The Art of Shawna Apps
Remember my latest pet portrait, Lassie?
Well, she’s all framed and beautiful!
Thank you so much for sharing, Linda and Don!
Do you want to be featured on the next Fan Friday post? Take a picture of how you display or wear one of my pieces, and email it to me at shawnaapps@gmail.com!
Usually when I get a commission, I’ll have some sort of idea of how challenging it will be. There may be aspects of it that I’ll expect to be easy, and others that I’ll know will be harder. Most of the time I’m fairly close in my assessments, and there will be some areas that will surprise me a little bit.
But this one? This one was completely off base.
This was my biggest jewelry commission to date: 6 cardinal necklaces, with 3 oval pendants with my current Cardinal design, and 3 round pendants with a new Cardinal desgin. I assumed that it would be pretty straight forward and simple: make up a new cardinal painting, print out both cardinal paintings as smaller pieces, glue them to the glass domes, insert into the metal trays, and boom, done.
Easy peasy, right?
So very, very, wrong.
I hate letting my customers down. I really do.
When I say I’ll have a piece done by such and such date, I do my best to make it happen. Usually it works out well, but there are times where life decides to get in the way.
I got this commission around the same time I was asked to do Lassie. They were both on track to be finished by the appropriate date, but if you recall from the Lassie reveal, life happened and I hurt my drawing hand. Both pieces were forced to go on the back burner for a lot longer than I had hoped while I healed.
Finally, I healed, was able to finish both pieces, and then had to wait and wait until this one was hand delivered a few days ago before revealing her. It’s been a long time coming to get here, and I’m pleased to share with you this drawing:
Waaay back in April of this year, our church held it’s annual short term missions auction. I entered a gift certificate for an 8 x 10 unframed drawing again, and anxiously awaited it to sell so I could start planning a new drawing.
This year was a little different; normally, the certificate will sell, and I will have absolutely no idea what the drawing will be until I meet with the winner (like any normal commission I do). However, I knew what it would be before the winner even was presented the certificate.
Don and Linda are dear friends of ours at church. Earlier this year, they lost their beloved sheltie, Lassie. As soon as I saw Linda bidding on the certificate, I knew I’d be doing another pet portrait if she won:
One of the highlights of my job is that I get to help my customers create that one-of-a-kind gift for special occasions. I’ve done pieces for birthdays, Christmas, Father’s Day, and new houses, but now I can say I’ve done a piece for a promotion!
Almost a year ago, my friend Cheryl contacted me about doing a drawing for her husband who was expecting a promotion to lieutenant in the police force. We talked about various options for the drawing’s layout, and hoped to have it ready for Christmas as long as the promotion came through. The promotion ended up being delayed, so we aimed for his birthday in January. When that deadline came and went, we put the project on the backburner.
This piece has been a labor of love.
It has been one of the most taxing, most detailed, and time consuming pieces I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on.
But even with all the difficulties, it has also been one of my favorite pieces. I love the subject matter and just seeing all the detail sets my heart soaring.
Art is my happy place!
But back to the reveal:
Title: The Last Homely House (Rivendell)
Medium: Graphite on paper
Today reveals the last Christmas gift commission:
Title: Natty
Medium: Graphite on paper
Size: 5 x 7
Time to complete: About 4 or 5 hours
It’s time to reveal the third Christmas gift commission!
Title: Untitled (Homecoming Girls)
Medium: Graphite on paper
Size: 8 x 10, framed to 10 x 13
This next Christmas gift reveal was so hard to keep under wraps as I worked on it. I love sharing sneak peeks of what I’m working on, and I know a lot of my followers on Facebook enjoy them as well. This piece I couldn’t share much of anything, just a tree and my signature basically. When this gift was for one of my biggest followers and supporters, anything more than that would have given the whole piece away!
Without further ado, I give you….
Title: Little Country Church
Medium: Graphite on paper
Size: 10 x 12
It’s that time of year again!
The leaves are changing, the weather is cooling off, everything is pumpkin flavored…and Christmas items have been in the stores for weeks.
I’m not sure about you, but I love celebrating one holiday at a time. I may start thinking about certain holidays sooner than others, but there should not be overlap in decorating, music, or major planning.
And here I am breaking my own rule.
Christmas is just over two and a half months away. A lifetime, almost.
However, I have been asked many times over the past few months if I can do a drawing commission for a Christmas gift. My answer is always YES!!!! I love helping plan and create the perfect and unique gift, any time of year.
The reason I’m bringing this up now is that it takes, on average, about 30 hours to complete a drawing. I want to give each drawing the attention it needs and deserves, which is why I am planning early.
Drawings make perfect, one-of-a-kind gifts for anyone. I’ve done portraits of pets or family members, house drawings, and even drawings of a favorite location in a book or movie. The possibilities are endless, and they are a great way to personalize a gift for the hard to shop for person on your gift list.
I will be accepting drawing commissions through Saturday, November 14th. Any order placed after that may or may not be able to be completed by Christmas, depending on the amount of orders I am working on at the time.
I also am accepting custom jewelry orders through Monday, November 30th. This is for anyone who would like a necklace or earrings (or a set, includes a necklace and earrings) in a specific color. To see what stock I have available, you can check out my Etsy store here. I’m adding new jewelry every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, and you can check with me to see what I have in stock that’s not online yet.
If you want to talk about details, place an order, or have any questions, feel free to comment below, message me on Facebook, or email me directly at shawnaapps@gmail.com.
Back to the Drawing Board 