Commission

Just finished this piece for part of a commission.  "Salem Mantle", 14 x 11 inches, oil on panel.  I almost never do commissions for one reason or another.  I have turned down a number of projects in the past because I felt unsure the potential collector and I understood each other well enough.  I think that is critical in a commission environment, because each participant is an innocent bystander.  Let me explain;  the person who wants the commission may not have any experience with the commission process, and therefore it is up to the artist to make everything as clear as possible.  The artist is sort of the innocent because  they usually can only "do what they do" and might not want to choose to stretch their abilities when they have been paid in advance for a painting.  In my opinion most commissions don't work out when the artist accepts a project that is outside of their normal pursuits, and therefore if the client is unhappy with the end result, the artist doesn't have any way to offer the painting for sale because it was either so specific to the client or it is not part of their output and therefore the artist can't offer it to any of their galleries to sell, thus forcing the artist to dig in with the client and "talk them into it" which is always a very bad idea.  An artist should never be content if they have to talk their client into liking a piece....if the communication was thorough in the beginning, by the time the painting is completed, both parties should be happy.

I must add, that in this particular case, I am working with a wonderful client, experienced, knowledgeable and a real joy to work with!

Orhans

I have recently set up an Etsy shop which you can visit here.  I'm offering paintings from my collection.  In addition you will find giclees, original hand colored lithographs and some small inexpensive reproduction prints.  Please visit, and ask any questions that you might have....

The Monument...oil on panel, and photo on rice paper, 30 x 30 inches....what I did here was to take a photo from one of my folders of images, in this case of the iconic Provincetown Monument and after working on it in Photoshop, cropping and manipulating it, I sized it to fit the empty picture frame I had painted on the wall of the painting and printed the jpg on to hand made Nepalese rice paper.  Actually the paper is from a different plant whose name escapes me right now but it is just like rice paper.  Then I took this "print" and mounted it to the panel inside the edges of the frame.  To maximize the effect, I then painted the frame in to the edge of the paper.  Because the paper is so thin and a semi-transparent the effect worked very nicely.  On top of the rice paper print, I then painted in oil with transparent paint, and worked the image into the background to make it recess somewhat.  The effect was topped off by painting the subtle reflections in the glass.  I have never tried this "mixed media" effect before and found myself quite taken with both the process and effect.  I hope to revisit this approach in future works.

Hobnail at Night

I didn't think I still had a jpg of this image....this was from a few years ago;  Hobnail at Night, oil on panel, 36x36 inches...I really struggled with this piece, as I wasn't as familiar with making a painting interesting with such little content.  When I was finished I was very unsure about it, and a little reluctant to even exhibit it, but I had a show coming up at the time and I needed it for that.  So it was "damn the torpedo's" and I brought it to the gallery and it was featured in my show.  When I saw it the night of the opening my fears were taken care of and it sold a few days later.  Last week, I knocked the lamp over and shattered the globe....it's the third time I've done that and although it's probably easy to replace, I'm done!

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Nick-Patten-Invites/7129741

This is a really cool project that a designer put together and I stumbled upon on the internet the other day....I think it is so creative (and flattering) I somehow want to incorporate this image into a painting but I haven't figured it out yet....stay tuned!

 

New Painting

BEYOND AND MORE,   oil on panel  14 x 18 inches.  This is a new painting I finished last week.  I use the word new loosely here because it was a painting that I wanted to change when I got it back in my studio.  So I changed the entire tone by repainting everything.  Added objects on the table, took out a lamp that was there, and then added the lamp that can be seen now....I repainted the couch in a different color and the background and the floor.  I also readjusted the lighting to better suit the new  mood of the piece.  I haven't done this in some time so it was quite interesting to revisit this process.  I will be shipping this off to Rice/Polak, on Monday.

           What a cool preview shot for my show opening at the Laffer gallery ....such a beautiful gallery, really looking forward to seeing the show.