Commissions
Live Oak View, oil on canvas 36”x36”, private commission
Listening for the images in your story.
Custom paintings rooted in a place, a person, or narrative
What I make
I work in oil and watercolor on paper, panel, and canvas, at scales from intimate to large. Some pieces are landscapes, some botanical, some narrative portraits that hold a whole life in a single image. All of my work shares a start in something real: a place, a person, or a memory.
I also paint murals for homes and private spaces. For public art and architectural-scale projects, see Murals & Public Work or reach out to talk.
How I Work
1. Inquiry and Initial Conversation
Tell me what you have in mind, even if it's still a feeling: what the piece is for, where it might live, when you'd want it. If it sounds like a fit, we can talk through scope and next steps.
2. Proposal, Contract, and Deposit
I’ll send a written proposal detailing scope, timeline, deliverables, and fee. A signed contract and 50% deposit reserve your spot on my calendar and start the work.
3. Research and Sketch Development
I begin by gathering references, researching context, and developing initial sketches. Then I visit the site or subject to make sketches and take my own photo references, which I use alongside direct observation and the conversations we've had. Projects normally include two rounds of sketch revisions; additional rounds are quoted before they begin.
4. Collaboration and Refinement
Every piece starts from raw material: your stories, your references, and the things you can't quite picture yet. My work is to draw it all together into a single, meaningful image. This process is what working with an artist gives you.
5. Final Artwork and Delivery
Once the sketch is approved, I complete the final artwork.
Final payment is due before delivery.
Case Study: River of Light
The Brief: My clients were redoing their dining room and had a large, empty recessed niche (44 x 84 × 4 inches). Nothing they they had fit quite right. They didn’t have an image in mind, only a request for a dark palette to suit the new room design.
My Approach: They chose the view from the family home on Atlas Peak: the Napa River winding south toward the bay, Mt. Tamalpais on the horizon, and on certain evenings, the water glowing orange at sunset. I added Myrtle, a (real) wild peahen who used to survey the property from the oaks. Six sketches took us from dark and moody to calm and luminous, and once they signed off on the final one, I moved to a custom 42 x 80 inch panel.
The Result: The painting filled my studio wall, with an inch to spare on each side, for two months before it went home to them. Now the niche is no longer an empty space calling out for something, and the dining room feels complete.
River of Light, oil on panel, 42” x 80”, 2026, private commission
the final approved sketch, and me at work in my backyard studio. Photos: Izzi Valencia / Infinity Visuals
Case Study: Until Then
The Brief: A gift from a wife to her husband for his 80th birthday. She was preparing a celebration to honor her partner of many decades, and she wanted an image to give him as a standalone painting that would also serve as the cover of a gifted self-published photo book.
My Approach: As we talked through the project, I asked the client to tell me about her husband and their life together, and she mentioned their ritual of weekly visits to Stinson Beach. I decided to use that landscape to capture the ritual without literal portraiture. I used the couple's actual chairs and umbrella as symbolic anchors, painted from life and from photo reference taken at the beach. The wider scene was kept open and suggestive, allowing the chairs to carry the weight of the story while the surrounding space stayed quiet enough to invite the viewer in..
The Result: The finished painting functions as cover art and as an heirloom object in its own right. It holds the family ritual in a single image that can be entered from many points, working as well on the wall as it does in the book.
Until Then, oil on panel, 16”x20”, 2024, private commission, self-published book and printed cards
the final image as it appeared on the cover of the book
the reference image I took of their actual beach chairs
More Commissions
Looking for the Light
oil on canvas, 2026
A forested view from the client's backyard in British Columbia, painted from their own photographs.
Skating in NDG, 1957
watercolor on paper, 2023
A childhood memory brought back to life, outdoor hockey on an ordinary winter day in 1950s Montreal.
Mayacamas Moonlight
painted wall mural, 2021
Private commission. Moonlit Mayacamas ridgeline across one wall of a nursery in a Napa home.
Pricing
My work is custom and priced by scope, complexity, and intended use. Original illustration and painting start at $2,000, with most projects falling between $3,300 and $8,000. Larger works, layered compositions, and pieces requiring travel or extended development are quoted individually.
Pricing reflects the scale and duration of the project, research and development time, materials and production requirements, and how the work will be used and reproduced.
I provide clear proposals so you know what's included before work begins.
Tell me what you have in mind.
Wild Heliotrope, oil on panel, 8×10, part of the Native Flora of Napa County Series
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