 Colors, Texture & Movement
Commission Paintings inspired by the Great Salt Lake made with the Great Salt Lake.  Blue - the most universally loved color.
Many requests lately for commission paintings including blue. In approaching my work, I always try to chose a varied palette of textures - not only in terms of how they will appear on the canvas, but also how they will contrast with each other.  LIGHT & AIRY
I delight in creating one-of-kind commission paintings for my collectors. This pretty pair flew the coup this morning towards their new home in Hermosa Beach, California. I love the calm, peaceful palette & the serenity they exude. I can't wait to see how they settle into their new nest. Catch the Sky & Morning Flight acrylic & mixed media on canvas 36 x 48 in. each  NEW Partnership Announcement: Close By Me Jewelry
I am thrilled to announce a new partnership with Close By Me Jewelry to bring you beautiful one-of-a-kind jewelry & Memorial Paintings made with cremation ashes.  How do you share a sacred experience without running the risk of bastardizing it? Describing my recent experience for a commissioned painting with cremains (cremated human remains) feels a lot like trying to describe a dream. For the dreamer, the dream is ALIVE. But when the morning comes, the very act of verbalizing the dream makes it seem flatter, limited in depth and scope to the listener. It is my sincere hope that this is not the case.  Sometimes the work chooses you. My latest commission painting was a life altering experience: Painting with cremated human remains. The coincidences had been stacking for years: My reputation for using unusual texture-making materials caused many people to ask me if I had ever thought about infusing cremains (cremated human remains) into my paintings. The honest answer? Yes! But I was afraid of potentially inviting “ill-tempered, disembodied guests” into my life. When a dear friend recently asked me to create a Memorial Painting for her deceased husband, I felt with my entire body & soul that this was exactly the work I was meant to do: to be a gentle guide through the transitional time of death. The fear is gone. I have stepped over the threshold into a new frontier that feels comfortable, natural & right to me. I am in reverence & in awe. This is what it's like to feel on PURPOSE.  In order to really understand a place, you have to experience it. In preparation for 4 large-scale commission paintings I made for a corporate client, I visited Bryce Canyon National Park for the first time. Utah colors are reds, yellows & ochres juxtaposed against a brilliant blue sky. The landscape is other-wordly, reaching, flattened, undulating, expansive and harsh. The texture is rough, smooth, slippery and deceiving. The feeling is that one is very small and the landscape is truly sacred.  4 large-scale commission paintings inspired by bold Utah colors, local landscape and texture for a corporate client in Lehi, Utah.  Raw, rare, and real. Bright, beautiful and brilliant. Deep and high. Forever long and eternally wide. Every color of earth and sky, so perfectly blended and flowing in unison that there can be no doubt, as to a bold design in the works. Utah, A Poem by Smoky Ross  Fear Is A Choice. I have to admit that when this canvas arrived at my studio today, I felt a little overwhelmed. This is a BIG canvas. I am a SMALL human. I feel both daunted by the journey and thrilled for the opportunity and the adventure. I think I might call this my "David & Goliath" commission. |