Category: commissions

Sketchy Decisions

So many pencil drawing commissions are awaiting decisions. I’ve sent sketches and more sketches. Can’t start drawing until I know what the customer/commissioner wants!

2 other sketches 1 cabin 2 sketches 3 other sketches 3 sketches

Sketches, called “thumbnails” or “thumbnail sketches” were required in most of the assignments in art classes, both in high school and college (I went to 4 different colleges – a full-fledged Transfer Student) More often than not, I had one good idea, and the rest of the sketches were just a waste of time, mindlessly fulfilling the assignment. The reason for the sketches was never clearly articulated – just do it because the teacher said to do it. (As a Questioner, I despise that sort of “teaching”.)

Now that I am a professional artist, I know that customers need to see things sketched out because photos don’t do the trick. People also like choices, but not too many.

Too bad the “teachers” didn’t teach us how to guide a customer to a decision. My cynical mind says this is because those “teachers” never had any customers. They only had teachers, giving them time-filling assignments.

COME ON, PEOPLE, DECIDE, PLEASE? Please? pleeeeeeese? I really want to start drawing!

commission pencil work drawing

Wildflower Oil Paintings

Remember these wildflower oil painting beginnings? First, I drew them with my paintbrush.

wildflower oil paintings

Stage two was to get the first layer of color down.

wildflower oil paintings

The real fun was putting in the detail.

Jeffrey Shooting Star

It isn’t often that I get to paint with these colors, and it just makes my heart sing.

Lalalalalalala! LALALALALA!

Excuse me. Got a little carried away with that purplish-pink.

Now I just know you are singing too!

Top to bottom: Jeffrey Shooting Star, Leopard Lily, Foxglove. Yes, I know foxgloves are not native flowers around here, but they certainly go wild!

These are commissioned oil paintings of wildflowers. When they are dry, I’ll sign them, then scan them, then probably wrap and deliver. (It’s a wrap – another wildflower song in the can!)

commission oil painting oil paintings

Oil Painting Commissions

Commissions – orders to make a custom item, following the wishes of the customer.

I’ve been asked to do 3 custom flower oil paintings, each 6×6″. Three makes it easy to find a place to hang, either vertically or horizontally. Or, they can be set here and there without having to locate wall space.

This is a special commission, but I am not free to share the details until some time in August.

Let’s get started!

Foxglove, Leopard Lily, Jeffrey Shooting Star.

I thought I’d just outline the shapes and wait until another painting session to begin the layering process.

I thought wrong. This is WAY too fun to wait!

These look almost finished, but if you saw them up close, you’d see that the paint coverage isn’t thick enough, the details (leopard’s spots and foxglove’s freckles) are still missing, and obviously, the edges of the canvas need to be painted.

The customer doesn’t need them until August 8. I want them to be PERFECT, signed, dry, scanned, and varnished.

I am not a procrastinator. Deadlines are best dealt with head-on, immediately and without delay. Then, if there is a snafu, there is time to fix things. Often there are snafus, but that is another subject for a different post.

Or not. I’ll just wait on that. . .

Inching Along

pencil drawing on claybord

Progress? I’ve been drawing, so something must have grown here.

The gate! I did the gate! With all those intangibles and texture, I needed to try something that had a definite shape and edges.

I set up the drawing and stepped back. It needed a sense of a path beyond the gate, so I scribbled in where it should go. Also darkened a couple of things, which may or may not even show.

The fence boards – I can do those! They have a beginning and an end, with definite edges. They cover a decent amount of real estate on this 16×20″ claybord.

Yea. Progress. Cartwheels of joy.

P.S. I’ve never done a cartwheel in my entire 55 years. It is a figure of speech, an expression of elation. Feel the excitement?

P.P.S. I think this drawing is really pretty, and seeing it here on the blog helps me want to continue it to completion instead of procrastinating and daydreaming about the book I am reading right now.

S L O W

This project is difficult and slow, oh so v e r y s l o w.

I often tell my drawing students, “You can be fast or you can be good. I get to be both.”

Not this time. I am S L O W. Or perhaps it is the claybord that is slow. Or the drawing. Nothing ninja crazy here.

Drawing on clayboard

Want a closer look?

pencil drawing on claybord

The good part is that I don’t have to duplicate every rose and every leaf. The bad part is that I can’t see very many individual roses and leaves, so I have to make up much of it.

Not gonna quit!

On the Drawing Board

Drawing board? Drawing table? Drafting table?

The piece of furniture where I draw pictures using my pencils.

Now that we have that figured out, let’s have a look:

Say what? Is that a typo? “Claybord”?

A customer found 2 antique frames at an estate sale. She loves my pencil work and asked me to do 2 pencil drawings, each one 16×20″ to fit in the frames.

Pencil drawings are on paper and when they are framed, they need glass, mat board and a backing. This stuff doesn’t fit into a frame designed for a piece of canvas.

A handful of years ago (feels like 4, must be 9 because I’m having fun so time is flying), I attended a very fine art show called “The Peppertree” in Santa Ynez, California. There were a few pencil artists, and I remembered seeing one’s work on board, varnished and framed as if it was a painting (without glass).

I called Dick Blick, the big deal art supply company that knows everything and has everything. Their product experts said “clayboard”. I thought that’s what they said. Actually they said, “Claybord”.

Wow, is this ever a challenge to draw on! Super over-the-top ninja crazy smooth and smeary.

On top of that, add in a HUGE size (normally my largest drawing might be 11×114″, multiply it by 2 and then consider the ambiguity of the various textures in the subjects my customer chose.

