Rocky Rivers Leaf Me Breathless
It seems crazy that October is upon us already. Though I didn’t plan the timing to fit with the seasons, I did just complete a large commission that celebrates some of the beauty of a North American Autumn. I entitled it “Bold, Buoyant & Beautiful”.
My 4’x3’ painting (a bit overexposed here) and myself for scale.
The 4’x3’ piece in question has been in the works for two months now, and arrived at it’s new home in the lobby of an office in the East end of Ottawa just a couple of days ago. Please allow me to explain what I mean by “two months.”
When I started doing art full time in July, I knew some of the workday would be spent on administrative tasks. I’d heard some entrepreneurial artists say that 50% of their time was spent on admin work. In addition, I listened to a podcast in which another Creative (a composer) said he could only really bank on 4 hours of solid composition time per day. That was a relief to me, because I find my concentration stores do not last as long as a standard 7.5-8 hour workday. So doing art full time does not mean painting 100% of the time. In fact, the admin portion (preparing quotes and invoices, purchasing supplies, writing posts and shooting photos/videos for social medial) readily fills in the non-painting time. Therefore “two months” of painting this piece really means that I was painting for half the workday for that time period. It’s still a big job, and I’m proud to have completed the work even if slowly.
In sourcing an image to fit my vision, I was looking at the overall big picture. Part of the reason I suggested this scene to my client was that the river rock is composed of a lot of greys and blues that meshed well with the décor and feel of his lobby and office space. Looking back I’m astounded that I didn’t see more in the reference image. I was captured by the sparkles of light dancing on the water, and the vibrant leaf making lovely ripples. Until I squeezed the first paint out of the tube to begin bringing this scene to life, I had no idea how many colours were involved! There is so much light bouncing around and refracting, creating dozens of tiny rainbows!
I should have realized the complexity of the image far more than I did at the outset, but once I got painting, and painting, and painting some more – the reality became clear. To manage my own expectations on progress, I divided the piece into square foot sections. Incredibly, at the beginning I speculated that I could complete 1 square foot per painting day. That was a drastic miscalculation; it always took at least two times longer! Consequently it felt like I was not making any progress in my painting sessions, and at times I despaired of ever completing it. That part is something I’ve come to expect during larger paintings; hitting the proverbial “wall”. That’s when I had to just pull up my bootstraps and press on regardless of feelings; but, it was a grind at times. The total square footage (including the 1.5” deep sides) was 13.75.
A close up of some of the rocks
As a reward to myself, I save the “best ‘til last”, much like I do with dinner. Dessert only comes after the broccoli! This preserving my favourite part until the end is a mind game but it keeps me motivated, allowing me to finish with a happy flourish, ending on a high, celebratory note. For this one, I saved the leaf until last. It took up a good amount of space and was far simpler (therefore faster) to reproduce in paint than myriads of river rocks. Up until then, I felt the piece had no anchor, no context. It looked like an abstract piece with no real focal point. The ripples helped – especially at the very end when they radiated from a blank leaf shape. So I created a fun little video of the final filling in the leaf, and it can be seen below. With that addition of the leaf, I felt the painting came together and finally made sense. What a joy!
I’ll include some progress shots to give a sense of the development of this painting.
Lessons learned:
Before starting (or quoting) a commission, scrutinize the reference photos, paying close attention to the details in order to accurately gauge the time and effort needed to complete the job.
I must not rush, but also must not get so bogged down with slow progress that I grind to halt, too intimidated to carry on.
Always try to end on a high note; it makes the victory of accomplishment feel like it was worth the eye-crossing toil!
What lessons await me next, I wonder. Only time will tell. All I know for certain is that there will certainly be more lessons.
Final product (4’x3’ acrylic on canvas | SOLD)
