Working on this project for Mike Tyson was so much fun for so many reasons. It really started back in November 2019 when I got a call from Dennis Rodman. It was a Friday and I remember that because I was flying out on Sunday to LA and Rodman called with a very specific purpose. So anyways the phone rings, I answer it and Rodman says he knows I will be in LA and would I do a painting of Mike Tyson and his wife so he can give it to him while I'm out there. At this point Dennis was doing some business with Mike and being the generous guy that he is he wanted to give him something to thank him. Of course I say sure and then scurry to my computer to find pictures of Mike and Kiki that might work as a painting. (48 hours until I leave for LA) I still feel confident I can pull this off and come up with something that they will like. So I find a great image of the two of them and start working on it. Later on the same day I get a called from my friend and agent Darren Prince of Prince Marketing Group. He says, "Pat, can you come to Rhode Island tomorrow? I'll be up here with Chevy Chase and I think you two can work together on some things."

Of course I am not going to turn down this opportunity and Rhode Island is really about an hour or so from my house. Definitely cutting it short time wise but still doable....(rolling eyes, 24 hours till I leave for LA) Saturday morning I head to Rhode Island, meet with Darren who introduces me to Chevy. I hand for a little while and set up an additional meeting with the Chase family for when I get back from LA and head home to finish this painting. (12 hours till I take off for LA)

Now I am at a halfway point on this painting and am finishing it at my home. As the night gets later the lighting shifts and I am just trusting my color palette as I work without natural lighting. 10 PM arrives and I leave it out to really dry up nice for the morning. (7 hours until I depart) I feel pretty good at this point and cant really think much more on it as I am out of time.

A few days into arriving in LA I head over to Tyson's ranch with Dennis and his girlfriend Misty. We walk in through the back of Tyson's ranch and it kind of has an adult playground feel. Real cool space that is large and open. Offices are all located on the outside walls of the room and as we approach the center of the room all I hear from one of the offices is, "Rodman, get in here". It was Tyson.

Entering the office we see Tyson, his wife Kiki and a few other people. Tyson says, Who's this"? (pointing at me) Rodman introduces me and says he has a gift for him. With that being said I unroll the painting....

I had the honor of being introduced to the amazing Burt Young. Burt is an incredible man and a talented artist. I am paraphrasing a bit here but he told me that all he needs is a canvas and some colors and he is happy as can be. After spending some time with Burt and getting to know him a bit I decided to start my painting of him. I pick one of the original Rocky films where he portrayed Uncle Paulie in. I felt this was such a great way to immortalize him and it is such a classic character. He seemed to like it very much and that is my story, I am sticking to it!

I had the honor of creating this Dennis Rodman mural as a giveaway to Dennis Rodman’s fan base.  This giveaway is hosted on www.dennisrodman.com/contest and is signed by Dennis himself.

I’ve started painting portraits almost 20 years ago.  The majority of the time, no matter how accurate I am in my painting, I feel a lot of the energy of the finished piece comes from the composition and the subject of the painting.  Being a huge fan of the Chicago Bulls growing up, I found it amazing to watch Dennis Rodman play basketball.  I can’t think of a subject more exciting to the viewer or more interesting to me as a painter.   Dennis effortlessly exudes all of the energy and excitement that makes a portrait great.  As an artist, I couldn’t ask for a better subject.

One of the highlights of 2012 for me, so far, was getting a referral to paint a mural for John Daly, the professional golfer from Arkansas who won the PGA Tournament in 1991 and the British Open in 1995.

Known as the wild man of golf, John (aka Long John for his strength off the tee) also has the ability of a surgeon with his short game. He is a true talent in the field and a hero in his hometown.

I was referred by another artist to the Golf Channel, who called inquiring about a mural for John Daly’s home.  The intent was to film this process for an episode of the Dave Feherty show.  After creating a composition that John and his girlfriend approved, I needed to figure the best way to paint this piece.  My studio is 7 feet tall and the painting was over 9 feet tall and 12 feet 10 inches wide. The Golf Channel sent a video camera out to my studio to film the entire process of the painting.  I was also sponsored by Faux Effects out of Florida and happily used their paints to create this mural.  Being a Connecticut mural painter for over 13 years, I love painting large murals and enjoy more the notoriety that came with this project.

