“Family” is Everything

This is a custom piece I created working with my client Robin. She wanted a special painting for the master bedroom in pretty blues and grays. We decided on a personalized painting with a medallion layout incorporating all things special to Robin. First, she comprise a list of everything she wanted put into the painting starting with her “family” to the P-3 airplane she piloted while in the Navy and every wonderful thing in between.

 

 

 

“Just the Way You Are”

I was recently commissioned to create a very special painting  for my client Amy’s home. This piece needed to capture her families love of music and the memory of Amy’s “first dance” with her husband Tim on their wedding day. She was originally thinking a mural, but after we discussed other options we decided on a dyptich style painting. This piece would be featured on their living/music room focal wall.

We started by listing everything she wanted incorporated into the painting. The sheet music from their first dance, “Just the Way You Are” by Billy Joel, the scroll patterned on Amy’s gown and wedding cake, the keyboard from the family piano, the roses from her bouquet and the harlequin pattern and colors from the rug grounding the room. from there I drew up a rough black and white sketch and color palette to review with her before I put the first brush strokes into the canvases.

Amy, Tim and their children love the new addition to the room, capturing their love of music! This was the fourth project Amy commissioned me to create for their home.

It has been an absolute pleasure working with Amy and I always look forward to our next collaboration!

Custom Living Room Centerpiece Painting

This piece was created for an art collector client to be the centerpiece of her living room, bringing together all the various textiles, artwork and colors around the room.

Diptych custom centerpiece

I worked with this client, Haley, over the course of a few weeks.  I first met Haley in her home to discuss this focal point piece for her living room.  She shared with me some of the stories behind the various pieces in the room including a beautiful elephant painting from her grandmother’s home. We also discussed ways to incorporate the layers of textiles she had custom made for her room.  This helped me choose a coordinating color palette that would work to draw everything together.

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The final layout of my piece was inspired by a mosaic fireplace in a Yves Saint Laurent’s vacation home.  Using this as my inspiration, I combined some of the patterns found in Haley’s drapes, rug and elephant painting.  The result is a pair of large acrylic paintings in the Diptych composition.  These conversation pieces are hung above the sofa and really do complete the room.

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Custom Celtic Cross Medallion

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What I love most about this painting was actually the process of creating it — it was a true family collaboration.

Celtic Cross Custom DesignMy client Amy, enlisted her husband Tim to give ideas of want he was looking for in this painting. He suggested a Celtic cross to represent their faith along with meaningful words that were important to him and Amy.  Family, love, faith, loyalty, compassion, courage and joy.  These are all traits Tim said he wanted his family to have and wanted incorporated into the painting.

With that in mind, I went to work and painted this medallion with the family’s names, dates and “family values” hidden in the vines around the cross. I painted it in custom colors that would bring the room together and it is now the focal piece in their family room.

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Custom Golf Design Painting – “Vision of a Golfer”

“Vision of a Golfer” is a large, square abstract painting of golf clubs that was designed for a client as a Christmas present for her avid golfer husband.

Custom golf painting

 

As I worked with my client, Jen, we discussed her two main “objectives” for the piece.  First, she wanted to honor her husband’s passion for golf through this gift.  He enjoys playing a round of golf every chance he gets so she knew he would love a golf-inspired painting.  This brings us to the second objective — she wanted to create a piece that could hang proudly in their living room (as opposed to a den or office).  It had to match the current colors and style while still capturing his “vision of a golfer. ”

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From my visit to Jen’s home, I was able to create an unexpected color palette that would fit her living room’s style so we landed on an abstract layout of vintage golf clubs and tees.  I also wanted to create movement and energy — inspired by the swing of a golfer — that would pop and become a focal point in the space.  I created the design with vertical brush strokes and acrylic paint to create that texture and movement I envisioned.

The final piece went beyond the expectations of my client and her husband absolutely adores his gift.  In fact, he actually GOES in the living room to admire the piece.  For me, what I loved about this project, was being able to create something that the client couldn’t envision or really describe but trusted me to create.

Greek Wrought Iron Inspired Custom Painting

This wrought iron print collection was inspired by my client’s honeymoon in Greece.

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My client was looking to create a collection of prints for her family room inspired by all the beautiful, hand-crafted wrought iron she discovered on her bike rides throughout the Greek islands during her honeymoon.  My client wanted to create a keepsake that would mirror her graphic, modern style and provide a pop of color to her tonal family room.

With inspiration from her many photos, I first illustrated detail work in India ink to share with the client to get an idea for the final composition.  I then painted several options in both gauche water colors and India ink.  The options were narrowed down to two paintings that would frame french doors in her room.  She loved the initial India ink detail work that she ended up framing those pieces and interspersing them with her photographs to create a gallery wall opposite my paintings.

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I loved that my process of creating the art pieces ended up inspiring my client to create her own gallery which wasn’t the original intention.  She is thrilled with the final outcome of both of the projects and loves that it captures her honeymoon.

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