Hello friends!
Welcome to The Drawing Board, my newsletter where I share my creative process as an artist (painter) and writer, with you. Occasionally I’ll throw in some architecture/interior design analysis, or cooking experiments. My goal here is to inspire you to pick up a pen, paint brush or spatula and create something spectacular. If you’d like to catch up on old posts, you can find them here.
For the past month, I’ve returned to my 9 to 6 as an architect after a year-long sabbatical. The month flew by working on two different fast-paced projects at once. One is the building design project of my dreams, while the other is all technical construction coordination.
Both projects are playing tug of war with my time. I’m learning how to stand up for myself and be vocal about what I really want to work on in this new phase of my career, which is to work on my dream design project.
I’ve had some personal stuff come up. My dog, my beautifully dopy doberman pinscher I adopted many years ago, passed away. Also, my grandpa’s house, my precious Heavy Heirloom, is officially on the market.
I haven’t been in the best mood lately, but I’m happy to be here now, writing, and sharing with you my latest and most exciting art project yet: my first painting commission!!!!!!!!
My First Commission: Another Disco Ball
The disco ball saga continues. I recently (like a few months ago) finished this rainbow disco ball as a gift for a good friend of mine:
But even more exciting, this disco ball got me my first commission opportunity! Someone wants to give me their hard earned money in exchange for me to dazzle them with a colorful disco ball. Whaaaaaat?! Is this real?
Okay, this someone is actually my cousin, and she’s donating money to my art supply fund so I can buy more round canvases and make more disco ball paintings. BUT STILL it’s a great opportunity to work with my first client. And I want this process to be a perfect practice run for when I get future clients, both friends AND strangers.
My cousin, I mean client, requested a vibrant rainbow disco ball, with glitter. She also wants it to look like it’s partially in motion, like the one I painted above.
Since there are so many colors in the rainbow, there are so many different directions I could go in painting this disco ball. I had to establish some creative constraints for myself. My client is very warm and outgoing. She has a strong personality and you can feel her presence in the room. Her favorite color is teal green, but she wears mostly warm colors, like pink, peachy-orange, and gold tones.
I want this disco ball to feel warm and inviting, like her. In the wonderful world of color theory, warm colors (yellow, orange, and red) generally appear brighter than cool colors (green, blue, and purple). So I decided that the brightest parts of this disco ball painting, like where the light hits the tiny mirrors, will be painted with vibrant warm colors. The shadows will be teal green with deep blues and warm purples.
I’ll figure out the glitter situation later.
I want my cousin to be happy with my work, show her that I am professional and serious about my work, and give her a collaborative experience. I’m going to share every stage of the process with her. So first, I sketched through some concepts on my iPad and shared them with her so that she knows exactly what she’s getting.
She loved all of them. After I asked her tons of questions to find out what specifically she liked about each option and why, she insisted I paint whichever option I liked the most. 🙈
I’m looking forward to sharing progress on my first commission with you, along with all the other paintings I’m working on behind the scenes. See you next time!
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Happy Creating, Elizabeth <3
Guess who’s back? Back again ✨
Elizabeth Edwards disco takeover!!
What a LOVELY disco ball. So pretty. 🪩
It’s a magical disco ball. Conjuring commissions.
Can’t wait to see how amazing this glitter ball turns out.
“I want my cousin to be happy with my work, show her that I am professional and serious about my work, and give her a collaborative experience.”
Can’t think of a better person to nail all these things than you!!
& I see #2 is in the lead (the MOST gorgeous), but since we’re going for rainbow, I went with #1.
I wish the canvas was double-sided than you could do BOTH. Wouldn't that be cool? Make a 3D canvas so you can paint an actual sphere!!
Happy to see my favorite newsletter by my favorite painter/architect in my inbox again. Thank you for blessing us with this update. Can't wait for more :)
Aw I'm really sorry about Bode. He had grown on me through your descriptions of him (and the portrait you were painting of him.)
And congrats on getting your first client. It typically starts with friends and family, and I have no doubt there will be more where that came from!