It Starts With Your Idea

 "Golden Horizon I and II" oil on canvas diptych; each painting 40 x 60 inches

When I exhibit my artwork at outdoor shows, interested patrons often ask me, "How do you come up with your ideas?"

In general, I don't suffer from the artistic equivalent of writer's block, so generating new ideas isn't really a problem for me. If anything, the challenge is finding sufficient time to create all of the things I have floating around in my head. My poor, beleagured husband would be the first to tell you that I'm the worst travel partner ever because I'm always stopping and looking at new things whenever we go places. We can never get from point A to point B in a straight line. 

This tendency to meander through life's subjects is exactly why I enjoy working with clients on commissions. Custom paintings are fun projects because they start with my client's idea, and then we collaborate to make their vision a reality. It's one of the occasions when I can flip things around and say, "It starts with your idea."

A good example of this is a recent landscape diptych that I created, "Golden Horizon I and II." My client was interested in vivid fall colors, mountains, and a bold, contemporary statement. She sent me some landscape photos from around her home out west and the colors she wanted to emphasize. Then I created some small-scale initial studies for her review. After consulting with her about the studies, I painted the finished, full-size works. 

The finished works are oils on canvas, each measuring 40" wide by 60" tall. Below you can see some behind-the-scenes photos of the process behind these paintings in my Knoxville, Tennessee studio.  If you have an idea for a landscape or cityscape painting that you’d like to make a reality, contact me and we can discuss what you’d like.

 

Priming one of the canvases in my studio.
House painting brushes aren't just for painting houses...

 

 

 

 

The client's colors from her decor.

 

 

 

The first block-in of shapes and color. 

This is a really fun part of the process.

 

 

One of the best parts of my job is what I describe as "Swimming in color." 

 

 

 

Another great part of my job? A studio mascot!

Maple was kind enough to glam up a pose for this photo

Mix and Match

 The Philadelphia Skyline at twilight

Winter is the time of year when I concentrate on client commissions. When I first began working as a full-time artist, I accepted painting commissions for many different subjects including dog portraits. I am a dog person, after all. 

As time went on, I became more selective about what I would paint for clients because I realized a couple of things. First, there were just some subjects for which I was not well suited, such as portraiture (alas, I don't know how to magically take ten years and fifteen pounds off of someone). Secondly, although I like to believe that I can paint pretty much any subject, I recognized that I could do much better work for someone if the subject naturally resonated with me and fell within my usual interest of either a landscape or a cityscape painting.

  The Philadelphia Skyline in summer daylight

This winter, one of the commission ideas I'm most excited about is a skyline view of the city of Philadelphia as seen from my client's rooftop garden. When he and I initially spoke about his idea for this painting, we bonded over a shared history and continuing interest in flowers and gardening. A subject like this is fun for me because it combines a cityscape subject with hints of the natural landscape, including the beautiful sky and the foreground flowers. 

Shown here are two of my initial studies for my client based on the reference material he provided to me. When I work with clients on custom paintings, I like to give them initial studies to review so that we have a good starting point when considering what we want to emphasize in their painting. There's no substitute for the old adage that, "A picture is worth a thousand words." I've found that initial studies help to show the client what I'm thinking. They represent a visual starting point and help my client to discuss desired adjustments and changes before I dive into the final painting. 

In this instance, upon review of these two studies, my client and I decided to go with the more dramatic "twilight" study, but to incorporate a couple of compositional details from the daylight study. Sometimes this selective "mix and match" is what it takes to arrive at the best presentation for my client, and I'm happy when we can draw traits from both studies to make the best possible artwork. 

If you'd like to commission me for a custom oil painting, please contact me!

Back to Black (and white)

 

The Center City skyline of downtown Philadelphia
as viewed from a spectacular urban rooftop garden

 

I'm listening to AC / DC’s hit "Back in Black" as I write this because it's the perfect theme song for what I’m working on right now. During these winter months when I'm not exhibiting at outdoor art shows (and especially during a time of pandemic), I use this quieter time to work on custom painting commissions for clients.

