Christmas present commission complete!

So I haven't painted really since I had that deadline because there was a commission I needed to do before I could play. And I was really dreading the commission. I was asked to paint a friend's previous house at Christmas time. Problem was she didn't have a picture of it at Christmas time. So she sent pictures of the old house in summer and a picture of her husband's beloved truck (parked somewhere else though). She also sent a picture of the snowman they always built named Bob and then explained where they put up lights and which window the tree was in. So there was just a lot to have to kind of make up. And a lot of specific details of cherished memories. Oi. I probably shouldn't accept commissions like this in the future. It reminds me why I left painting detailed architecture and developed my looser style in the first place. But I hope she likes it because I did try. Fingers crossed.

P.S. I just heard back from my client and she LOVES it! She said it's exactly what she wanted! Yay! 

Commission complete!

Finished and delivered! I think the variety of colors ended up looking nice, and the varying of shapes of the flowers really did make it more interesting to look at. And my customer was super happy so that's what's really important!

So hard!

I apologize for the quality of the pictures but I've been painting this in the family room and didn't feel like dragging it up to my studio to use the better lighting. I don't like the painting enough for that. But it's a commission, which is a blessing. Just wish I had any love for the painting! I had to rearrange so much, combining multiple photos and that's so amazingly challenging in a tight, detailed piece like this! You don't want to know how long I spent just staring at the photos! I then spent a whole evening drawing it.

However, a week later when I took it back out to begin painting, do you think I had any idea what I had done? Which color flowers were to go where? Which flowers from the photos I'd drawn where? Oi! So then I had to again consider which colors looked best together, how to squeeze a good variety in there but keep it balanced. I had to consider composition and variety of shape and size and all that. Oi! I don't really have the brain power for that after a full day of parenting! And how to paint shadows on yellow flowers without making them look dirty. And then, what the heck to do with all the negative space after I've moved everything all around, which requires a tightrope walk of making stuff up and painting what I see. Oi! Oi! Oi! But like I said, a commission is a blessing. Now here's hoping I can manage to finish it!