I was asked to paint a specific site for these but was given a lot of latitude to decide what I thought was best. A few were given as presents. I like being an important part of that connection and especially hearing later that the recipient cried when he or she saw my painting – always a good sign.
After I have looked at a property for a long time, in order to do a painting, I tend to see that house or land as being nearly a friend, someone I have known, something I might have some private insights about. It’s hard not to feel a little attachment of some sort. The actual Hawaiian shirt that I painted this picture of, is in my studio somewhere and when we cross paths, we seem to know each other.
The aerial painting is of a part of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The departing president had made the construction of those scientific buildings a centerpiece of his tenure in that office. So I hired a pilot who flew me around and around above the campus, until I had the right angle and light for a painting.