 

Among a few projects that I have in process right now is a custom cityscape painting that will feature the Center City skyline of downtown Philadelphia. There are many factors to consider in a subject so complex, everything from light and atmosphere to the details of the architecture. To keep an idea like this from becoming overwhelming, I go back to basics and go "back to black." Gosh, it's almost a perfect title to pair with AC / DC, right? 

 

 

An alternative perspective of the subject  

 

What I mean by this is that I strip down the idea to graphite renderings in my sketchbook to work out the composition and approach. This is just a first building block. In the coming weeks, I’ll do a couple of small scale color studies for my client to review. As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and these first practice runs at an idea allow me to communicate what I’m thinking to my client and also help him offer his thoughts and ideas during the process. 

 

There’s nothing wrong with going "back to black" to create a full-color painting!

Months in the Making

A crazy summer art show season is set to begin, but before diving into that, I slipped away to Philadelphia this past weekend to deliver my largest-ever painting (so far!) to a wonderful client.

"Little Italy Morning" is a 36" x 72" oil painting that grew up out of a study from Lower Manhattan that I created last year. I won't write much here, but I'll let you take a look at the time elapsed working process from start to finish, including its installation in my client's home. This was a months-long process for me, and I enjoyed the challenge of working in a large format for a cityscape. Indeed, this is one of the main reasons why I added oil painting to my body of artwork beginning a few years ago: the freedom to work in larger formats than what I could do with pastel.

Stay tuned, there may be more large format pieces in the future...

The Very Beginning - I work in freehand for everything that I create, so I don't use projectors or other mechanisms to "trace" my compositions into place. If you click this image to enlarge it and look carefully, you'll see that I've divided the canvas into four quadrants to help anchor the main elements of the composition. At this point, it's just a straightforward matter of sketching in the composition with earth tones.

 

 

 

 

Early Colors - The process of working in oil painting is very similar to my "native" medium of pastel in that I work from dark shadow tones forward to midtones and then highlights. In addition, I like to start in the distance and then work forward in a composition like this.

 

 

 

 

Almost Finished on the Easel - I have two easels in my studio, and when I finished this piece and removed it, my studio felt empty.

 

Final - The completed painting.

 

In its New Home - I'm here with my client and I'm pleased to report that I didn't pound a million mistaken holes into his wall...I hung it level on the first try - hooray!

Custom Artwork

It's been a topsy turvy fall here with bouts of very mild weather juxtaposed with some chilly days and a few snowflakes. When the weather cools down and the allure of working outdoors on my painting or in my garden lessens, I find it easier to focus on big projects in my studio. Right now, I'm working on custom commissioned pieces for several clients and I thought I'd share with you a peek at one of the projects.

I was asked by a Penn State College of Engineering alum to create a series of works highlighting the beautiful campus in State College, Pennsylvania during the fall. Since moving to this area back in 2004, I've been dazzled by the gorgeous autumn foliage of both the town and the surrounding state parks, so this idea appealed to me.

We began working together earlier this year to identify subjects and compositions that were meaningful to him. I like to give people some options when they approach me with an idea, so in this instance I created a series of black and white sketches first. From there, we identified the best compositions and I created initial color studies. Following some minor adjustments based on client feedback, these color studies will become the basis for the larger, final paintings that I'll complete in the coming winter months.

Shown here are the initial black and white sketches for a couple of the compositions we selected: the Nittany Lion Statue on the Penn State University campus and the Old Main administrative building on campus. If you'd like to commission a custom painting, you can contact me through my web site. Happy Holidays!

Initial black and white study featuring a composition of the Penn State Nittany Lion statue.

Second black and white study featuring a composition of the Penn State Nittany Lion statue.

Color Study 12 x 18 oil on canvas of the selected composition that will serve as the basis for the larger final painting.

Initial black and white study featuring a composition of Old Main on the Penn State University campus.

Second black and white study featuring a composition of Old Main on the Penn State University campus.

Color Study 12 x 16 oil on canvas of the selected composition that will serve as the basis for the larger final painting.