Summer Solstice, Mount Rainier
©Kesler Woodward 2006
Oil on canvas
24" x 36" (image)
This is the finished painting of Mt. Rainier that I spoke of working on in my posting of May 25. As I predicted then, I spent a lot more time at the mountain and more time with the our friend the client who commissioned it, before beginning the canvas itself, and I just finished it this week. He took us to lunch here in La Conner on Sunday, and I showed it to him. I don't know which of us was more relieved by his enthusiastic response. I'm always very nervous about presenting a completed commission, invariably fearing that he or she won't like it, but I'd never really considered that the client might be nervous, too. This was a revelation to me. I told him at the beginning of lunch that it was done and he could see it afterward, and halfway through lunch, Missy said, "I think you're as nervous about seeing the painting as Kes is about showing it to you!" He agreed, and we all acknowledged when he'd seen it an hour later how happy we were to have that moment over and be able to celebrate.
Summer Solstice, Mount Rainier framed
This is the painting in the custom, hand-carved, gold-leafed frame I ordered for it. I have found not only that some collectors, especially those who have a number of older historical or more traditional contemporary paintings, prefer a frame of this sort, but that the very modern, clean floater frames I have used for years don't work well with the other paintings in their collections. It was a challenge for me, beginning a couple of years ago, to find hand-carved, gold-leafed frames that would work with those collections, but would also be clean, simple, and modern enough for me and for my work. I've been very happy with the ones I've found, and it's been interesting to try to match frame patterns and designs not only to the specific paintings, but to the needs and desires of individual collectors. So most of my work still goes out in the crisp, pickled-white finish square-profile frames with a 1/4" recessed black float that I've used for years and am very happy with, but it's nice to have the flexibility to meet other needs as well.
