One of a pair of paintings of decorative fantasy ancient ruins created for a generous local interior designer who helped me while I was in art college by buying or commissioning pieces from me.

See also Ruins #1 Image # R0002.

One of two decorative pieces or imagined ruins, which I painted for a kindly local decorator when I was still in art school. This was his way of helping me along and I did, and still do, appreciate his generosity of spirit. His widow returned them to me after they closed their business doors many years later.

I had done some window dressing for this small shop while I was still in high school. When I consider now all the support and opportunities that came my way from local merchants to display my work, I realize my enormous good fortune.

This montage represents the many areas of social services provided by K-W Habilitation Services. I was introduced to this organization by one of my customers who was a big supporter of this worthy group that was first supported by the Kinsmen Clubs in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.

This wonderful organization does so many things to aid the less fortunate that the process proved to be very challenging. Using a mountain of photos from their various activities over the years, I contructed the painting for their boardroom. This piece was paid for by a friend of the organization.

Working from a black and white archival photo, I attempted to build a convincing portrait of this original shop that was the start of the Schneider fame and fortune.

Maple Grove School is a pretty and historical building. This painting shows how the building looked in the 1800s without a modern addition.

I travelled to Quebec’s Eastern Townships to meet this man and his steed. Commissioned by his company, the one that built Vancouver’s Sky Train, this piece showed this important French business leader enjoying his country estate.

This is the original Kelman farmhouse. I wanted to show some agricultural activity to emphasize that use of this land which is now carved into estate lots.

All the commission works that I produce contain many personal references to the commissioner’s past. In this painting, high on the list of “must haves” was a forceful reference to the International Truck dealer in St. Agatha. In my experience it is unusual for a customer to pay such a tribute to his supplier from many years ago. I think that Vernon’s insistence on such a major inclusion says much about the man and the values that he places on personal connections.