to her and she recreates it into a painting.

Painting for Great Northern Coffee was a bit of a challenge for Milgrom because she is used to painting on much larger canvases – 6 feet tall canvases in fact. The paintings showcased in the train car are less than half that size.

“It was challenging to paint on smaller canvases but more convenient. I tend to gravitate towards thick brush strokes,” Milgrom said.

Each of her paintings featured in Great Northern Coffee is available for purchase during the month of March and range from $60 to $100. Milgrom has begun figure drawing as her upcoming series will be more figurative.

Check out some of her work on her personal website, Instagram and Facebook.

Julia Maldonado can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_arts on Twitter.