Commissions, commissions, commissions.
I started this blog October 3rd 2024, and it’s been in draft since then. Since I started writing this blog I’ve completed many of the paintings that were unfinished then, and some are still unfinished and I’ve picked them up again…so going back to October this is where I was at:
October 3rd, 2024 - I have so many commissions lined up that I closed my commissions. Feeling overwhelmed because I haven’t got a system to tackle so many of them at once. It seems to be the niche that could provide me a steady income but I need to work out an efficient system for painting them and that’s what I want to explore in this blog.
I have been painting one commission at a time and a whole lot of other stuff at the same time because one can’t just work on one painting… - that works well for the other stuff - like I painted my whole Park Dogs exhibition in between 2 commissions. 30 paintings to 2 commissions and the commissions keep piling up…
So now I want to clear some of that line up - I’m thinking I should paint a stack of commissions at once…like I did with my Park Dogs, start a whole lot and then I can see, visually, my progress and where I’m at rather than tackle one at a time which causes me to lose a lot of productive time to procrastinating… so what’s the best way to do that I wonder…?
Looking at what I’m working on at the moment - two commissions, a large portrait planned for the gallery M community exhibition, my collage project for the third project of term 3 at Splashout art studios, and a pear for fun and a park dog painting that I never got around to finishing.
I’ve also stretched and prepped another large canvas for a commission due by December, which I might draw up today, and I’m wondering if I should start another portrait commission to really move things along…
oh…and I nearly forgot the two extra large abstracts I’m commissioned to do but the due date has been postponed several times so I’ve put them aside…
I worked a bit more on one of my commissions and now, because it’s the late afternoon, I’m going to start another. Here’s one dilemma - in the mornings I find it easier to do the difficult work of likeness in portraits, and finishing off works… where as in the afternoons I’m more inclined to want to be free to express and experiment which also suits starting works.
I’ve missed writing these blogs…
and there’s another hindrance… commissions are kind of in the private/personal space…between myself and the customer, so it’s difficult, possibly improper, to share aspects of the work on social media, especially progress, even though this side of things remains undiscussed.
procrastinating again…
I’m just sitting here, unable to decide what to work on…at some point one just have to make a decision so….uugghhh… I’ll finish off the two dogs!
I’ve got a week to sort something out for the Marion community exhibition at gallery M, so that’s my next project that I’ll get to - a largish work, 90x90cm.
I won a a couple of prizes for my large Agnes portrait.
back to the present:
15/1/’25 Crikey time flies… …and I’m thinking I should make a plan…like plan a daily routine or something, so I’m thinking that if I spend an hour or two first thing every morning working on my commissions I’m freed to do whatever else I’m inspired to do in the afternoons…I’m also going to use my wet pallet for commissions and work on one commission at a time in the mornings so I’m forced to complete the one I’m working on. The wet pallet will save me having to put out paint each time I get to work, so I can pick up where I left off every morning. That’s my plan…1 hr or more, every morning on a commission until it’s finished, and everything else in the afternoons…see how long it lasts.
the end.