First Art Commission

 The Dream (Oil on Canvas 840mm x 600mm)

I have loved art since I was small.  For many years I have had a fantasy of being able to commission a piece and finally my husband and I decided to commission a painting from a local artist.  We choose her because her style is reminiscent of the optimistic, love filled work of Marc Chagall.  You might not know it from my blog but my children are really the focus of my life.  This is true for my husband as well.  We decided the painting should celebrate our marriage since, sadly, it is often overlooked in the business of life and family.  Michelle Penny's style was perfect for this subject matter. 
She visited our house and we had a consultation about what we like in her art, what we like about art in general and we told her a little about ourselves.  We wanted a painting with a lot of plants, some references to our time in Africa, and a work of art that was romantic.  Michelle Penny returned to us with the artwork below and this description.   
Here is her description: "You guys told me that you love the out doors an plants. You told me how you met via a personal advert in the newspaper an that you had a dream of your husband before you met him. As if it was your destiny in a dream. Your husband also mentioned that your specific religion is important to you.

I started off by using Henri Rosseau s painting of  'the dream ' as my starting inspiration. I have painted you as the beautiful woman slumbering on a royal purple couch dreaming in a beautiful garden awaiting her dream soul mate coming down from the heavens. There are elements of Africa. As well as a spiritual creature flying in the back ground holding a challis. As a symbol of your religion."

THE DREAM (HOMAGE TO HENRI ROSSEAU) (Oil on canvas 1200 x 900mm)

We loved the painting.  The only problem was a misunderstanding of the price agreed upon.  So here is the moral to my story.  No matter how cordial relations are between yourself and the artist you are working with get your expectations in writing.  In this case, Michelle was willing to paint a second painting of a smaller size to more accurately reflect the price we were paying.  Her original painting was receiving a lot of attention and she was confident she would sell it.  The loss was ours because I believe the original painting is the better executed of the two.  Still I am happy with the resolution we were able to work out and pleased with this celebration of our marriage.

Maybe someday I will share my dream which was the inspiration for these paintings.