Jessie, Search K9 Commission
Jessie, Search K9
A couple of months ago, I decided it was finally time to have an online website other than my Wordpress page that I have tentatively updated over the past several years. After I had created the site and uploaded it, my daughter began sending me forms through my Contact Form on my Commissions page to ensure the form was working. Most were creative titles like, “Awesome drawing of some mountains and a bear”. I received what I thought was another of her forms when upon opening it I realized it was from a client I had created a drawing for several years ago. To my amazement, she was interested in a new commission; this time of her current K9 Search companion, Jessie!
Not only was she one of the best clients I’ve ever had the pleasure to work for, she was ready with top-quality photographs of her beautiful pup by the very talented photographer, Sarah Gentry. After confirming that Sarah would be okay with me using her reference photo for the drawing, we began the process of creating a basic rough for the commission that included framing of the portrait, basic dimensions, and things she wanted to include in the drawing.
The client okayed the rough and the drawing process began. I’d love to say that everything went perfectly and I found my old groove right away and Shazam! it was done. Unfortunately, time had rusted my pencil skills, resulting in two false starts and leaving me feeling very uncertain about how to proceed.
I have included the two false starts here to try to reveal a bit of the doubt and uncertainty that artists experience on a fairly regular basis. These are normally only issues for the artists themselves, but leave creative types wandering in the creative wilderness. Most of the time we find our way out, sometimes we flounder…
As for the drawings themselves, I liked the collar on the first dog, but the texture of the fur was unconvincing. I retried the drawing on another brand of watercolor paper and had even worse results than the first attempt. I was struggling.
Failures Number One and Number Two
Fortunately, I’m more stubborn than bright so I switched to my favorite paper for graphite pencil, Strathmore 400 Series Bristol Smooth (click for an Amazon link) and I started drawing number three! This time things actually went much better and I was able to complete the drawing without too much struggle. After “finishing” it, I let it sit over a weekend so I could see it with fresh eyes the following week. I made the expected tweaks and changes and finally wrapped it up by spraying it with fixative, thus making it final.
I had been in a bit of an artist coma since starting the drawing: not posting on social media, not sending e-mail communications, not looking at Instagram during the day. I received an e-mail from the client wondering about the drawing so I apologized on being AWOL and let her know it was finally finished and nearly ready to ship.
It was sealed in a bag, loaded in a mailing tube, and taken to the post office to ship it to its new home. It will be hung on the wall after the client has it matted and framed and will hang next to her previous commission of Chief.
It was an honor to work on Jessie’s commission. She is a beautiful dog and is quite photogenic. The client seemed pleased with the finished drawing which was a huge relief given the struggles with the initial drawings. She has also promised to send a photo of the final drawing hung on the wall. I will update this post when I receive the photo.