Trying to meet expectations.

I need some honest feedback on an abstract work and find everyone I usually turn too is busy today.I have a commission to paint. Commissions come and go,some are easy and some are very hard,
either way trying to meet their expectations throws me off kilter.

In our first meeting I showed the couple a few of my abstracts and among those pictures they saw something they liked and they asked me to do something for them that is similar. I talked with them more so that I could get an overall picture of their particular interests and found one word that kept coming back to me when I thought of the couple. Opposites attract but there is BALANCE.

They both like color and lots of it.
She likes circles and smoothness with drama.
He likes architectural lines and subtleties.
He is strong and shows strength with a gentle kindness underneath.
She is soft and kind with a determination underneath that shows leadership.

Right now I am lost in the transition of finding a way to express what I think they are wanting. Does the painting lean to far to fit only one personality? Is it too round, does it have too many harsh lines. Are the colors bright enough.....mostly does it say anything to anyone about balance?

So blending these thoughts brought me to another crux, how do I bring these ideas into a painting and please both? I thought I would add subtle Remarque’s to the work with their initials intertwined so that this abstract becomes distinctively theirs without it being right in your face that the initials are there. Is that a bit too cute to work?

Letting it go

BALANCE an abstract painting I am working on for a commission. Interesting title, maybe as I work on this; I too will learn balance.


Don't you just have to laugh over the idea that things change but still stay the same.
My last post I talked about learning a new way to cope with various conflicts that arise in my life.

Well, I haven't learned anything new, I still bury bones and still dig them up to renew the interest in the problem. I can't seem to let it go. I cannot tell you the number of people who tell me to move on. To let it go, but no one seems to know how to actually do that. Saying "let it go" is so easy. My mind says it over and over "Let it Go", but there it is, like a shadow or a ghost waiting to remind you that things aren't so perfect. Is the letting go part of actually dealing with the conflict? once you dealt with it will it go away naturally? Is hanging on or digging the bones up part of not really resolving the conflict. Oh me....I feel a headache coming on. Maybe I am just trying too hard.

Having the gallery I realize I will always run into problems outside of the norm. I realize that as artists we are not necessarily business people and mistakes happen. It is somewhat of a challenge correcting the various things that I encounter with the "artist staff" and it keeps me hopping. I do have excellent support from most of the artists and with each step we all learn from the various things that happen. Sometime in the future, maybe we will even be able to look back and laugh.

But there are other changes that come in running a gallery or in life in general and these are not as easily fixed. Conflicts on a personal level seem to be the ones that do me in. These are the ones that keep taking on a life form in my head and end up with me taking way too much time dwelling over them. Head talk. Confidence lost. These are the times my energy level is depleted and trying to "paint" them out sometimes ends up with some really lousy paintings. Let it go, yeah right...would someone please explain in detail how to go about doing that. If I knew the answer I would share with you. LOL.................