Sunday, May 24, 2009

Commission Finally Finished!

The commission I have been working on all month is finally finished! It is 16x20 pencil on a smooth Strathmore paper. I worked from a very tiny, dark photo. My wonderful client commissioned me to do the drawing for her boyfriend for his upcoming 30th birthday. It is of him when he was a young boy with his dad on their ranch. Sadly his dad passed away at a rather young age so this image is pretty special to him. Please forgive the scan and stitching - there are shadows on the border of the paper but I thought I'd post it anyway so that you can see that I really have been working hard. Besides working on this it has been extremely busy at work with the legislative session going on and our annual meeting for the physicians. I still have another special meeting next week to finish preparing for at work but it should slow down some especially with the session to end soon.

11 comments:

Carolina said...

Hi Karen
You certainly had a lot of work on that bark, and the whole scene, it's lovely. I'm sure the birthday will be very very special with this unforgetable gift.
Good luck at work with those meetings, and hope you go back to painting more often soon!

Unknown said...

Wow!!! Look at all that work and detail! How lucky your friend is and how even luckier the recipient is going to be!

Holly Zemak said...

Superb job, very touching piece, I am sure your client will be very pleased.

Karen Hargett said...

Hi Carolina - thanks so much and yes the bark took the majority of the time even though it is basically just scribbles! Now that this is done I can start painting in the evenings when I come home - can't wait!

Sheila thanks! I haven't met my client yet. She is coming in to town the first part of next week so we are going to meet up so I can deliver this instead of shipping it to her. It will be nice to meet her - most of my clients I've never met in person.

Thanks Holly! I can't wait to find out what the boyfriend thinks of it.

Dee Dee said...

Beautiful Karen! The boyfriend is going to flip. Extra special since he lost his Dad so young. I love how you framed it with the trees and roots.

Karen Hargett said...

Thanks DeeDee! That means a lot coming from you. I love drawing "outside" of the box and couldn't force myself to just cut the trees off. The reference photo had a lot more trees in it but cut it down to these. I framed it yesterday and it really looks nice - she is supposed to come to my office and pick it up from me before noon today. Can't wait to see her reaction.

Dee Dee said...

Oh I'll bet she loved it...let us know her reaction!

Annelein said...

Hi Karen,
It's been a little while since I stopped by for a visit and right back at ya for your feathered friend a few posts ago! Such detail in a relatively small size! And all that with pastel..super!

magicmyst said...

This picture is superbly rendered. The detail is amazing. I am sure your client will be amzed with the result. It will make a lovely gift.

What do you do in your dayjob Karen? It sounds awfully busy.

Barbara Pask said...

Really wonderful Karen. This will mean so much to him. What a thoughtful gift. You have been busy, I keep checking in.

Karen Hargett said...

Dee Dee she loved it and her boyfriend got tears in his eyes so I guess it was a hit ;-)

Annelein thanks for stopping by! I'm glad you like my chickens - you always inspire me to do them.

Magicmyst - thank you so much. I am pleased with the way it turned out even though I almost went cross-eyed on the bark!

My day job - I'm an executive assistant for the VP of Medical Economics at a large medical association. We do policy work and among other stuff. I help staff the Council on Socioeconomics and this weekend we had a meeting of the Task Force on Health System Reform - a hot topic right now. Keeps me buzy ;-)

Hey Barb - good to see you! Thanks for checking in.