Occasionally, people “out grow” their paintings. From changes in experiences to evolving beliefs or even Life Event changes. In Ralph’s case, we “both” evolved from the original painting I did for him back in 2005.
When I was in Toronto back in December 2009 I noticed that Ralph had transcended his original painting, and knew I wanted to break it down into individual pieces to now incorporate Daniella into his life in images.
There will also be a fourth painting to this trio, representing Daniella – which will be forthcoming in the next few months. [Read more...]
The wonderful thing about painting for other people is that (both artistically and otherwise) they take you places you wouldn’t normally go if you were only working at a level within your own self. You gain a different perspective by jumping inside their head and crawling around in their skin for a while. Not just to see the world how they see it… but to learn what they have learned by looking at the world this way. It is amazing what you can gain when you are willing to give up your strength, for a time, to learn the strength of another.
You know… I had a really good reason for coming up with this name while I was painting this one. But, akin to the fellow who first discovered insulin… I forgot to write down why it is that name struck me. I can tell you, I’m sure it was something brilliant. This is in my living room.
This design has been a bit of an evolving work in progress, but definitely one of my favourites which is why I have done so many of them.
Two Tigers went again to my biggest fans and cheering section, Andy and Fiona. I blame the fact that they bought a bright red couch as the reason I had to paint them a new hanging (nice couch, but the colour was as aesthetically at war with the original hanging I painted them as possible – quite certain they did that on purpose). I had this idea in mind anyway, so whether they wanted it or not, it was going to them. As a side note, that bright red couch is now sitting in my basement… a year and a half later they decided a black leather couch suited them better…grrrrrr…
This was the 4th hanging I did (originally for Andy and Fiona until that whole couch fiasco – see 
This was the first commissioned hanging and the third one I painted. My friends Tracy and Murray saw the ones I’d created to cover up spaces in my house and wanted me to paint them one. I decided to do one for their wedding present (since I became a marriage commissioner for a day and presided over the ceremonies and actually married them 8 months before – and… yes, sheepishly I admit I hadn’t actually gotten around to getting them a present yet). Quite an honour for me!
This was the second hanging I ever painted, and threw it together over the span of about a week and honestly did not put a whole lot of thought into it (that has never happened since, let me tell you!).