Art is meant to be discovered.
Giving Back is an evolving public art initiative built on a simple idea: leave something beautiful behind.
Not to sell. Not to ask for anything in return. Simply to create an unexpected moment of connection.
Did you discover the painting, or did the painting discover you?
Every painting begins in my studio. Every discovery belongs to someone else.
I Found One →Why leave a painting behind?
We live in a world where nearly everything asks something from us.
Buy this.
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Donate.
Hurry.
Giving Back asks for nothing. It simply leaves something beautiful behind and trusts it will reach the person who needs it.
The surprise becomes part of the artwork. The discovery completes it.
The Journey
Each painting follows a path. I begin it, but I do not get to decide where the story ends.
Create
Original paintings begin in the studio.
Carry
Every journey begins by carrying a painting into the world.
Discover
Someone unexpected finds the artwork.
Continue
If they choose, they scan the QR code. Now the painting carries two stories.
The story answered back.
I had already begun leaving paintings in the world with no expectation of ever hearing what happened next. Then one day, someone found a painting in Auburn, Kansas and reached out.
I found this at a park in Auburn, Kansas. Is it authentic? If so, can you contact who purchased it and tell them it’s been found? Or maybe it was left there on purpose. I’d really love to keep it if you don’t know.
K.R.
That message changed the project. Until then, I thought I was simply leaving paintings behind. I realized I was creating conversations.
Today, every painting carries a QR code — not to track it, not to collect anything, but to give the finder a way to continue the conversation if they choose.
Giving Back is not about where I leave paintings. It is about what happens after I walk away.
Auburn City Park · Auburn, Kansas
A family place became a first chapter.
While my oldest attended horseback riding lessons nearby, my twins and I spent countless afternoons exploring this park together. Leaving a painting there felt like returning something beautiful to a place that had already given so much to my family.
Kansas Museum of History · Topeka, Kansas
One more story among many.
For more than fifteen years, I have brought my children here to explore Kansas history. This was the first painting I intentionally placed out in the wild.
Prairie Park Nature Center · Lawrence, Kansas
The painting simply waited.
Some places invite you to slow down. Prairie Park Nature Center seemed like the kind of place where a painting could quietly wait until the right person came along.
Waldo Branch Library · Kansas City, Missouri
Less like goodbye. More like thank you.
After college, this library became my first professional home. Years later I returned carrying a painting instead of a résumé.
A quiet companion.
Every project eventually finds its own rhythm. Mine happens to travel in a 1971 Volkswagen Super Beetle.
The Bug is not Giving Back. It is simply the quiet companion that carries paintings from one story to the next.
This is only the beginning.
Every painting now carries a QR code. Each discovery becomes part of a growing archive — not simply of paintings, but of people, places, and unexpected moments.
One day I hope Giving Back stretches far beyond Kansas. Because the destination has never been the point. The next story is.
If you discover one...
Take it.
It is yours.
Hang it on your wall.
Give it away again.
Keep it for fifty years.
Tell your grandchildren where you discovered it.
Or never tell anyone at all.
Every painting leaves my hands unfinished. It is not complete until it becomes part of someone else's life.
Did you discover the painting, or did the painting discover you?
I Found One →