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.

Suprise suprise

Her mother hadn't a clue. It was just an invite, after all, for dinner. She regularly asked her mother around for dinner, so why would it be any different this time?

But it was.

Her mother knew I would be there. But there was nothing much different in that either, since we had met a couple of times before, and had eaten meals together in the past. So, nothing different in that.

But there was.

We stood chatting as she prepared the meal before her mother arrived. We both knew my part in the arrangement, although we didn't discuss it. It lay between us as a tacit arrangement.

Her mother arrived, full of chat. We exchanged greetings, and talked as women do about many things.

The meal was served, the wine flowed, and the chat continued. I wasn't nervous, I'd done it before. But not before in this particular way......

After the meal, we sat around the table, and she told her mother that she had something for her, and nodded at me. I left the room and went to collect it, returning a couple of minutes later. I could see her mother hadn't a clue as to what it was. I had expected her to guess, but I think she was thinking future tense, not past. She had asked her daughter to ask me for a print of the picture I had done of her, on the understanding that she would pay me for it. She hadn't expected that her daughter had already arranged it with me, and that the frame and mount had already been chosen a couple of weeks ago, and that I had taken them away on my last visit, to put the print in all ready for her birthday. So, she showed surprise when she was presented with the picture. And delight. Absolute delight. She kept looking at the picture, her eyes couldn't leave it. I watched her watching it. Her eyes returning again and again to it.

And I felt that warmth in me, that I sometimes get when I get the chance to see what I saw then.

Sometimes I don't get to see it, like when a picture is sold through a gallery or at an exhibition. The buyer does it all without my presence needed there. But, I saw it today. I saw someone fall in love with one of my paintings. They keep looking at it, their eyes keep returning to it. The feelings that they feel then, will cause happiness for them, it will fill them with warmth and comfort. The bond between them and the painting will be forged, and will be strong in those first few moments.

That's the feeling I love to see. Because, I've caused it.

It's better than winning the lottery for me, to see that.