After raising two children over 30 years, the Hoffman family has placed their house on the market. So, being commissioned to paint their storied home — theFlag House in Larchmont, New York was a special project. To truly comprehend the warm memories of this special place, I had the pleasure of spending an evening at the house, grilling, swimming and chatting with the family.

Here is a video of the entire process…

For this canvas, we decided on a collage-painting, with New York Post Headlines and acrylic paint. If a picture = 1000 words, then a picture with many words must have a market value of at least 5242 words.

Starting out with a brief sketch on the plastic wrap.

Nailing down the directional collage… establishing the underlying visual flow without constructing a cognizant narrative.

Beginning, after a brief Sharpie sketch, with a bright blue… as I often do.

Working top-to-bottom… green in the grass, blue in the sky.

Starting in with some yellow on the house… Even at this early stage, from far away, the form seems somewhat apparent.

Purple in the roof to balance the house… as you will see, I was under a tree and the shadows will creep along with the days.

Still quite early, looking to create a homogeneous balance throughout the entire process.

Bringing in the shadows always begins to shift the plane.

The large hanging tree to the right of the house was full of character, so I knew from the outset it had to be treated differently.

Adding the red in the flag on Veteran’s Day felt like an appropriate measure.

With so much action happening composition-ally, and with the headlines, I tried to cover larger swatches quickly for balance.

Flag blue, chimney and more dark tones… these details are grounding.

Photographic evidence of the process often misses close colors… particularly in like deep tones.

Working on the roof’s tonal variations with two failed colors… a tan and orange… they will both recede into the paintings history.

Far more stable… this painting has reached the stage where the finish begins to make sense.

As the sun fades, the painting and the inspiration, in context… approaching the magic hour.

Adding some hot greens to activate the foreground and bushes.

Sometimes when you are painting in the shade, it is helpful to take the painting into the sun to assess the colors.

Making the turrets turn with two planes shifting colors.

Using my artistic license, I placed the street sign on the front lawn for a direct shout to the location… a clever request of my collector.

And completed! Up next? Several confidential brand commissions, which are ongoing, and another commission in Larchmont. Stand by…