A commission challenge - a double portrait

I found myself still hooked on my failed portrait adventure. Perhaps it was just a warm up because its not part of my normal painting routine - I guess if I did commission work it might be. Every once in awhile I get on the train but it never holds my interest for long. My failed painting revolved around not getting one of the subjects right; not paint quality.  I chose a reference that really flattered my subject but maybe too much. I failed to catch his essence. I could have solved the problem by adding his glasses, but, I noticed he almost always removed them for a photo. I never expected it to be a masterpiece either. At best, it would to be a Kodak moment type of painting....also too small, no room to paint.

I decided to call in the the big guns; watched a bit of Leffel on video.....actually quite a bit.  If I was going to do this I wanted a good learning curve; mind you, this is no longer a commission, this guy's mug has become a challenge. Plus I don't take failure well.

My reference, I like the setup - notice his hands and his glasses - my favorite part of this photo

 #879 Denny and Tommy 20x24 oil on linen (12-27-13)

(no stage photos)

My original plan was to do the whole shot, but my 20x24 canvas was much too small. I started with the guy on the right, Tommy, he's the one giving me a fit! This was to be a 2-session painting (one day per mug) however I started late on my 1st day and rubbed out my results which gave me a stained canvas (not my norm). 

  My absolute favorite passage

The reality is, photos and not always good photos, are part of the this game....A perfect photo could perhaps make a perfect painting, but those are few and far between. I prefer the mundane shot that gives me information and leaves the rest to my own devises. But when we tackle a face...we are expected to catch an absolute likeness. Our nature is to become focused on it and find ourselves over copying our reference...few have enough detail or the right lighting to do it so it becomes flat and labored; not dimensional as it would be if painted from life...as an artist, the trick to working with photos is to imagine it is, and paint it though it were.

Taking Leffel's advice I made a good painting my 1st priority; if I did, the rest would follow.......good advice!

Later....

A weeks worth of paint and canvas

Last week was good and bad, a double portrait commission I was working on failed, got one mug right and the second one.....well not quite on target. In this case I'm not sure what to do other than let it dry and move on.

In the meantime I wanted more practice on my flowers so I did another 20x20 floral. This time I wanted to work on another variety we have in our garden; a very full solid pink with vermillion center accents. However, very few came up last spring, so I'll use some older photo references from 2010. That year we had a bunker crop of several pinks including these in the painting below.

 #878 Pink Peonies 20x20 oil on linen (12-22-13)

It might be time to start painting some of these from life. With that in mind, I went online hoping to find a wholesale florist supply where I could buy cut stems. I found many good suppliers, however Peonies are seasonal and won't be available until March.....I'd prefer not to wait that long since it has my attention now plus I need new things to paint. Other flowers are available...even at the grocery store...generally not my cup of tea or something I would paint. But......

More flower research ahead! 

 JANUARY 2014 Ad - AMERICAN ART COLLECTOR

  Scanned image

#749 Yellow and Black Koi 72x66 oil on linen (11-13-12)

I learned a bit more about colour printing systems with my January AAC ad.  Its a takeoff of my 1/2 page vertical ad which I like a lot. This is a ad new layout for me which still needs more tweaking.  But, the biggest issue here was colour reproduction.

From past printing experience I knew some of my colour range couldn't be printed......in this case, my range of soft greyed purples and blues turned electric blue. Given all the ads and editorial AAC has done for me, this is the first time it became an issue. Its a JPEG/CMYK conversion issue; the magazine uses CMYK. They do see the difference between what you send them and what will print, but its not something they can easily do anything about.

The very first ad proof was off colour......after a lot of emails and proofs, I now know this is where the colour issues show up clearly at my end. The point is to change images, not do endless emails complaining about it.

We did make an image change on the last proof (no colour issue) but this ad was geared to a particular gallery. They didn't have the painting and we ran out of time.  I felt compelled to proceed with the original image.

Lesson learned: Better to stop, make an image change (hope it works) before you run out of time as we did here. A good ad is very much about a good strong image rather than any written message!

 SOLD!!

#855 Venetian Light 30x30 oil on linen (9-18-13)

 Congratulations to Richard Stravitz Fine Art Gallery in Virginia Beach!!

After #878 I made two more passes on my failed portrait commission and failed again! So be it....after repainting the one head 2 times, basically wasting another two days I figured it was time to start over or move on. 

