Custom Oil Painting, continued

First, the sky, then the roof, and next, the details that I can see.

Greenery helps.

I’ll keep working at the details that I can see, then move to the parts that I have to make up, and finally, I’ll ask my Customer/Friend to help me understand the parts that she remembers.

Then, I’ll tighten up the details and correct the color and who knows? Whatever it takes to make it look the best I can make it. I can do this! (Like the Little Engine That Could – “I think I can, I think I can. . .”)

Ran out of daylight to paint during the last session. Hence, the darker photo.

New Custom Oil Painting

Because I can’t start painting on the mural until afternoon, I can work on a new custom oil painting in the morning.

This is for a friend of mine. This house belonged to her grandparents, and she doesn’t have many photos other than the ones taken after the house changed owners. So, I am working from mediocre photos and verbal instructions from my friend/customer. Tain’t easy, but we can do this.

Adjusting and Advancing

I did it again – worked with a customer until she was happy with the sketch, and then after doing the drawing (well, not completely finishing), she wasn’t entirely happy with the results.

This is my fault because when I saw there was a problem, I made an unauthorized change to try to fix it. Instead, I should have gone to her first and said, “I think there is a balance problem here”. But if I had said that and she liked it, would she have felt stupid? It is a good policy to never lead a customer into feeling stupid. 

She made a suggestion, I countered it by proposing an additional adjustment, and then I warned her that erasing may leave a shadow. She was okay with that, so I feel good about our combined decision. 

Here is the before:

This is the after:

 I am once again awaiting her approval in case there are more adjustments. More will be revealed in the fullness of time.

Are We Happy Yet?

I don’t want to talk about wildfires, evacuation orders, plagues, epidemics, or politics. I just want to draw and make my customers happy.

This is before:

And this is after:

Now I am waiting for my customer to tell me if this is what she requested. I can keep going, if I have good instruction. It is a pleasure to work for people who know what they want and express it clearly.

Yes! Happy customer!

P.S. Happy artist too.

Art Emergencies

You’ve learned about odd art jobs such as quilt patches and umbrellas (and NO, I DON’T WANT TO PAINT ON AN OLD SAW!) Now, I bring you Art Emergencies. This is where someone comes to you and says “I know this is short notice but. . .” Generally speaking, 30% of the work that comes to me is an emergency. Granted, there are no true emergencies outside of birth and death, and “poor planning on your part does not create an emergency on mine”. However, poor planning on the part of a customer often creates nice jobs for me. And, to be fair, sometimes Art Emergencies are not a result of poor planning but the result of  a surprise as in “Joe Bag-of-Doughnuts just announced his retirement and we need a nice personalized gift for him right away!” Here is one from a couple of years ago:

quick.jpg

If you are wondering about it, it was for a retiring Visalia City Council member and all the elements of this collage mean something to him. And no, he isn’t Joe Bag-of-Doughnuts; he is more akin to Joe Box-of-Oranges!