Monument Valley

"Monument Valley" - oil on masonite. I originally did a painting of this scene as a gift to some friends of mine.  They live in a Western state and so since I'd wanted an excuse to a  Western scene, I offered up some choices of photos I'd found after they jokingly asked about me doing a painting for them.  They picked this scene from the photos and so I painted it.  Turned out my wife saw a print of the photo and said "that will look good in the room I just painted", and so had to produce two paintings, and this is the second one.  This one has some additional scenery on either end, to fit the frame my wife gave me (and it's a fabulous frame, perfect for the scene and colors).  The first copy was basically the middle 80% of this one. 

The first copy of the painting was installed in a business lobby.  In my many visits there over the years, I admired the paintings that used to hang there.  Because of some business organizational changes, those paintings were no longer there.  After I made a comment to that effect, it snowballed into a joke that when was I going to do a painting for the lobby.  I think I surprised them when I agreed to do it, as a gift.  This second version I like a bit better only because I like the wider aspect ratio - we refer to it as the HD version.  I wish I had gotten the name of the photographer to give him credit for the photo - I don't like to use other peoples photos but here you have it - I did but I at least applied my own interpretation.  

Then I felt obligated to do something for the lobby where I work.   I wanted a good Florida scene, and eventually picked a photo my father-in-law took, and ventured into the world of watercolor painting.  So far I have not offered it up but if anybody asks I would for sure.