Commissions

#12 in the series “Thoughtful Thursdays”


Commissions are one of the most necessary pieces of the art career patchwork quilt. Not every artist is willing to draw or paint to a customer’s specifications. Some believe it is too commercial or compromising. Of course it is commercial – this is how I earn my living! Compromising can mean the acceptance of standards that are lower than is desirable, but I believe the artist still has control over the piece and doesn’t have to make work that discredits a professional reputation.

The process begins as do all custom undertakings – with a conversation. Clear communication is essential for happy customers. I listen to the potential client explain his idea or vision.  I listen to his description of the subject and recommend the medium based on my experience.

If the customer wants a picture of his house, I almost always advise pencil because such a high level of detail can be achieved. If the subject is scenery and color is the reason for the request, oil is the obvious choice. In portraiture,  I recommend pencil because it provides the best chance to capture a likeness. Portraiture is tricky – I can get all the features in place and accidentally draw the guy’s cousin! If it is a view of someone from the back, oil paint works well to capture the stance and the light.

To become familiar with the subject and avoid copyright problems, I take my own photos.  The customer often provides snapshots or emails digital photos to me. Occasionally I have been known to say that I need to visit the place and see it with my own eyes. No one has actually offered air fare to Cape Cod, Montana or even South Africa, but it hasn’t been for lack of effort on my part!

After taking the photos, I narrow the selection down to two or three choices. If the customer has asked for a collage, I provide several sketches. Occasionally the customer will say the magic words, “You’re the professional” which means I get to choose the design I like best.

Some customers enjoy seeing the piece in progress; others prefer to just see the finished work. This is another area that should be discussed and decided at the beginning of the project.

Deadlines are also very important to establish. I’ve been asked to do things on impossibly short notice and also on possibly short notice. Either way, I am honest and don’t promise things that I can’t deliver. Unfortunately there is a terrible reputation for flakiness in my profession, so I make it a point to finish on time or earlier.

Accepting commissions is a way to establish collectors and credibility. The artist has been selected for the job because of a consistent style and a reputation for reliability. Best of all, commissions are rewarding because there is an eager customer waiting at the end of the project.

What you want to see

After I got over the thrill of drawing what was really in front of my eyes, I began to want to make better pictures. Real life is messy; artists get to clean it up. It takes practice to draw what isn’t really there, to make up a tree that you didn’t see, to show the edge of the porch that was previously hidden, to work from multiple photos taken from slightly different angles. It is almost impossible to work from photos taken at different times of day from different distances and at different angles. This often requires the skill of a mind reader, and I have learned to say no to some of these requests. But to a certain degree, I can create what we prefer was there.

When someone asks me to draw a house and provides a perfect photo, I have been known to ask why they want a drawing when the photo says it all. The answer is usually that pencil is so beautiful. This is a thrill to my little pencil-loving heart!

Here is the main photo of Farewell Gap again:

Here is a painting in which I scooted things ever so slightly to suit myself.

If you are standing on the bridge at the end of the road in Mineral King, you are probably just in awe of the view. Your brain knows there is a stream underfoot, a cabin sort of close, and Farewell Gap in the distance. Not very many people outside of careful photographers ever realize that there is no place to stand where all three line up for a complete photo! So, when I draw or paint this scene now, I make the necessary adjustments. Until this blog posting, I have never admitted such treachery and deception in recordable form!

And here it is in pencil from 2005 when I really started becoming bold about deceiving the world! (yes, I exaggerate to make a point – try not to get all worked up here!)

What You Really See

As we learn to put on paper what we really see instead of our symbols, it is shocking to learn how much is really there and how it is really shaped or sized. Drawing upside down is one tool; tracing the basic elements and only looking at the tracing instead of the photo is another tool. Another way to simplify what is in front of our eyes is to squint, and the detail fades.

You saw an example of Farewell Gap as it was interpreted by someone who didn’t see or chose to ignore reality. Here is a drawing I did of Farewell Gap a long time ago when I was still bound to photos. It was such a thrill to put on paper exactly what I saw that I didn’t have any interest in editing or creating. I was lost in the joy of “I CAN DO THIS!”

