Rachel's commission in 4 stages

In my previous post, I mentioned (through a bitter cloud of spittle) that I was an artist, and I closed by saying I would post the progressive stages of a recently commissioned painting.

A friend I work with was leaving town to return to the Bay area, and would trade me a painting for 2 50's style wing chairs if I painted something for her. When I asked her for a concept, she said she wanted two lovers coming at each other blah blah blah. I only had a few days to complete it from beginning to end, and had literally no time. Here is what I started with...



I immediately hated what was happening, in that I felt the space was too cluttered and I didn't have enough room to say what I wanted to say. I also suffered in a sense because I didn't really know her man that well, and wasn't into painting him into the picture at all. This is stupid because usually I can paint with all kinds of blind obstacles, but whatever... I wasn't into it.
So then I did this...



I still hated it. John pointed out that the right figure resembled Swamp Thing, which I could appreciate, but I still hated it.
So then I did this.



At this point, I only had several hours to finish the picture and so I called upon Blind Butcher partner, Mr. Cramer and together we finished the painting within a couple of hours- adding detail to the piece.
Here is the final picture.



Here is Rachel, several hours after we finished it, and a few hours before she was to return to San Francisco.



I hope to post more artwork in the future. It helps to have commissioned pieces to keep me on track as far as being productive, so if anyone out there wants something done... I'm all ears.