This 27-foot wide mural is essentially a hand-painted reproduction of one of Jonathan’s signature pen-and-ink drawings. There is a backstory to the image that inspired this job: In 2014, Jonathan was commissioned to do a sketch of the Flatirons for a fellow who wanted ‘the view of the Flatirons from his bedroom window’ for a tattoo on his inner arm. So Jonathan went to this fellow’s house, stood in his bedroom, and completed a drawing of the flatirons, which he indeed turned into a tattoo for his arm. Jonathan put an image of the drawing on his website for archival purposes. Nine years later, in April 2023, Spire Design and Construction contacted Jonathan to inquire if he could reproduce that drawing of the Flatirons in the leasing office of the Heights, a multi-family residence in Broomfield, CO., that they were remodeling. Spire’s head designer, Melanie Campbell, came up with the idea to add a distinctive work of art In July, and reached out to Jonathan. Jonathan gave Spire a formal bid, and the go-ahead was given to start in November 2023.

To get more reference material, Jonathan checked with the friend for whom he had done the original drawing, to see if he could make another slightly larger study of the flatirons from the original vantage point of the bedroom window. The gentleman grumbled about a new building now blocking his view, which indeed was the case. Jonathan discovered that the building blocking the view had a rooftop balcony. He researched who owned the property, and inquired as to whether he could come and do a new drawing study on top of their building. The owners agreed, and a much bigger sketch was produced, which helped in the final execution of the mural.

The Heights Mural took Jonathan a full 10 days of work to finish. It was completed on November 28, 2023.