THE HOW AND WHY OF A COMMISSION

I thought you might like to read about how a portrait commission comes to be - at least, my version of it. I love animals, and feel honoured to accept the work of creating a loving painting or drawing of your furry, hairy or feathered friend.

I am going to take you through the process of a commission I completed about a year ago. It was for a friend, and for me, a special request as it evolved into two paintings. She couldn't decide which one she loved the most. Also, I had asked Jess if she would write a testimonial for my art work. Her commentary was beautiful, and I am including it in this post. That largely answers the WHY part of the title.

I am going to digress a bit, and post some images. Jess' comments after the pictures gives more of an explanation.

Indy and Buddy

My sketch, often done with a grid if the image is complex and requires precision.

reference photo - Indy on the left, Buddy on the right

Buddy and Indy

sketch

The kids out in their paddock.

Hope

Hope's sketch

The beautiful mare herself.

Mocha

 

Misty


When starting, I collect visual and personal information. Generally, I work from photos - yours or mine. If possible, I like to visit the model. And I love to get the owner's input on personality, behaviour, quirks.

Always, throughout the process, I appreciate conversations with the person commissioning the work as to their expectations and wishes.

I do sketches in graphite, and then a more refined drawing of the image the client prefers.

With the painting itself, I like to take time and care.

The portrait is then shown to the client for approval. If they so desire, I arrange for the framing and shipping.

Here are the verbatim testimonials Jess sent to me ...

"Misty [the flea- bitten grey wonder pony/ unicorn/ angel]: Kathryn has such amazing talent. The painting of Misty is the first of many she has done for me. She brought Misty to life for me in watercolour and it amazes me every time I look at it! I hung it beside my bed so I can have Misty with me every day when I am away from home at work. Kathryn managed to capture the softness and love in Misty's eye perfectly.
[An aside - Jess lives in Alberta, but has been working in the Northwest Territories with the emergency services as a fire"man" or firewoman, if you prefer.]

"Mocha [the dark bay thoroughbred]: Kathryn did a painting of Mocha for me after she passed away. She has such an amazing ability to put the horse's personality and essence into her paintings. Mocha was a beautiful horse, but she wasn't very photogenic. There was always something missing in photographs, but Kathryn managed to capture her true nature in the painting. She puts so much effort into making sure she understands the horse and owner before starting, and it really shows in the final product!

"Hope [the orange chestnut mare]: I commissioned Kathryn to do a painting of my mom's horse after she passed away as a tribute, and Kathryn definitely delivered. I had very few pictures of Hope for her to work with, and she managed to take a couple of photos and make something stunning. My mom cried when she opened the painting and was so thankful.

"Buddy and Indy [the goofball gelding and the spitfire mare]: I asked Kathryn to do a painting of my two horses because she has always done such fantastic work for me in the past! She definitely delivered with not one, but two paintings that capture everything I love about the two goofballs. The detail and personality shine through and the colours are comforting and soft, but somehow vibrant at the same time. I can easily tell from the paintings which is my little spitfire mare and which is the big loveable oaf. It was impossible to choose which painting I loved most because they each showed such unique aspects of Indy and Buddy's personality and bond."

So there you have it ... a brief summary of how I create a commission, and the BIG WHY. I love to make people happy, and if I can do so with my art, I am most fortunate! I will often create a portrait simply for the joy of it, and give the work away. Though I must admit, the financial pressures of being retired in these times is becoming somewhat overwhelming.

If you or someone you know would love to commission a realistic and heartfelt portrait, please feel free to contact me for a chat.

Thank you all very much for your visit!









  
                                                                                      
                                                                      
     

 

GOING BATTY ... LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY

 This is the "figuratively" batty part of the title. Two weeks ago, I was outside in the dark, stumbled, and fell backward. Of course I tried to cushion my landing with my arm. Wrongo ... right now I'm thinking I would have been better off trying to land on my head. But then, I'm just really frustrated with the whole episode! But, onward ...

This is the first stage. I made bodies with crumpled newspaper [hard to find these days]. They were held together with masking tape, as were the wings. The wings were constructed of metal coat hangers [also hard to come by] and some used electric wire from the barn - usually run across the tops of fences to prevent the horses from nibbling on them.

Here's the smaller bat with the supporting armature completed. I started with a smaller model as I was unsure how well it would turn out. As it seemed to be going well, I started Big Bat.

Baby Bat had a 40 cm wingspan, Big Bat a bit over 80 cm.

