A commissioned painting is a unique opportunity to create a painting that's made especially for you and especially for your home.
No mass printed art work. Nothing else like it on the entire planet!! Think about that for a minute. There never has been nor ever will be another artwork like yours.
That’s pretty special. And well, if a unique painting on your wall, saying hello to you every morning isn’t enough to make you smile, there are few things that can!! But I’m not sure they’re always as accessible as a painting at home.
Ok, but let me clarify here. A painting can be commissioned not just for home but also for any space that needs a special touch. It could be your office. Maybe not your car. Unless you own a vehicle that’s has space for a painting, of course!
I find it a huge privilege to paint commissions, because they mean so much to their owners. But it also comes with much responsibility.
Over the course of this blog, I’ll take you through the whole process: how it all started, the middle phase where we went back and forth and finally to the happy ending!
They saw me at a local craft fair and after a brief explanation of what they needed, we picked a date for me to go over to their house.
I loved their lounge. But I could also see why M wanted a commissioned painting. The room was large with a beautiful colour palette, but lacked a focal point. The mantelpiece was the natural centre and it did need something special to hang there. A mirror would make it too impersonal. It just would not suit M&T’s natural warm personalities.
M had certain requirements. She wanted this piece to fit in with 2 tapestry picture scenes sewn by M’s mum. It had to be the right tonal value and had to mimic the sky on a warm summer day.
We decided on a summery cheerful painting because the room had very little sun coming in. We also wanted to choose a painting size that would compliment the space. I took some of the larger paintings that I had with me and these were really helpful for them to visualise on a size that would work for them and for that room.
The other question was of course: what would be the subject of the painting? They wanted the scene to be something that was near and dear to them. They knew that it had to be a landscape based on one of their many travels through the UK.
We went through a few of their favourite memories and finally narrowed it down toa couple of scenes. I offered to do mock up paintings and then for them to decide which one they preferred.
So I went back home that day ready to do some sketches. But shortly gthereafter, M had talked to her daughter and decided that the Watendlath tarn scene was the chosen one.
This of course meant that I only had to paint a mock up of one scene. So I digitally edited the photo, making a few changes like removing the building in the middle and sent it to M.
The original photo
That set off a series of ideas in her daughter, who being a graphic designer did a superb job of editing the original photo to a better reflect their memories of this place and also including some of M’s favourite sheep in the scene.
But now that I had a good edited reference photo, I got on with actually planning the painting. I did a black and white version to establish tonal values, followed by a rough painting of a smaller size. I took this to M’s home, because I wanted her to see the painting in person. Often the colours look different on the screen. So when possible, I do this face to face, so that they can suggest changes, if needed.
The tonal study
I have found this method to be extremely helpful in making sure that the final finished painting, especially when working third large, met the expectations of its owners.
When M first looked at it, one of the first things that emerged was that the blue of the sky was not the correct blue. This was one of M‘s key requirements. So went back and forth at about the sort of colour she was looking for. She also wanted the grass to be lush green rather than a later dry summer green and a few other change changes like this were suggested and noted.
This was hugely helpful for me going forward to make sure that I stuck to the brief.
Mock painting, 11x14 inches
I had to order a long roll of watercolour paper and have a board specifically cut to work on, due to its large size of 33x21 inches
Once I had fixed the paper onto the board, it was time to start on the final painting. I mapped out the entire landscape with pencil on the watercolour paper, painstakingly and to scale, making sure that everything is in proportion. One of the things that surprises clients is the difference between how I approach a mock up painting and the actual painting. Often there is a tendency to want the mock up to be perfect before we can move on to the final painting. But I prefer it to be a quick sketch just for placement and colours.
When it comes to the actual painting though, I spend a lot of time at every stage of the painting to make sure I get every detail as accurate to their vision as possible. They know they are getting my full creative input in every bit of the painting. I lost count of the hours I spent on the actual painting. But I reckon it would be about 100 hour mark.
I started with the sky and getting the shade just right set the tone for the rest of the painting. This time I made sure to add the clouds that M wanted.
Next, it was time to paint the trees. There was a lot of greenery in this scene, so I had to vary the brush strokes and colours of the trees to make it look interesting, not just for the painting’s sake, but also to give M&T enough to look at for the years to come.
M also wanted the distant mountains to be more natural and the lake in the midground to be more prominent- it was after all, the LAKE district (she said!). And I agreed! So that was what I did for the middle ground. I left spaces for the sheep as they were going to be painted last.
Trees, sky and mountains complete
What I wasn’t prepared for was the foreground!
I had obviously roughly painted it once before. Increasing the scale of the painting so much meant I barely got through a 10 sq cm area of the painting each day!! This was mainly down to the detail in the foreground. And it was the reason why we chose this scene in the first place.
Background and mid-ground done. Foreground awaits!
If you’ve seen my other paintings, I’m not hyper-realistic. It’s more about conveying the feeling. So even though I didn’t paint every blade of grass, progress was slow. Even though the pace surprised me, I enjoyed going in to the lounge each morning to continue this painting.
