Artist Sunn puts impressive works on display on the Detroit riverfront

Artist Sunn displays his work at the Detroit riverfront near Hart Plaza.

He's down by the river, the Detroit Princess bobbing in the water before him. He's holding a copy of the day's Detroit Free Press in his left hand. With his right, Sunn works a paint brush, recreating a photo of Matthew Stafford that appears in the paper.

With a really cool style that I won't even attempt to define (since I know nothing of art) Sunn spends his summers in Detroit in the shade of Hart Plaza, perched on a cement wall next to a row of paintings that range from Bob Marley to smaller Detroit skylines. Sunn is no street performer gimmick; his work is remarkably impressive.

Sunn works on  picture of Matthew Stafford

For the Marley piece, he hopes to get $120; the smaller, 8x10 paintings go for about $20 each. "But I always negotiate," he chuckles. Less than a week after I first saw Sunn, I visited again to look a little more closely at some of his work. The painting of Stafford was just taking shape during my first visit, and I wanted to see how it turned out.

"Sold that one about 15 minutes after I finished it," he said, smiling wide. "And wouldn't you know, he got hurt yesterday."

You can find Sunn on the Detroit RiverWalk for the next few weeks. Once the weather breaks he'll move up to Greektown to continue his work.