About six weeks ago, Jerry came home from work with an art commission for me. Oh, boy did he ever.
His squadron was hosting a fun run, and they had heard that I was a good artist, so hey, can she paint this logo on a sheet of plywood for the race?
And in his infinite support of his wife, he vouched for me saying, "Sure, she can paint that for you no problem."
Viola. A commission.
Well..........
This is the sheet of paper they gave me to copy. They wanted the logo, the dude with the bulls, and a few lines of the text. I was sure I could do it.
But then life got busy and I decided not to add anymore to my already overfull plate. When I told Jerry to tell his people to find someone else, he said, "Well, um, OK. But they really wanted you to paint four of them."
FOUR! Four pieces of 4' x 8' plywood. Painted by hand. With script!
No way! No way, I told him! How can I do this with homeschooling, co-op, shuttling the kids to this, that, and the other, and blogging? Let alone having any down time?
No way!
But........maybe.
I went for a run and while all of those feel-good endorphins were swimming around my system, I started thinking, which is not always a good thing, "These people sought me out. They had heard of me, approached Jerry on their own, and picked me. ME! What an opportunity! What an excellent way to get my art out there!"
So I said "yes". With conditions.
1. As they weren't going to pay me (most of the money earned during the race was going to a good cause), I at least wanted to be reimbursed the $130 worth of supplies.
2. I wanted to be added to the list of donors. If I were to charge for this, I would have made $500 or more.
3. Jerry would have to help me, and I wanted the wood delivered to my door TOMORROW.
Done, done, done.
Two weeks later and they were finished. First, I measured and drew the background of the logo, then Jerry and Paige used tape to fill in with the grays. Next I drew in the runner and the bulls, and then painted them in. Finally, and this was the hardest step, Jerry and I worked together to make a stencil to spray on the words. That was a royal pain in the patootie.
But I got it done. WE got it done. Each one is almost the same but with slight variations. One guy looked like Wolverine, another looked like a dufus, another looked like he used too many steroids, and the last one was OK. I think this is the OK dude.
I'll tell ya, if I ever see this guy again it will be too soon. I'm actually starting to twitch just looking at him while typing this blog.
After delivery, they put the billboards up around town. Here is one in front of the mall. Look! We have a Marshalls!
And here's another in front of the Mickey D's!
I'll be honest, it sure does make an artist feel accomplished when their artwork is displayed in front of a McDonald's. I don't know about other towns, but Del Rio runs on the Golden Arches.
Overall it was a rewarding experience. I was so busy for two weeks that now, without those dumb billboards to work on, I have all of this spare time. Well, not really. But more at least!
I'm glad I did it, but next time, we've decided, that when he's approached to volunteer my art again, he'll answer with a polite, "Oh, yeah, she's good, but not THAT good. You should find someone else."
Or pay me $500.