Columbia Falls artist Allen Jimmerson has spent the past week working on a large painting for Freedom Bank. The bank is becoming an art gallery in its own right, with a large mural commissioned by Nick Oberling of Hungry Horse and an original by late artist Leonard Lopp set to go up this month as well.

The Jimmerson piece features a bald eagle flying over Avalanche Lake. When complete, it will have a three-dimensional nest coming out of it.

Jimmerson has been painting since he was 15. He first sold his works to teachers and principals for $15 apiece.

“Back then jobs paid $1 an hour,” he said, so it was pretty good money. His parents and teachers continued to encourage him. His father and mother, Roy and Louise, bought him his first set of oils. Roy worked at the aluminum plant and Allen followed in his footsteps, painting in his spare time.

But in 2001, the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. offered a voluntary layoff with pay to employees and Jimmerson took the offer. When they had a call back a couple of years later, Jimmerson didn’t return — he was making a living off his work.

His artwork, which often features landscapes and animals of Glacier National Park, has been recognized across the country and is popular with collectors. He has also painted two covers for Cabela’s catalogs and recently had a painting selected for a phone book cover in Colorado.

The entire upstairs at Snappy’s Sports Senter in Evergreen is his gallery and studio.

Jimmerson said he does between 40 and 50 original paintings a year, and since he started painting in the 1970s he’s done 1,137 works — all of them cataloged in a journal he keeps.

Jimmerson’s painting, as well as the other works, are scheduled to be unveiled at a business after hours party on Aug. 29 at the bank beginning at 5 p.m.