Commission

I finished the commission I have been working on today.  I hope you all enjoyed following my progress as I painted it. Thank you Sally for allowing me to share its development with everyone.

Ona

Commissions are GO!

I have not one but two commissions to complete over the next month. I have finalised details with the clients and am now almost ready to paint.The first is going to be a gallery wrapped watercolour of a local school. I am hoping to create an evening feel with the light in the entrance way and the sun setting behind the building. This is my intial outline which has just met with approval today so tomorrow it will be drawn out on the watercolour paper and then stretched over 12 by 16 stretcher bars.

 The second commission has been stretched today onto a board ready for painting.  It is 18 by 26 inches and  is going to be varnished when finished so it can be framed without glass. The pencil marks at this stage are very light so I have had to increase the contrast for you to see the outline but there is a lot more detail here than in my initial drawing which is why I have chosen to show you this one. 

 Two very different paintings both of which will definitely keep me quiet over the next few weeks.

Ona

Choosing photo's for a Commission

I am currently working on a commission and my client has given me permission to share the process with you all.

Very often a client will commission a painting when either it is difficult to get a decent photo of what they would like or when a memory is very special to them. It is important to remember though that I, the artist, will have not met the people or animals that I am going to paint. So in order to capture that special moment or group shot I need as clear a set of photo's as possible. It is no problem for me to work from multiple photo's. This commission is a good example of this.

My client wants a painting of her son and his fiancee with their new puppy. She was unable though to get a clear photo of the three of them together. So I am working from two photos. One of her son and his fiancee together and a separate one of the puppy. My client did, in fact give me three different photos of her son and fiancee and two photos of the puppy. I then played around with the composition using the various photos to find the most natural group composition of the three of them together.These are the two photos that I chose to use from the selection.

I then created this outline from aspects of both photo's, just shifting odd details to make the piece gel as a whole.

I am now busily painting it. It is being painted on a 16 by 20 sheet of Arches cold press paper. I am working from the photo of the son and fiancee at the moment although I am changing clothes colours to make them less formal looking (you probably wouldn't wear your best clothes with a young puppy around)

They still look older than they really are at the moment (its the white hair that does it especially on Jim as he also has a receeding hairline at the moment because I have had to take the skin tones up further so that the skin shows under the hair at the edges)  I need to finish the clothing before I can paint their hair though.

Thank you Marietta for allowing me to share the process here.

Ona

A Portrait of Meg

I know a lot of you followed my portrait WIP of (Denistof) both here and in the Wet Canvas watercolour studio during November/December last year.
When I had finished, Denis asked me if he could comission me to paint a portrait of his wife Meg. I felt honoured to be asked.

I never had the pleasure of meeting Meg but whilst I have been working on this commission I feel I have got to know her at least a little. Denis very kindly wrote about Meg to help me get a feel for her character so I could better convey it in my painting. I worked from four or five different photos to get the information I needed and the rest is my interpretation of what Denis wrote and told me about Meg.
Denis has given me permission to share his writing and the painting with you. Thankyou Denis. Here is some of what he wrote:

“Meg was fair in her dealings and feelings towards others, generous with her time and love. She has a wry sense of humour and loved to laugh. Her favourite colours were green yellow and white. She loved the outdoors. Her abiding passion was her garden. She happily spent hours weeding and carefully transplanting her seedlings. She cut the lawn with a push mower until we could afford a riding mower. She loved that and would zoom around with a huge grin as she waved the dogs out of the way. The occasional ‘meeting’ with one of the trees would send her into gales of laughter. I could spend a delightful hour just watching her as she was completely absorbed in her garden. I took drinks and snacks out to her and those minutes together are amongst my happiest memories.”


So here is a close up of Meg in her garden. Maybe she has just ‘bumped’ into the tree on her mower or maybe she has just spotted Denis coming towards her with a cool drink and a snack.

Ona