Though I rarely do commission work, I thought I'd carve out a little section of the site to display some of the work I've done in the past for friends, clients and various organizations. In some instances I've been commissioned for the original piece but have created numbered prints and those can be purchased on the site (John Bonham, Oderus Urungus, MCA, etc...)
Trout Point Lodge
Two of my favourite pieces reside in East Kemptville, Nova Scotia on the walls of the picturesque Trout Point Lodge. The first one is a sketch of the lodge itself and took just under a hundred hours to draw. Admittedly, I was pretty lousy in geometry in high school but my many years of sketching and eventually designing monuments (for another blog post another time) helped keep this one on track.The second is one of the many residents that can be spotted when staying at the Lodge. If you are lucky enough to find yourself staying at Trout Point Lodge, you can purchase these prints at the gift shop.
Trout Point Lodge, Nova Scotia 2019 - 17 x 14 Graphite Pencil
Bald Eagle, Nova Scotia 2019 - 14 x 17 Graphite Pencil
Peanut
Every year for the past three years I'd receive a text in late November from a longtime friend. The initial text always preceded a most welcome barrage of images of a very photogenic pooch named Peanut. These pieces would ultimately be used for her Christmas card and the 2020 was slightly improvised to reflect the tough times we were facing...
Peanut 2019 - 9 x 12 Graphite Pencil
Peanut 2020 - 12 x 9 Graphite Pencil
Peanut 2021 12 x 9 Acrylic on Canvas
Le Sentier (The Trail) / Music for Veterans
I was honoured to be asked to include a piece to hang on the walls of a new neighbourhood centre for veterans. It is a beautiful, upscale centre run by good friends who have opened it up to offer free music training (guitar lessons) and other important day-to-day services and guidance to a group of often-overlooked folks who need the help and companionship. I chose to paint something calm, bright and commemorative and centred around the beautiful and resilient poppies that continue to grow at the site of one of the most gruesome battles the world has ever known.
"Ypres" 2020 - 30 x 30 Acrylic on Canvas
Devinci Bikes / Stevie Smith
I was approached by someone from Devinci bikes to find a way to commemorate the undisputed champion mountain biker, Canadian Stevie Smith. Tragically, Stevie died in a motorcycle crash and Devinci and the mountain biking world lost a fearless star of the sport. Multiple prints of this original sketch were made for employees of the company.
By the way, I chose to lighten and blur the background slightly to draw more attention to Stevie and his bike, but the circle at the top was actually a part of the background and I still have no idea what it is. It almost appears to be a halo and seems to go well with the grin, so I always got a kick out of that while working on this piece.
Stevie Smith / Devinci 2020 - 17 x 14 Graphite Pencil
Pets
Without question, the most requested commission pieces are pets; specifically dogs. I have no problem with that whatsoever.
Cami 2018 - 14 x 17 Graphite Pencil
Lola 2020 - 16 x 20 Acrylic on Canvas
Eleanor 2020 - 9 x 12 Graphite Pencil
My Family (Biddeford Pool, Maine circa 1977)
My Dad lost a hard-fought battle with a heart condition in early 2020 and one of my brothers approached me about doing something for his office wall as a small tribute. Neither one of us wanted a portrait (just too hard to look at, to be honest) and I knew I had to find something that would resonate for both (all) of us. After thumbing through photo album after photo album, I came across a picture that immediately immersed me in the moment and brought a warm feeling that seemed to overcome the grief. Though it was not a perfect photograph and pretty much broke all the rules that I have for considering a piece done in graphite pencil. It was a sunset but there would be no colour and the low resolution would leave me scrambling to find details where there were none. But still, I knew this was the one. This is one of my greatest memories in life (I'm the little guy in the middle) and I suppose I took a chance trying to reproduce something from a very dark, old photograph but this is the end result. My Mother is absent from the photo but gets full credit for the original photo.
Biddeford Pool, Maine. 2020 - 17 x 14 Graphite Pencil