Ornament Eavesdropping

Working with a customer via email or telephone without any face-to-face time is a great challenge. (By “great”, I mean both large and enjoyable.) Mr. Communicator and I are having so much fun with this process that I decided to share a bit of our conversations with you. The personal and mundane parts have been edited for your ease of reading. Enjoy eavesdropping here!

Mr. Communicator:
I realize there are just a few weeks left before Christmas, but I wanted to reach out to you to see 1) if that’s something you do (we’re not the National Christmas tree!), 2) if it’s something you could do before Christmas and 3) what it would cost. Don’t let this cause you any stress. If it can’t happen then I’ll just give them coal!
The Artist:
Let’s roll!
Mr. C:
While I’d never encroach on your artistic talents I figured I’d point out a few things on the house:
1 – Feel free to trim back some of the shrubbery under the windows and porch and fullness of the trees in the front yard to let the house stand out a bit more.  They probably all need a trim anyway! . . .
. . . 6 – Feel free to ignore all of my suggestions above, as your previous piece of the house is awesome and everything on your site is amazing.
The Artist:
Thanks for the suggestions, Mr. C. When I am chosen to do a custom piece of artwork, the most important thing to me is making the customer happy. So, any and all suggestions are welcomed! That is a frosty looking ornament – bet you had to go to a zillion stores. . . almost gives me a twitch to think of it. I’ll let you know when it arrives, and will photograph the process.
The Artist:
It is here in one piece! It was almost gift-wrapped in a silver box with a bow and then floating in a huge carton of fluffy paper. Whoa!
I was so nervous painting the ornament for the White House because what in the world would I do if I dropped it? Turned out it was plastic!!  😎
I will begin this Monday morning (have a show tomorrow). I’ll try the oil paint directly on the glass and see how it dries. Even if I put acrylic beneath it, it may scratch off, and because it is clear-ish, it will look dumb with a white blob showing through instead of the backside of the painting. We’ll just have to let your folks know it is fragile. . . no fingernails!
Clearly, this has been a long conversation. Guess I’ll leave you on this cliff-hanger and continue the story tomorrow.

Antithesis defined

Mr. Communicator aptly pointed out that the ornament is the antithesis of the mural I just finished. Oh so spot on! The word means “opposite” or “in stark contrast to”.

I’ve tightened things up even more. First, the photo. Second, the list of thoughts.

  1. This thing is almost impossible to photograph. Can’t hold it in the light because both sides are wet; the flash is too reflective and wipes out some of the detail. But, I rose to the challenge, time and time again, both for you and for Mr. Communicator.
  2. It is wet on the back because it has the family name, address and years of living in this house. You don’t get to see that part. Remember, this is a secret operation!
  3. I found a smaller brush!  Must have been saving it for this very project.
  4. I may not have charged enough. On the other hand, I may have overcharged, because Mr. Communicator has had to listen to a fair amount of whining.
  5. Can you see the goose?
  6. Some of the fuzzy/wobbly looking lines are because the paint thickness varies and the light reflects off of it unevenly.
  7. It looks better in person.
  8. Isn’t my fireplace mantel/surround pretty? It is one of the 4 things I liked about this house when we bought it 13 years ago this very month.
  9. Notice the yellow ribbon.

Ornament, corrected

My customer is a fabulous communicator. He has coached me through this project with more detail than anyone I’ve ever worked with before. Sometimes when a customer tries to direct me, I end up confused because the directions don’t make sense. Not here! When the photo doesn’t make sense to me, Mr. Communicator describes exactly what is what. He has told me what is important and what can be skipped.

Still looking a bit messy-ish. The next layer will be better!

Behind a Locked Gate

Last week I got to spend a day in a place behind a locked gate. (It’s always Who You Know.) It was cold, and there was about 20 minutes of sunshine available in the middle of the day. I walked, enjoyed, and took photographs to share with you. You all deserve to share in the enjoyment without having to break any rules yourselves!

It was really cold.

Kind of makes you want a sweater, hunh?

