The Loon

07.25.2013

A woman came to buy an urn as part of her pre-planned funeral arrangements. She loves loons and wanted an abstract black and white representation of one that filled the whole urn rather than a picture of one on the urn. Now, this was tricky...how could I paint a loon in the shape of an urn? She loved my sketch right off the bat! She saw the wings and the water in gentle waves, and approved it immediately. Once it was in process, she came in and suggested that the eye be in the center of the top and painted red. She also thought that a few tiny trees at the bottom of the back would look great. Also, she wanted her initials in red in tiny letters and you can see them across from my initials: slh/sjv which I put on every urn. She was so right! And since the urn had not been coated with the finish, these additions were easily made. It is probably the most unusual design I've done to date and one that has received lots of compliments.