Commissions

Many of my clients have special requests… a special view, a portrait, custom furniture, a pool house, the tile on the bottom of the pool.
These are several of the projects completed in the last couple of years.

Brandies Palm - Oil on Canvas - 30” x 40”
Brandie and her husband ate dinner at Merriman’s one night a decade earlier when they were just married and just finished their university educations. Brandie fell in love with one of my paintings looking up into the palms from the vantage point of lying on my beach towel. They didn’t have the money then. She came looking for me and asked if I would paint her one from her favorite beach.

Orange Heliconia Jose Abalo - Oil on Canvas - 24” x 36”
After visiting the botanical gardens near Hilo, my clients wanted some of the lush, tropical flora for their home in the desert.

Piano on the Beach - Watercolor - 22” x 30"
The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival (HPAF) is one of the most exciting events we have annually. It features artists from around the globe. This year, they commissioned a painting that evoked the islands and the magic of the music. The piano player might resemble Val Underwood at the keyboard with his signature hat.

Deb’s Leaves, Oil on Panel, 4 Panels each 66” x 36”
For a beautiful new home at Hokulia, I was asked to create a wall of leaves for a door panel system. The panels were delivered to my studio and over the next four months, I worked on the painting. Was incredible to see it in the open space of their great room after months of having it fill my studio.

Reid n Kat - Oil on Canvas - 16” x 20”
A painting of my friends children as they walked to the beach near their home in South Carolina.

Martha's Pond - 48” x 72”, Painted Paper Collage on Board
Looking for the fish in Martha’s pond… a portrait of koi.

The Proposal, 24” x 36” Oil on Canvas
The championship tee at the Mauna Kea third hole is a beautiful spot, a challenging golf hole and the scene of many a proposal of marriage. This painting was a wedding gift from parents to their daughter and new son-in-law to celebrate the spot where they decided to become husband and wife.

Kaun’oa Wave - Koa Framed Oil on Canvas - 29” x 58”
Kauna’oa Bay at Mauna Kea Beach Hotel is a favorite spot for many of us. Jody wanted to capture the feeling on the waves on the beach in front of the hotel for her home in California.

Yellow Hibiscus - Watercolor on Paper - 22” x 30”
This was one of two watercolors created for a home in Southern California. My client wanted hibiscus and had never been successful at growing them their so he brought them home from Hawaii.

Cathy's Garden
The assignment was to bring Cathy’s favorite flowers from her garden into a painting featuring a ginger that is in a color we wish existed in nature.

Blue Travellers - Oil on Canvas - 5 Panels each 26” x 72”
Created for home at the Mauna Kea Bluffs. At the top of the entry stairs across from the elevator is a long hall. My clients wanted something to lighten up the area and make it feel like when the elevator doors opened, you were looking into the garden.

Where's Bob - Gallery Wrapped Oil on Canvas - 16” x 20"
One of my favorite people ever, wanted a reminder of the winter home he enjoyed in Kohala. His regular spot was to sit in the Adirondack chair in the lush front yard and watch the world go by.

Golden Traveller’s - Oil on Canvas - 3 Panels each 26” x 72”
One of my favorite designers called and wanted a piece for a dining room at a home he was working on in Maui. The piece was destined for an inset area behind the dining room table opposite a window wall with a view towards the ocean. The golden background reflects the evening light as the sun comes in the window in the late afternoon.

Joe's Ukulele - Hand Painted Ukulele
The founder of Jupiter Research Foundation, an organization that launches whale-o-phones every year off of Puako to listen and broadcast humpback whales songs over the internet among many other innovative scientific projects, asked me to decorate one of his ukuleles. The decorations on the ukulele were inspired by humpbacks and their songs. I imagined the sound waves of the humpback songs emanating through the ocean. The sides were roiling waves and the top of the ukulele featured the whale tail that symbolizes what most of us see when we look out across the ocean in the winter months.

Kua Bay from Above, Painted Paper Collage, 36” x 72”
Clients wanted to celebrate their experience of Hawaii and a big part of their experience is swimming and paddling to and from Kua Bay. Their son took a photo of Kua during a helicopter flight, and that formed the basis for the collage.

One Humu, 48” x 48” Oil on Canvas
A client wanted her own aquarium to look at from her bed in the mornings. We picked her favorite Hawaiian reef fish and made a peak into the blue.

The Money Shot, 36” x 58” Oil on Canvas
A dear friend was approaching his 70th birthday and his lovely partner wanted to create a painting of his favorite golf course in Hawaii for their home in Colorado…after touring Nanea with her we agreed that the 9th hole captured the beauty and challenge of the course…the Money Shot.

Waipio Stream, 22” x 30”, Oil on Canvas
Hiking Waipio Valley early in the morning on a clear day when you can peak back into the valley….almost seeing the waterfalls in the mist….one of the best Hawaii experiences.

Brooke’s Birds - Collage on Canvas - 24” x 36”
One of my larger collages was of birds of paradise. Lots of color and excitement but bigger…48” x 66”. Brooke wanted those birds but in a smaller format.

This I Believe Triptych each 8” x 24”, Oil on Canvas
A delightful gentleman from South Africa asked me to create a painting for his 80th birthday titled This I Believe. I asked him what he believed in and he said, I believe in fire, the wildness of the ocean and orgasm. Yes, this I believe!

Winter in Paradise - Oil on Canvas - 20” x 36”
One of the most spectacular experiences in Hawaii is surfing and looking up at Mauna Kea with snow on the summit. A client asked me to create a painting that would remind them of their experience like that at Makaiwa Bay.

Maka’iwa Bay - Gallery wrapped Oil on Canvas - 40” x 60”
Over the years of visiting the Island of Hawaii, the one place that captured the years of snorkeling and diving and playing in the ocean for my clients, is Maka’iwa Bay. They wanted the Winona moored in the bay to be the centerpiece of the living room in their new home at the resort.

Stormy Seas - Collage on Masonite - 30” x 132”
The assignment was to replicate the type of ocean that either makes you seasick or rocks you to sleep (depending on your predilection) for a bedroom. Inspired by the approach that Konen and Hiroshige took to represent the ocean, I created a series of painted papers that would be my pallet both for color and textural purposes and started creating that rocking motion you see in wild stormy seas.

Hedy’s Koi - Collage on Paper - 10” x 14”
Hedy saw the koi collages and loved the stained glass feeling of the work. She wanted something smaller and a different size ratio. Hedy’s Koi was the result.

Kaapulehu - Oil on Canvas - 40” x 80”
Before the Four Seasons resort was built, I used to hike the coast between Kona Village Resort and Kua Bay. Clients asked if I would create a painting for their home at the Four Seasons showing what the shore used to be like.

Joe - Oil on Canvas - 12” x 24”
My dear friend Deb wanted to surprise her husband with a painting of his Rhodesian ridgeback, Joe. Joe and I spent an afternoon together and this seemed pose seemed to capture one of his normal ways to spend the day, keeping an eye on things from his special bed.