Good Soil - Part 1

I spent the last few months working on another large commission. I thought I'd try to post a couple things from that, and how it progressed.

The painting was for the lobby of a new addition to American State Bank in Sioux Center. American State Bank is one of Iowa's largest lenders in agriculture. Thus the farmer and agriculture were to be a primary focus of the painting.

The owner of the bank, and the interior designer had both seen the painting I did for the Northwestern College Learning Commons, and liked it. They wanted this piece done in a similar style. Below are the original two concept sketches I submitted. I took the sketches into Photoshop and superimposed them on the stone wall where the painting would hang, to give a good idea of the scale and effect they would have in the lobby environment.

After reviewing the sketches, they preferred the version with the younger farmer, but wondered if I could incorporate some livestock as this is also a significant portion of their business. I went back and came up with what became the working composition below.

I'll soon be posting some photos of how the painting developed over the course of the summer. I started painting the beginning of July and finished it the end of August.