Anatomy of a Commission

Remember this beautiful old farm? I visited it in the Fall to shoot reference photographs for a painting commission.

The property is quite large, and has so many amazing little vignettes and beautiful textures. Someone could literally spend an entire lifetime painting there!

So I started off the commission process by drawing a loose sketch of my idea for the final painting. That way the client and I could be sure that we were on the same page in terms of the composition.

Next, I translated the approved drawing onto a canvas, and set up color keys to guide me.

The rest of the painting unfolded fairly seamlessly, just in time for Christmas!