The Farm Painting: Start To Finish

Above, the finished painting. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The idea for a special birthday present for Mitch Geriminsky for his 70th birthday came to me last June.

Since his has been great friend since we were 13 or 14 years old and he saved my bacon in Wells, Nevada five years ago, I thought I would have Asya do a painting of a farm. His home is decorated in a farm motif, which is why that was chosen. 

I wanted to have a gate with his name, so I came up with "Mitchell Farms" and have his age as the address number. 

I first sent her this rough sketch of what I had in mind:

 

She then used it to come up with her rough sketches on the layout:

She then bought the canvas in St. Petersburg, Russia:

Then she refined it on the canvas:

During this time, we sent each other photos of different farm and tractor photos we found online to use as guides. I had her eliminate the sun in the layout as it would cause shadowing issues. I also had Mitch's wife Holly in the loop during this process and she was able to keep it a secret.

In July, the painting was nearly finished:

Shortly thereafter, she sent it to me from St. Petersburg, Russia:

As our PayPal, Western Union and other money-sending companies were stymied from sending money to Russia due to the embargo, I was able to pay her for the painting when she was traveling in Cairo, Egypt.

It arrived in Jamestown, New Mexico in plenty of time for Mitch's birthday in October. He had visited here, during which the painting was safely hidden away. Now, it is at Hobby Lobby in Lake Havasu being framed. It should be ready tomorrow.