Cellar Fundraiser - Sundae's Commission
 

When Sundae Girl asked me to paint a commission piece for her to include her cats, I was thrilled at all of the great photos she gave me for inspiration. Then, I was saddened to hear that Dylan is missing. I knew Dylan and Sundae were very close and that this would need to be a very special piece for Sundae. So, to make this short (since my strong suit is not writing) I have started working on the piece for Sundae Girl to include her 2 cats. I estimate that it is about 25% finished. Below is my progress, so far:

The original inspiring photo:
http://caseoriginalart.com/cellar/cherry4.jpg

This was the original sketch and my blocking in some of the darker areas.
http://caseoriginalart.com/cellar/cherry1.jpg

My assistant wanted to be a part of the documentation process ;)
http://caseoriginalart.com/cellar/cherry2.jpg

After I knew the shape of things, I began to lay on some color. Since I am working with acrylic at this stage, I am not too particular about the specific shades. It is very likely that I will not stick with this color combination, but it is there to sort of set the tone for the next layer.
http://caseoriginalart.com/cellar/cherry3.jpg

I will be updating this thread as I make more progress on this piece. :)

case! You're amaaaaazing :D

where does the fundraising part come in?

Thanks, Razz!

Jim, I have offered to do painting commissions for active cellar members with 50% of the total cost of the painting going to Tony's tip jar. Whomever is interested needs to pm me and I will send the prices and details. :)

case, you are so damn talented!

Are those catfish?

I have some ideas for a painting, also. Let me cogitate upon it and get back to you.

Yes, they are my beautiful catfish, fish-cats.
Case, you have captured them perfectly.

Catfish is exactly what my "assistant" called them. Maybe that is what I will call the piece.

HLJ, just let me know when/what. :)

Shawnee thanks for your compliment. I am not sure if it is talent or just obsession. :)

I am so glad you like it so far, Sundae!

Although my subtitle will be Don't Let Go.

Talent and obsession are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Look at Poe, or Van Gogh. Seriously...you are really good!

Beautiful painting. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Thanks, you guys. I will have more to post this afternoon.

Long overdue update
 

Sooooo...

I have some more progress to report. I know I said I would post around the end of last week, but our children from Texas came back on Saturday and I spent most of the weekend and yesterday settling into a new routine of entertaining 3 kids, now that it is summer. I have found time to paint, though! I believe I am almost finished, in fact...

First, I started to develop more of the front cat and his tail. I also filled in all of the bare spots I had left from before. The background struck me as drab, so I added texture, there. Then, I realized that the painting felt a little out of balance...and that something seemed missing...cherries! So I blocked those in.
http://caseoriginalart.com/cellar/cherry5.jpg

Then, I started to work on the cherries in a little more detail. I finished filling in the bare spots and deepened the shadows on the cat in back. I added a little more detail to the face of front kitty, while giving him some brighter highlights.
http://caseoriginalart.com/cellar/cherry6.jpg

Finally, I worked out the cherries in detail, giving them stems and fine tuned back kitty's face. I realized that the composition wasn't right, somehow, so I pulled out the topmost cherry. I also did something with the background that I am not sure I like. It feels a lot less like water, now, and more like just green nothingness with a swirly thing through it. I signed the painting, thinking I had finished, but now, I don't think so. I will probably be reworking the background again to make it more water-like.
http://caseoriginalart.com/cellar/cherry7.jpg

So, that is where I am, at this point. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. :)

I love the progress pictures. It's much more interesting to me than to just see the final picture. And I like the way this one is turning out. The cherries are a fun addition.

Whenever I look at this picture I think of Yin and Yang cats.

I am glad you enjoy the progress pictures, glatt. I like to do that, sometimes, because it helps me to remember what I went through to get to the end product.

HLJ, I think of that too, with this one. Or the Pisces symbol.

It's difficult for me to comment Case.
It is nothing like I expected, and everything like it.

If I tell you it needs more cowbell then I am negating what I like most about it - it is an original piece of art from your imagination.
I love it as it is. I will love it no matter what changes you do or don't make to it.

And it is great to see the way it's developed. It will look wonderful on my wall. I'm moving the Miro for it!

I am so glad, Sundae. I will refrain from adding too much cowbell. I do think it needs a little more something.

I am honored that you are moving Miro for it! I can't wait to see how it will look on your wall!

I can vouch for how good case's work looks in person. The colors on her piece for me were fantastic! :D

White Horses? Waters are never smooth in UK.....

I started to reply to make some inane facetious comment, but.... those swirls, some edge, mebbe? it's pretty fricken cool, for sure.

can we see?

