There are eighteen greens at Augusta National — I’m painting each one. Beginning in 2020 with “Golden Bell“, I’m delighted to share the sixth works in my “Masters Series” — “Flowering Peach”, hole #3 at The Masters.

I celebrated Rory’s magical victory, with a painting showcasing a labyrinth of thousands of individual hand-painted swirls, following two pointillism-focused works.

This year’s iteration began with a layer of black gesso, followed by another layer of the “Blackest Black in the Universe”, courtesy of Stuart Semple. This is the same black used in “Neon Girl with a Pearl Earring.” This endless black provided a deep ground, something I haven’t done before. I then applied a quick pink under drawing with acrylic.

First, I jumped into the sky with a slightly larger brush, swirling the paint in semi-circles. The challenge of this series? Creating a 40″X40″ work in four days, with no pre-conceived direction. Where the swirls came from? I can’t tell you. But, I can tell you this — I’ve dreamt in swirls each night since it began.

Next, I began to lay out the foreground, beginning with an electric yellow-green, and a set of orange for the wood-chipped areas.

Foreground established, I contemplated leaving the traps black… alas, the beauty of Augusta National lies in the natural contrast of the sky, tree-line, meticulously groomed fairways and elegant sandtraps.

Accordingly, I painted them with scores of carefully mixed tones to capture the feel. The traps beautifully echo the sky, while accentuating the grass. My next move was to dive into the sky once again, with another legion of tones and a miniscule brush.

Sky re-painted, I then applied the same treatment to the fairway. Shadows on a fairway are akin to a dream sequence… they feel firm, impenetrable… but, like a cloud, you can walk right through them.

Here, the wood-chips were accentuated, and I began the significant task of establishing the tree line. The middle ground represents an important note in the symphony of the scene.

With scores of additional tones, and yet another dive back into the sky, the painting achieved completion. My Father-in-Law, artist Tom Hessel, often says, “one never finishes a work of art, they simply abandon it.” While this notion resonates, I can always smell the finish… which activates what I lovingly refer to as, “the Prestige Phase.”

When the final swirl was painted — I realized it was done.

Here is a detail of the painting, so you can get a sense of the myriad brush strokes.

Becoming snow-blind to a painting is completely understandable. You spend days in front of a work, engaging with a canvas inches from your face. At times, I remove the work from the easel, put it on the wall, pour a scotch on the rocks and simply look. It was late-process I realized the lone tree with the wood-chip base cast no shadow. Instead of adding the shadow, I left it, as it echoed a famous painting I admire.

Van Gogh’s “Night Cafe” is famous for many reasons, most notably, the gentleman standing by the pool table. His legs and shadow vanish below the table, creating an eerie ghost-like figure in a sea of dis-engaged patrons. And so, it was this figure that inspired my tree, which stands alone in the fairway without a shadow.

I’m creating a series of neon paintings based on masterpieces. I find these connections important — which mirrors another creative hero of mine.

Hunter S. Thompson chose, rather than writing original copy, to re-type books like ‘The Great Gatsby’ and lots of Hemingway. His reason? To experience what it feels like to create a masterpiece. In that vein, I choose to re-create master works, and add elements of Van Gogh to a golf painting.