Do You Want a FREE Print?

You know what I love most in this world (besides ponies and kitties)?  Referrals.  Particularly booked referrals.  There's nothing better than someone loving your business so much that they pass it on to someone else and are able to pass it on successfully enough to have this client book with you without ever really encountering you or your product in person.  I always feel minorly guilty because there isn't much work for me to do in the "sales department" when this happens.  I just sit back and let the clients come to me.  Ok, not really, but it is such a treat to have clients fall into your lap via the nudge of someone who's work you already admire.

In order to show my thanks and appreciation to the vendors that support me in this matter, I gift them a print of the painting when a client books with me.  I'm really killing two birds with one stone here: I get some business out of the deal while they receive a complimentary piece of art that shows their own work.

I recently had two print deliveries to a couple of my sweet vendor friends.  Having them unwrap this gift was almost as exciting as seeing the client with their painting.
First up was Sharokina of City Girl Weddings.  Besides working Anna and Wade's wedding, Shar also suggested my painting services.  You'll remember Anna and Wade's painting and the reveal:

This print is going to look so pretty in Shar's office!

Love!

Last week I delivered a print of Kaitlyn and Mike's painting to Jenna at Avant Gardenia.

She was busy making pretties for that weekend's wedding.

I was delighted to receive a text from her later that evening all excited about having found the perfect spot for her print at home.

These ladies have some seriously awesome style in their homes and offices...and now I am an added bonus!

So, if you are a wedding vendor of sorts, you can't lose with a simple referral.  If you are not a wedding vendor and still want to pass on the Reenie Rose love, by all means, DO IT!!!  I am most certainly not against rewarding anyone that supports my business.  I tend to give sets of note cards because they are pretty and super handy.

If I can ever share your business love, please let me know.  This world needs a little more back scratching and sharing, and I will be the first to support it!

Reenie Rose Painting Reveil Video

Earlier this week I let another painting go out into the world.  Anna came by to pick up her piece of art, and I decided to try something out....and share it with you.  Though I am terribly embarrassed about videoing myself, I think you may be seeing more videos from me in the future.  Take a look!



Painting Pickup from Reenie Rose on Vimeo.

Let me know what you think and if there are any other things you'd like to see via video from Reenie Rose...painting tips, diy projects, etc.

Anna and Wade's Completed Painting

I am so thrilled to have a cd of wedding images in one hand for my next project and a painting ready to go out the door in another.  Things are moving along.

Poetry evades me in this post, so I'm going to keep it simple and just show you Anna and Wade's finished painting (if you haven't already seen it on Facebook....do you "Like" Reenie Rose?).

It really came together with every hint of a flower that was so important to Anna.  I hope they love it as much as I do!

Up next....COLOR!!!!

Sunday Secret

I have a confession to make, and one that might come as a big surprise to a lot of people.  Get ready.....painting is not my passion.  As a matter of fact, Reenie Rose is not my passion.  Crazy, right?! How disappointed are you to hear this when all along you thought I had created and built this business all out of this passionate love for art and my skill.  Sorry, but nope.

Curiosity #1: Travel

I felt compelled to write this today after reading an article that almost made me feel like I finally had permission to say such a thing.  I've always been a pretty passionate person, mainly about travel and food, but tend to feel guilty when people have made the statement, "It's so amazing that you are doing something you are passionate about."  In my head I'm thinking, "If you only knew..."  So, when I received my Splendid Sunday email from Think Splendid this morning, there was the statement "*Forget your passion, follow your curiosities." that completely caught my eye.  Emily Olson, co-founder of Foodzie, wrote about wanting to find and define her passion in life.  After creating what seemed like the perfect business, she sold it and was left again to find her next passion.  But here's the thing she discovered along the way....it's all about discovery.  She writes, "Toss out the notion of finding your passion (at least to start) and explore your curiosities."  Think about it...if you continuously discover what you are curious about, the path you journey down will eventually intersect with your passions.  You wouldn't keep trudging through mud if it wasn't going to lead you to greener pastures.  

Curiosity #2: Food

I also love this: 
Finding your passion is a lot like finding a husband. Who wants to evaluate every first date, asking yourself if he is the one? It’s far easier to ask yourself, if you simply want one more date with this dude.  So my advice? Go on dates with ideas, until you realize there’s this one you just can’t stop hanging out with…when you’ve found that, you’ve likely found your passion.

Talk about some words of advice I'm going to start following!

Curiosity #3: Flowers/Nature

So yeah folks, I'm not passionate about painting but I like it and I'm good at it and I'm always curious about what the next painting is going to look like and the customers and fellow vendors I'm going to work with.  I'm sticking with this for now while I indulge in all my other curiosities.....

Curiosity #4: Beer & Wine tasting

Curiosity #5: Weddings

Curiosity #6: Crafting

Curiosity #7: Reenie Rose

Meet the Photographer: Shane Welch Photography

It's time for a painting update and the long awaited interview with the talented photographer for this painting...Shane Welch.  Enjoy!

1.  How long have you been in business? 

This is the start of my 3rd year in business!

2.  Toot your own horn....what’s your specialty?

My specialty is documentary photography. I strive to photograph all of the real moments that make up a wedding day coupled with environmental portraits that incorporate more than just a bride and groom. I want to create and capture environmental portraits that really show off what the couple loves about the locations we're at.

3.  Who or what are your favorite subjects to photograph....your dream photo session?

My favorite subject is hard to narrow down, really hard... I photograph a wide variety of subjects, I've worked extensively with the chronically homeless, people suffering from substance abuse problems, victims of torture, battered women, and so many more. But I would have to say some of my favorite work is landscape photography. I just got back from a 6 day backpacking trip in the Andes Mountain range in Colombia. It was amazing! I've never seen anything more beautiful in my life and I can't wait to go on another adventure. I can't say what my dream photo session truly is, but it definitely involves climbing a few mountains, getting dirty, and loving every minute of it. 

