Contact me if you would like to discuss a commissioned piece of art to fit your particular needs. I love the process of blending my way of working with your ideas of different scales, colors, images, symbols, materials, objects, numbers, etc. Below are examples of past commissioned pieces.
This piece was commissioned by a couple after they saw a small painting of mine featuring black birds in a snowscape at night. Their request was for me to make a similarly-themed artwork at a larger scale (approximately 4'x5'), incorporating elements of and references to their home, which was a historic building in their New Hampshire town. Originally built as a tavern and inn, it figured in the American Revolution and was also reportedly a stopping place for the Underground Railroad. At the time I created the piece, the building was under renovation, and I was able to acquire some original floorboards (the white lower part) as well as a sheet-metal covered trap door (the dark upper part). I also obtained various decorative elements, including several curtain stays, parts of which make the eyes of the birds. These seven eyes are in the pattern of the constellation Ursa Major (The Big Dipper), the front lip of which points to the North Star. This group of stars was used by escaping enslaved people from the South, to guide them at night as they made their way north to freedom. The North Star is made of a glass sphere covered in 23K gold leaf. Upon close examination it appears to be a musket ball piercing the metal of the night sky, a reference to the American Revolution. On the left side of the horizon stands a lone, bare tree in which perch 6 birds. They, along with the 7 large birds, add up to 13- a number held as significant by the clients. Behind the tree is the faint silhouette of the building itself.
This piece was commissioned by a client as an artwork to be given to their child when they became an adult. I was given free rein, with the request to try to incorporate any or none of the following elements significant to the parent and child: the color blue, water, rocks/minerals, feathers, birds. Within the piece (approximately 32" long and made on burnt wood) is a chip of mica, silver and gold leaf, an iron bird, an alabaster bird, a wooden bird, a crow feather, an antique frame, and several pieces of found wood.
The clients had seen a small piece of mine featuring a tree with birds at night with a full moon. They had a large wall in their home (a beautifully renovated barn) for which they wanted a large artwork (approximately 4'x6'). Their only request, other than that the piece be similar in character to the small one they had seen, was that I try to incorporate a reference to, or image of, horses, as they were horse lovers and had several which they took care of. At the time of this commission I had a studio in an historic building in the same town as the client, built in the same era as their barn. I used wood from my building, including a tabletop from the 1840's, some original floorboards, and an antique cutting board. The tree, moon, and bird are carved into the wooden surface, while a sculpted bird perches on the corner of the piece. The buds at the tip of each branch are brass. and embedded into the night sky are 13 small, round mirrors, arranged in the pattern of the constellation Pegasus, the winged horse from Greek mythology.