Painting Commission: Honfleur

I just completed a commission painting of Honfleur Harbor.  I visited Honfleur, in Normandy, France, earlier this year, and found it very scenic and a perfect painting subject.  I've since painted a number of watercolor paintings of various views of the harbor and posted them on my weekly watercolor site - www.weeklywatercolor.com.  Several have sold; it seems that everyone who visits Honfleur looks for some way to remind themselves of the quaint town and harbor.  This painting was done for a client in Massachusetts from one of the photos I took in Honfleur.  It turned out to be much more detailed than my original intention (as many of my paintings do), but I do like the final painting, and so did my client.

Kimbell Art Museum Commission

I was recently commissioned by Barbara White of Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, to create a painting of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, where she worked for a number of years. The museum is housed in a unique building designed by architect Louis Kahn which uses natural light to enhance one's experience of the art. The client provided a number of photographs of the building for reference, and participated in selecting the basic viewpoint of the painting, as well as the frame and matting used, and seemed very happy with the result.

Cookbook Cover Art

In June I reported on a commission for my church - Christ of the Hills United Methodist Church - a painting of the church for the cover of the yearly cookbook published yearly by the United Methodist Women.  The cookbook has now been published, and the cover looks good.  There have been a lot of positive comments about it (and about the original painting) by church members.

Commission For My Church

Several months ago, the United Methodist Women of Christ of the Hills United Methodist Church requested that I do a painting of the church for use as the cover image for their 2008 cookbook.  Like all commissions, it was a bit of a struggle, as it needed to be more realistic, or "architectural", than my normal style, and it had to be in a vertical format to fit the cover, even though the church is a low, rambling building.  I painted a large sky and foreground to provide space for the text planned for the cover.  I completed the painting in April, and once we were sure my image of the painting was acceptable to the printing company, I framed the painting (half-sheet size) and presented it to my pastor, Mike Morey.  Everyone who has seen the image or the actual painting seems to like it.  It feels good to be able to use my art in service of my church.

Commission Work

Until now, I had not considered taking commission work because of the likely constraints on the painting. However, when Marshall Riggan approached me to do a painting of the sailboat Fandango that he and his wife Betty lived on for many years, I was intrigued. He asked for a painting of their boat in a rolling offshore sea, consistent with other paintings I've done. So, I decided to give it a try.

Working from photos of Fandango at dockside, and a similar boat under sail, I was able to create a painting that we all liked. Marshall and Betty have summed up their feelings about the painting as follows: "We are extremely pleased with the painting Jim created of our beloved sailboat Fandango. It's as if she is back in our lives and we are reminded daily of the wonderful adventures we had aboard for so many years." I've included an image of the Riggans taking delivery of their painting.

I found that it was very satisfying to provide a painting to clients that is really meaningful to them. This was such a good experience that I decided to add a page on commissions to my website. What I plan to do is to only accept commissions that are consistent with my style and usual subject matter.