morning muse.

"Morning Muse"

Acrylic on 30" x 60" x 1.5" wrap canvas

Commission SOLD

Inspiration can come from so many different sources.  The important thing is getting an idea planted in your head and being so excited about it that you can't wait to put to a canvas.  That is the spark that gets it rolling.  Many changes from the original idea can occur, but that's ok….it's all a part of the process.

A commission is different in that the idea is going to come from someone else, the client.  Now and then there are clients who will totally turn you loose. "Love your work. I want you to paint freely. Here's the size I would like, paint however you want".  LOVE painting that way!!

However, I also enjoy painting with direction being given to me.  In this manner, the inspiration is coming from the information that the client is giving.  I may hear about certain paintings that are favored or not, preferred color schemes, colors to not use, perhaps it's a certain feeling the painting is to have from photographs the client sends me, etc., What is unique about a commission is that it becomes a merging together of ideas between a client and the artist.  A unique individualized work of art. Somewhere between all this info. inspiration will strike.

The story behind this painting is another special relationship that was formed between myself as an artist and the client.  Inspiration came to me immediately as I read the initial contact.  This person was re-decorating their home in a contemporary/neutral color/tranquil environment.  The painting would be for their bedroom which had a very long wall where they were looking for and considering a large painting. They liked my colorful, happy, fun style.  Mom and Dad's bedroom was a very special place in which each morning the kids would run and jump in their bed. A time of day in which they spent  together laughing and playing together.  The desire was to create a painting that visually represented this "happy" and "good morning" type of day.  This shared information totally stole my heart away and the initial vision/inspiration for this painting was birthed.

We continued to communicate in order to pin down their expectations. The initial vision was to have happy and fun colors  to represent their morning family time.  Changes to the original vision where made as it was asked if it could also include more of a landscape or maybe even a cityscape.  Abstract, of course. Also, could it be more of a horizontal composition.  The challenge as an artist is to work the ideas that the client has into your own.  That is what you see here.  Can you see the tree(s), landscape, cityscape, happy and fun colors all mixed into a horizontal composition? It is a challenge, but I love the uniqueness that occurs with the collaboration of ideas and the individualism that a custom made work of art creates. 

The bottom image is the final version in which a few adjustments were made.  It's not quite as bright due to the difference in times of day photos were taken. Somewhere in-between the two images is the actual color in real.  There was a little too much pink to suit the man in the family. No big deal. Totally, understand.  Simply, brushed a little red over it, toning it down without changing the balance of color.

So happy that this painting is going to be very loved!

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Elizabeth Chapman

Contemporary Abstract Artist