Later....

Three weeks worth paint and canvas

My fun time at the easel painting flowers is over (for now). The last three weeks painting flowers is finally producing some results.  My flowers are starting to take shape. I even used one, #874, in my next AAC ad.....in my mind, serious progress. However, that being said, peonies seem to be my only viable flower I can paint. I did try a few others in painting #873 (below) but wasn't happy with any of it, so I'll leave that to another time.

 871 Peonies 30x30 oil on linen (11-28-13)

After my first one, #871 (above), I lost my way on the next two #872 and #873 (below). Sadly I became "determined"! The fun went out with the dishwater. My flowers became "overcooked objects" more than wet-in-wet " shapes, colour and light" that I like messing with. However the game changed quickly once I realized it with #874, #875 and #876, my last one for this series.

872 Peonies 30x30 oil on linen (12-2-13)

873 Spring Cuttings 30x30 oil on linen (12-9-13)

I spent the most time on this painting. It had potential because I was into it.  I lost it tho, and a very important detail, by overworking it, basically not finishing each passage in one session, leaving it to the following day with a fresh mind. Basically not staging my painting properly for a wet-in-wet process. Eventually, with reluctance, I painted over it with the thought of coming back later when the painting was dry.

  Lost details

The important intersection I needed in this painting (circled in red) needed to jump out beyond my star peony - if I could have pulled it off.....but as a wet-in-wet painter you know you only get one opportunity in this game.

GAME CHANGER - HAVING FUN AGAIN!

874 Peonies 36x30 oil on linen (12-12-13)
STRONG AD QUALITY

1/2 Page vertical ad American Art Collector- February 2014

 (scanned image)

 

875 Peonies 36x30 oil on linen (12-16-13)

876 Peonies - Shades of White (12-17-12)

I thought this was a neat little painting to stop at....perhaps wait for Spring and a new batch of flowers!

All in all this was a good three weeks work.  I wasn't looking for perfection in any of these paintings, but I have a couple favorites, perhaps a gallery painting, one I may even keep and a few that will end up in deep storage..:=)

Later....

When it goes wrong.....

Every once in a while a painting goes off on a tangent from the original concept. Generally it's a simple move that turns into a painting saga.......before you know it you're up to your butt in muck!

REFERENCE

VASE

OUTLINE on 30x30 canvas

FLOWER CHANGE...OOPS!

Mmmmmm.....indigestion comes to mind!

WIPE OUT! SALVAGE TIME?

UNFINISHED, BUT IF IT WASN'T FOR THE BLUE VASE....OFF TO THE BIN!

FIRST, A DAY OFF! Go see a non artist friend who has a good eye and do a serious Sunday critique.

EDIT AND CLEAN UP

872 Peonies in a Blue Vase 30x30 oil on linen (12-2-13)

LESSON LEARNED! NEVER CHANGE THE CONCEPT!

Later................

Lookie, Lookie what I got!

I got a new thing to paint!!  Peonies!

 

871 Peonies 30x30 oil on linen (11-26-13)

Although this is turning out to be a fun project, my reason for doing this painting was about marketing. I advertize in the American Art Collector. Each month is highlighted with a feature such as landscapes or figures. If I work in any of those featured painting genres my paintings can also be included in that section.....along with some words. I have a full page ad in the January issue. The January issue feature is "still life" painting...oops!  I didn't have anything. I had some older smaller stuff but nothing current. It's not one of my rotation subjects I currently work in, so I missed out on an important marketing opportunity.

Every spring I get interested in flowers when some very old peonies in our garden come up  completely on their own. I take a few photos, cut a few, arrange them and occasionally do a small painting, so I have some good references. I'm not exactly a still life painter....in the past I did do a lot of fruit and florals and a bit later with a pallet knife....seriously hope those never surface.

This painting just sorta happened as something different to paint; nothing I would send out to a gallery or use in an ad so it has a few things I might do differently with a little more thought. I was more concerned with "could I do it". At first I was pretty happy with my results, proud as a little peacock.....until I did a 2nd one a few days later....all of a sudden I had something to compare it to......NUTS!

Normally I won't go back into a completed work, but the painting was dry and anything I did could be removed. After a hard review, it was worth sorting out any issues...so back to it!

FRAMED - areas marked in red (1 and 2) needing attention.