4.  Craziest thing you’ve captured on camera?

The craziest thing I've ever captured on camera is definitely too graphic for a wedding blog! If you're interested in seeing the shots, click on the gallery titled "Another Life" at www.shanewelch.com You'll know right away what the image is. 

5.  What do you like about working in the wedding industry?

My favorite part about working in the wedding industry is that it incorporates so many different fields of photography in one day. It's not just a documentary, it's also fashion, it's portraits, landscape, and still life rolled into one of the happiest days of a couples life together.

6.  What is something you wish your clients knew about your job?

Just how much I absolutely love my job! I dreamed of becoming a photographer and I couldn't be any happier.

7.  When you are not working, what are you up to?

I'm usually hanging out with my girl friend and our dog Lily also known as Tiny, Little Face, Dog Breath, Smalls, Lils, Lucifer, Lilith, and probably a lot more that I can't think of right now. 

8.  Anything new and exciting coming up that we should know about? (either professionally or personally)

Well I have a new website launching very very soon! It's about 98% done right now and we're just working through a few kinks before it's absolutely perfect. I also just opened up my first store front in Logan Square with Five Grain Events!

Shane Welch

2841 W Armitage Ave

Chicago, IL 60647

630.550.1982

shane@shanewelch.com

www.shanewelch.com

Thank you so much for sharing Shane!  Definitely be sure to check out his documentary work too...it's amazing.

Painting Good v.s. Painting Great

Happy Friday!  I'm feeling pretty positive about some decisions I've been making for my business lately.  I've got some cute marketing pieces going out to vendors I know and love, I'm enjoying my wedding working Saturdays (yay for extra cash!) and after taking an initial 10 steps back on a painting, I found that it has really brought me about 15 more steps forward.  You'll remember my reference composition debacle and the decision I made to start from scratch with a much more focused image.  I wanted to show you the difference between the two.

Original is on the left; new composition on the right

Original progress before wiping out:

New painting:

Now you can really see the difference and why I needed to make the decision I did.  There are details, crispness and texture that I just couldn't get from the original composition.  Some may think that as an artist, couldn't I just have looked at the new composition and doctored up the old one.  Well, with the way I work and the system I have down, it would have been a struggle for me....and let's face it, I don't want to struggle any more than I have to.

This is where the side by side comparisons will end, and I will move on with regular updates.  I know I said Shane Welch would be in this one, but I think I'll save him for the next update.  In the meantime, have a good weekend!!!

Painting Lessons: Good Photos are Golden

Today I want to talk to you about the importance of having good photographs for a painting.  It sounds simple....the better the photos, the better the painting.  I was trying to defy my own theory with my next painting but had my words slapped right back at me.
Let's backtrack with some introductions....

Last November I worked with City Girl Weddings as a day of assistant on a beautiful wedding held at Floating World Gallery for Anna and Wade.  After the wedding, I was magically hired by the bride to create a painting of her bouquet (I didn't even put 2 and 2 together until I received the images and recognized the bride, bouquet and event!).  So, like any post wedding booking, I contacted the photographer, Shane Welch, for some images to work from.  I couldn't have been happier with the exquisite images he took (and how incredibly easy he was to work with).

Aren't these gorgeous...and so artistic!  I love that background color.

Here is where our lesson pops in....it is best to book me before the wedding so that I can converse with the photographer ahead of time and make them aware of my intentions.  No photographer is going to take a bazillion photos of your bouquet unless you tell them to and have a good reason to do it.  They need to spend their time capturing all of your other special moments.
So, although I love the modern sleek take on the compositions I put together from these photos, my client, Anna, was looking for all of the different varieties of flowers in one composition.  Well, this wasn't going to be possible from these 3 photos, so I moved on to plan b and dug a bit deeper.  Ok, a lot deeper....

Take this photo:

Do you see the box on the bouquet?  That's where I got this composition from:

You can see the granulated look to the image.  Now blow this up to 24 x 24 inches.  Yeah, not so great to work from....but, I wanted to make it work for my client's sake.

 Sketched it in and began painting....and struggling.

When you are use to painting sharp, crisp images, your eyes struggle to put all of the pixelation into focus.

Finally, after much deliberation, I decided to halt the project.  I could continue and produce a painting that was mediocre and did not completely reflect the art that Reenie Rose produces, or I could move on to plan c.

I kind of happened upon plan c while using additional images on my computer as painting references (which I never do during the process).  I found myself zooming in on an area that was very close to the original composition I had put together.  With a little cutting and pasting in Photoshop, I came up with my plan c:

Look at the difference:

Why I didn't find this in the first place, I don't know (guess that's why they call it plan c).  All of the flowers that Anna wanted to showcase are present and the color and clarity are soooo much better.  

What came next was a first for me....wiping out what I had already painted and re-gessoing the canvas.

I felt pretty bad about this process having gone awry but am thankful that Anna and Wade were so understanding and absolutely love the new composition.  Though I was originally trying to capture all of the elements my client was looking for in a painting, I managed to ignore my gut and include a painting choice that just wasn't true Reenie Rose material.  Since we are on like lesson 5 of this post, let's remind ourselves to stay true to ourselves and what we do and do so well.  But, don't forget...lesson #1 is using the best images possible for a painting.  I'm so grateful that I was still able to work with Shane's images.  In my next post, we are going to get up close and personal with the photographer himself!  In the meantime, I have a new paintings to start....Round 2!

What was your smartest "do-over"?