I recently was asked to paint a commission for an Australian couple based on an earlier work they had seen and liked. The end result had a similar palette but was very different to the mentioned work.
Every painting has it's own voice and although I may set out with a specific intention when I pick up my brush, by the time I have finished painting the work that comes through is often very specific to the person whom commissioned it. It is a trust process on both sides!
My client's wife (for whom the painting was a birthday surprise) loved the hieroglyphs in previous works but when I painted on this canvas, they came out as a tribe migrating across the canvas rather than filling the ground. I am pleased to report not only did the painting arrive safely but they love the 'tribe of hieroglyphs' that came through too, it reminded them of the Kalahari. I have found with commissions, it is safe to trust my intuitive process as the outcome often resonates with the client in a way I could not have predicted and with a meaning quite personal to them.
It was wonderful to be able to roll up a canvas with a bit of bubble wrap and send it in a tube pack via U.S Postal service. In the past I have always looked in to art-specific carriers for art work. It occurred to me I had a fabulous framer in Melbourne who also stretchers canvas on to support. It turned out to be much more cost efficient to send the canvas rolled and re-stretch it on delivery than send it as a finished work.
This is good news as it really opens up the way for sending work overseas , something that I thought of as too difficult or expensive to do in the past!
