Landscapes

I have to admit that I have not ever been overly inspired to paint landscapes.  It's not that I don't find the great outdoors inspiring, it's just it never really appealed to me to try to capture any aspect of it.

In December 2008 I was approached by Sandy and André Lovell, after they attended a show of my work hosted by Leslie and Joe Battle.  André had an amazing photograph of a hammock that famously hangs between two huge old trees at their weekend home.  The interesting thing about the photograph to me was that it was taken in the dead of winter--not typical "hammock" swinging time.  I felt up to the challenge of painting my first true landscape piece.

The piece turned out to be a lot of fun.  Even though I used a lot of red in the painting, I do feel as though the viewer can tell that this painting depicts a blustery cold day in the dead of winter.  I chose to paint the trees in black as silhouettes against the background.  In the shadow area beneath the hammock, I painted several tiny areas made up of colourful squares.  This small area inspired ALL of my new abstract pieces--but I'll get to that story another day.

The Hammock

2008

acrylic on canvas

48" w x 36" h

commissioned by André and Sandy Lovell

I was absolutely thrilled with the result of this piece.  I actually entered it into an art competition with a group called the East Village Art Coalition in Des Moines, Iowa.  The piece made it into the finals!!  http://www.evacdsm.org

In November of 2009, I was contacted by Jill Johnson to create very special custom piece for her husband Mike for Christmas.  Jill had the idea of creating an abstract landscape piece based on her first date with Mike.  Jill gave me a bunch of photos to work from, each depicting the view of the breathtaking mountains in Vancouver that Jill and Mike stared at together on their first date.  In the bottom of the painting I've attempted to sort of blend in the back of Mike & Jill's heads, sitting on the wicker couch enjoying both the company and the view.

Clearly it was a first date that worked as Mike and Jill tied the knot in July 2009.  Jill surprised Mike with the portrait on Christmas Day 2009 and it was successfully shipped off to their home in Vancouver, BC in the beginning of 2010.

First Date

2009

acrylic on canvas

36" x 36"

commissioned by Jill Johnson