One of the interesting elements of this mural was that I had to paint half of it upside down due to the height problem of my studio.  So, flipping the canvas around I completed the second half of the mural upside down, using my digital camera to check for accuracy as the mural progressed.  With a flight booked to leave for Arkansas to install this mural, I had ten days to complete the project.  Mapping out how much painting I needed to have done to finish in time, I felt confident that it would be complete in time for the trip.  Calling ahead, I found a reliable wallpaper installer in Arkansas to install the canvas once I arrived.  Arriving at the airport we found that the oversize canvas would not fit into the plane we were taking and had to travel in a later, larger, flight.  I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad nervous about this, but thankfully it arrived safely and I was only asked a half dozen times what I had in such a large package (javelins maybe?).

Making the hour and a half journey north out of Little Rock to Russelville where our hotel was located seemed to take an eternity as we finally arrived at 1 in the morning.  Early to rise, I finally met my correspondent from the Golf Channel, Dave Haas, and the film crew as we headed off to Dardanelle and the home of Golf Pro John Daly!  Arriving at 9 am, we passed the Lion’s Den, John Daly’s golf course across the street from his home.  Entering his home you realize it is a personal representation of who he is, a warm and lived in home.  His daughters were home for the summer and not only friendly but hospitable and extremely helpful.  At the club house we had burgers and met more of the Daly clan, all equally nice and friendly.  A self created compound filled with family seemed exactly like a perfect world to me, one that would make sense as a goal to have from a hugely successful career (or great end game).

To top it all off, the installation of the mural couldn’t have gone better.  Considering all of the little snafus that could come up when doing a mural off site, never seeing the wall it would be on, bring the mural halfway across the country, and installing it with a crew I’d never worked for before, presented so many possible problems.  In spite of my concerns, every step went perfectly and everyone involved seemed thrilled with the outcome!

Hogtied Ham’s – Bar expert Jon Taffer attempts to save automotive-themed Angry Ham’s Garage from stalling out. Rowdy owners and stonewalling city officials are lurking right under the hood.

Here I am with Nancy Hadley from Bar Rescue.  This project up in Framingham, Ma was such a fun and challenging project.  This project lasted nearly 18 hours to complete and the finished project ended up nearly 40 feet wide and 15 feet tall.  To watch the video click this link: Watch Here

Speed painting Grammy Winner Melanie Fiona at Us Restaurant & Lounge was definitely a wonderful experience to be a part of.  I love painting portraits live and even more than that I love painting portraits live when I am allotted only a certain amount of time.  There is something so much fun about having a bunch of people watch  you create a painting from start to finish.

Us Restaurant and Lounge hosted an amazing evening with Singer Melanie Fiona as the headliner.  I had been excited all week prior to the event because I was asked to paint a painting of this lovely singer live at the show.  This I could do!  Walking into the event I didn’t really know what to expect.  I knew where I was painting and what I was painting but what surprised me was the sheer energy in the room.  Entering at 8 pm to set up the restaurant was already filled with over a hundred and fifty guests and they were still pouring in.  Passing by the tables and seeing all the wonderful meals got me a little hungry so I had a pre-painting meal of Salmon Wellington cooked to perfection.  I started painting around 1030pm, not too long after I could hear some commotion behind me and there she was in the flesh.  Melanie Fiona was standing there with a huge smile on her face that was more than just contagious she was amazing.  She was so nice and gracious.  After a few words back and forth she had to go up on stage and do her thing.  It was when she started singer that I was completely blow away.  It was definitely a bit surreal painting a picture of this talented musical artist while she is on stage not to far from me singing.  I have to say that if you are going to paint a live painting I recommend painting a singer while they are singing!  Once she completed her set she made her way back to the painting and shot some pictures in front of it and was good enough to sign it.  What really made my day was seeing later that she gave me a shout out on Twitter and Instagram.  Now that is cool!