I rarely get commissions, I usually don’t like them, but the last few I have got were interesting enough for me to pursue. Former SF natives Jason and Shannon Raney asked me to do a painting of Hunter S. Thompson. Ironically I have been contemplating painting Gonzo – so I told them I would give it a shot. I have never really shared the creative process on my site, and I thought this project presented an opportunity for that. I will be updating you every couple of days on my progress. I am assuming the painting will probably take me about a month or so.

Jason asked me to select a photo of Hunter. Though there are a lot of great photos of him, I felt this one is the best and most famous. After I found it on the internet, I pulled it into Photoshop and enlarged it a bit, contrasted it and smoothed it out. This is the photo I will work from.