The Brewmaster’s Spigot Painting

I do get commissioned to paint objects from time to time. Well, the time was now with this interesting artifact of beer-making culture!

It turns out that Joanna, the person who commissioned this painting, came up with the idea of the spigot. She wanted to gift the painting to a family member whom had started a microbrew business. It actually turned out to be a really thoughtful idea on her part, but there was only one problem…

Neither her nor I had an old wooden spigot. (I actually used to have one at my old studio space, but that one has been long gone for years now). Well, ebay to the rescue. Joanna started looking on ebay at various spigot models and kept me in the loop.

This was good because I was the one making the painting and can typically tell whether an object is going to be worth pursuing in a painting! Sorry non-painters but sometimes your ideas just don’t materialize into good compositions.

Anyway, Joanna was awesome to work with. She purchased the spigot and promptly sent it to me in the mail. I did a preparatory drawing and took a photo of what I had in mind. I did this before I ever started painting. In fact, I did this before I even prepared a canvas. When working on a commission you want to get the client to approve and love the direction that the work is taking on right from the beginning. There should be no unhappy surprises for either party!

With her approval I began the painting. I really enjoyed painting all the nicks and scratches through the wooden surface. That stuff is always great fun! The old metal parts of the spigot also set off an interesting material contrast which I find to be appealing.

So there you have it, a commissioned piece and a happy client!