Master Your Craft

The journey for this work began in September 2023, when Chris Piper and I met at a Central Oregon Business Forum. We had a great conversation and we reconnected at an installation I had at the co-working space of the Work-Collective. When I discussed more of the style of art and meaning embedded in each one, he asked how the process works and began thinking of doing something for you…the clients and community that BBSI serves.

Months went by and Chris and I remained in communication and in July 2024 we met as a team. We were to meet again to discuss the evening where everyone would contribute and as life happens and things come up, our meeting got delayed until Sept 2024. At that point, Chris and I had a Story Inspiration meeting to discuss the intention behind the evening. After Chris shared details of the evening, from food to the agenda, we dug into the details to make the whole evening intentional. I wanted to understand more of what was at the heart of the painting, the true intention. As Chris shared, this evening was about the interdependence of each person that would be in attendance. An experience was discussed to engage the community and get to know the mothers, fathers, wives, husbands that they were interacting with as “clients” throughout the year.

“Master your craft” was the prompt that came up to invite anyone in attendance to get everyone contributing a piece of their life, personal or professional that they might be working on.

After that meeting, I had a follow up meeting with the majority of the BBSI team to explain the Subliminal Story Art process along with showcasing different works that I have painted over the years. During that meeting, we discussed the orientation of the painting, the colors and other details to make the most of the evening.

The evening of the client appreciation came and as I arrived and the tent and tables were being set up, the air was clear after the most recent Mt. Bachelor fire that sent some in the community of Sunriver to evacuate. As the last minute preparations occurred, guests began arriving and the night was underway.

As often happens, after I share the process and prompt, many guests intentionally consider their contribution. After walking through the process with a few guests, where a common and respectable “let me think about it, I want to think about what I am going to write and I’m going to come back,” Chris got the canvas started by adding his contribution of “Culture.” From there, the canvas was started and the night unfolded with wonderful conversations and discussions on “what” they wrote and reasons “why” they wrote it. Interacting with everyone in attendance is always a highlight from events like these.

As the sun was setting and the cool air began to shift, I pulled up a chair next to Dave, a team member at BBSI, who happened to be enjoying the wonderful El Sancho tacos underneath one of the temporary tents. As we looked upon the newly completed subliminal layer of the canvas contributed by all of the guests that evening, I shared that out of a word, or a couple words…in this case, “Master Your Craft” I am continually fascinated by how beautiful how many different ideas, and meanings that each person contributes.

It further shows how beautifully individual we all are and how we ALL bring a unique perspective, one that only each person can make. This ALSO includes those words and phrases that overlap with words other people share…and in that case EVEN the same words are contributed by different meanings which really connect us as humans together.

I got started on the painting a week later and I love reading over the contributions that everyone made before starting. As I do, I think back on the details of the conversations both serious and fun loving and everything in between.

I particularly love painting with oranges, whites and blues and as we were discussing the intention of the evening, I asked about the types of colors the BBSI team felt would be ideal for the canvas and a version of those colors emerged. Additionally, the BBSI Leadership Perspective chart, focused on inflection points would be more of the inspiration for the inspiration for the final work.

Before I added paint, I captured a photo of the Subliminal layer to ensure that each persons contribution can be looked at as a before and after picture and to show how each person contributed to create the interdependence of each person and company represented in attendance on the client appreciation evening. I mixed in “sand” with each of the colors to reflect more of the intricacies of our lives and after I added white to all of the parts that guests contributed. The colors decided were whites, blues and oranges for the work.

I began with white with sand and started by painting around all the contributions, at least initially. As I added in more of the other colors, alternating back and forth from blue and orange, the sand carried a uniform textured appearance. As I continued to work through the first treatment, I reflected on the 4 levels of the inflection points of leadership on the chart Chris emailed me. There were some rounded inflection points, along with some very subtle stages of colors to reflect the 4 levels without making it too obvious. The work was drying and I often like to let the work dry and come back to it at a later time to see if anything else needs added. After, I painted this first treatment I traveled for almost 10 days to visit my parents in Pittsburgh, PA.

Upon returning back in Bend, I decided, the canvas wasn’t done and wanted to add another treatment. I began with a transparent blue at the base of the painting, and shifted to a flatter blue/gray at the top to incorporate the top layer of the inflection point sheet, which after review was reflective of “Culture” and learning from your peers. That color was carried throughout the work because everything that does eventually come at the top was started in some “seed of an idea” at the foundational level. The next color and layer of the inflection point graph was Orange and was carried through some of the contributions from “Fail often,” “Obsess” and “Sharpen the Saw” to name a few. Below the BBSI logo was the lighter blue of Coach, and “Bridging today with tomorrow.”

There are many different levels and layers of the work and often state if your contributions were covered up, know that the colors and final work was inspired by you. My intention with the art created is to reflect a deeper embedded meaning.

At a high level, life is about connection through communication and engagement. Personal and Professional, while seemingly different, are very much intermixed in many ways and that is why this work is named accordingly. I often state that when you meet someone in person for the first time, you are intersecting with them after they have lived a whole life with challenges, triumphs, goals and dreams they are pursuing. Without further ado, enjoy “Master Your Craft.”