Custom Pencil Drawings

These are all examples from a whole lotta years at the drawing table. (Yes, I know — “a whole lot of”, but I also like to say “prolly” and “liberry” and “remorial building”).

I’ve been a long time admirer of this house and was thrilled when the owner asked me to draw it. I took many photos, looking for the best way to depict this gem.

This was a collection of favorite memories of a couple’s trip to Ireland, working from many photos that they provided. The challenge was how to put them all together.

The customer provided all the photos for these. I pushed back against the portrait; the customer said that a likeness wasn’t necessary. Good thing, because likenesses are impossible to guarantee, especially at this size.

I love to draw in pencil; however I also use…

…oil and murals to make art that people understand about places and things they love for prices that won’t scare them.

Deep Thoughts About Custom Art

This photo of Moro Rock and Alta Peak is not current – it is wishful thinking.

Seth Godin says “Humans are lonely. They want to be seen and known. People want to be part of something.” Or as Anne Lamott puts it, “Everyone is screwed up, broken, clingy and scared.”

Seth also says, “People don’t want what you make. They want what it will do for them. They want belonging, connection, peace of mind, status.”

Further, “Create experiences. Using a product, engaging with a service, calling customer service. Each of these actions is part of the story; each builds a little bit of our connection. Offer these experiences with intent, doing them on purpose.”

He is all about marketing, and speaks and writes with great abstraction. I try to apply what I hear him say to my art business, and finally, in these words, I think I can gather some practical advice. Let me translate:

  1. People need to be shown kindness and treated as if they are significant (because they are).
  2. Custom art commemorates and legitimizes, celebrates and pays tribute to the things that matter in people’s lives.
  3. Spending time to hear someone’s stories, look at his photos, listen to what matters to him, take more photos, make sketches, and involve him in the process gives the customer an experience to remember, one that validates the things that are most important to him.*

Does this make you want to hire me to make a custom painting or drawing for you?

I use pencils, oil paint, and murals to make art that people can understand, of places and things they love, for prices that won’t scare them.

*The masculine pronoun is intentional here; in this context it means all humans, regardless of biological gender. “They” is a plural pronoun, and I am speaking of a theoretical singular customer here, “someone” and “the customer”. This blog does not cave to current trends.

Anniversary Dogs

A thoughtful mom commissioned me to draw a pair of dogs for her daughter and son-in-law’s anniversary. She videotaped them opening the gift, and while I cannot put that on my blog, I can show you the dogs.

The daughter sent me this message: “Jana!!!!! I love love love the portraits of Charlie and Maggie!!!!! Thank you so much!!!! You captured their expressions brilliantly!” (I might have gotten the number of exclamation points wrong in the quote).

You are so welcome, K & F!! It was a pleasure, especially because we are friends AND because you stopped by the studio when it was on the table. It was in a folder, so I knew you wouldn’t notice it, but your mom was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

In case it has slipped your mind:

I use pencils, oil paint, and murals to make art you can understand of places and things (and sometimes pets) that you love at prices for won’t scare you.

A Day at the Easels

Forrest’s Dream Cabin was ready for more work, so I flipped it over in order to reach the mountainside at the top of the 30″ canvas.

After finishing the mountainside, adding more detail to the distant chapel, straightening out the roof, adding more stilts and a railing, I put in a few windows and turned the lights on inside. Suddenly, I froze and was assaulted with “Yikes, this is too hard”, and “What do I think I am doing here??”

The cure for that is to go pull weeds.

Then I moved on to an oil painting where I KNOW the subject matter*.

That’s more like it. I know what I am painting and can just start at the beginning and finish at the end. With Forrest’s Dream Cabin, I am just fumbling along, so it is slow, requiring much thought and time. Forrest is not in a hurry, is appreciative and easy to work for.

Here are two last thoughts (visual thoughts): *Mineral King, of course

Forrest’s Dream Cabin Flipped

Last time I showed you this oil painting commission it looked like this:

In this session, I began working on the water, first measuring to be sure the horizon line is horizontal. Then I repainted the water. This erased the hint of stilts that the cabin was resting on; now it is floating. 

I kept studying the photo until I discerned a hint of shadows and reflections from the cabin.

Then I started adding more detail to the snow covered trees. 

This is how it looked at the end of the painting session. As I add the detail, I realize that much is hidden in shadow or behind undefined blobs on the photo.

