Kayaking Commission

 Kayaking Commission

One of my very best supporters, 

we'll call her Missy,

contacted me around Thanksgiving and asked if I could paint a commission for her husband for Christmas.  

I was thrilled that she asked.

So thrilled I said YES!

I have a basic contract I send out for all commissions and even though we've been friends for well over 20 years, I sent it to her as well, so we both knew what to expect.

She sent me a beautiful photo of a sunset on a river or a lake, with one kayaker in it and asked me if I could put another in it also.

The first one was her husband and she wanted me to add her in the painting.

She sent me photos of them in their boats so I could get a feel of the colors, the types of paddles, clothing and hats they usually wore.  

Next, I did a pencil sketch of the scene.

I start with this sketch and if we agree I'm the right person for the job, we move forward.

My process is to keep a client involved in the creativity of the piece all along the way so they know exactly what they are getting.  I can fix things much earlier in the process than be ready to deliver the work and find out I went totally in the wrong direction.  

Missy liked the feel of the sketch even though the boats were wrong, the perspective is what we were looking for at this point.  

This is the first sketch in acrylic paint on the canvas. 

I'm looking to get the perspective of the distance and the size

of the boats correct.  

You will see almost none of this in the final painting.

The clouds were dramatic in the photo as was the sun, 

so they went in first.

Refining the clouds, the sun and beginning to add in water and reflections.  Still haven't don't anything with the trees.

Toned down the sunset a little, started adding the trees, and 

putting the boats in. 

Getting more color and definition on the boats, 

and trying to get a glassy effect on the water.  

Here's a closer look at the kayakers.

Here's an even closer look.  

I usually send the client a time-lapse video of the work progressing and a close-up video of the finished painting, just so there are no surprises for either of us.

Sometimes in doing commissions, the artist is trying to get a vision of something out of someone elses head.

Not always an easy task.  

But so far, my method has worked well for me.

If you would like to commission a painting we should talk.

My contact info is in the Contact Me tab (pretty sharp, huh?) 

on the front page of this blog.  

If you email, put the word commission or whatever you want to talk about in the subject line.  

Click HERE to view all my available art.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Hope you enjoyed this post.