I recently had the opportunity to try something I've never done before. A friend of mine who works at the University of Toronto Scarborough commissioned a painting from me for a report being published by the school. They were featuring alumni and community members, and wanted to have an original piece of artwork by me to close off the report.
This was the first time I had ever been commissioned for a painting; I've never painted for someone else before, and I've never been paid to make art either. The last time I'd produced a painting based on someone else's guidelines was at art school. Since then, I've only painted as a hobby, without any guidelines or structures to follow.
By contrast, this project had a clear brief and required me to provide my lens on their story. The report was about collaborative dreaming through the power of community and storytelling. Some of the themes they wanted to focus on included destiny, inspiration, defying gravity, and connectedness.
As far as briefs go, this one was particularly wonderful. There was a strong sense of what the team wanted whilst also providing me with lots of room for my own interpretation. I was really excited to challenge myself to create a painting that merged my distinct art style with the team's ideas.
However, all good things come with a catch, and the catch for this project was the deadline: they needed the final painting within 2 weeks. This was another new frontier for me; I was used to spending weeks on a painting, mostly because I was painting for fun and there was no reason for me to prioritize speed. I was nervous about meeting the deadline, but I decided to embrace the opportunity to challenge my efficiency.
My first step was coming up with some rough sketches for the painting. The team had suggested a university student making a presentation with a galaxy behind them, which was an awesome starting point.
As a portrait painter, I wanted the student to be the main focus. This led to my next dilemma: who should be the subject of this painting? I thought about using a stock image, a friend, or even my sister as the model. I finally decided that a self-portrait would be the most meaningful way to convey the themes of community, destiny, and inspiration - especially as a two-time graduate of UofT.
The next big step was translating these themes and sketches to the canvas. The first lesson my art professors taught me was that the best painters never start with a pencil sketch; rather, they go in directly with paint to create their work. Given that this was my first ever commissioned painting, I didn't want to take any chances and I decided to sketch the outline with pencil first. This turned out to be a big mistake: I changed my mind about the composition and left massive pencil mark streaks after attempting to erase it. It's safe to say that I have learned my lesson and will strive to start with paint in the future.
At this point, I was tempted to give up and I definitely would've done so if this was a painting I was doing for fun. However, this time I had no choice but to soldier on and I finally managed to get to the painting part of the process. Unfortunately, I allowed my anxiety about making a commissioned painting cloud my approach and I ended up skipping some foundational steps in my approach to portraits. This lead to some pretty hilarious fails in the progression of the portrait which I've compiled below.
What ended up helping me the most was taking a break from the canvas and returning to my work with a fresh eye. It was tough to balance this with the strict deadline, but it ended up being essential in the process. In total, the final portrait took about 3.5 full days of painting to complete it. Some of my favourite details are the white trillium print on the sweater, the official flower of Ontario to reflect our community, and the laptop stickers reflecting destiny, inspiration, and defying gravity.
16” x 20”, oil and acrylic on canvas: a reflection of how the pathway to dreams stems from education and collaboration. From roots in our community, reflected by the white trillium, extend branches to the farthest corners of the galaxy.
All in all, this was one of the best creative experiences I've had since I started painting. My creative boundaries and skills were pushed beyond my comfort zone, and I also learned how to improve my efficiency with painting. I hope for this to be the first of many commissions so that I can continue to challenge my artistic growth. I also really love that I was given the opportunity to stretch my painting legs after my last blog post on the importance of letting yourself be bad at things - it was a great way to put my preaching to practice!
Thanks for reading!
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