Just a bit too good

The watercolour finished, viewed from every which way I could think of, tweaked and adjusted so that I was happy with it, I rang the client to say it was completed. We agreed a date and time for him to come and collect it and I got on with the next painting on my to do list....

He arrived on time, and seemed quietly happy with the painting. Well he had a big grin on his face. I think it had taken him back abit to see himself depicted in a painting. I smiled in understanding, I've seen that reaction before. I know he will spend the next few days looking and looking and looking at it until he grows to know it as well as his own reflection. In a way it is his reflection, but also it isn't. It's the face we all see, not the face he sees. When you look in a mirror it is by definition, and excuse me for stating the bleeding obvious, a mirror image. When you look at a painting of yourself, it's the face the rest of the world sees, and will seem a little disconcerting at first to the person whose face it is, a little out of kilter, well known, but slightly wrong somehow. But gradually, quietly, there is an acceptance that that is the "real me" and the love for it will grow accordingly.

As he was about to go I mentioned that I might put it on my blog, to show my latest painting, and asked the same question that I ask of anyone who has had their portrait painted by me, the "Are you happy with that...?" question. And he said straight away "If you don't show the face" and I laughed in understanding and said "Ah, it's too good isn't it - its too like you, that you don't want anyone down the pub taking the mickey of you posing for this naked".

 

So, here is the picture, because I want to show it as my latest artwork, because its in watercolours and they're far more difficult to do than oils, to get the nuances of tone right, as its so unforgiving a medium to adjust if anything needs adjusting.

But the face has been blanked out. And he is without name. Without age. Without geographic area.

But, I'm pretty sure that somewhere, some one is quietly sitting looking at this picture in its entirety and smiling gently to himself......

Wet anticipation

I worked hard on it yesterday, music blasting out to encourage me, as a last flourish after all the weeks of work I've already put into it, and I've done as much as I can of the Royal Crescent at Bath. I feel that it is finished. I've read through the two full pages of notes that I made from the Clients instructions, and I have abided by all of their requests. I look at the picture, and love it. But, until the Client is happy with it, its not done.....  and I won't sign it, that final finish to a painting, til then.

I am awaiting feedback from them, and can do no more til I have it.

Its been hard to take a photo of it for them though, to enable me to show them what it looks like, since it is a large painting, and currently lying flat whilst the sides of the oil painting dry out on the box canvas. Its hard to take a photo from far enough away to get it all within the image, and keep it as square to the photo as I can, so it can all be viewed in one go. But I have done the best I can, standing high above it, on a chair, with my arms high up in the air above my head, whilst leaning over the picture and trying to keep the angle horizontal, whilst not being able to see the image whilst I'm doing it! But one of the images is good enough to send them, with an accompanying letter explaining what is in the picture, and how it relates to the rest of the painting. 

So, I can't show you the full image here, because it may not be finished yet. But, I'll give you some little tasters so you can at least see bits of it.....  There's loads of colour within the picture, and my most favourite bit was the "wind" -which I did last for greater effect of the texture within it - I've painted it in silver oil paint mixed with some safflower oil to soften it and make it more fluid, using a palette knife to apply the paint in jagged shards to emulate the effect of a sharp wind on an Autumnal day.  That alone took two hours to do, to get it right. I even painted the wind going around the sides of the canvas as it disappears out of sight.  The rest of the picture is full of texture too, as the grass, and leaves blowing over it, are slabs of solid oil paint, applied flat but with a twist to show movement and form.

Its funny, this waiting time, when the client is full of excited anticipation of what the picture will be like, and the artist is full of a calm and controlled anticipation of hoping the client will like the picture.

I only get excited when the client says they love it.

Music and movement

I don't like to rush the design stage of a painting. Having said that by the time its come to me, its quite easy to sketch some ideas out to see how they work, and then adjust the colours or tones accordingly to make the painting better in as many ways that I can. But the basic concept will usually remain the same from the original thoughts.

The painting I'm working on at the moment, is the oil painting commission of the Royal Crescent at Bath, with various people, alive and dead, within the picture. The painting won't be fully representational, but also it won't be fully abstract either, but an amalgam of them both. But it will also have more of a surreality to it as well, in that the wind that is blowing around the people within the picture comes from the two much beloved people within the clouds of the sky. That is the concept. It took three full days last week for me to get to the point of being happy with it, along with a couple of long phone calls with the clients, in Bath, to agree the design and make any adjustments accordingly. I know the days were intense, because I woke a couple of times in the night (a rarity!) with ideas rushing around my head, and thoughts for the planning stage fresh and running free.

The reason it was done that way, was because the clients are going on holiday for a fortnight, and I didn't want to have to put the painting on hold whilst I awaited for their return. By having three very intense days of designing it, it means that it has freed me more for the week ahead and being able to plan the colours at my leisure. When I asked the client what colour palette he wanted - the reply was that he'd sent me photos of the room, so I could see where the painting was going to hang, and since I was the expert, and he'd already given me the brief, he wanted to leave me to make the final decisions and didn't want to interfere with those decisions, giving me free rein.

So, after emailing him the first design and then hearing his thoughts on it, adjusting the second design accordingly the next day and emailing him that drawing with the new changes, he loves it! And I've got the go ahead! Yay!

That always makes me happy, when it's all positive and upbeat.

The client said "That didn't take long, did it?" and I smiled! But he was right, and more to the point, he was happy. And that is what I'm aiming for, always!

So, now, I can think of the colours. I know to a degree what they will be - cream, brown, plum, black, red, and silver. And I know the silver will be the wind, blowing diagonally across the painting, full of love, and connecting the people, but also with a power, a spiritual power, as well as a physical one.  I don't think at the moment that anything else in the picture needs to be silver, as that will detract from the wind and that is one of the most important aspects of the painting. So, the next stage will be working out the layout of colours for dramatic effect. As the painting certainly will be dramatic, and it also needs to stand proud from the heavy and dark Georgian style wallpaper that it will hang against.

Then, I can start painting it, properly.

But yesterday, I did something that although not obviously connected with the painting, it is something that will affect it, totally and absolutely. Fully, and instantly.

It was my choice of music, for my iPod.

Loud, rocking, with good rhythm, and the stuff that instantly fires me up!!!!!

As far as excuses go

I know people have busy lives. I know that people aren't always able to keep the appointments they make for various reasons. So when a client rings me within half an hour of the time they are due at my house to say they can't keep the appointment they made but will re-schedule the meeting in a couple of days time, that's fine.

BUT.................

When the excuse given is "I've got a bit of a problem with a headless chicken", I must admit its the best excuse I've ever heard.

Especially when I have to consider that the person in question is a male witch......................................