Have you ever seen an artist’s work that you love but the pieces they have available aren’t the exact perfect fit for your space or there are parts you love of several pieces but it doesn’t exist on one? Well, many artists love to have work commissioned from them. I am defiantly one of those. Every time I am asked to create a piece just for a customer I’m so excited about the possibility of creating a piece that that will be just right for someone.
The space with the teapot they purchased from me in 2019. (And a cute dog that thinks there needs to be some art on the wall)
A few months ago I received an email from a couple asking about one of my pieces on my website. Unfortunately the piece was sold so I pointed them to some other pieces that were still available. Then they sent me a photo of the space they were looking to fill. The pieces they were most interested in were more vertical and wouldn’t fit in as well as a square or horizontal piece so I offered to make them something similar but in a configuration that would fit their space.
They were very excited about this possibility and told me the piece was going to be their anniversary present to each other. Wow, did I feel honored to be part of this gift!
I got to work creating three sketches that fit the format and style they were interested in. They especially loved one of my favorite pieces (maybe my most favorite but don’t tell my other pieces!) the “Scribble Museum - Every Room Full of Delights” so I took from that concept and doodled three line drawings that would give them an idea of which directions I could go.
Three sketches sent to the customer to choose from.
They picked the third drawing and then told me they liked a few other elements from the other drawings so I planned to add those in as I created. They told me to just let my creativity go and see what happened as they loved my work and couldn’t wait to see what I came up with (every artist LOVES to hear this when they are doing a commission because when you are in the midst of creating you want to feel free to follow your muse).
My protocol is to ask for half down so once we settled on a price range they called in with a credit card (I also do PayPal). Then I started to create! As I worked on the piece I sent them photos of the parts and pieces. If there were ever any changes that needed to be made I was happy to comply but this couple was happy with each photo I sent.
One of the first photos I sent of work in progress.
I made sure to take lots of photos of the piece before I boxed it up because the only hard part about commissions is that they go away so fast and as a creator I don’t get to enjoy them long. Then I took the second payment and went to work on the boxing up of the piece which as you can imagine was nearly a work of art on it’s own.
This was the largest single part piece I’ve ever done (other large pieces I’ve made have been in multiple parts so I can haul them to art shows) so I learned a lot about shipping. My husband Josh had the idea of building a wooden crate around the box to make it extra safe from all the shipping hazards. Then we attached it to two pallets. This thing was so solid it could have withstood a stampede of elephants!
The biggest box I’ve ever shipped!
And when it did arrive without damage I was thrilled! I sent them a template to make hanging easy and after a phone call about how to pick up the piece they were able to hang it in the space that it was made for! What a perfect fit!
The finished piece “Every Room full of Delights in Flight” in its new home!