Zenscapes

I called them tone-on-tone paintings in the beginning. The first one was for my mom. She had orange walls and I thought it would be interesting to see a painting of an orange flower on the wall, rather then opting for bolder color contrast. I enjoyed how it ended up appearing subdued yet present.

The second tone-on-tone piece was for our guest room. I wanted to do something that invoked a relaxing dreamlike atmosphere. The piece took on a soft pillows floating in space quality. This was quite a departure from the louder more vibrant paintings I had been doing, and I liked that.

Then there was the last remaining unfilled wall at Hyperspace studios. The tiny 640 square foot studio, full of vibrant art, had only one empty wall. Looking at the space I though it would be cool to do something large that filled the space yet did not dominate the room. I thought of the people sitting there for lengthy tattoo sessions and how they might enjoy  looking at a piece with a more calming and tranquil quality to it, something more ambient.

Many of our clients have commented on how much they like the painting, and asked if it was for sale. I felt I could not sell Zenscape 1 since it was painted for that space, and suggested they could commission me to do a painting where I could maintain the same considerations. The first commission was from the Gerbers of New Jersey. Bart and his wife had created a very coordinated bedroom and were looking to collect a piece that was calming, tranquil and a good match for the room. We talked over design options and they sent me a paint chip so I could better consider the wall color and how the piece would resonate with its surroundings.

Then recently I had a commission from Shane Turgeon from Alberta, Canada. He asked me for something that involved a flower-of-life theme, and referenced the photo-painting I had done called Spring. He sent me pics of the space, and we sized the piece to fit over his couch.

I have also done several large scale photoscapes featuring the same considerations for our own private collection.

I’ve been calling them Zenscapes, based on the one I did for Hyperspace Studios. If you are interested and would like to collect a piece from me, click here for more details.