This is a brief artist’s tale of a commission I stumbled onto dating back to 1981, shortly after entering my first commercial outdoor advertising studio which consisted of many artistic and illustrative signage of standardized large full-format that oft accompanied the straightforward, everyday signage.
One day, the owner, a true life media tycoon, Don Reynolds sent his right-hand man to one of his Oklahoma plants to summon one of us painters to select among us who should generate a “watercolor of his racehorse and jet in the background”. I was the one among eight artist they all chose.
Although I only had a handful of commissions up to that point, I had no ideal what was about to test my then lack of foresight of what could have been a very lucrative commission. By that I mean, although I was handed pics of the steed on a ‘slow-walker’ showing his color and markings and his jet, I should have taken it upon myself to research and rented a professional camera for track-side reference. Nope, coming from a racehorse family experience myself, I chose to churn out a conceptional piece.
Results: I think the D.R. organization was kind enough to upgrade my monetary request to about $300.00 for the conservative sized work and only a verbal thank you. Today, I call that opportunity my one billion dollar bomb (no pic available).
FYI, To all aspiring or emerging artist, while these types of connections are non-existent, do endeavor to consider every opportunity to it’s absolute fullest potential.
One day, the owner, a true life media tycoon, Don Reynolds sent his right-hand man to one of his Oklahoma plants to summon one of us painters to select among us who should generate a “watercolor of his racehorse and jet in the background”. I was the one among eight artist they all chose.
Although I only had a handful of commissions up to that point, I had no ideal what was about to test my then lack of foresight of what could have been a very lucrative commission. By that I mean, although I was handed pics of the steed on a ‘slow-walker’ showing his color and markings and his jet, I should have taken it upon myself to research and rented a professional camera for track-side reference. Nope, coming from a racehorse family experience myself, I chose to churn out a conceptional piece.
Results: I think the D.R. organization was kind enough to upgrade my monetary request to about $300.00 for the conservative sized work and only a verbal thank you. Today, I call that opportunity my one billion dollar bomb (no pic available).
FYI, To all aspiring or emerging artist, while these types of connections are non-existent, do endeavor to consider every opportunity to it’s absolute fullest potential.
