April, 22, 2019 – Honoring Home

On Saturday the commissioned diptych I painted at the start of the year went home. Chris and Bob came over to see the piece for the first time and take it down south with them. Here’s the story from my portfolio gallery:

Chris and Bob are dear friends from when we were regular members of the Fairfax Community Church. And though we are dear to each other, once sharing church community was no longer part of our lives, we didn’t see each other much. So it was a lovely surprise to hear from Chris in the fall of 2018 that they wanted to talk to me about commissioning a painting.

Once we talked, I heard the news that they had made a big decision to move to San Diego County to be near their kids who’ve settled there. After more than 30 years in their house in Woodacre, they were really going to miss it – and the big persimmon tree in their front yard. They had seen my persimmon paintings and thought I’d be just the right artist to capture the spirit of their tree.

We quickly set up for me to come take photos – it’s a short time while the fruit is ripe and there are still bright orange leaves on the tree. Both Chris and Bob were home when I arrived. Bob set up a ladder, and then attended it while I climbed up to where the fruit was. My first photo-taking session was in the early evening and there was just barely enough light coming through the tree to light up the leaves; sunlight does amazing things to their color and it wasn’t quite there. But, by the time I came back a few days later, the smoke from the terrible fire in Paradise, California had drifted down to the Bay Area and I was worried that we’d missed our moment! Thankfully, the smoke hadn’t yet gotten bad enough to block the sun and I was able to get a bunch of great shots in the mid-morning light.

While I was there, they shared their inspiration: the fruit and brightly colored leaves, of course; Bob also wanted to see the craggy bark of the trunk and they would love to have their view of the Woodacre hills behind it all. Using a picture Chris took the previous spring of the hills (because the smoke had taken the blue out of the skies) I went to work in Photoshop creating a collage of all the elements they spoke of. Then the three of us sat together to review and play some more. After one more editing session, giving them three options – one of which was “it” – I was ready to paint. I was happy with what we came up with too – it was my first diptych. We all appreciated that, though they are a pair, each could stand on its own just fine.

Online classes, Holiday Open Studios and Christmas kept me from it; I started in just before the New Year. I painted in stages as I often do: the sky, then the hills, then the trunk and branches, all those leaves and finally the fruit. I’d never taken on this level of detail in a piece like this. Not only was there the texture of the bark and the pattern of the trees on the hills, but all those leaves with their veins! Each part of it was fun and challenging, but I had to work with myself a lot to stay out of overwhelm. By the beginning of March I was done – a bit more than two months.

In the meantime, their house was on the market and they’d moved south. Since, I really wanted for Bob and Chris to be together (with me) to see it, we had to hold off until Easter weekend (2019). And because they wanted it to see it first in person, I didn’t share it online. Other than those who’ve watched me paint it, Chris and Bob were going to be the first to see it.

Easter Saturday morning they came to see the two paintings where I had them over the fireplace. The reaction was worth the wait. Smiles, exclamations of joy and a little tear – affirmed that their intention and my efforts resulted in a piece of art that memorialized their home here for their new home there.

I grew up in this place – the hamlet of Woodacre in the San Geronimo Valley. My mom and dad moved our family there in 1963 before my two younger brothers were born. My mom and dad still live in the direction of the view in these paintings. It feels like the shape of these hills are baked into my DNA. So, though I had played with loftier, spiritual ideas for the title of this piece, the right name was simple: Woodacre.

I always feel gratitude as I finish a painting – to have the privilege to do what I do. But this was bigger, fuller, more meaningful. Thank you Chris and Bob for entrusting me to honor your love of Woodacre.