1931 Oakland V8: Classic Car Commission

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm transferring to this new platform and wanted to carry over a few of my favorite articles from my old blog. This was one of my first commission pieces and boy was it a challenge!

Original article posted May 22, 2014

I’ve been lucky enough to have a few commissions come in over the past couple of months. Don’t get me wrong, I love to work on commission pieces and I have been afforded fantastic opportunities. But I’ve realized the downside to commission work is this intense pressure to perform! When you are painting on your own, it’s one thing. But when you are painting for a client I really agonize over every. single. detail.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that the commission projects I get aren’t always something I would naturally gravitate towards painting. For example, my most recent commission was from a client who collects vintage cars. I’ve never been a big car enthusiast so painting classic cars had not crossed my mind before. When I was photographing his car for reference I thought, “Holy crap. This one is going to be a challenge!: And then immediately, my next thought was, “But if I can nail this, it’s going to be SPECTACULAR!”

Given the complexity of this car, I was expecting to be extremely frustrated throughout the entire project. Knowing the amount of energy and concentration it was going to take, I admit, it was difficult to get motivated at times. But as I got into it, I found painting it to be more like putting together a puzzle. And it wasn’t as nearly frustrating as I thought it would be. Take a look at the “in progress” photos below so you can get a behind-the- scenes look at the process.

I can honestly say that I am very proud of the end result.

Doing this commission piece opened my eyes to a whole new subject matter that I might not have otherwise considered. This is definitely one of the BENEFITS of doing commission work. I’m really eager to try my hand at painting a few more classic cars! And if you have an idea for a special painting then please contact me. I would love the opportunity!