No, my painting isn’t suspended from a bridge. It just returned to me for a minor detail.
Mrs. Customer asked if I would put the tiny white lines in the windows because her husband wanted them there. I sighed, and said, “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice!” Then I told her to smack her husband with the back of her hand for me. After that, I added the little lines.
I like happy customers, and didn’t mind at all once it stopped being 108 degrees out. The swamp cooler in the painting workshop can’t cope with that sort of temperature.
Neither can I.
P.S. I may have added a few more details, brightened up a rock or two, straightened an edge, added a blade of grass. . .
The commissioned pencil drawing will have a touch of color, but first I have to spray fix it so that the graphite doesn’t smear into the colors.
Here’s a thought-provoking question for you: Why do I say I work in pencil instead of saying I work in graphite? I don’t say that I paint in “brush” – I say I paint in “oil”. A pencil is a tool as is a brush; graphite is the medium as is oil paint.
Clarity is probably the answer. I’m talking to regular people who say “picher” for “picture”, “prolly” for “probably”, “hite” for “height”, and “gotta” for “got to”. Regular people most likely won’t understand “graphite” as the medium in a pencil. They prolly think it is something to unstick a lock.
Here is the commissioned pencil drawing in graphite, minus the color.
There is a bit of graphite where I’ll put color because it will serve to deepen and darken the color.
Clarity: what’s the difference between “deepen” and “darken” when discussing color? I dunno. I’m a regular person who prolly doesn’t always get stuff. Gotta go, see ya!
Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait.
Of course a commissioned pencil drawing is fun for me. I LOVE to draw in pencil.
When I draw, there are several steps. First, I choose the size and location on the paper. Second, I lay out all the shapes in a light outline. Third, oh boy, this is the party, I shade.
Shading is how things go from a 2 dimensional piece of paper with height and width (in case you were wondering, the word “height” is pronounced “hite”, not “hithe” ) to an apparent 3 dimensional scene. Shading adds distance, texture and depth.
I don’t expect you to be all chills and thrills about this, but you’ve got to admit it is starting to “look just like a picher” as people often say to me when I do art events. Those folks probably say “hite” and “gotta” too. Prolly.
Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait.
I began the commissioned pencil drawing for Found Friend of a view out of the window of a chapel at St. Anthony Retreat Center in Three Rivers. It was pure pleasure to draw in pencil after months of book designing, coloring book drawing in ink and oil painting.
I LOVE to draw in pencil, particularly to draw architectural subjects. A friend and customer once told me that he thinks I am an art-chitect. 😎
This is the beginnings of the drawing for Found Friend.
It was fairly simply to lay out and begin the shading.
To be continued. . .
Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait.
A commissioned pencil drawing is a drawing someone pays you to draw specifically for her. Found Friend asked me to draw a view out the windows of the small chapel at St. Anthony Retreat Center in Three Rivers.
First, I took photos.
Second, I did 2 sketches to see if either one fit her vision.
Found Friend chose A.
Tomorrow I’ll show the beginning of the commissioned pencil drawing.
Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait.
“Commissioned Pencil Drawing” is a straightforward title for a nice story of friendship and inspiration.
I have a friend from summer camp when we were in grade school. We cannot remember the summer we met. We lost touch. She and my older sister became friends as adults.
Last summer I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Happier by Gretchen Rubin. Love her writing, her podcast, her way of thinking. . . for some reason that particular post was so interesting to me that I took time to read the comments. I recognized the married name of my old friend in one of the comments! Her name was clickable, so I followed links, found a picture and recognized her! She had her own blog and a contact button, so I emailed her and she REMEMBERED ME!
But wait. It gets weirder. Would you believe that is the only time she has EVER commented on a national blog?? And it was the only time I have ever taken the time to read the comments on Gretchen’s blog?
We now have a great email correspondence and have gotten together several times. She is a fabulous human, a deep thinker, a thoughtful and kind person, and a Major Blessing in my life. To protect her privacy, I will call her “Found Friend”.