No problem. I am a pencil expert. Har har har, maybe I am and maybe I am not. This project is sort of a test of my skill on several levels. One down, one to go.

pencil drawing on claybord

Relevant Links:

Peppertree Art Show,

Peppertree Art Show Article

Claybord

P.S. I don’t know what “ninja crazy” means. I heard it on the radio and liked the sound.

One Bridge, Two Friends, Two Paintings

A few years ago, I was hiking with a friend. She wasn’t familiar with the foothills of Sequoia National Park, so I took her to see the Buckeye Bridge. She exclaimed, “Oh my, that is so beautiful! If you paint it, I will buy it!”

Being a realist (both as an artist and in life), I recognized the exclamation as an emotional reaction to beauty, a momentary response rather than a commission to paint.

I also recognized the scene as a potential subject, so I painted it.

Buckeye Bridge 3

Buckeye Bridge, 12×16″, oil on wrapped canvas, $225

When my friend saw the 12×16″ oil painting, she asked how much. I told her the price of $225, and she got all quiet. Then she said, “Oh. I thought it might be around $75.”

Ahem.

Doesn’t matter. I used the painting in my 2015 calendar of paintings called “Beautiful Tulare County”. Another friend who shares my love of art and this area, got all excited when she turned to the May page of her calendar. Her friend’s dad helped to build that bridge, and she commissioned me to paint it 6×6″ as a gift for that friend.

buckeye bridge painting

It is almost finished – maybe a few more little touches and then a signature.

I paint better now. The original painting will get moved into the category of “Do Over”, AKA “I Paint Better Now”. Or, perhaps I photograph better now?

What Shall I Paint?

Have you ever wondered how an artist decides what to paint?

Me too.

What I paint falls into 4 categories:

Things I know will sell
Things I want to paint
Commissions
Reworking old paintings

Category #1 includes Sequoia scenery, anything Mineral King, citrus, the Kaweah Post Office, the Kaweah River, the Oak Grove bridge and poppies.

sawtooth XI

Sawtooth Peak, 8×10, sold (Mineral King)

Category #2 can be flowers, fruit, an experiment, something with great light or a color that makes my heart sing, a gift for someone, or something so beautiful that I cannot resist.

Category #3 is anything a customer has requested, usually paid for up front, and sometimes working from his photos.

Sequoia painting in progress, sunflowers because I want to paint them, Buckeye Bridge as a commissioned piece.

Category #4 happens when I look objectively at a painting that’s been hanging around for awhile (literally) and decide that I paint better now.

Lake Kaweah

Lake Kaweah, or perhaps Kaweah Lake, 16×20, $350, repainted, revised, and revisited more times than I can remember. The constant improvement is bound to catch the eye of a customer. Oh – it is called “Lake View VII” on my website!

Odd Job, Chapter Four

Finally, I got to the actual painting stage of my odd job.

The Blue Moon Nursery got a 4’x8′ piece of very thick plywood, built a frame around it and painted it with multiple coats of white paint. This was a result of walking out to the road and measuring the existing signs. A medium sign looks like an unnoticeable postage stamp when you pass it in a car. A big sign might get noticed. A huge sign is too much for this Central California artist, so we just went with big.

I traced our final design onto a clear piece of plastic and using an overhead projector in three stages of measuring and adjusting. I used a Sharpie marker to transfer the image, along with a square, a yardstick, and a long tape measure. It took a very long time.

Then, I traced it from Side One onto 2 18″ x 8′ pieces of tracing paper, retraced it with a very black pencil on the back side, taped the 2 sheets to Side Two of the sign, and retraced it over the top with a pencil to transfer the design to the sign. Then I retraced the faint pencil transfer with the Sharpie. This took a very very long time.

Do you need a nap yet? Hang on, color is coming!

After a very fun color mixing session with the owner of Blue Moon, I began painting.

First, a small brush to reach into the pointy places.

Then, 2 coats of the dark blue. Next the green. Hmmm, we really like the color of the masking tape with the dark blue.

I can mix that color! (This is actually side 2, after we chose a different blue for the moon and the spirals). The new blue called for a new green.

Check out Side Two, with masking tape blue and light spring green!

This is Side One, with a darker green and a lighter blue.

Isn’t this cool? The owner of Blue Moon and I both are slightly offbeat, marching to the beat of a different drummer, enjoying variety. (After being friends for 4-5 years, we discovered that we were in the same class in the same high school!)

So, we decided to let the 2 sides remain in different (but very close) colors, and then we’ll listen to people’s comments. It is my guess that very few people will even notice the difference.

Thus, I conclude my story of yet another odd job for this Central California artist. It is a pleasure to beautify Three Rivers!

Do you have a preference on the colors on Side One and Side Two? I’d love to hear your opinion!

odd job odd jobs

Odd Job, Chapter Three

My odd job of painting a sign for the Blue Moon Nursery in Three Rivers progressed through the decision making progress.

This combination of type was our first choice. The style of Blue Moon is a little hippy-dippy, loosey-goosey, whimsical (sorry, can’t think of a rhyme for that word). “Nursery” looks solid, professional, steadfast, here to stay.

It needs some decoration, but this wasn’t the right one.

The owner and I decided on the best combination of type and decorations, and then got to the part we both love (both avowed color junkies).

We both love the dark purply-blue, the high contrast with the white lettering, and it is a given that the growy needs to be green and the moon needs to be blue. Color is sooooo fun.

Now what? How will I get this colored sketch onto a 4′ x 8′ board??

Stay tuned!

odd job odd jobs