“Roman Pines: Day” of the “Roman Pines: Night and Day” set was inspired by time I spent in Italy with my family. I originally painted 3 sets of “Roman Pines” in a sketch book and then painted the “Roman Pines: Night” for my first art show in the summer of 2008.  The painting above (Roman Pines:Day)  was painted  for a couple as a commission after they saw another version of it at my first art show, which was bought by someone else on opening night. When I told the admiring couple that the painting was originally a triptych, they asked to see the sketch of 3 sets of pines and eventually went with 2 of 3 of the paintings. The end result for “Roman Pines:Day” of what became “Roman Pines: Night and Day” is still one of my favorite paintings of all time. When I delivered the paintings I told them, “You have to hang them with ‘Night’ on the left, like the song”…it’s the only time I’ve told patrons how to hang my paintings. I still don’t know how they have them hung—I hope they followed instructions.