2016 In Review: 30 Pieces

This was a busy year for me! Among the 30 pieces produced are seven paintings, a record amount of brush work for me in one year. The paintings are growing in popularity, but take longer and are much more difficult to produce.

There are stories behind most of these pieces.  You can read all about them by scrolling through the list of months on the right side of this web page, choosing and then scrolling on down.  Some of these are available for purchase, some were done for specific customers, a few were gifted and one or two are personal.

If you're not up for my prose, you might just choose to browse the images on this page and think about how an original pencil work or painting might look on your walls.  A number of these works are hanging in homes coast to coast.

People ask about pricing, and the honest answer is that it depends upon the job. Paintings are more. Framing adds more (I do my own framing, unless it has to be shipped). Repeat customers get a nice price break.
But generally you can get a large-sized Tom Wills Production for between $180 to $250.  Ask around!

My busiest months are always October, November and December. And the slowest are January and February.  So I'm up for work!
 

All I need  is a good and clear photo to work from, and a small deposit up front if you are a new customer, to cover the cost of the frame. Generally I won't struggle anymore with bad photos, because they make for bad drawings.

Otherwise, I'll give it a try if you would like a pencil sketch, a colored pencil rendering or a watercolor.  The finished product won't leave my house for your house unless I am satisfied.
And right now there are about 300 that have left my house.

I hope that you enjoy these pictures, and the words, and I thank you for visiting Tom Wills Productions in 2016, and in previous years.  All of the works are documented on this site if you browse deep enough.

Have a safe and happy new year, and a productive 2017.  Let's stay in touch!

No. 346: "The Miracle"

No. 346, "The Miracle," Ashleigh Musick

I was fortunate to be commissioned to create eight new pieces of original art -- drawings and paintings -- for this holiday season.  I worked from late October through mid-December to provide new and repeat customers (friends, really) with pieces that stand out, and will stand the test of time.
Nothing leaves my work table until I'm happy with it, so anyone who has a Tom Wills Production also gets a piece of my satisfaction.

But some pieces really stand out, and really make memories.
This, No. 346,  is the big memory moment for Christmas 2016. I called it "The Miracle" because it is impossible.

What I was asked to do here was to place the cute little boy, whose name is Wyatt, in an image with his grandparents. But sadly Grandpa had passed in 2008 and Grandma died two weeks before little Wyatt was conceived. So the grandparents never met their grandson.
And that really bothered Wyatt's mom, Ashleigh. Could I possibly create something with the three of them together, she asked.

She sent me a couple of pictures and we settled upon a snapshot of the grandparents enjoying time together at a restaurant. They were seated in a booth and his arm was around her.
As for Wyatt, we went with a shot of him in his camo playchothes. And I plopped him right down, in between Grandma and Grandpa.

There was a little luck and some science to making this image happen. I had to right-size the toddler to his grandparents and then make the pose look natural. I moved grandma to the right a little bit to cozy the three of them together.

The final piece was the frame, which is an exact match to the pencil lead. We decided to forgo a mat so that the picture would look less crowded in the frame, and so the frame and the drawing would compliment each other.
This group portrait is Ashleigh's mom's Christmas present.  Her mom can now enjoy looking at her parents and her grandson in one pose that otherwise would have been impossible.

"Mr. Wills made this moment and this gift possible. 'Thank you' cant even begin to express how grateful we are for his talent. He was a joy to work with as this picture came to life. Step by step from the start of the picture to the framing, he included me in the process. And the outcome is so life-like. This is the best gift I could've given to my mother this year. "

My work is done here for 2016, and I wish to thank all who have stopped by here to read and browse. We'll get together again in 2017.
Here are the other holiday projects, which also are very special to me. Have a happy new year!

Julie Russo

Venetia Hixenbaugh Moore

Julie Davis

Greg Davis

Pam Root

Greg Davis

Sandy Wood

No. 354: Patsy Cline (and a Damaged Rose)

Patsy Cline, in vintage restored frame, Christmas 2016

There is really a Patsy Cline rose.

