« The Big Blue | Main | Self Portrait Tuesday »
July 22, 2006
Commission Collection
I haven't been doing that much art lately, but what I have had is a commission from Amy and Greg Bagby to paint the New City Fellowship emblem in a Chuck Close style. Honestly, I was feeling a bit strange about it because Chuck Close's style lends itself better to 3D objects, which this is not. But after doing this one, and after all the kudos I've gotten from the public for Jana, I think I should try to do this again. If for no other reason than to sell stuff. Chuck's style is also really really big, like wall size. Jana is about 56"x 45" and it worked quite well for the style. This painting was squeezed into a mere 24"x28" (I think). And wow were those squares little. They were like 1 inch square! Yikes! I was like one brushstroke a square! But the subject was super easy, except for the oval that surrounds the cross, I know it's still crooked, so what, it's gridded and chunky. There are about 4 layers at least on each square. At one point the arms were shades of blue and yellow, and Joel sang,"Purple orange blue and green, strangest things you've ever seen, Jesus loves the little martians of the world!" Yeah, so even though it was truer to Chuck's style that way, I knew it must be changed.
What I didn't know is while Greg was on his way to pick up the painting here in Chattanooga (where I am right now). He told me that he had a collection of different artists renderings of this emblem. He had a banner by Doreen Kellogg (who created the design), a stained glass piece, a wood inlay piece that my grandfather made, and now "a Katie Ward Knutson original!" he exclaimed. That makes this piece more important to me. Greg and Amy are an interacial couple and this emblem means more than just the symbol for their home church, it symbolizes thier family. That makes me a little bit proud, I'm glad I've accomplished another commission that I am proud of and that fills a space in an important collection.
| By | 8:58 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://atlblogs.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/8948
Comments
Very beautiful.
I mentioned you and Diber in a recent post on freezer paper stencils. Hope that's cool!
Posted by: Rebecca at July 24, 2006 3:04 PM
very nice, and a great story behind it.
Posted by: bobw at July 22, 2006 7:34 PM
