8'x5' Commission Work Installed

Garden Path - Installed at Alpine Art Center

Garden Path
8'x5'5"
Acrylic on Gallery Wrap Canvas

This is a commissioned work by the Alpine Art Center in Alpine, Utah.

The objective was to create a large-format piece featuring a garden area that had become overgrown. It was created to fit a large wall adjacent the main entry that would becomes a focal piece in the reception area. 

Vaulted walls such as these can certainly evoke a sense of scale, but they can also be difficult to fit the overall design of the space without well-thought-out art or decorations built for the space. In this case, the interior design of the reception area features a

Teaching our daughters to curtsy: Thoughts on the power of a gesture in art

"Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" by John Singer Sargent

You might be as lucky as my wife and I have been to rear children in a day and age where the easy choice is to be cynical about culture and life in general. If you chose that path, who could blame you? There's evidence for a dumbed-down society all around you (especially if you look for it). I say "lucky" because the beautiful things in this world still shine brightly like flecks of gold in a gold pan amid the black sand. The thing is, you need to know where to go to find the beautiful things sometimes, just like when you are panning for gold.

Kelly and I were blessed with two sons and two daughters and I refer to myself as the luckiest guy in the world. Each personality different than the next, our kids developed their own likes and dislikes, chose their own friends, and learned to see the world through their own eyes. It is fascinating to watch their development into fully-functioning adults who end up asking if they can borrow the car.

As parents, she and I found that they are all hungry for information to handle life's social settings ... basically, they didn't want to mess up in public. We tried to teach them the good stuff that we were taught for such occasions, such as saying 'please' and 'thank you' (our parents' generation was taught to "mind your 'Ps' and 'Qs'").

Problem-Solving Through Virtual Art Installations

Now that you've identified a wall in your home or office that could use artwork, there are a few ways to find out what would work perfectly there. Here's how:

HOW TO CHOOSE ART THAT'S JUST RIGHT

Sweet, sweet pain.

You have a wall that needs the final touch of a painting to be hung in that perfect location.

It is a problem to be solved, but it usually isn't a problem that is distressing like a sink that's clogged. It is a problem where the solution can be a key part of the fun of the final solution.

It's sweet pain!

There is a weird sort of joy in the search. Looking for that great art solution is part of the fun.

THAT is key: Getting to the solution. 

You kind of know what you like, but don't know where to find it.

You are going to visit where the #art is.

Even though you don't know exactly what you want, you are on a treasure hunt, and you will know it when you see it.

If you are constantly in the mode of looking and looking and not committing, you probably need a little help.

Here is my suggestion to help move the process along: