A few weeks back, I wrote a post about a commission I was working on that was based on the Greek myth of Baucis and Philemon. It was an interesting request and I hoped to be able to deliver a painting that captured somewhat the spirit of the tale of the humble couple who the gods ultimately favored with eternal lives together in the form of a tree. The painting shown here is the final product of the request.
My original conception of the painting was closer in detail to the myth with the two trees, sprouting from one trunk, being located on a wide barren plain. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it would be a cooler painting in feel than I think was requested. I wanted to purvey more warmth, a sort of comfortable affection between the elements in the painting. So I placed the tree on colorful rolls of land with a road that runs by. I left out all other trees and vegetation, near and far, so that the tree and its relationship to the moon were the central focus.
This tree is very unique in my body of work. Typically, when I have trees with separate trunks that intertwine together, the crown of foliage they form together becomes one solid unit of color, as though they had merged into one entity. This piece was different. The two trees were different but stemmed from the same trunk. I chose to give their crowns separate colors to highlight the fact that, while they appeared to be one, they are two individual trees.
For me, the moon here represents the watchful eye of the gods in the myth (even though Zeus was not a lunar deity) and the horizon set by the water below represenst a feeling of eternity, of transcendent time. The road leading to them represents the couple’s lives on Earth before they became part of eternity.
So, it may not be a literal translation of the myth, as many earlier classic artists have depicted, I think it carries the spirit of the story and the unity the couple feels together. For me, it works…
Redtree Times 
I really like the sky, the variation and suggestion of elements in the blue is very interesting. Is your foliage technique different in the two different sections or just the color?
What a game last night! Hope Tex can get back to the team soon, we can use his bat and glove.
Yes, there is a variation in the strokes in the two sections of the foliage.
Yeah, great game! Good to see Mo fight back after that triple to start the inning. I’m thrilled to get a split against the Rangers, especially against their top pitchers and without Tex. CC tonight!
What an amazing commission! It must be immensely satisfying to receive such a request, as opposed to, “I’d like to have a painting with a couple of trees that’s 4×8.” 😉
Is there a lot of anxiety associated with such a project? Do you talk it over with the people who’ve commissioned it? Do you touch base during the process, or only when the request is made? What happens in the end if they don’t like it?
This is a part of an artist’s world that fascinates me – how to satisfy yourself and the person who commissioned the work initially. This is a wonderful representation of the myth, and the differentiation between the trees is (ahem) genius!
Certainly, there is a level of anxiety in trying to meet others’ expectattions. I try to make it less so by not allowing the client dictate too much as far as specifics. When I take a commission I try to get a sense of what they want to feel from the piece and keep that in mind during the process. The primary thing for me when doing commissioned work is to maintain my own voice through the process so that the final product, while inspired by the thoughts of the client, fits seamlessly into my body of work. This way, when the piece is finished, the client is under no obligation to accept the painting and I am left with a painting that has its own voice that will eventually find a new owner. Unlike painters who do portraiture. I know a painter who has been involved with a single portrait commission for over five years, the client constantly changing details. The subjects of the painting, her children, have aged from from small kids to teens during the time. To me, that would be a nightmare scenario for my work.
Ah – there’s the wisdom. “The client is under no obligation to accept the painting…” You do give yourself a lot of freedom that way.
[…] this blog, I talked about a piece that I was commissioned to paint translating the Greek myth of Baucis and Philemon, the couple that were spared by the Zeus because of the deep love they shared and the humility and […]
My husband recently passed away just before our sixth wedding anniversary. We were going to buy one of your paintings as our anniversary present to ourselves this year so in July during your show at the West End which is also the month of our wedding anniversary I bought our painting. I didn’t know if I would find the right one but there on the back wall was two trees twined together to become one. It’s perfect. He would have loved it. Thank you.
Ann, thank you so much for sharing your story. It’s always gratifying to know that my work has deeper meaning to some people.
Wishing you all the besy——–Gary
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