Working to commission

From time to time, I am commissioned to produce a piece of art work depicting a certain house or landscape in a certain way.

Even though the work is discussed with the client, there is always some artistic interpretation which I find necessary during the course of the work, which I wonder if the client will approve of or actually like.

With smart phones and Whatsapp type apps it´s quite easy to send the client a picture of the work in progress. Though I am often loath to do so, as the work in progress is not usually a pretty sight, and I fear that it would put the client off or cause them to doubt my process. So it depends on my reading of the client, if we have had only a short time to get to know each other, I tend to play things by ear /intuition. Generally I will get to know what a client appreciates about my work the most, whether it´s colour, the composition or design element, or just my treatment of the subject – my style – or some of all these.

During the past month I have been working to commission for a new client. She asked me to paint two 80 x 60 oil paintings in two weeks, with a third to follow. (This was because the client had visitors arriving from the U.S. and wanted the paintings in place for this visit.)

I knew this deadline would be well nigh impossible for me, but then said to myself as well as to the client, I will try to get the two paintings completed in two weeks, and at worst, just one of them completed.

I worked from morn til night nearly every day of the week and was getting rather stressed, and boggle-eyed. The client then said, don´t worry, just take your time and enjoy the process. By this time, I was determined to finish the two paintings, so kept going. When they were almost ready, I sent photos to the client, and she said, she would collect them in two weeks time to make sure they were completely dry! Well, this did enable me to add quite a bit of detail I wouldn´t have had time for, and enabled a better result.

I did surprise myself by what was possible to produce in two weeks, but working at that speed isn´t really for me. The painting needs to unfold in its own time. I will remember this for next time…

Please complete the form below to join my mailing list and regular blog posts