Recently I was contacted by Distinctive Art Source which is one of only two premiere healthcare art consultancies working exclusively in healthcare in the United States requesting a bluebonnet landscape oil painting commission for the National Intrepid Center of Excellence at Fort Hood. The painting is to be displayed in the reception area. When I asked about the size it was to be a 48″x72″ painting and will be under my Byron signature. This allowed me to keep the price within budget.

Aside from working on a couple of murals in the past, this will be my largest studio painting ever! I’m really looking forward to working on this painting.

My first challenge was the canvas itself. The finished work will be shipped rolled. Thus I would need to stretch the canvas in order to paint it, then undo it in order to ship it. Sounded like a lot of extra work. Could it be made simpler? YES!

I found a great product called Genie Canvas. It’s a collapsible canvas. It all comes in a sturdy tube which is reusable and is a rather unique system. No special tools were required to assemble the canvas. Including the time to open the package, laying out the canvas and assembling it took me about 10 minutes.

Here’s a video showing how the canvas is put together.

And here’s my canvas on the easel. You can see part of my sketch on the canvas. It was done so with cobalt blue thinned with Turpenoid (odorless thinner) and a brush. You can click the image for a larger view.

48×72 commissioned oil painting by Byron copyright 2015

The painting you partially see leaning on the bottom edge of the canvas is my latest commission for Sherwood Galllery in Houston, TX. Here it is below.

Spring Unfolding 18×24 oil by William Hagerman copyright 2015

I hope you’ll follow along in the next few weeks as I complete this large commissioned painting detailing it’s development.