Here are the promised scans of the two most recent custom art jobs, now both completed.
Here is Sawtooth.
Here is Yosemite Falls, as interpreted by the Central California artist, working from multiple reference photos in the “comfort” of her swamp-cooled painting workshop.
In case you might have forgotten, I use pencils, oil paint, and murals, to make art that you can understand of places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.
Sales pitch over – let’s get on with it.
A friend sent me this photo of Sawtooth because her mother said she’d like a painting of the signature peak of Mineral King. The photo is a little plain, so we decided that some wispy clouds in the sky and brighter aspens will jazz it up.
Here is the rough beginning of the painting.
I added some green blobs, then moved it into the drying area with Yosemite Falls. I could have kept going, but it was time to head up the hill. And sometimes I just quit in the middle of the day because I am the boss of my business and can do anything I want. (Fall down laughing . . . sometimes the business is the boss of me.)
OH NO! Yosemite Falls is sideways!
This is because the Yosemite friend first sent me a horizontal photo, so I wired the canvas that direction. After she changed her mind, I decided to wait until the painting is entirely dry to change the orientation of the wire. Being the boss of my business, I can do things in any order I want. Sometimes I just get rebellious and live on the edge like that.
P.S. I have good friends who like my art and prove it by hiring me, and I consider it a great honor, although sometimes I wish I could just give it all away. But then how would I pay for this overpriced laptop and all the hidden internet costs? And gas? Oh, food too. . . what about taxes? and YARN???
“Commission” is fancy talk for custom art.
A friend requested an 8×10″ oil painting from a photo she took in Yosemite.
I haven’t been to Yosemite very often and don’t really know it but somehow I knew to ask if this was Yosemite Falls, and doesn’t it have 2 parts? The oak tree in the foreground was obstructing the shapes of the cliffs, and I also needed to know if the barely visible cabin in the lower right mattered.
After a bit of back-and-forth, I went to the World Wide Web, found many photos that showed the dual nature of these famous falls, and proceeded to make up my own version.
Since when have I become such a rogue painter??
Here are the steps (without showing you the photo from the WWW because I do not have permission.) I began the painting in the studio (the reasons are boring), where oil painting does not belong, but I was very very careful. I worked from my friend’s photo on the laptop. You can see that I chose to keep and enhance the little structure, because I am into cabins (hence “Cabin Art”).
The next painting session was in the painting workshop, where it is not a tragedy to drop and spill things. The natural light is better there than in the artificial light of the studio, so it was a much better place to finish the painting.
The last photo was taken with the phone instead of the camera. Neither one is adequate, but will have to suffice until the painting is dry and can be scanned.
Done? That word brings biscuits to mind, or perhaps a tri-tip. “Completed” is probably a better word for a custom pencil drawing.
Because of the influence of my drawing students, I decided to put clouds in the sky rather than oranges or walnuts. (Oranges in the sky? Walnuts in the sky? Riders in the sky?)
Because I love our flag and love to add color, Jane and I decided to add a flag to the drawing that wasn’t there in person.
Because I want the colors to be right on the flag, I experimented on a piece of scrap paper on the drawing table.
Because it is a huge drawing, I decided to sign with my huge name. (When I paint, all I can manage with that uncontrollable paintbrush is “J. Botkin”.) I don’t know why I got into the habit of not capitalizing, but now it is an established habit.
And because it is so vulnerable, just a piece of paper, until Jane and I decide a retrieval/transfer date and method, it has to remain flat on the table, covered by tissue paper. (The drawing has [t]issues?)
The most difficult part of the entire drawing was getting a good photo. It was too bright outside, too dark in the studio, and so no matter what I tried, it had to be photoshopped to be worthy of showing to Jane. It is just too big for the scanner, so all that fiddling around had to be done.
Enough teasing. Here is the Big Old Country House custom pencil drawing, 16×20″:
From 2012:
Since everything looks measurably better in person, I am wondering if the differences are just due to camera variations. I don’t know where the original painting from 2012 is, nor can I find the photo that I used, so this is a mystery to be lived with. Not everything has an answer (Uncle Google may be omnipresent but he is not omniscient.)
This is custom art, Gentle Blog Reader. Custom art works like this:
P.S. My business manager made me put that in the blog. She is mean like that.
I thought the commissioned oil painting of a Giant Sequoia was finished. I photographed it, fixed the photo on Photoshop Junior (because there is no way to hold the camera perfectly aligned with the painting), and even varnished it.
Then I decided to compare it to the one that my customer saw and liked, painted back in 2012.
The darks are darker in this one, and it just looks better.
Back to the easel with my newest Big Tree oil painting, since I can do better, because. . .
Another day at the drawing table, and only 2 photos in progress. Watching this part is a little like watching paint dry, or watching grass grow.
Because of pruning back the shrubs on the left, I needed more photos to show what is behind them. The shrubs on the right are also being pruned in the drawing, so more photos of that side of the house will help fill in some blanks. The very tall valley oak tree on the right is a bit of a mystery too, as is the mass of confusing growth behind it. I can’t figure out the detail on the front door, and the shapes of the windows are confounding me.
A field trip is in order for more photos. Let’s go!
Good thing Jane isn’t in a big hurry for this drawing.
After finishing the 3 small custom pencil drawings of 3 small houses from 3 small photos, my confidence returned to begin the big custom drawing of the big old country house, working from about a dozen big photos, enlarged on my laptop screen in order to see the details clearly, drawing while looking under my big magnifying glass.
Big job. Good thing I love to draw.
These photos represent 2 days of working on the picture.
You can see in the last photo that I pruned the bushes back on the left in order to show more of the structure. It was a little tricky to figure out the size and placement of the window on that segment of newly exposed wall. Working from multiple photos is full of challenges, because I leave behind the security of being able to measure directly from a photo. Instead, I look at one that shows a particular item, put it in the drawing, and realize that I don’t know where it truly belongs in relation to the things that don’t appear in the photo where I got it.
See? Can’t even explain it simply. Guess you’d have to be there.
The goal is believability AND with a piece of custom art, recognizability.
Success breeds success. After finishing the two custom pencil drawings, it seemed easy to just finish the third.
Yeppers. Still procrastinating on the giant pencil commission of the big old country house. Productively procrastinating, because I really do like to finish things.
I started out taking photos so I could show you the steps, but then I got so involved that I forgot to stop and take more pictures.
It would have been easier if the tree in the foreground was pruned before the photographer took the shot, but alas, no one was thinking about the fact that someday, some pencil artist might want to know what was behind the branch. I decided it must have been hiding a dormer window.
There are quite a few erasing tools showing up in those 2 progress photos. I used to think that erasing meant I was just an incompetent artist; eventually I have learned to accept it as part of drawing.
Nothing left to procrastinate with, so it is time to become involved with the giant pencil drawing of the big old country house.
The custom pencil drawing of a big old country house was intimidating, so I quickly completed a smaller commissioned pencil drawing. It went so well that I was inspired, even eager*, to begin the second piece in the series of three.
That big window on the left (a sun room?), the shadow cast by the door overhang, the slightly opened window on the right, a hint of stepping stones leading from the drive to the front door, and of course the car in the carport are the details that add charm to this little house. The only change I made was to straighten out the sidewalk.
This was a very satisfying job. Two down, two to go.
*Have you noticed how many people use the word “anxious” when they mean eager?