This is not the actual photo from which I worked – 1994 is too long ago for me to be able to put my hands on that exact piece of paper! However, here is the photo of Farewell Gap for comparison purposes:

C Words

Eighth in the series “Thoughtful Thursdays”

(yes a bit out of order – why WordPress didn’t publish this as scheduled is a mystery to me. Why I didn’t notice is perhaps because I was doing other things – I need people for this!)

Two of the most common ways to earn a living in art are consignment and commissions. They are not at all the same, but I am discussing them here in the same article because those two large “c” words are often confused.

Here are the definitions: consignment is an agreement to pay a supplier of goods after the goods are sold. A commission is an order or authorization for the production of a piece of art.

Consignment means that the artist provides the store or gallery with work that is not paid for until a sale is completed. The advantages to the artist are that she doesn’t lose control of her pricing and can reclaim her work if it is needed somewhere else. The disadvantage is that things can become shopworn, keeping track is added work, and sometimes it can be hard to collect one’s money.

Commissions are orders for custom work. This is a very important part of earning a living as an artist, especially in times when people are spending cautiously. The advantages to the artist is that she is almost guaranteed a happy customer, and there is a check waiting at the end of the job. Two disadvantages are that the artist isn’t freely creating from her own ideas and often there is a deadline. Occasionally a commission customer will say these magic words “You’re the professional!” or “No hurry”.

Since we are learning “c” words here, allow me to add one more: conversation. This word means an exchange of words, not orders and not money. Despite repeated experiences with this reality, my greatest talent still remains counting my chickens before they hatch.  For the first several years of my business, I got so excited when someone told me he’d like me to do a specific drawing for him. I was counting eggs, chickens and dollars, forgetting that until money exchanges hands and there are photographs on the table, it was simply CONVERSATION. It never hurts to remember those chats and even follow up with a phone call or an email. That is also part of the business of art.

Colors in Three Rivers sells some of my paintings on consignment.

A lady of great taste commissioned me to paint this apple.

Commission

Remember this word? It means “an order for something to be produced such as a work of art”. Indeed! A friend of a long-time customer contacted me with a request to draw a house. The photos came next-day type post and had to be signed for. There were three and they had obviously been peeled from an old album. None of the three had a complete view of the house; two were from the front and one from the side. There was snow, and changes had been made from the 70s photo to the more current one. Have I mentioned lately that I love to draw? I LOVE to draw, and this challenging puzzle was greatly satisfying!

Love to Draw!

All summer I have been in conversation and planning for a drawing of a cabin. It has grown from a simple drawing to a collage, and the very trusting and polite customers have given me freedom to do it anyway I want. Often, the customers like to participate in the planning and be given a few choices and have a little input. These folks have taken a different approach, and it is a tad bit nervous-making, and quite a bit of fun! Here is what is completed as of today:

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It just takes me back to my roots of pencil, commissioned work, and, well, cabinart!

A Pair of Minutes, continued

Amazing how much work can be accomplished when one sits down, removes distractions, picks up the tools and works for just a pair of minutes! You can see how this very large drawing is nearing completion:

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The right side of the water wheel, brick pavers, some ground cover and a few detailed flowers in the foreground are all that remain. But wait! There’s More! – the final step in all drawings is the “nit-picking”, also known as the refinement stage. This is when little changes are made that cause a significant improvement – darkening the darks, lightening the lights, increasing contrast in the important places, sharpening the edges on some areas and blurring out others.

Gaposis

Back in the day when I used a real camera, a complicated drawing might take 2 rolls of film. Now that the restraint of “wasting film” has been obliterated, I take as many photos as I want! It is such a nice thing to never stop to change rolls. Despite the abundance of images, there are always more needed. That is why there is a large gap in the middle of this drawing.

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Here is the right side so you can see a bit more detail. The stone steps are so beautiful that I forget to admire the (unfinished) river!

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