So I turned to the Duck! looked up the name of the lake on DuckDuckGo and found many photos to study for better detail. Turns out that this version has been flipped horizontally. Forrest doesn’t need me to copy the photo exactly because he is looking for a particular feeling that the scene evokes. However, I do need help to put something in place of vague black blobs, so I will just inch along, making decisions with each indistinct item and area.

Pippin is also flipped.

Forrest’s Dream Cabin Again

The title of this commissioned oil painting is Forrest’s Dream Cabin, so it is imperative that I move it from nightmare to dream status. Here is the next painting session of step by step improvement.

  1. Sky first, painted upside-down for easier reach.

2. The colors on my palette look so dull.

3. Water next. I could reach this part right-side up.

4. Mountain and foreground branches

5. I want to start drawing with my paintbrush on the cabin detail, but I think the water and background mountain will need more layers first.

The colors are so much duller on screen than in real life. Forrest said, “it’s like a ghostly cabin is emerging out of the scene, nice!”

P.S.This is not a houseboat; it is a cabin on stilts in a lake in Northern Italy.

Forrest’s Dream Cabin

My friend/customer/web designer Forrest requested a large painting of a cabin. He searched for several months, until he came up with a photo that he declared to be “IT”. Alas, he was not the photographer, and I just can’t be copying people’s work without permission. 

No no no no, I can’t copy no more, I’m scared of waking up in the courts. No thank you, please, it only makes me freeze (with fear), and then it makes it hard to face the Lord.

Forrest contacted the photographer and got permission!

So, I started. He said it would be fun to see the progress, and I decided to include you all in on the fun. I also told him to not be scared, because they all start out ugly. Forrest’s Nightmare Cabin, perhaps.

Yeppers, it is sideways. Easier to reach the top of this 20×30″ commissioned oil painting. Remember, 

I use pencil, oil paint, and murals to make art that you can understand, of places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.

(except that the beginning stages might scare you.)

Told You I Was Still Painting

Lest you worry that I am spending too much time taking walks, visiting friends, admiring daffodils, and weeding my baby poppies, here is some evidence of forward motion toward completing the paintings needed for the upcoming show Still Here at Arts Visalia in April.

Lots of detail, little buildings, random trees, empty lots, all the hard-to-see and hard-to-paint things remain.
Commission, as last seen
Commission, almost complete.
This Springville Ranch has been waiting patiently for more paint.

All finished except for the drawing of detail, my favorite part.

It was getting dark, so it was hard to see the right colors and the detail. Plus, the cats were ready to reclaim their home/jail/safe space for the night.

More on the Gift Exchange

As a thank you gift for a gift of oil paints, brushes, and an easel, I am painting a Karmann Ghia.

No, not painting a car, making an oil painting of a Karmann Ghia.

This is for a former drawing student, and because my students and I always tell each other the truth about our art, I asked him to tell me if the painting was finished. 

In the photo he sent to me, there was a piece of chrome missing from the door. I wasn’t sure what he was referring to, so I took a close up photo of the door on the painting to ask.

He replied with another photo of the car. (I deleted it before remembering that you might want to see it.) 

Aha! I fixed the painting.

This received approval, but I told him that I think oil paint is so wobbly compared to pencil. It is. The canvas has texture, the paint doesn’t often flow smoothly, and the brush hairs go rogue. But I keep trying to make my paintings look as good up close as they do from the back of a fast horse (or across the room).

I touched up the sky, brought the painting into the house to dry, and then scanned it.

Karmann Ghia, 8×8″, private collection

Another one of my drawing students asked me why I painted it so small. BECAUSE IT IS FREE! Besides, when you give someone a piece of art, it isn’t wise to assume they will love it as much as you do or that they might have space for something large.

Gift Exchange

One of my long-time drawing students took as many art classes as he could cram in for several years at the local junior college. (Sorry, not sorry – “community college”) He completely immersed himself in art until suddenly, he was finished. Done. His interests moved into mechanical subjects, and currently he is immersing himself in all things automotive.

A few weeks ago he asked me if I’d like to have his oil painting supplies. REALLY??  Yes, please! What a generous gift!

So, I decided to paint a gift for him. 

It isn’t quite finished because it needs me to draw with my paintbrush in order to reach the level of detail to do justice to his Karmann Ghia.

Yes, I still have paintings to finish for my upcoming show, Still Here. 

But, in spite of those necessary paintings for the show, I am still. . .

. . .using pencils, oil paint, and murals to make art that people can understand of places and things they love.