So many paintings for Christmas Gifts!

What a Busy time in December!

Wow, what a busy month! I had a month's worth of work to get done in TWO WEEKS! Paint, paint, paint, and DRAW! I had to feverishly setup multiple drawing boards, prepare the composition (sometimes mocking them up in Photoshop to get the best effect), and sometimes switching between multiple drawings to meet the holiday deadline.

Once finished with each painting, they had to be prepared to ship! Not to mention all the packaging to protect the paintings from the winter elements was a detail not to be overlooked, because these paintings were being sent all over the country. Illustration board to keep it from bending, foam core to protect it during shipping, and plastic wrap to protect it from the elements. Phew! lots of steps for sure.

All in all, my deadlines were met, the paintings survived their trek, and the client's gifts were received with tearful thanks this holiday season.

I had so much fun bringing their homes & memories to life for all to share. What a wonderful time of the year!

Sincerely,
Jason Rockacy

A Michigan Garden

This was a very special garden, tended and loved by my clients' in-laws. Carefully maintained, the garden has been an evolution for many years. 

The pergola, by far his favorite feature, has been the subject of weddings and celebrations for many couples.

The challenge of this painting was, of course, the myriad of plants, flowers, and trees. Surprisingly, I had a lot of planning to do with this painting. I had to keep everything clear, show specific flower types, and all the while I had to keep everything from getting muddled or the fine details lost in the final artwork. 

Strong highlights, clear pathways, and carefully placed shadows add the necessary sense of depth as your eyes wander across the page. My goal was to make your eyes follow the path, and experience the garden like you can in real life.

A fantastic challenge sure, but I am so grateful the clients loved and appreciated my efforts.

Residence on Nepera Place

I really, REALLY love the clouds in this painting. I also really love how clean the paint lines are. The ink is clear and bold. Most of all, I love the right side of the roof shading, where you see part of the barn roof. I think that came out really well.

The most notable feature of this painting is the small tree in the forefront, which appears to disappear and reveal part of the house behind it. This is very intentional: The client's one real request was that the small tree in the forefront (on the left-hand side) not block that part of the house. To meet this challenge, I photoshopped the house behind it by recycling other parts of the photograph where the tree was. I painted the house first and relied on the inkwork of the tree to complete the "disappearing" effect.

I had a lot of fun with this painting, and I am always up for a challenge! Thank you!

Residence on Kenwood Ave

This may be my favorite graphite drawing I have done to date. I just LOVE the details, the textures, and how the trees and shadows frame the composition. What a fun drawing!

The biggest challenge of this drawing was not the details, however, but the physical size of the drawing. Normally, I like to do these drawings at least 8x10, which lends a lot of space to fit all the details in. In reality, this was not an option. I had to draw this at a "half scale" or a 4x6.

Lots of fine pencil work, small controlled movements, and making sure each pencil stroke told a story, showed a material, or added depth to the building. 

Seriously, I LOVE this drawing.

Old Cabin at Kentucky Lake

Perhaps the biggest challenge of this painting, was that this building no longer exists. In fact, the only thing I was given was a photo of another old photo, that was dark, foreboding, and lacked a LOT of detail.

So, I asked questions. A LOT of questions: Because I can only draw what I see. The rest I have to rely on my architecture education and my artistic ability to manufacture the information told to me by my clients. Like, What material is the cabin made of, what is washed out in the background (the lake), what trees are those? What is the roof made of? What kind of plants are close by? Thankfully, my client understood what I needed, so he made a careful narration of the cabin (which was demolished and which now was the location for a  new lake house they lived in).

I compiled all his notes, I gathered all my source photos (he also provided some of their favorite sunsets taken from the lake house), and dove into photoshop to make my composition to draw from.

My second biggest challenge was the water reflections, especially at the "above and looking down" angle. I've painted reflections before, but from "head on", and the effect is a mirror image of the shoreline. This is different because you cannot see the sun or shoreline, just the sun's reflection rippled on the waves (which are small, dark lines - larger towards the cabin, and get smaller towards the unseen horizon). Very technical, from an artist perspective,

After many practice trials that experimented with a lot of colors and techniques, I finally found the right blend that illustrated their favorite sunset at the old cabin.

A lot of prep work, but worth the extra effort. One of my favorite challenges to date!