Sisters

This was a portrait of 3 sisters.  Their mother thought it would be fun to have them in the middle of a field of wild daisies.  I have to admit that it was a great idea!  I enjoyed doing this one.  It has a natural kind of "summer magic" in it.....  I can almost feel the warm breeze.  The girls were awesome and great to work with.  I think I took several dozen snapshots to work from and because I'm not a great photographer I must have worked from almost all of them to achieve the look that I wanted!

Aiden

This is Aiden.  His parents were good friends of ours when they lived here in the Avenues.  They now live in Southern Utah.  I've done several commissions for them, this was the first.  Aiden is such a cute little guy!  I enjoyed doing this one and everyone seemed pleased with the finished piece.

Father & Son Fishing

This was a fun one to do.  The woman who commissioned me to do this was a co worker and had seen some of my other portraits.  She surprised her husband with this for Father's Day.  He was very pleased and cried when he saw it.....  I like the way it turned out.

Mitch & Jana

This was a wedding present for my older brother Scott's son.  Mitch was born while I was on my mission and has turned out to be a wonderful man, husband and father.  His wife Jana is a beautiful red head and is a twin!  Anyway, they really liked it and I was happy to do it.

Melody & Madeline

This is one of my favorites.  Of course that may have to do with the fact that it's of my oldest daughter Melody - who I think is absolutely beautiful in every way- and my granddaughter Madeline - also beautiful.  Madeline is half chinese and we all think that she looks like a beautiful china doll!  

Devan, Amelia & Garrett

A good friend of ours commissioned this piece of their 3 children.  She loves it and says that people comment on it all the time.  It's on display in her living room and has become a cherished piece of history for them.  She told me that if there was ever a fire in their home that this would be the first thing that she'd grab (after her kids of course).  It was fun to have them on the bench together, I think it has a fun kind of interaction going on between them.  

Wankiers

This was the second commission that a client had me do.  She liked the portrait I had done of her children several years earlier so much that she had me do this one as well.  I liked the way it turned out.  She has a beautiful historic home in the Salt Lake Avenues and has this displayed in her entry way!  I'm very honored.

Leaman - Li'l Cherub

This is our son Leaman as a little angel boy.  He was a very cute little guy.  He was less than a year old and not walking yet.  I remember that I had to have Tammy hold him up like this, so I had to take out her hands....  I added the floating ribbon so he wouldn't kill me when he got older.  He thanks me still.  ;-)  Tammy really liked this one.

Freed Children

Back before my children "left the nest" I decided to do a portrait of all of them together.  Because of the large age span between the 2 oldest and the younger 3, many people when first seeing this portrait mistakenly think that it is of Tammy and I with our 3 younger kids.  It isn't.  Melody is the oldest (almost 18 at the time), Joseph was 16, Phyllis was 6, Leaman was 4 and Lydia was  just under 2.  This snapshot doesn't show it very well, but I really liked the way the finished drawing turned out.

Lydia as a Fairy

This was a fun one to do.  Tammy loves collecting fairies and if you've ever been to our home you'd see that they are evident all over the place!  ;-)  We have quite the collection.  So when Lydia (our youngest child) was still quite small I thought it would be fun to do a sketch of her with a couple of fairy wings.  Tammy was very pleased.

Dad & Baby Phyllis

Believe it or not, this is me!  I did this right after I did an oil painting of Tammy (my wife) with Phyllis.  I guess I was kind of jealous and wanted one of me with her as well.  I was also just getting into exercising and felt kind of proud of the physique I was building.  I had seen several photos at the time with Dad's and baby's that kind of contrasted the male physique with the small softness of an infant.  I thought they were kind of cool - so I tried to do one like that of us.  Don't laugh at my hair - it was very much in style!  My kids tease me about it now.  And another thing - I DID have pants on.  It looks like I was naked, but I was not -so don't get any perverted ideas.  ;-)  I did like the way the lighting turned out.  And of course I think that Phyllis was very cute.  She was only a couple of months old.  (she's turning 16 now!)

Chase

This is Chase.  I knew his father from work, who had seen some of my portraits.  He decided that he wanted one of both of his sons to give as a surprise Mothers Day gift to his wife.  I went over to their house when she wasn't home, took about a dozen different shots of both sons and then came up with these portraits.  

Alex

This is Alex.  His Dad had me do this in addition to one of his brother Chase.  Nice boys.  His Dad was very pleased. I heard that their mother broke into tears when she saw them because of how happy she was with them.  That made me feel like it was definitely worth the effort.  I love hearing things like that!

Piper & Dave

This is a portrait commissioned by a great couple.  They are friends of my in-laws and saw some of my work in their home.  They first commissioned me to do a portrait for their son and his fiance as a wedding gift for them -which I did.  They liked that one so much that I ended up doing portraits of their 3 sons together and then one of them! (this one)  I really enjoyed working with them and loved seeing the one of their son & new daughter-in-law framed fantastically and displayed at their wedding reception.

Cheryl & baby

This was a commission for a young woman by the name of Cheryl.  This was her first child and it was a pleasure doing this for her.  I loved the way that it turned out!  I took about 24 photo snapshots and worked hard to get just the right look.  (I'm not a very good photographer)  Anyway, she loved it and I loved doing it!

In memory of Seth

This is a portrait of Seth Buhr.  He died tragically in a hiking accident.  He was my son's best friend and he was with him at the time of the incident.  You may have heard of it.  It happened 3 years ago in the spring at a place called Donut Falls.  Seth was a wonderful young man and loved by many......  His parents loved the portrait so much that they displayed it at his viewing and funeral.  They also had it put on his grave stone.  I was very honored.  They later had me do portraits of their other 2 children as well.  

In honor of my Mother

My mother passed away suddenly on Christmas Eve this past year.  She died of bone cancer that we didn't even know about until 6 days before she died.  It was very difficult to lose her.  I was always very close to her and contribute much of my success as an artist to her loving encouragement.  I wanted to do something special for my father when she died in tribute to her.  I decided to do a portrait of the 2 of them together.  I portray them about 20 years younger than they are now -as it is how all of us remember them most.  It was during the time when most of the family was still living together at home.  My older brother and myself were the only ones old enough to be out of the house and on our own.  Anyway, my mother was one of my very closest friends and I hope I caught the sparkle in her eyes and a sense of her beautiful essense and positive attitude.

Ames Children

This was done for the Ames Family.  They wanted one done of all of their children together.  I worked from about 24 different photos I took -choosing the best elements from each.  They were very pleased.

Joseph & Sheila

This was a portrait done as a wedding present for Joseph & Sheila.  It was taken from several different snapshots.  The end result was very well received and displayed at their wedding reception next to the guest book.

Wedding Memory

This is a portrait for my parents in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary.  It was a great surprise for them and very well received.