I had music on. I painted this in my lounge as it was the only place I could leave a large painting like this overnight. Which meant that there was plenty of daylight streaming in from two large windows!! Just my perfect environment.
I believe this was the right stage of my career to paint this. If it was even a few years ago, I would have got frustrated and overwhelmed by the scale of this watercolour painting.
For context, most watercolour paintings are small, perhaps the average size is like an A4 (21x30 cm approx). Not many artists attempt large paintings like this. I DO love painting smaller paintings. My January daily paintings are 4x6 inches each.
I feel that larger paintings like this stretch me as an artist though. And I always want to be in a place of growth. Larger paintings get me to that place quicker.
I’d come to the final stages of the painting now. I’d kept updating M on a weekly basis. We’d originally agreed to finish a month earlier. But because of my schedule and the unexpectedly longer time that the painting took, I was delayed. If a client has had a deadline, I have always delivered a painting on time. But M&T did not have a deadline and were so understanding, that it only motivated me to over-deliver for them.
Finally the painting was finished and I sent photos. I then visited them, so they could choose frame samples. When the samples arrived in my studio I wasn’t sure if any of them would work as they looked different from what they looked like on screen, when I had ordered them,
So I invited M&T to my home studio, so they could look at the painting in person and picture it in their home to decide which frame they wanted.
Reflections of the Packhorse Bridge
When they saw it in person, they were genuinely taken aback with how much more vibrant it was in person. M knew her home well and decided on a frame and a double mount. I was still not convinced it was the right choice.
So the double mount and frame arrived. I finished framing it and now I was beginning to see why M chose that frame. She obviously knew her home better!!
With the double mount which complemented the painting well
I took the painting to its home and laid it out on the floor.
“Shall we go for a walk?” M said to T. That’s when I knew that the painting had done what it was meant to do.
I better let M finish this with how the whole experience was from their point of view:
“When we moved to our new home just over a year ago there was a large empty space above our fireplace crying out for a picture. My daughter (a graphic designer) said it needed to be a large picture to fill the space and link the various room colours together. We looked without success in the usual sort of places.
After six months (last December) we decided to commission Pradeepa of Limewood Art to paint one for us. I was aware of Pradeepa’s style of work having followed her business with interest and having taken part in many of her water colour workshops.
Pradeepa came to the house to discuss our requirements and understand the size of painting and colour scheme of the room where the painting was to hang. Prior to her visit she’d asked us to look for photographs of places that were meaningful to us.
Between us we narrowed it down to two photos that might translate well into a watercolour painting. Pradeepa went away to make rough mock ups of the two scenes so we could decide which one to take forward. It soon became clear that one scene had more foreground interest and better variety of colour that the other and would make a more interesting watercolour painting.
We chose a picture from The Lake District with an old stone packhorse bridge, a stream in the foreground together with flowers and a farm gate. The background had a lake and hills and trees. Pradeepa explained that we could enhance/modify the scene to our own requirements.
This we did by removing a derelict house, excess vegetation, making the sky a more of a vibrant blue, making the lake bigger and adding some typical Lakeland sheep to the scene.”
The day it was hung
“Once the black and white mock up draft was approved Pradeepa move onto a small draft colour version for our approval before she started the final large scale water colour painting.
All along the way she gave us progress updates via WhatsApp and checked we were happy with her colour choices for the sky and vegetation. Our room has green décor and it all needed to blend together with the watercolour painting as the focal point of the room.
Once the painting was complete Pradeepa brought the finished item to our house so we could chose an appropriate colour and style of frame. She had some samples of various colours and styles and was able to order in further samples as required.
This was so useful as it enabled us to choose a frame colour that would highlight the painting and complement the rest of the décor in our room. Pradeepa framed her work and brought and hung the finished water colour painting above our chimney breast.
It has now been hanging in pride of place for a few months and we have had many compliments on the picture. During the whole process we felt well supported and listened to and are very pleased with the end
Doesn’t it look like a fabulous match in its home?
I was very pleased too, when with T’s expert help we hung it up. We had already measured up how large the painting needed to be, both framed and unframed, to fit that space. So now it looked PERFECT in their lounge. It felt like it had always been there! This was a painting that was totally ‘at home’.
Can you imagine how much a painting like that could lift the ambience of a space at home, whether small or big? And I love that this painting had the creative input of the whole family. This was a collaboration of the best kind when several minds come together to create something that would last hundreds of years and that could pass on to the next generation too. How amazing is that?!
Thank you M&T, this was an unforgettable experience. I didn’t just enjoy the creative aspects, you were brilliant with communications, finances, patience and so much more! It was an honour! Writing this has helped me relive that experience again.
I feel it’s such a privilege to be a part of people’s lives in this way. So if you were thinking of something like this big or small, I’d love to help you bring it to life. Just email me: pradeepa@limewoodart.com