REVISION 1

Before ( dark background line stands out)

After (pedal extended breaking dark background line)

REVISION 2

BEFORE

The yellow highlight on my vase (lower red line) and  a mushy area in my flowers just above it (upper red line) gives an annoying imbalance to the painting.

 AFTER

Vase is now more defused, very fluid, merging into the background and upper mushy area is more clearly defined and has depth
.

REVISED PAINTING

 #871 Peonies 30x30 oil on linen (modified 12-3-13)

My modifications took the better part of a day and I enjoyed the process so I'm going to stay with anything to do with flowers for a while and see where it lands. The next post will have my 2nd floral #872, a real painting saga....also a real learning curve for the old boy...:=)

Later...........

Canvas 870 Trafalgar Square

After my commission, I decided on making another run at Trafalgar using the same 30x30 size with the idea of staging it (a defined area that can be completed in one session) as opposed to Alla prima....anyway, so far it hasn't happen in this series. I guess too many design elements, but more probably, I wear out faster these days. My focus will be the challenging water feature. The process so far was following my evolving light and colour in the painting. However, because of continually adjusting it, it ends up overcooking my fountain spray which has to stay fresh and clean. Primarily a wet in wet painter it shows as a flaw if I don't. So this time I'll leave it to the end with everything else in place, give it a fresh start and see what happens.

Stage 1 - sepia sketch/sun location

Stage 1 - Nelson blockout

Stage 1 - Nelson detail - I'll work the sky into this wet paint and adjust Nelsons shape to suit.

Stage 1 - end of day

The fountain was left bare except a bit of golden yellow halo, giving the necessary tie in to my filtering sun and surface mist. At this point, everything above the white area is complete.

Stage 1 - Completed detail of Nelson

Stage 1 - Detail of Lion base

Stage 2 - frame test

My water fountain is standing out too much - over powering the suns reflection on the water surface.

NOTE: All the lower section was completed in my 2nd session. I also didn't get any stage photos, but I did complete all the square, figures, fountain base, and suns water reflection including all the necessary connections before doing the water spray.

Stage 2 - Detail of water feature

The glow of the fountain is greater than the suns reflection on the water. I have a yellow outer halo but...it needs to be darker with a lot more yellow to make my suns water reflection stand out....I can't make it brighter....soooo the fountain goes darker....tomorrow!

 Stage 3 - completed fountain detail

Normally I don't use any glazing in my process but I had basically good shapes, a white background  with some colour (almost dry) so adding several quick moves in a number of yellows, with lots of medium, quickly balances the water feature and the suns reflection. It also did something equally important; it connected my suns saturated yellow with my fountain and surface fog already in place.

#870 Morning Sun - Trafalgar Square 30x30 oil on linen (11-23-13)

SOME DETAILS 

Favorite figure detail and my new favorite Williamsburg colour Provence Violet Bluish used pure wet into wet.

I'm going to stop the series here and move on to another subject. I got what I was after, plus I need a break. Next I want to explore florals with lots of colour;  a subject I set aside a few years ago in favor of water lilies....that gets old too..:=) 

Later..........

Canvas #869 Tuffton Pond

Tufton Pond was a commission painting I thoroughly enjoyed doing as a welcome change from my Trafalgar Square saga. One of the nice things about only working on one painting at a time is I am able to move quickly with complete focus on a new project. No back projects to haunt me, just a clean slate....very efficient use of time!

Shown below are the nightly progress stages emailed to the mom. A mom who wanted a moment in time captured in paint of her dad and two boys fishing in the back pond. She had a particular wall in mind which established the size, 44x40. The brick wall was one of the few remaining elements of the recently remodeled family home.

Main Reference as a group

Granddads clothing and hair reference

View reference with sun behind washing distant horizon

 Stage 1 - sepia outline

Stage 1 detail

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Stage 4 detail

Stage 5

Stage 6

Stage 7

Stage 7 - frame test and sleep on it.

Stage 7 - detail

Stage 7 detail

SOME CLEANUP WORK
I had some work to do in the upper left trees....a bit confused.

Stage 7 detail of crooked tree trunks needing additional work

Stage 8 detail - much improved revision

Stage 8 - completed painting
#879 Tuffton Pond 44x40 oil on linen (11-20-13)

Completed painting framed and installed on brick wall.

Mission accomplished!

Later.....