It is most often a wonderful experience to be asked to do a commission painting. Well, how about two commission paintings? I met an amazing couple through my workplace at The Frame & I by doing picture hanging. While at their home and hanging their eclectic art collection, we chatted about the Prescott Area and the fact that I’m an artist who loves the diversity of the area. We didn’t quite complete hanging all of the artwork in the first day, so we scheduled another time to come back to finish up. Afterwards, I was asked if I could paint two paintings to fit a specific space in the kitchen. Two columns created an archway into the living room and were begging for some color (and some electrical boxes need to be covered up). What led to these commission ideas was all the examples of artwork on my website. The local scenery and vibrant sunsets were the favorite choices. Could I paint animals? Gulp, yes I could do that! We chatted about ideas for the pieces and came up with a Sunrise and Sunset for each painting and measured the space. I worked from photos of the homeowners horse and thought of favorite vistas for Sunrise and Sunset in the Prescott Area. I started sketching out ideas and reworked these ideas to the exact scale of the finished paintings. The Sunrise painting represents Mingus Mountain, where I once saw a spectacular sunrise while walking around my home area in Prescott Valley. I added pinion and sage for the greenery and the horse in the foreground, ready to run as the sun rose over the mountain ridge. The Sunrise painting earned the title “Ready to Run.” For the Sunset themed painting, I chose Granite Mountain as seen from the Williamson Valley area and added grazing cattle on the sage-filled hills below. This piece became titled “Dinnertime.” The two pieces are different in lighting but go together well with similar themes in color and subject. The final sketches were sent off for feedback and approval. Next, I created two gallery wrapped canvases 10×30 inches and painted the edges solid black. We chose not to frame the paintings to go with a modern look similar to other pieces in the home. I drew in a grid on the canvases that matched the sketches to draw in the compositions. Next, I moved to my “rough-in” or “underpainting” stage to put in a base of oil paint, blocking in shapes with a large brush. While underpainting step dries, I have time to ponder how I will tackle the final palette knife painting step. The final step is mixing appropriate colors and tightening the details with a palette knife. Now is the long wait for the pieces to dry before varnishing. Finally, it was time to deliver the two paintings and hang them in the space! I was pleased to hear satisfactory feedback! They loved them! Here is a slide show of the process. Enjoy!
