You know the saying “To make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs?” Well, to make a pastel painting you have to break a few sticks. The commission that I finished required being able to precisely add marks to the faces in tiny strokes. The temptation...
So I always get annoyed with taking photos of my finished work… It seems as though no matter how I take the photos they never show the nuances and depth of the original. And all those hours spent refining tiny color variations just get blown out or distorted...
Portraits are a treasure hunt… searching… searching… I am always amazed at when I look back at the developmental photos of a portrait that I can see so many changes. Not only in the painting itself but also in my apparent mental state at different...
Once the client is satisfied with the overall design and I know what their goals are in the commission, it is time to get to work. Typically with my commissions there are lots of photos being incorporated into one image. I normally call them my “bakers...
I have worked with artists creating commissions throughout the years and one of the biggest pieces of advice I can give to them is to do your homework. Commissions, no matter what the subject, require planning because it is too easy to get stuck somewhere along the...