The current painting comes out about postcard size on a printer.
It is on my work noticeboard at present. It's not in the best light (read no light most of the day) but alongside work contact numbers and must-do reminders it soothes me.

For the record the front cat - and most prominent - is my beloved Dyl-cat. Captured at his most calm and contented, and how I will remember him.

This painting - whatever its final appearance (unless you whitewash it and draw a monkey) means an awful lot to me. Thank you everyone that has helped.

When is the auction?

No auction, Sundae commissioned and paid for the painting. Case put half the money in the tip jar, last month.

Ok, cool.

She made it from a photo I took in S. Carolina on the beach at sunset.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f8...adSunsetsm.jpg

lovely. the shape of the sunset makes me think it's about to take flight.

thanks.

I see alligators. :eek:

see the fat one on the right? that bump in it's belly? That's you, that is.

:lol2:

takes a brit....

lol

I'm in you? :eek:

Wow, I just saw the last in the case cat painting progression. You give me chills, girl, you're so good!

Geez, you guys are all so kind. It is almost like cheating to post my paintings here, because you say such nice things about them. Thank you, Bullitt, for posting the "Hilton Head Sunset" painting I created for you. I have had a lot of people ask me about that painting, actually. Perhaps I will have to do some more pieces in that style. Merc, I am sorry this one is not an auction. Maybe I should do an auction for a painting? Does anyone have any input on that?

Wednesday evening, we drove from Golden, CO, through the wind to Wichita, KS. We are here for the rest of the weekend. I am hoping to finish the painting on Sunday and send it to Sundae on Monday or Tuesday. Please stay tuned!

What size are those paintings? It's hard to tell from the photos.

I think in terms of artistic endeavours, people here are generally kind. They don't respond unless they have something positive to say. At least that's what I've experienced in the few things I've posted.

But in your case, Case, it's far more than that. You've also had commissions/ sales - which is people putting their money where their mouth is - and you should accept that your talent is well received in a disparate band of people & countries.

I will definitely take pics of the painting in situ.

Case you are very, very talented. I don't just mean you are technically competant. You have a very distinctive artistic 'voice', the way the images flow into and out of each other is wonderful.

I've been looking at photos recently and wondering what you'd make of them, having seen what came out of the photo of Sundae's cats.

umm wow. Do you have a diviant art profile? You can commission your work from there!

Some people do. Some people dont.

Dani, I gave Case completely free rein on my painting. I sent a number of pictures of the boys (when I still had boys plural) but added that anything she chose to create was fine by me, including a picture of myself if she preferred. I'd have taken a Case abstract to be honest.

I didn't want a paint by numbers copy of a photo, and I didn't want Case to feel confined to that, given her artistic imagination.

However, given that she has taken a simple (but to my mind, moving) photo of mine and recreated it a la Case, I would recommend anyone commissioning a similar piece of art. Case is an excellent painter, and can easily handle something closer to reality. But I suggest having a little something added to make it personal. The fact my painting has cherries in it makes me feel like a proper patron (like a Vespucci family wasp)

I really think you should do one. Just do it for yourself this time. Keep the money. I would bid on one if it appealled to me. I would suggest a theme that involves The Cellar and the Monkey at the top of the page. Or what ever you wanted to do. The world is your stage. Your stage is the Canvas. Post the painting as it progresses and let people do a silent aution via pm's only. Then post the winning person at the end but maybe not what the final bid was. Or maybe you could just post "current bid price is ___" so people know where to start from on each bid. It would be fun. Anyone else think this would be fun or a good idea?

Keep most of the money. If using the Cellar to auction it seems reasonable to give a percentage of the proceeds to the pot.

Yes if Case sets a minimum - this is her livelihood.

Also, the idea that she gives the "commision" to Tony is a great one. Practically it's hard for me to contribute to the jar and I felt so pleased that I was finally making a difference. This obviously won't apply to those who contribute regularly.

The jar was recently almost filled by another commission.

I can't wait until I personally have some free money to commission one outright.

Whew, sorry I haven't had a chance to respond. Just got back from Wichita last night and getting back into the family routine.

HLJ, the cats painting is 12" X 16". "Hilton Head Sunset" is 8" X 10". I do them all sizes, though.

I don't always use photos for reference..."Unremitting" was done without any kind of visual reference. I have painted portraits from life and from photos. I usually only use a reference if I am not completely use to drawing the subject. For instance, I have never painted a cat before. Especially not Sundae's cats, so I needed a photo reference for that. And Hilton Head Island would not look familiar to Bullitt if I had not used one of his photos. Both Sundae and Bullitt gave me a whole range of photos to choose from that I could use as a reference. I like working that way, so I can get my inspiration authentically, I suppose.

