Overcoming Creative Obstacles: Lessons Learned from a Difficult Commission

I just completed the most difficult, yet most rewarding, commission of my artistic career.

This piece was an 8x10 inch wedding bouquet, commissioned for a 2023 bride, who also just happens to be my best friend. Her mother-in-law came to me, knowing said friend was a huge fan of my work and one day wanted to be the owner of an original. The bride, Abigail, also helps me with marketing so we love her over at Daphne Rae Creative - hey Abby!

The inquiry for this piece came fresh off my announcement of my first wedding floral commission, completed over the summer. I found the process so challenging but fun, and the perfect blend between custom art and subjects that inspire me. The reality of doing commissions sometimes means painting things you don’t feel like painting, which is no bueno for creativity. I’ve recently learned it’s time for me to say no to commissions that don’t excite me, as inevitably I will hate the process, and I certainly didn’t get into this line of work to hate my job. So, given botanicals are a huge interest of mine, this commission was both exciting and aligned with the vision I have for my art.

My first step in approaching this piece was studying the distinct flowers. I was actually a bridesmaid in this wedding, so I spent a good amount of time with these flowers. That said, I needed to really look at the photos to get a feel for the color palette and each different type of flower. I had to do a lot of googling and cross-referencing of images to make sure I had properly identified each of them.

From my own research, I was able to pick out:

• Peonies

• Roses

• Ranunculus

• Lisianthus

• Snapdragon

  
  

With that information, I began to look at other images online to really understand the shape, texture, and depth of each flower.

Now, I’m going to fast forward to the part where I tell you I made two failed attempts at this painting (or was it three?) There was a LOT going on in this bouquet, and I had never actually painted these exact flowers before. I was continually hitting a wall of frustration and feeling like what I was putting down on the paper just looked horrible.

And then I realized, I was forcing a style that was not my own. I was attempting to paint loosely in a more watercolor-focused way, instead of what I’m most comfortable in, which is a more opaque, layered method. Which is funny, because I never paint loosely, so I’m not sure why my brain went there in the first few attempts. I also had recently tried out a new desk position in my studio, which threw me completely off - I’m sure that didn’t help.

I decided to take a step back and really focus on each flower. Like anyone does when learning a new skill, I needed to practice. It was a humbling exercise to admit to myself that I couldn’t just do this in one go. I needed to slow down and build myself a formula for painting each of these types of flowers. And in the end, I ended up discovering a completely new method, which helped me more effectively sketch and layer this piece.

After a few days of consistently practicing these flowers, I decided to give it a go. I went back to my tried-and-true method of blocking in the base colors of each flower.

Then I took a colored pencil and started to bring life into these shapes by lightly sketching out the individual petals.

From there, I began the process of layering paint to create depth in each flower.

Once I blocked in the greenery, things started to get really exciting, as I could really see the bouquet coming to life.

The unique thing about traditional gouache (as opposed to watercolor gouache) is that once dried, traditional gouache can still be reactivated when wet. This is great in the sense that you can reactivate the colors on your palette once dry (which happens within minutes) but not so great when you’re trying to layer. There’s definitely a limit at which you need to stop adding paint to the paper—that is, if you want to avoid pulling up the colors beneath and creating a murky mess. In that sense, gouache is a finicky medium that requires some planning. I know I can only work the piece so much before things start to look yucky.

From here, it’s all about making subtle refinements to continue pulling depth from the piece. I just love the process of adding shadows and highlights to achieve my desired look.

And voila, here’s the finished piece!

While this piece really challenged me, I learned some key things throughout the process:

1. Don’t all of a sudden change your style for a piece. I believe the anxiety I had about this piece was pulling me away from my artistic instincts, and resulting in a look that wasn’t my own.

2. Practice, practice, practice. They say it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. I am far from 10,000 hours painting flowers (or painting in general), so I need to remind myself that it’s okay to admit you can’t quite do something yet.

3. When stuck, incorporate new tools. I hadn’t used colored pencil on top of paint before, and it really helped me refocus the sketch. I’ve never wanted to apply traditional pencil on top of paint in an effort to avoid the gray pencil mark look. But choosing a colored pencil that can blend into the existing palette easily (light pink in this example) can be a really effective step in the process.

Speaking of process, I heard something really interesting on an art podcast recently. It mentioned that the most successful people are those who find joy in every step of their journey. We can get upset when there’s a delta between where we are and where we want to be, but if we choose to see the incremental growth as a win (no matter how small), it makes the entire process more enjoyable.

This painting is just one more step in being more comfortable in this medium and with this subject matter, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity. Overcoming creative obstacles has not only pushed my technical skills but also reinforced the joy of learning and growth.

If you’re interested in capturing the florals from your wedding or another life event, please do get in touch! I’d love to talk about how we can achieve your vision together.

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