Farm Memories, 16 x 48"   I did this painting for a couple who are local farmers and collectors of my work.  The piece is a montage of images depicting potato farming practices during the 1950's.   
The secondary motif is the agricultural and mountainous landscape of the San Luis Valley.  

It is a complex composition and a challenging project.  I used more than a dozen reference photos from the clients' photo album as well as a few a took myself.  The painting shows a growing season from irrigation to harvest.  The canal shifts from water reflecting the sky on the left to a particular section of the Sangre de Christo mountains on the right.  At the bottom is a field of barley changing color from spring to fall.

Below are two commissions for patrons who wanted a painting of their home and the surrounding landscape.  I often include structures in my landscapes so this is logical direction for my work.  I have done several commissions like the ones shown here.  Frequently the homes are located in residential settings, focusing more on the house than the landscape. 

The process of doing commissions is described below.  
Prices are based on size of the canvas and complexity of subject.
Please contact me if you have a special place you would like me to capture on canvas.

The Dolphin House, 16 x 32 inches.

This painting is the result of a race to the site, to catch the drama of the setting sun. The client approached me at a gallery reception for a showing of my work in Mendocino, California.  He asked me to do a painting of his house.  I was flying home the next morning so I left the reception and arrived at the house just in time to capture the beautiful lighting and the crashing wave.

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The Process

The commission begins in a meeting or conversation with the client.  I learn what is important to them about the subject and my vision of the project begins to emerge.  I prefer  going to the site to take photographs but I can use one that client provides.  The painting pictured below is a San Luis Valley, Colorado farmstead under a dramatic cloudscape with the Sangre de Christo Mountains in the background. The owners of the farm wanted dramatic clouds in their painting.  The farm is a few miles north of where I live so I waited several weeks, watching the skies for the dramatic effect they desired.  One afternoon, the clouds provided a fantastic compositional element, so I hurried out to their farm and captured this panorama in three shots which I pasted together.     

Once I have the photograph, I transfer it to the canvas as a detailed line drawing as shown below.  I remove the distortion from the camera and any unnecessary objects.  The orange color is Venetian Red Gesso that I first brush onto the canvas.  

A detail of the painting in progress is shown below.  The palette knife technique I have developed is a slow process of applying thin layers of paint to the canvas.  I first work on the most distant area of the sky and landscape and move into the foreground.  As one area dries, I'll apply the first layer of paint to another part of the canvas.  Then I go back to the places that are partially finished and put in more details, increase highlights or deepen shadows.

The finished painting, 9 x 28 inches.

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