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It's been a busy week.

12/28/2015

It's a busy and hopefully, productive time of the year.

It has been a busy time in my studio the last couple of weeks. I just finished 3 paintings. One was from a donation I made to a local rescue group, for their annual fundraiser and auction, this painting was the result, Duquesa.

The second is a painting I want to enter in an exhibit that is coming up, at our local zoo. The Curious Badger. I hope to complete two more images for this show as well

The 3rd painting is one that I did for a friend that recently lost her senior dog, "Grandma Greta".

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Communication, not so easy.

12/28/2015

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I wrote a post awhile ago about a painting that I was doing for some clients, and how they didn't like it at all after telling me to do whatever I wanted.

Here is the rest of the story.

When I emailed them telling them the painting was finished and asking for feedback, I absentmindedly forgot to attach the picture of the painting. My email's have a portrait in the signature line of a blue merle aussie that I had for many years. My clients saw this and thought that was how I painted the dog but never described it to me. I was having trouble getting in touch with them as they were in the process of closing on a house and moving. After reaching them they said the dog they wanted painted had brown eyes not blue and the face was mostly black. I asked them to send more pictures and tell me which they liked best. One of the pictures they sent was one I already had on file the one I painted. I went to my clients office and explained I was confused. I also took the painting I had done along for clarification.

He really liked the painting and asked me to get it ready for shipping. By the time I returned home, he had several other requests. Below are the visuals for all to see.

Communication, amazingly important.

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My latest painting, Rooster.

12/20/2015

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A lesson learned.

12/15/2015

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I will think about this painting and remember it is not always the case when people say, we love what you do feel free to do what you think is best. I had trouble getting in touch with my clients of my current painting. But they had assured me they loved my work, I had painted their dog last year and they wanted a painting of their aunt's dog as a gift for her. They sent me 5 or 6 shots and said do what you think is best she is hard to get pictures of. I sent updates but never heard anything back. I would normally have stopped work on the painting till I received a response but given the fact that they said, do whatever I proceeded, oops! I sent pics of the finished painting today to 3 different email addresses as I wasn't sure why I had 3 email addresses but assumed one of them would get a response. The reply was, gosh this really doesn't look like her, sorry we never received your other updates, actually my wife loves it but, it just doesn't look like her to me. So chalk it up to experience, animal portraits need to be what the client thinks is right! Back to the easel.

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Cliche. What makes an image a cliche?

12/11/2015

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I have been thinking about this topic a lot lately. What makes a cliche image? Is it something that is overdone? Is it portraits with big eyes? Is it an image that is pleasant but not edgy? Is it a subjective thing? Is it only in the eye of the beholder? Painting animals, I always wonder why is this not great art does it need to have deeper meaning? Do I need to strive to do images like Francis Bacon, to be cutting edge? You know when something zings, and when something is merely appealing, does that mean it is cliche?

When you do cliche photos, why are they cliche? Just because others have taken similar shots in the past, does that mean it is a cliche? We were discussing photos one day, of the kitchen, I thought I would like a shot of my pot rack, but my friend said no that would be a cliche how about the inside of a box grater, is one good and one bad? Is one better than the other?

When we produce similar images to those that have been done in the past, we learn from this, by not being an original thought is that a cliche? This is not necessarily copying something or someone, it's not plagiarism but a method of studying, learning, and growing. These methods are how we develop our eye, our sense of style.

Is this an eternal question, how to be new to come up with something different, better, newer, shinier, bolder, more in your face?