Bronson Hill Arts: customized

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Friday, May 18, 2018

As Time Goes By... Woof!

As mentioned in the last blog, it's been 8 years since we started to promote the idea of artistic personalized items. Bronson Hill Arts was hand-painting wine glasses before it became a hot trend from Lolita (available everywhere!) and the others who followed.

But like all things in life, not all paths lead to where you need to go. Sometimes a sharp right turn is needed!

Along those lines, I was asked for personalized items that were more precious to so many people: Pet Portraits.

The Updated Look for Our Pet Portraits

Who doesn't love their pet? Requests came from friends and a piece or two was commissioned for depictions of their beloved companions. Of course, I had to use my own furbabies as models, too!

Baby & Buddy ©Bronson Hill Arts/BEDeuel

The paintings started a little on the cartoonish style, but has evolved to a more realistic look. We've all seen hyper-realistic pet portraits, which are beyond amazing! But, that isn't what we're aiming for here. We are aiming for whimsical with a touch of love attached!

Walking Beth's Dogs ©BHA/BEDeuel

Buddies On a Blanket ©BHA/BEDeuel

Jamie & Eliot ©Bronson Hill Arts/BEDeuel

Next week, I'll share a few sweet stories that inspired some of Bronson Hill Arts' other pet portraits.

Any furbaby portraits we can make for you? Visit us here!

Friday, January 16, 2015

Another New Year Begun!

Puppy Love
5x7" Watercolor on series 400 Strathmore Watercolor Paper
©BEDeuel Bronson Hill Arts 2015

I can't believe that it's been 5 weeks since my last post. I dislike letting the blog go unattended that long. It's a great to make contact with others & exercise the writing "muscle". It's also a fun way to not only debut new works but to share failures, solutions and successes.

Which is why I want to share my last commission of 2014. That was finished in 2015. Halfway through January, 2015.

Yep. A harried end, and a slow start. But, it was a good start!

The customer requesting the pet portrait was preparing to give it as a gift for one of her customers. The original photograph that she gave me to use was a posed portrait. I started to work with it, but, was unsure as to why we would want a painted portrait of a photographic portrait.

Formal Pose Attempt #1

The colors and textures were stronger in the photo portrait but she had also texted a really sweet picture of the dogs that was truly perfect for a painting.

So, the sketch was redone. We liked the more casual pose.

Casual Pose Attempt #2

From there, my usual process went forward: sketch, scan, print on watercolor paper, paint. Photograph the process along the way to get a truer perspective of the image. And, that was crucial in this case.

Stepping back a moment to the printing on watercolor paper: I'd been using a more basic watercolor paper for images that were really designed just for note cards. But, I had to be very careful to not overwork the paper, or it pilled too easily. This time I wanted to try to see if a better grade of paper would work to prevent that, especially since the final product was the painting, not a print. Sometimes the marketing is just that: marketing. But it did. I used a 400 series Strathmore watercolor paper vs. a basic Canson paper for watercolor.

The first few steps went along fairly smoothly. Laid the darker color down, some highlights, and shading. From there, it was time to add the lighter colors and texture.

Dark Underlayment

Shading

Highlights

And, that's when I created ghost dogs. Yikes... This is, also, why I was very happy that I'd used a better paper! I did not want to start over again, since I was satisfied with everything else to that point. Plus, to compound the goof, for some reason, the images became flat.

Ghost Dogs

The camera showed all of that. It helped me to step back and "see" the problems more thoroughly, which in turn made the solutions easier to find.

It really was simple: mix a light yellow/red brown, lay it down and go back with a more diluted white. The water that diluted the white paint picked up enough of the brown to eliminate the ghost faces. I also purchased some fine line brushes which made it easier to create the texture around the mouth. My love of chiseled brushes had to be set aside. Then a straightforward "outline" solved the dimension problem. You can see it in the final image at the top & the bottom.

Flat Non-Ghost Dogs

Today, I hope to hear how the recipient likes the final painting. And, I hope she likes it as much as I liked making it.

P.S.: Thank you to my customer for her incredible patience! Next week, I'll touch on some of the changes in our systems that had to occur in order to not run into that severe a time-crunch again.

Final Product!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Gardens, Gardens Everywhere!

Back in March, I posted an inspiration piece called “String of Spring”. It was a first attempt at painting flowers and the result was mixed.

But I call it an inspiration piece because, it inspired Stephanie of Crystal Allure Jewelry to special order a “String of Spring” to use in her own home. She wanted purple coneflowers with an eggshell background. Another idea to offer as a customized, art-for-fun item!

In developing the piece for her, I did a sketch that didn’t really translate well to watercolors. I kept it on the computer and, the other day I thought to use the computer’s Paint program to “colorize” it. And, I like the effect. It’s different than my other pieces, but I think that’s what I like about it.

I’m going to use it for a note card design to raise some funds for Hearthside Cats, a local, no-kill fostering program that provides so much for the community. Let me know if it appeals or not!

Oh, yes, and here’s the final piece designed for Stephanie:

A customized “garden” for her wall!
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Speaking of spring:

As I’ve mentioned before, it was an extremely snowy winter which became an equally extremely rainy spring. Then when June came, the sun came out and the spring season lost her shyness.

When spring burst forth, all of our efforts were turned toward tending the lawn and gardens. And it started to look so beautiful. These pictures show how much so.
Then July came, all too quickly, and sucked every bit of beauty out of the glorious gardens. We watered as much as possible, but most of the annuals died and a lot of the perennials went brown and curly. It started to rain a little bit this last week or so, but the goal at this point is to salvage as much of the perennial gardens as we can so that they can regroup for next year.

And they will. They’ll rebound and bring all their loveliness along for the show. There will be two more seasons, each with their own offerings and pleasures, and, when spring is ready to re-emerge, we’ll be ready to welcome her again.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

A New Twist!

Several weeks ago, I was showing a co-worker this blog. In scrolling through it, the Flights of Life Butterfly Note Cards caught her attention.

Her daughter is getting married in October this year and her shower is in September. My co-worker had been searching for the “right” card for the invitations. Her daughter loves butterflies which hold a special meaning for her and her father. The moment brought the two ideas together for my co-worker.

She and her husband looked over the Flights of Life Collection and selected one particular design. Coincidentally, they picked my favorite design.

She gave me the wording she wanted as well as the font and color that fit the theme of the wedding. I worked up a sample and the result fit her conception perfectly! I think there was a tear involved, but that has to be credited to a mother's moment of sentiment.

Below is a modified image of the resulting invitation. The names and location have been altered for the privacy of the parties involved.

It was a wonderful experience putting the two ideas together. I would love to do it again! And to top it all off, a donation was created to be sent to the Lungs for Life Foundation, for transplant awareness!

Sometimes it's difficult to find a new way to approach an existing situation. Other times that new idea is just given to you. Hopefully, we’re always open to the possibilities presented.