Artist for Hire

The word “commission” has a few different meanings in regards to fine art*. A commissioned painting is one where an artist is hired by someone to paint a specific subject of that person’s choosing. I’ve done many commissions over the years, and they present some interesting twists, as opposed to creating a painting for myself, based on my own ideas and photos.

As often happens with a commission, painting “Jordan Fishing with Grandpa Tim” has stretched me as an artist in a number of ways:
– to paint subjects I wouldn’t normally select (people)
– to paint from a less than desirable reference photo (an old small snapshot)

Occassionally I take the photos for a commission, as I have sometimes when I paint other peoples’ pets. Other times the reference for a commissioned painting is provided, sometimes a poor photo – if the person had a good photo perhaps they wouldn’t want a painting! When I’ve done portraits of deceased pets I sometimes struggle with the owner’s collection of “best” photos, being poor compositions, lousy poses, bad lighting, low resolution or out of focus.

Such was the case with this new painting – the reference was a small old snapshot which had been cut and colored on the edge to fit into a circular frame (shown below). When my friend Sandra showed me the photo she wanted me to paint from, my first reaction was to say I didn’t think I could do it. The image was complex and tiny. And, as I’ve written many times, people are a subject somewhat outside my comfort zone. I still don’t have the confidence to accept a ‘portrait’ commission but I’m working on doing more people paintings to overcome my mental roadblock. However I was captivated by the scene in the little photo. A candid moment from the 1990s with a toddler and his grandfather had been preserved. The decades which have now passed make the image more precious, Tim now deceased and Jordan in his 20s. I told Sandra I’d be willing to give it a try, but I would not be able to paint it very large and possibly not with my usual detail.

I was able to unframe and scan Sandra’s snapshot. My decades of experience with Photoshop made it easy for me to lighten the midtones to improve the color. I cloned background areas, recreating the scene in a rectangular format. The two figures would be the focal point, so the background would be less important and I could ‘fudge’ it. Also, I didn’t need to depict the setting perfectly, just capture the atmosphere of a gravel path in a wooded area, with water flowing into a puddle. I enlarged the image on my desktop screen and I decided I would paint it on a 9″ x 12″ standard canvas – a bit smaller than my previous commissions, but viable for this painting.

Often I tackle the most challenging parts of a painting at the end, as was the case in “Jordan Fishing with Grandpa Tim.” I painted the entire background first, creating the wooded area with light muted hues to make it recede. The foreground path was painted with splotches of color, applied with dabs of a fan brush, spatters from an old toothbrush, and random brush strokes. The area around the puddle has the warmest tones. Fabric is one of my favorite painting subjects – particularly with creases, folds, seams, and worn areas – so I enjoyed painting the blue jeans, overalls, and shirts. To paint the subjects’ faces, I used my favorite trick of turning both the reference photo and my canvas upside down. This forces my brain stop thinking eyes, nose, mouth and allows me to see and paint the areas in terms of shapes, colors and values. When I flip the canvas right-side-up I see a good likeness and just need to make minor adjustments… at least it usually works that way!

I always paint commissions in acrylic paints on canvas. I’ve totally comfortable creating artwork this way, plus it allows me to make changes easily. (Watercolor on paper is not so forgiving.) Acylic is a very versatile medium. You can paint with acrylics dark over light or light over dark. You can paint wet or dry, thick or thin, finely or loosely, with a brush, a knife or your finger! You can use acrylic paints opaquely or glaze them on translucently. Acrylics dry very quickly, so I like that I can make corrections fast if my client requests any. It’s also simpler for the client if I present them with a standard size canvas which will fit in a ready-made frame, versus work on paper which requires matting and glass.

In my early years as a commercial artist, I quickly learned not to be insulted if a customer criticized my creative work. I needed to be objective and listen to changes they requested with an open mind, putting personal feelings aside. Often their ideas were things I hadn’t considered or noticed and truly improved the work. Once I began to do commissions, I found that this attitude needed to be applied to my fine art, particularly the squelching of my emotional attachment to the artwork! My other paintings just needed to please me, but commissions needed to please the owner. For this reason, I routinely allow my commission customers to review the painting before I declare it finished. In the case of “Jordan Fishing with Grandpa Tim,” Sandra immediately said she loved it (it even brought her to tears) but her eye kept going to the side of her grandson’s face. She asked if I could lighten the colors there. I looked at it again and agreed; my colors in his face were too harsh and painted with hard edges. A child’s face is soft and I needed to blend and dull the shades. When I repainted it, the difference was minor, but just enough to keep the area from being a distraction to the eye. Sandra’s gut feeling was spot-on! I made a few other tiny changes to Jordan, defining his earlobe, rounded the back of his head by adding more highlights to the hair, touching up the light area on the back of his neck and other little details. One more review by Sandra and we declared it finished. In fact, she loves it so much that she wants me to have giclee prints made to share with her family so she can keep the original. Nothing gives me more pleasure from creating art than knowing my work can bring joy to others. I’m glad I accepted this challenge.

Over the years, my commissions have included pet portraits, special places, homes, gardens, airplanes and other topics dear to the hearts of my clients. Many have been done as surprise gifts. To see examples and learn more visit my website page on commissioned paintings.

* Commission is also the word for the percentage a gallery/dealer takes from the retail price of sold artwork, which might range from 10-50%, with the remainder paid to the artist. This applies when the artist has contracted to have his/her work in the gallery on consignment, rather than it being purchased wholesale by the gallery. I might pay a gallery a commission if they sold a painting of an commissioned officer in charge of a commissioned naval vessel which someone commissioned me to paint… just fooling!