UPDATE: This original painting sold at auction for $11,750.00 at the STJ "Deep in the Heart of Texas" Jubilee. All proceeds from the sale will benefit St. Joseph High School.
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I started working on a campus portrait of St. Joseph High School (my alma mater) in the Spring of 2022. I'd asked one of my former teachers which scene, or what context, would best define the school campus theses days--I'd like to paint it? When I was in attendance back in the late-80's, "The Lane" was the iconic part of the then campus--a treelined section of road between two lots that became subject to demolition, and advancement, as space was for new buildings to be erected. With her advice in mind, I drove with my two daughters "home", to visit my mother, and to stalk the campus with my 35mm DSLR--hoping to capture the epitome of present day STJ. I'd say, I did pretty well.
I worked through the hundreds of shots I took that day, and after submitting roughly fifty images to gain the schools input, we settled on one just before school began again in the fall of 2022. Much of the coming months, into the holidays and thereafter, were shared between a local commission and this project. My intention was to donate the painting as a submission into the STJ Jubilee auction scheduled for April 28, 2023. I had time so I didn't need to hurry; but I couldn't sit on my laurels either for time can quickly get away from you on a painting like this. Plus, I needed to find time to complete a frame for it as well as a few other paintings...while maintaining our normal schedules. Kids = soccer, gymnastics, dinner, homework....
But, success. As I write this, I am 5 weeks from the Jubilee Auction. I am looking forward to it.
