A few months ago Steve Hitz and his wife Ginger came into my studio. In my last years of high school in Byron, Wyoming, Steve's Grandpa, Chris Hitz lived next door and Steve and his family lived a couple of hundred yards down the same road. I think Steve was in 4th grade the year I graduated. His older brother Mike and I lived in the same house for a short period of time in college at BYU.

In my studio looking at paintings Steve and Ginger recounted a very short version of their family and business lives. They raised 5 children and built a tremendously successful business. There is much that I don't know (well maybe I should revise that to: there are a FEW things that I don't know) and what their company US REPORTS, INCORPORATED was one of those things. The business has to do with helping insured businesses safety concerns and loss control efforts. They built it into a huge national corporation, sold it and are now involved in mentoring entreprenures by teaching correct principles. Steve, along with James W. Ritchie have written a great book entitled "The Ministry of Business; how correct principles magnify buisness success".

Since Steve and I both grew up with the dramatic Prayer Rock with the Lincoln Head perched near the top, I was very pleased that he and Ginger commissioned me to do this painting.

Scroll down to see how the painting started and the progress it made.