My first commission!

I didn't really get into art for the money. 

It was something I needed to, like breathing. After decades of college and raising kids, I finally had the freedom to let loose. 

And although I have sold about ten paintings to date I have never been asked to do a specific painting, and was a bit nervous when a friend asked me to do a landscape painting of a scene she was particularly fond of. 

I was really touched by this painting being something that represented a happy memory and what it meant to her, so I wanted to do a good job. 

I started out with an 11x14 linen panel, and drew in the composition with white chalk, as I usually do.  I started with the sky, some quick-dry titanium white, ultramarine blue, and cerulean, mixing more white into the sky as it approarched the "earth". 

Initially I did the distant far background hills kinds of greenish. The foreground greenery was sap green and some cad red, and the tree wood was done with a mixture of burnt umber and blue ultramarine, laid in with my palette knife turned sideways.  I started working in the shadows as a blue/gray.

I struggled a bit with the shadow under the tree and around the stump, initially doing it as a cool gray. I started laying in the tree leaves in sap green, green gold. I added in some cad yellow medium to create the sunlight on the foliage behind the tree.  I decided the shadows were too blue to I added in some complimentary shades to neutralize it more towards gray.

I finished the foliage on the mid-ground trees. 

 

I corrected the distant hills to make them bluer for more appropriate atmospheric perspective. 

I added more sunlit leaves, and the red flowers next to the tree, and continued to correct the autumn foliage colors on the right. The dried grass was quick dry white with some quinacridone gold mixed in. Quinacridone coral and Quinacridone deep gold were also used for the autumn leaves and the flowers. 

The shadows were tricky - I decided the grey was too dead-looking, and moved it back to blue. 

She was pretty happy with the painting! And I will maybe 

be a little less nervous about future commissions. 

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Holiday Art Fair

I signed up to be in a holiday art fair locally, and started preparing for it to be an opportunity to sell some art. I didn't expect really to sell any, these fairs are often for gift-giving; people don't show up to buy fine art. However, I wanted the experience to see what it's like to sit in one. 

I was stuck with what to put on my banner as a title, other than my name, and finally settled on:

I purchased some "grids," which are metal standing panels on wheels where you can hang things. I also purchased a table cloth and a folding print bin. I had cards made of some of my art, and some prints. 

I asked my painting teacher how to price my art - it's higher than some of the other artist's artwork; however, it's hard to compare because they aren't doing oil landscapes. Should I drop my prices to be closer to theirs?

"No," he said. "Keep the prices the same, but make prints and other low-cost options for people who might like your art. 

I used VistaPrint and ordered cards, calendars, and prints, and was pleasantly surprised at the results. They aren't Giclee or archival or anything, but they turned out well. I got a point-of-sale system set up on Square. 

Here was my set-up: 

I wound up selling ten cards and 3 calendars, more than I expected. Mainly this was an exposure exercise in the experience of publicly selling art - sitting with the awkward feeling while someone walks up, looks over your art, and then walks away without saying a word.  Eep. 

 To avoid the awkwardness, I did some pen and ink drawing, starting with this.  I'm not unhappy with it - but the house seems to be leaning. 

Oh, and RSV. I got that there, too. I forgot that it's an odd year, and I get RSV about every other year. The irony was that I had scheduled to have my first RSV vaccine the week after the show, but by then I was already sick.  

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