The above painting was a commission recently completed for a private collector. Creating a commission involves a fair amount of pre-production. If the person has an idea for a subject, I will use that subject and create sketches of possible compositions for a painting, such as the image below. The composition is influenced by what mood and emotions the painting should convey, as well as the anticipated size and dimensions.
Once the sketches are complete and a composition is conceived, I construct and prime the canvas to begin painting. As you can see from the above images, the sketch is just a skeleton (or blueprint) of the final painting, since my paintings usually incorporate a decent amount of abstraction.
In the example above, the collector approached me and wanted an old west landscape, 3 feet wide by 2 feet tall. That can be a broad topic, but during the early stages, he described the mood he wanted by referring to the film Saving Private Ryan - everything is on the line, a forced moment of clarity during an obscure gunfight. In sketching out the idea, I decided to play up the obscurity - the gunfight is either ongoing or has come to an end; the guy leaning on the barrel could be alive or dead; perhaps he is hallucinating; or perhaps you are the one who was shot.
Thank you for following the paintings, creations, sculpture, drawings, works in progress, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak :) If you would like to explore the possibility of commissioning your own painting, feel free to contact me. Prices are determined by the square foot. To see older blog posts click HERE.