It's a hybrid tea rose, mauve, patented in 1985 by Armstrong Nurseries in Ontario, Canada. It has a strong fragrance and its parents are Angel Face and Double Delight.
"It is a medium-height, bushy plant that is attractive in the garden," and has an average rating of "excellent."

Patsy Cline rose (Armstrong Nurseries)

Truth be told, Patsy Cline is still beautiful.
And, she will make me cry if I drink enough.
Her songs convey either great joy or crushing heartache. There is no in-between.

She was just "pop" enough, but still "country."
She died in a plane crash at 30 because the pilot couldn't fly by instruments.

My first blush with Patsy Cline was when I was a tiny boy. Mom and Dad had one of those "20 Country Greats" el-cheap-o compilation records, and one of the photos was of a lady with tall hair.
Patsy Cline had tall hair like my mother.
Now, in this particular drawing, her hair is under control and she's all gussied up. It's not an easy photo to find and the two versions that I did stumble across were each cropped in a different way.
So I guessed at the neck line and coat sleeve. And I used a 33 1/3 rpm record to round off the bottom.

There are a lot of Patsy Cline records, legit and otherwise.
Crazy. I Fall to Pieces. Walkin' After Midnight. She's Got You. Back In Baby's Arms. Faded Love.
A Poor Man's Roses (the flip-side of Walkin' After Midnight) ...

"I must make up my mind today
What to have, what to hold
A poor man's roses
Or a rich man's gold"
(Bob Hilliard/Milton De Lugg)

Sadly, she has been repackaged more than three-day-old fried chicken at the grocery store. The Everest and Decca albums are legit, even the compilations.

But the cheaper Hilltop records, with shameful cover art, are just cash grabs from sessions before she was famous.  Still some great stuff, but trashy presentation. Even the Vocalion "Country Great" album simply copies a Decca cover, just cropping it in a different way.
No way to treat a legacy.

As for the damage referenced in the title of this piece, well, her life wasn't always easy. Two marriages, hard knocks on the road and all. Not the easiest way for a girl to make a living, but she was great at it and in-demand.
But really the damage refers to the picture frame.

Before the ride home.

I love this picture frame almost as much as the drawing that it holds. It had hung in a closet in a furniture consignment shop for months, and I kept looking it over, admiring its flaking glory, wondering what I could possibly do with it.
It was $50, and then $25 and today, $15.
And, another truth be told, I knew all along that I would put Patsy Cline inside of this frame.

 

Now, it is a very old and heavy frame. But it was falling apart, losing its petals (really, its flowers were flaking off) from water damage. It was pretty shaky and not quite sturdy, but mine at last.
After a good cleaning I discovered that the original pegs used to hold in the backing could not be used because the wood had gone soft. So I resorted to reliable 2016 General Electric silicone caulk, and weighted it down 'til it dried.

To keep more flakes from falling, I watered down Elmer's glue and washed it over the floral pieces, and glued back on the chunks that had fallen to the floor, or in the car. It dried clear and matte, which is desired.

I debated leaving it be, worn and torn. Sometimes you should just treasure what the years have left behind.

But after some experimentation, I figured out a way to repair the rose. I used a worn-out kneaded pencil eraser -- the very same eraser that I used on the drawing, and about 100 others. It's like a putty but it never really hardens. So I stretched and pushed and squeezed it into the vacant spaces, and then used a screwdriver to sculpt the pattern back into existence, as reasonably accurate as possible.

Some gold Testors model paint, rubbed in with my index finger to take away that new sheen, was used to match the original. It's close, and from a distance, it sings.

I feel very good about this Christmas vacation project. The frame is strong, the drawing is clean and flat, and the pencil shading leaps off of the white paper.
No longer ... falling to pieces.

Restored frame, insulated and sealed.