I.Am.Nomad / Open House Commission

This month, despite isolation and acclimatising to the 'new normal', I was lucky enough to have numerous commissions to keep me busy. I'm so appreciative and thankful to have a creative outlet when things are up in the air. When life seems a bit uncertain, painting can be very cathartic and keeps me going.

​The lovely Glasgow based Claire who runs I Am Nomad contacted me and asked for a commission. She has a background in retail and buying in the interior world, and created her business I am Nomad as a curated shop in her own (beautiful, period style) home. She sells anything from mid-century furniture pieces, small decorative accessories, one of a kind dining sets and beautiful curated artworks. Each product in her house/shop is chosen by her and almost all have a story behind them. I was more than excited to be part of this! 

I started off by asking her to decide which room she wanted the piece in, and what her desired colour palette was. She decided on the front guest bedroom (pictured to the left). The idea of merging a piece with the gorgeous products &  furnishings in her house made me feel so inspired. 

These are some of the images Claire sent to me in regards to colour palette for the piece. You can see how this would tie in to her guest bedroom palette - think fresh, contemporary with warm terracotta colours. I got started and sent her pictures and videos throughout the process. My first attempt with this piece was a bit pink, and had to reign it back in to become a bit more neutral. This happens more often than not on a commission, and why it is so important to me to work closely with the customer to make sure I am on the right track for their vision of what they want in the room, as well as mine. I find working with the customer closely to be more rewarding, as its more like a 'collaboration' and makes it much more interior focused.

The guest bedroom has a definite Scandinavian look, along with eclectic ceramics and warm tones in the furnishings. I was particularly inspired by the ceramics and pottery pictured in the lower left image. I wanted to capture the textures, beiges and clay colours which capture the room so well.

The finished piece...

Ta-da! The finished painting. I called this 'clay sunset'. Clay because it reminds me of handmade pottery, sunset because of the warm colours and fades. You can see how the colour palettes that Claire had chosen & the mixture of the existing room interior has influenced the final piece. The size for this was 600 x 600mm, and was mostly acrylic combined with some collage to create a lot of texture. 

I dropped this off to Claire as she is Glasgow based, and it was amazing seeing it being featured in her open virtual house at the weekend along with all of the other goodies on offer (the full video I will link below). You can shop the look for this bedroom and the rest of the house via her website. 

This piece was a pleasure to do, I had so much fun, and it looks amazing combined with her eclectic taste - now I can't wait to get started on my next piece!