Well, finally tonight.

For many is the local restaurants, bars, small businesses and theaters that lift the quality of life across our community.

For nearly two decades, one local artist's work has become the connecting thread between our favorite places.

Producer John Branscum brings us the details.

(graphics whooshing) (lively music) - My studio hides here behind my home, and thought, and we're very lucky for that.

We've renovated a three car garage.

This put in hundreds of shelves and work areas and we do 100% of all our work out here.

My name is David Thayer French.

Thayer is an old British name, old family name.

I'm a self-employed artist.

I've been since 2008.

I have done over 500 paintings of the Greater Charlotte area and most importantly, the things that people love about, the things that bring quality of life to their days in Charlotte.

(vehicle whooshing) - A paper skyscraper carries gifts for everyone.

David is one of our local vendors.

We have about 80 or 90 local vendors that we represent.

One of my favorites is "Carolina Blue Jumbo".

This "Thirsty Beaver's" a great one as well.

Some places are no longer there.

Just yesterday, we sold this panoramic.

It was a East Boulevard where JJ Red Hots is closing.

- [Narrator 2] 36th Street.

- Evening Muse is a music venue that is here to kind of help generate community.

So many guests and clients that have told me that they've purchased the painting that David did.

So many people that are like, "Oh, you're hanging in our bedroom."

And I'm, like, "That's a little weird."

But, you know, it's fun and it's cool.

(upbeat piano music) - It's a really big day in my life because although half my day will just be an ordinary day of dabbling paint on my canvas.

The evening is gonna be wild where I get to have a full 90 minute set of my original music at Petty Thieves Brewing over off of a graham.

Yeah, to be a little coy, every center in the NBA wants to be a point guard and every cowboy wants to go fishing.

So this is a painter wanting to play you guitar right now.

♪ Hey, yo at Petty Thieves ♪ Hey, what you got from me - Petty Thieves Brewing local neighborhood tap room.

And we like to get weird.

(chuckles) What I love about David, he expresses his love of these iconic Charlotte places like the Diamond, the Penguin the Double Door Inn.

Some of which, we still have.

Some of which we've lost over the years.

When he asked if we'd be interested in him coming by and doing a painting of us, I was like, "Cool, we are on the map."

(chuckles) - It's one of those things that just kind of helps bonds people.

Lets them know like what the cool places are in town.

- Different places have different meanings to different people in Charlotte, but everything that he's painting, you know, people have memories of.

For me, like the Neighborhood Theater Print with Robert Earl Keen.

I love that one 'cause I love Robert Earl Keen and I've probably seen.

Gosh, I don't even know how many shows in the neighborhood theater.

- I feel like Charlotte has a self-esteem issue.

It's always looking outward for... "What are they doing?

What are they doing?

What are they doing?"

Instead of what are we doing?

And so when David's taking and creating that examination and elevating these places, It's, like, "Look, it's right here."

You don't have to be always looking outward.

Sometimes you just gotta look more inward.

- When you go and you walk into a locally owned and run business, you feel a lot different than when you walk into a chain establishment.

You feel like you are in somebody's heart and soul, the blood, sweat, and tears of their own efforts.

And this gives your life a unique experience.

Something again that is not packaged and produced for the masses, but something that was carved because of you, the local, that will be spending your hard-earned money in there.

These locally owned places that have a heartbeat that resonates in the community.

- I think Charlotte is unique in a city and that's almost, like, a bunch of little small towns put together.

I don't feel like I'm in a huge city when I'm here.

I love the neighborhood vibes that Charlotte has to offer.

- Favorite part of my job is I get to hear what people love.

You don't like it to hang it on your wall.

You don't hang the Cheesecake Factory on your wall.

You hang Lang Van, Alexander Michaels.

You hang the evening use.

You hang cobble fish taco on your wall.

The reason why you hang these things on your wall is because it is unique.

It is you.

It is just as much as you as your fingerprint.

You feel loved when you walk into a place that knows you.

You feel a sense of place and it makes you feel like you have a life that is your own and not just something dreamed up by some unknown individual in an unknown place.

When I get to hear people talk about how we met at this place and how we had our first date at that place and how I get to create a timeline of their life and love on their walls, it is probably the most enriching thing that I do in my job every day.