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Most important of commissions

I never expected when my husband and I thought we start on the revamp for our lounge in the new year that it would linger on into June, six months of redecorating, plastering the end wall and getting rid of the ceiling beams, buying new light fittings, buying new furniture, waiting weeks for it to finally arrive, ordering new curtains, and waiting weeks again for them to be brought and hung. In theory it was all going to be done well within six weeks, not six months. But, its all nearly done now. Curtains are finally up, and the new settees are in place. We have some more furniture on order which will come at some point in the next few weeks, and then the room is done.. 

Well…nearly..

Because, it struck me last week that the end wall that we had had plastered, and I painted in pale cream paint..is the ideal wall for a feature painting to hang. A statement painting, one that finishes off the room. 

I mentioned this to my husband, and said I was thinking of painting a picture to hang there.

His reaction was “Get on with it then..don’t ask me what subject, just DO something..!” 

He trusts me and knows that I will think of something suitable, something apt..

So that is what I have been thinking about..and on Friday of last week I went through a great whole load of images I have as general “inspiration”…images that I have always collected over the years that I like for various reasons. the subject, the colours, the feeling of them…

And at the end of that session (of some hours!) I came to one in particular that I liked..it called to me…I looked at it to analyse it, and work out what it was I liked about it, because there were some aspects that I didn’t like at all..and after that artistic analysis I decided that I finally knew what it was that I was going to do for this new painting…

The subject matter will be a beautiful blonde woman with long hair, but there will also be water featured in the picture, and wood, and mist, and a gold circle….

On Saturday afternoon I sat and worked out colours and tones for the working drawing. And found tucked away in storage in my studio a perfect gold frame that I bought many years ago and had kept safely for a special commission, and decided that it was a perfect one to use, because this is indeed a very special commission! So then I knew what size the painting would be, 22 x 16 inches, and that meant that I could stretch a large piece of watercolour paper ready to my art board for it to dry overnight..

And on Sunday afternoon I was able to start the drawing of the picture, that took five hours and I need to put in more details now before I start to paint it. I will paint it in acrylics on the paper though, not watercolours…or maybe I can paint it in watercolours…mmm….I’ll see how it progresses..I may start it in watercolours and build up the finer details in acrylics..I’ll see the best way of  putting the magic in when I start.. because its a stretched piece of watercolour paper it will take watercolours, or acrylics, or both together..

But the reason I am counting this as such an important painting is because I haven’t done much painting in the last two years with moving to Kent and having so much to do since then..

And the other reason why this painting will be so important, is I am choosing the colours of the room… duck egg blue, gold, slate blue, white, and cream. This painting will hang on the end wall to make a feature..and I want it to be one of the most important paintings i have ever done, because its for ME, for my new life in Kent, for my house, my home, me as an artist, and for me to show the world the talent I have as an artist..!