Family Portrait Commission - Sketch and Reference Photo

This is the start of my latest commission. It is a sketch of the grandparents, father and children which will be a birthday gift for the father from a very nice friend. The artwork is 15 x 19 on a sheet of 16 x 20 Arches Hot Pressed watercolor paper.

The layout took a bit of reworking both by the client and myself and I think it was well worth the effort. It has a very nice flow which draws the eye from the father around the portrait to the other family members.

As this is a larger commission, I will start with the grandparents and work my way down from right to left, top to bottom, to the kids, house & then the father to avoid smuding and keep the drawing fresh. Generally each portrait is completed to roughly 90% before moving onto the next and then final adjustments and tweaks are made at the end. Time to jump in!

Place des Art Exhibit

Well it has been a busy weekend but the opening reception seemed to be a sucess for the Suite E group at Place des Arts on Thursday. The gallery was close to full at times and people really seemed to enjoy the artwork.

It was fun watching people looking at the work and the best part though was watching people press their faces as close to the artwork as they could to try to figure out how it was done :) The exhibit runs until April 19th so please check it out if you are in the area.

Framed Art in Exhibition Frames from Opus

I thought I would post some of my artwork in my new frames. I bought a bunch for an upcoming exhibit from Opus Art & Framing Store as they were nice and simple and were on sale which is very nice when buying so many at once.

I wanted something simple so as to not distract from the artwork and they looked ok at the store but once the double matt is inserted with the artwork they look really great! I am considering replacing artwork and photos in my home with these frames as well as they are super easy to change out the photo or artwork as the backs pop out easily with little clips. They can sit or are hung by a wire which attaches easily to the back.