Crab Commission

Last weekend, we were invited down to a friend's house on Mobile Bay.  They had just baited their 4 crabtraps with shrimp heads (!) and already had 19 crabs!  The crabs were super fiesty and the kids had a good time getting them out of the traps and into the bucket.  They were boiled up later that evening and the kids had them for "dessert" - hand cracking them out on the pier after sunset.  I took photos of the live crabs, as the colors were bright and beautiful and I knew I would want to do some crab paintings soon.

So, lo and behold, I received a sweet email from another "Jennifer" in Smithfield, VA (yes, the ham town) a few days later.  She was interested in commissioning a piece of artwork for the new addition to her home.  She really liked a piece I did a while back of two crabs on an antique shutter.  So, I emailed her a photo of the antique shutters I had, and she chose a great looking neutral brown shutter with lots of chippy paint. 

I got to work right away - hand cutting the crabs out of metal (not an easy task!) and then taking the piece to my studio to paint the artwork.  I think it turned out fabulous!  How cool to have a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork, that you designed yourself.  I hope she loves it.