This was the FUN part, getting all gloppy and messy, wetting strips of newspaper with flour/water glue, applying that to the armature, and starting to model the shape of the bat.

Standing on his head, drying. The paper mache was done, and I was staring to apply acrylic paint.

The hoary bats [a species widespread in North America] were pretty much finished, just waiting for some wire to hold them up for display.

The eyes were ball-shaped pin heads.

Here I was delivering  the boys to my friend. All those balls hanging above were paper mache lanterns, also made for the display.

All of this was for an event Christine was arranging. Until retiring, she had been an environmentalist with Environment Canada.  The event was organized to promote awareness and appreciation for the ecology of our area. The event was held at Campbell Valley Park, and under the auspices of the Little Campbell Watershed Society. 

The event was very well-received. It was so beautiful to see all the displays, pathways through the park lit by lanterns. The paper mache bats were much appreciated by the lovely couple manning the "bat booth". I decided to donate the bats to them, as they travel all over the province, educating the public about bats.

As for me, I really enjoyed getting back into paper mache again. Now back to painting, and being VERY thankful I did not break my painting hand!

Thank you very much for dropping by. I hope you enjoyed the post! Next time, maybe something about horses or paintings I'm working on ...

 

The Emu

I am living on what is called an environmental farm, in the southwest end of the Fraser Valley. There are dozens and dozens of fairly exotic animals and birds here - cranes, pheasants, peacocks, and eagle [no longer able to survive in the wild], four emus, chickens, pigs, a donkey, two mouflon sheep, two sheep with three recent lambs, and a Nigerian [Nubian?] miniature goat. When I moved here a couple of months ago, the emus in particular fascinated me. They are taller than me when stretching their necks, and have some very distinctive behaviours and sounds. So of course I had to draw and paint one.

 One of the emus in their very large field. 

My drawing

For some reason, I wanted to start with a bright phthalo. blue spatter and spray.

The eye done, and some light washes ...

A wet-in-wet wash over the head and neck ...

And some added texture and darkening. I could have gone darker, but wanted the focus to be the eye. 
The size is about 17 x 20 cm. and if you have a thing for exotic birds, the painting is available. Please just leave me a note.

Thank you so much for dropping by!

 

 Not much painting yet, but a fair bit of sketching ...

It's not a very finished drawing, but I like the pose.

Clifford, a decidedly cheeky pony living at a rescue in Washington state. The woman who runs the refuge is a saint for all the animals. I like to help how I can. I will paint Clifford, and send it to her. Hopefully, [as she has done before] she can raffle the image to get some funds for supplies.

One of the emus here at the environmental farm ... waiting to be painted.

A few cute chicks, waiting for a paint brush, too.

A nearby farm. I've had the drawing for years, and now I feel I am finally able to approach it with a better sense of values, shapes ... composition in general.

Hmmmm ... we shall see. My idea is to paint this in all seasons. Must work on different backgrounds and light source to get the best effect.


This should keep me busy for a while! I'm also going to work on a proposal for the land/animal manager here to have some small classes here, drawing and painting the many subjects available here - animals, old buildings and farm implements, scenery ...  ONWARD!!!

Decidedly a grumpy day ...

 Decidedly a grumpy day

                                              My new home on an ecological farm ...

Exotic pheasants

Exotic pheasants [of the female persuasion]

About 40 - 50 chickens, plus 2 guinea hens

 

Two mouflon

Four emus

Two sheep, possibly more, and some goats, soon

Lola on the left, Speckles on the right

SO ... what the hell am I doing on an eco farm? I've been here since mid-December. I decided to have a largish tiny home built, and find a spot in the countryside to park it. My reasons [and feelings] are the exorbitant price of any kind of housing in British Columbia. I want to be in a rural setting; I believe, 

like so many, that we have gone much too far off track from our connections with ourselves and Nature.I'll leave it at that for now. I'm sure I'll have more to say with more clarity later.

And it's a grumpy day. It started bucketing rain as I was feeding all the animals - a chore I do about twice a week. One of the pigs came at me, looking like he wanted a piece of me - literally. The donkey kicked me. Granted, he was aiming for the miniature Nubian goat, and it wasn't a hard kick. And the sandhill crane came after me; sometimes she's fine, other times she's quite nasty - a bit scary considering the length of her beak.

I'm writing this to re-connect with myself and everyone else. The "plague" and its sequelae have left me feeling rather wobbly. I am hoping that getting back to what I loved doing will ground me. And I also hope you all find something interesting, amusing, helpful ... whatever. Entertaining, at the very least. Bye for now ...