The auction idea is an interesting one, Merc. Does anyone remember back when I use to paint stylistic nudes? Those were created for the auction format (Ebay, specifically.) I would create a painting in one day, then list it on Ebay...only to get it noticed at all, I had to pay for a featured listing, where it was listed with (literally) 10,000 or more other paintings for that day. Most of the time, I would not receive a bid unless I set the starting price at around $30.00 or less and I had to pray that it would get above $50.00 so I could break even. I couldn't even consider putting a reserve on it. Sometimes I got over $100.00 for a painting. If that were the case, I figured I was making around $7.00 an hour (in profit.) I ended up running out of money for listings, one week, when none of my paintings got any bids (2 weeks after Christmas.) That was when I realized that Ebay was the wrong venue for my art. It could work for certain types of "assembly line" art, but not for me. There are still many folks who create really neat abstract pieces for Ebay and sell them there, making a decent income because of how they have streamlined their process. That method of creation stresses me out and defeats the purpose of what I am doing. (I know that was long, but just a background on my experiences using auction format.)

Anyway, I know the cellar is not Ebay...but, since my experiences with Ebay, I generally shy away from auctions because of the lack of control I have over my processes and pricing. I will consider it as a fun option, though. At this point, I want to finish the current commission campaign. I still need to finish up this painting and I have 1 or 2 others in the pipeline. Let's revisit this idea later on. And of course, I will definitely put a portion of the proceeds toward the cellar, whether there is an auction, or commissions or if people just purchase the paintings outright. That is the one thing I promise to do...there are many successes I would not have if it weren't for Tony. It is only fair to compensate him. In fact, that was sort of the point in this commission idea.

Sky, I set up a Deviantart profile once, but had trouble with the interface, so I mostly gave up. There are so many amazing digital artists there, that I felt a little overwhelmed and intimidated in that setting and felt that there might be better ways to promote paintings. I do have a myspace profile for my art, which I haven't done much with lately, but I plan to do some more promoting there, later...when I have more time and fewer children to entertain at home. :)

Thank you so much for your kind compliments, Dana. This was a piece that just sort of flowed out. I really love it when that happens, too. It happens most commonly when I am able to just naturally choose the composition and make it do whatever I would like. I personally love cats, and when Sundae mentioned Dylan being missing, I felt for her. The photo of the cats I had chosen prior to Dyl's disappearance seemed to be even more "right" in my mind.

I was looking around at Ebay and this person has been doing the Ebay shuffle for a long time. She has gathered a following and creates her pieces in a very similar way each time. Her pieces are really pretty and very popular. This is an example of what works for the artist and her patrons on Ebay. Notice the prices she gets for her work. These are good, for Ebay. But since she has a streamlined process, it works for her.

Well let me know when you are would like to do something and float the idea for the theme. I love your talent and would be interested in bidding for something that interests me. Thanks again for sharing all your wonderful talent. The Merc

Will do, Merc. Thank you for your compliments and interest in my art!

So, after looking at the catfish for several days on my wall, I decided to leave it be in its current state...the finished one, now. My instinct would not allow further alteration, so...here is the finished "Catfish" (otherwise known as "Don't Let Go.")

http://caseoriginalart.com/cellar/catfish.jpg

It is 16" X 12" and headed toward Sundae Girl, to arrive within 5 days-one week. :) This has been an excellent opportunity and I fully appreciate having had the chance to complete it for Sundae. Thank you!

Fantastic! Well done!

Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Thanks much, Merc!

Wow - thats awesome Case! You are so very very talented.

It's beautiful!

Very nice, case. I like it a lot.

Case, I like it too!

Thanks all for your support and compliments! I can't wait to get started on another one. :)

It took me a second to place the Cherry's, but then my brain started working. Very nice piece, case.

Verrrrrrrrrrry nice, Case! SG you are a lucky girl to have such a lovely reminder of Dyl and Diz.

The painting has arrived, beautifully packed and with a bonus print as well, which will certainly be framed and displayed.

It is more beautiful in real life just because you can see the brush strokes and the slightly different textures.

I'll take a photo when I've finally finished redecorating my room, but as this has to wait for the big financial commitment of buying a bed this may be another two months, so enjoy this in the mean time.

Yay! I am so glad you have received it, now. I always fret about my paintings while they are being shipped...I think it is like sending a child off on a plane or something. Enjoy the painting and print!

:)