In an English Garden

A big project is finished and ready to deliver this week.  It is a companion piece to a peony and butterfly piece I did a number of years ago.  They are both 44" tall and In an English Garden will be a gorgeous mate.  The first piece is all rose reds and pinks with butterflies zipping through them in shades of yellows, blues, lilacs and whites, and perched on shades of green leaves and sunlit blooms.  This new piece is a rambling garden of a variety of blue and purple iris, peach and cream lilies, deep green hosta with delicate white blooms, some roses peeking out.  Dragonflies are here and there and a few other surprises as well.

I was asked to do this with the utmost trust that I would do something "just right", and I hope these lovely clients will be as pleased as I am.  That is always the thing, with commission work.  Will the expectations be fulfilled?  Will the artist understand the request?  Will the client be so nervous that the artist feels constrained and indecisive about the end design?  It really all is a delicate balance between them, and often hinges on how much each knows of the other.  The artist, being the artist after all, will have a strong vision of the work colored by her style.  If the client isn't very familiar with that style, or if the artist isn't solid in a particular style, the visions can be drastically different - sometimes not even in the same park.  The client may have a strong vision too - perhaps something he seen in a photograph or a place visited, a memory.  But if the client isn't able to tell the artist some particulars about that vision - something beyond a color palette or medium for example - then there's a good chance that a problem may arise.

How do we avoid such a mishap?  Artists need to be certain that the client understands her style and has seen several examples, preferably in the flesh as well as in the portfolio.  And I believe the artist should ask many questions - questions dealing with the more subtle aspects of the request - questions like, what is the angle from which you will view my work?  What other things are in the peripheral view?  What other artwork is near?  What is the overall "feel" you are wanting to create for that space?  Conversation that is more ephemeral perhaps, but the answers may get to a deeper place from which the client may clarify his expectations.  If we take a little extra time to distinguish these things, I think commission work can be exciting and very satisfying for both the artist and the client.

Then, every once in while, some wonderful people will say to you, "Do what you think is best - we love your work!"

Detail

In an English Garden

another view

another view

another view

and another

I can't decide which I like best!

From Start to Finish

Several weeks ago I posted an "in progress" group of pictures on my FB page.  I did finish the piece and here is the chronicle of the project - from start to finish.  It's a long process, doing a sculpted gourd using the natural direction of what nature gives me.  There isn't much sense in making drawings on paper because your plans will invariably go awry and your paper drawings will have been wasted.  I believe one has to "see" what the gourd wants to be, then help it become.

This tall snake gourd bent fairly gracefully in one direction,with a nice gentle swelling at the bottom.  The iris hiding there needed to be set free to blow in the garden breezes, leaves wanted to arch and droop as landing places for dragonflies and butterflies.  

After drawing the images onto the gourd and burning the line work in, the engineering begins - after all, when you cut a leaf or bloom from the center of the gourd, what will hold the remaining top to the bottom?  Leaves and stems must be rebuilt behind the flower which wants to lean outward.  After soaking the "free" parts of the design (blooms and leaves), the gourd walls are soaked in warm water and gradually bent, holding their positions with strings tied to weights or to the table, till the piece is completely dry.  If the parts are very narrow or the stem is all that holds the large bloom, support must be built onto the backside of the gourd wall.  But, careful, don't build so much support in that you can't reach the inside of the design where a butterfly might be resting.  The contraption in the pictures holds the gourd for me in any one of many positions.  I used to have to do the holding in my lap - very precarious!  All of the cut edges and the sculpture material added to make the design more 3-dimensional must be sanded, hence the mask.  The sander is loud - headphones help.  Sander makes talc-fine dust - so I hold the vacuum in my left hand while sanding with my right.  It's definitely a balancing act!

The painting is done in stages - basic colors applied in the beginning so that I don't mistake positive image for negative space.  Lots of layers of transparent acrylics build the nuanced color in each leaf and bloom.  Often something may start out life as magenta and end up as yellow!

Here are several views of the finished piece.  I miss gardening, but I love making one that lasts forever!  I'll be bringing this one to the Celebration of Fine Art, Scottsdale, opening Jan. 15.  Hope you'll get to see it!

The Process - piece by piece...

Sometimes these things are pretty awkward!  And when it's cold it takes a lot longer because the tool cools off
quickly.