Don’t those frozen drops look as if  you could just unzip the rocks?

You shiverin’ yet?

Very very little snow, only in the shade. That’s why we were able to go there at this time of year.

Starting to figure it out yet?

Be the first to tell me where we were, and I’ll send you a little prize! (Not you Diane because I already told you! And not you either, Cathy, for the same reason!)

Indoor Mural, Day 3

But Wait! There’s More! At the bottom of the staircase mural of Giant Sequoias is an open area with 6 doors leading off of it. Now, each of those 6 doors has its own identity!

Behind Door #1 is the library. Over Door #1 is dogwood, carolinus florida, or, as it is known in Three Rivers, “Karl Opitz’s tree”.

Door #2 leads into the workout room; feel happy and inspired to sweat by viewing these Bigelow Sneezeweeds.

Door #3 is a closet, and those blurry blue-ish flowers are bush lupine.

Door #4 leads to the Crew’s Quarters, and it is graced by Redbud.

Door #5 leads to the Captain’s Quarters, a room for crafts with California poppies providing inspiration.

Door #6 is the under-the-stairs closet and those are (happy sigh, love these little ones) Baby Blue Eyes.

Indoor Mural, Day 2

This California artist has completed Phase One of her indoor mural of Giant Sequoias/Redwoods/Big Trees for some exceptional people of fine taste. They have a particular fondness for these trees, and sell fabulous chairs made from some of the fallen ones (from private land – don’t gitchur knickers in a twist!). You can find them on eBay: Redwood Adirondack Chairs.

One more thing about this mural – it comes with a promise to retouch it if a grandchild goes nutso with a crayon or marker!

An Indoor Mural of Giant Sequoias

This week I began painting a mural of Giant Sequoias in the lower story of a house in Three Rivers. As I painted, it occurred to me that there are a number of advantages to indoor murals.

  1. The light stays constant (this particular wall has no light from the outdoors).
  2. The sun will not fade the mural.
  3. The paint does not dry in my palette from sun and wind.
  4. My skin is not aging from the sun while I paint.
  5. I don’t have to keep changing my layers – too hot, too cold, too hot, too cold.
  6. There is no wind to blow over an umbrella or steal my photos.
  7. Nobody stops by to ask if I am the artist.

Wow, much more of this and I will begin making excuses for not doing outdoor murals!

In the morning, the wall looked like this:

When I stopped for lunch (a quick snack – takes too long to eat!), it looked like this:

At the end of the day, it looked like this:

Secret Ornament, Day 2

The main elements are in place and it has now been hanging by my wood stove for 2 days and it isn’t dry yet!  I can hear my Oh So Wise Dad’s voice in my head, “Whatever you do, don’t panic.” Okeydokey, Daddy-O, but can we get this thing a-dryin’ here so I can get to a-paintin’?

Another odd job

From time to time I get asked to do unusual things with my art abilities. Remember the original ornament? I painted it for the White House Christmas tree in 2007. I wrote about it the following December in 4 parts on my blog.

  1. The Ornament Story, chapter one
  2. The Ornament Story, chapter two
  3. The Ornament Story, chapter three
  4. The Ornament Story, chapter four

A man recently tracked me down via my website and requested that I paint an ornament as a Christmas gift for his parents. I asked him a number of questions about available photographs, amount of detail, and his expectations in general. He answered every question and went to a great deal of trouble finding the kind of ornament he wanted and having it shipped overnight to my studio.

A giant carton arrived via FedEx. It was full of fluffy paper and in the center was a fancy silver box with a purple ribbon. Inside that was more fluff and bubble wrap and tissue. In the very center was this ornament:

Oh my goodness. I hope I don’t mess it up! My customer has great faith in my abilities and I will do my very best on this project!

Remember, it is TOP-SECRET! If you recognize the house at anytime during my showing of the process, DO NOT UTTER  A WORD TO ANY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY!

Thank you. I have faith in your ability to keep secrets. It is not as if this is the World Wide Web or anything. . . right?