I'll Haunt Your House!

IMAGINE... your treasured Halloween memories brought to life in an original spooky painting of your home, haunted just for you by Lewis Lehrman, Painter of Dark™

(This is just one example of over 100 commissioned paintings. Read on....)

Throwing out all the rules for LeeAnn's very special commissioned painting.

The photo at right was among others LeeAnn Z sent. But what really caught my eye was not so much the house, but her photos and description of their outrageously creative annual Halloween costume party! In an instant, I visualized the kind of painting that would portray the party first, and the house merely as its setting. 

I finally hit upon what photographers call a "fish-eye" view, as seen through a very wide angle camera lens, which distorts the perspective to an extreme. This way the only way I'd be able to "push the house back," super-enlarge windows and doorways, thereby bringing the party -- and its cast of ghoulish party-goers -- up front. Way up front! But that would mean throwing out all the rules: of perspective and viewpoint and... well... reality!

Would LeeAnn buy it? There was only one way to find out! I created the quick sketch you see at left, and emailed it to her.

Did she ever! Oh, there was a good deal of back-and-forth as we ironed out characters, facial details, costumes, etc. It was also to be the most exciting painting I'd ever created to date!

As the crowning touch, when the above finished painting finally arrived and its crating and cushioning had been peeled away, I received precisely the reaction I always hope for:

"WOW! I am not even sure what words to use. I love it!! I am so thrilled and so is my husband with his anniversary gift! You have truly helped take our favorite holiday and turn it into a family heirloom!! It will be passed down from generation to generation I am sure! And who knows it could actually become haunted, some day! Seriously, you have outdone yourself! We will treasure this always. I thank you!"