Gene’s Bayou

Wow. It’s been just slightly over a year since I last posted anything here. I’ve been really busy but at the same time not really feeling like writing about anything. It’s my fault. There is something I’ve wanted to write about but not wanted to write about at the same time if that makes any sense at all. It probably doesn’t.

Earlier this year I was commissioned by Greg from Gene Cox Grocery to design a logo for a restaurant he was starting and to also paint a large digital painting to put on the wall near the front entrance. I haven’t done a commission in quite some time, and I haven’t really wanted to. But, since it was Greg I agreed. The restaurant was to serve steaks, catfish, and shrimp — typical Louisiana cuisine. I was given little direction as to what to do with the painting other than it should be a bayou scene. Above is what I painted. It is 6 ft. × 3 ft. (1.8288 m. × 0.9144 m.), and is by far the largest thing I’ve ever done. It’s painted digitally to that size at 300 d.p.i. (118.11 d.p.cm). The painting took me about 2.5 months to complete after the initial sketches and color study were approved. I had to send it off to be specialty printed at the quality required, and Greg had to use the carpenter he used for remodeling the restaurant to build the frame for it.

I wanted to get a picture of it, but while it was hanging in the restaurant I was in Canada. Greg received and accepted an offer to purchase his entire restaurant and attached grocery. He immediately took down the painting, not wanting it included in the purchase. I’ll eventually get a picture of its hanging. Sadly I didn’t get to see its hanging in the restaurant itself.