What does this have to do with a commissioned pencil drawing?
Found Friend spent a bit of time at St. Anthony Retreat Center in Three Rivers several years ago, and was struck by a view out the windows of one of the chapels. When she visited me this spring, we went there and sat inside that chapel so she could show me the view because she wanted to commission me to draw that view in pencil.
She insisted that we conduct business in my normal way, no special friend discounts or freebies. This always feels weird to me, but I remember something a wise friend told me years ago: “If your friends won’t do business with you, who will?”
Here are a few photos I took that day.
Small chapel at St. Anthony’sAlta Peak
Tomorrow I will show you the 2 sketches I did for my Found Friend to consider and choose.
Coloring books will be available again on July 1, 2016. You may order, but it will involve a wait.
“Painting” singular, in place, is more accurate. Yesterday I showed you paintings hanging in friends’ homes, friends who collect my art specifically, or collect the art of local artists in general. Some buy it because they love my work and then they become friends, some buy it because they love me.
It’s nice to be loved, and it is nice to have my work loved.
Now, the reason for today’s post:
Before:
After:
Beautiful room, pretty cool painting!
There was a photo of me standing on the hearth next to the painting, but I looked fat, wrinkled, and slightly overwrought. So, we’ll settle for the painting in place.
This is the commissioned oil painting of a Three Rivers home. It was privilege to be chosen to paint this. It was a little bit too hard for me, but it is good to be challenged and to push through the difficulties. The homeowners were a delight to work with.
Is the oil painting commission of a Three Rivers house finished yet?
These are some close photos of detail that I added to the painting.
Step back a bit for the whole view, including the beginning of sycamore leaves. “The beginning” meaning the start of the leafing out of the tree. When all these other things are in bloom, the sycamore is barely showing. That’s why we can peek through its branches and see poppies on the hillsides.
Now I have turned it on its side so I can paint both the bottom and the top of the canvas.
Am I finished with this painting? Is the painting finished with me?
Time will tell. . . that’s how my dad used to say it. I like “more will be revealed in the fullness of time”.
And if I am finished, then it needs a signature, a really good official photo, and a coat of spray varnish.
Hard to tell if anything is different here. We’ll call this the beginning of another day of painting an oil commission of a Three Rivers house. That archway is bugging me, and now I know what it needs.
Too small to see. Guess you had to be here.
Time to work on the edges.
Another umbrella, please! and could you grow some branches on the sycamore while you’ve got that paintbrush out? Oh, before you change paint color, will you plant a few daffodils?
Whoa. This looks a bit precarious. I scooted the painting over as far as possible and then crouched down beneath it to paint the bottom edge.
The list is much shorter now, although there are new items on it.
Paint the middle section of the bottom.
Add more little branches and twigs to the sycamore.
Add the beginnings of leaves to the sycamore.
Spend some time evaluating the details and just nit-pick it to pieces.
SIGN IT!
photograph
let it dry
varnish
let it dry more. . .
DELIVER!!
This painting makes the Oak Grove Bridge waiting oh-so-patiently in the background seem like child’s play. I’m coming, Bridge, just hang on. . .
Can you see any changes or improvements in this oil painting, a commission of a house in Three Rivers?
I keep painting, but I don’t know if it is making any noticeable improvements. A little dab here, a little lighter there, make this darker, straighten out that edge. . . am I just licking the canvas??
A dear friend suggested a few changes in the hills and background trees. She was right. The changes are an improvement. More may be required.
A window now has a frame.
The gravel path on the right has changed color.
Here is what I think remains to be done:
the right end of the house
grow the sycamore
put texture into the gravel path on the right, just some in the closest areas in the sunlight
build the archway
push the hills back farther
lighten the porch post on the left
tighten up the rocks near the archway and add growies
add another umbrella
Sometimes I make these lists, begin an area, and then discover a whole new place to work on.
I thought I was the boss of this painting, but it seems to be the boss of me.
Now I have turned it on its side so I can paint both the bottom and the top of the canvas.
