Aerial Commissions
A helicopter flight over your ranch. Fine art photographs of the place you love, shot from the open door. And an original painting of what your land feels like from above.
Start the ConversationThe Only One of Its Kind
For years I photographed Montana from a helicopter with the door removed, my brother Danny at the controls. Those flights taught me how this country actually looks: the watersheds like veins, the sections stitched together, the way a river writes its name across a valley. An aerial commission brings that eye to the one piece of country that matters most to you. Yours.
How It Works
1. The flight. We plan a golden-hour flight over your property. Danny flies, I shoot from the open door. You are welcome at the airfield, and if there is a seat, on board.
2. The photographs. You receive a curated set of archival aerial photographs of your land. These alone hang in ranch offices across the state.
3. The painting. From the photographs and the feel of the flight, I paint your place: abstract, alive, and unmistakably yours. Sketch direction approved by you before paint goes down. Delivered in 8 to 12 weeks.
For the Families Who Ask
Aerial commissions run $5,000 to $15,000 depending on the scale of the painting and the flight required. That includes the flight over your land, the aerial photography session, and the finished original painting, signed and delivered.
My brother Danny is a helicopter pilot, and we have flown photo missions together across Montana for years. We remove the passenger door, I shoot your land from the air at golden hour, and those photographs become the foundation of the painting. You receive a set of the aerial photographs along with the finished original.
Ranches, family land, lake frontage, and mountain property across Montana and the Mountain West. If it matters to you, it can be painted. Flights beyond Western Montana are quoted with the commission.
It is the most common reason families commission this work: a ranch passing to the next generation, a 25th anniversary on the place, a family centennial. The painting becomes part of the land's story.
Plan on 8 to 12 weeks from our first conversation to delivery, weather permitting for the flight. A sketch direction is approved before paint goes down.
Inquiries
Collectors, galleries, and commission inquiries are always welcome. Tell me what caught your eye and I will reply personally, usually within a day.
Your note is on its way. I read every message and will reply personally, usually within a day.