Raising Arrows Psalm 127:3-5

I was flattered to be recommended to create a canvas piece for a friend's son to give his wife for her birthday. Flattered and nervous. I mean, I like what I do, but when people give you guidelines, I always doubt that I'm giving them what they actually want. My sister settled my nerves by saying “do what you do”. He saw some of my previous work and loved it so why would I change anything? Great advice sis! So I dove into this project as if I was creating it for myself.

This piece had some specifics, but ultimately I had free artistic freedom.

It's a 16x20 canvas and full of mixed media goodies to celebrate their children & their distinct personalities.

It was based on the verses Psalm 127:3-5. They watched the movie Like Arrows and he knew he wanted a personalized pieced based on it. I’ll be honest, when I read the verse, I was like “what?!”. Then I spoke with him and he told me about the movie, etc. After that, I realized how special this piece had to be.

This photo shows the canvas at two layers:

Then I created three arrow masks and then painted white over the entire piece. Here’s how they look after I lined it with a black pencil & some water:

My first attempt of embellishing the arrows:

Then a little more embellishing:

Then I practiced with lettering and spacing:

Which all led to this:

I love the way it turned out and more importantly, the client loved it too. I wish my "hands" would've turned out a little better but I figured I probably would have made it worse if I tried to fix it.

I can't wait to hear how his wife likes it.