Wife completed her first commissioned piece of work.
By koopharper
@koopharper (7523)
Canada
June 6, 2016 2:19pm CST
I stealing a bit of the glory here. Prior to this year my wife had not succeeded in selling any of her artwork. I decided she needed an author's blog and after discussing it some with her, I started ghostwriting it for her. We called it Francine's Brushes and Pencils.
Within a couple weeks of creating the site and promoting it, she got her first sale. A small one but it was still cause for celebration.
Some guy in Texas liked her work and asked if she could paint his family coat of arms on a piece of steel roofing. She decided to give it a try. We did have the roofing material and the negotiated price covered the cost of buying appropriate paint. She emailed him pictures of the finished product and yesterday he sent payment. I just finished packing it for shipping before coming over to spend a little time here on myLot.
I have to write an article for her site before the end of the week telling the inside story. Incidentally Francine is on myLot as @Beenice2 but she hasn't had a lot of time to spend here.
22 people like this
20 responses
@topffer (42156)
• France
6 Jun 16
Congratulations to your wife. There is something wrong with this coat of arms : in heraldry it is forbidden to put (sorry, I do not know the right English words) an enamel/color on an enamel/color or a metal on a metal. To be correct, the owl should be purple and not gules/red, or his round perch should also be gules/red. Purple can be together a color or a metal, and is never wrong. If this coat has really these colors, let's say that these arms can only be "arms of enquiry", meaning that we should ask why and at what moment these arms have been given : in France, only a prince or the king was able to authorize this on a coat of arms. If there is no explanation, this coat of arms is fake.
5 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
6 Jun 16
Alright, I found the family : it was a family of pharmacists in Paris. What is wrong is the knight's helmet as they were not noble, and could do that if they wanted to. It is only in 1811 that they have been painted with these heretic colors. Before, the ball was gules/red and then they were correct.
2 people like this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
6 Jun 16
Francine worked from a picture provided by the customer. I do have some history on the family name though because it is my wife's maiden name. Boulduc has been shorten to Bolduc and is short for Bois-le-duc. That is the french name for the former capital of the Netherlands. There is a connection with the dutch royal family. Louis Bolduc came to New France along with Frontenac. The two of them managed to cheese off the Jesuits and otheres who had Bolduc recalled to France by King Louis XIV in disgrace. The family name ceased to exist at some point in Europe. Only the Quebecois branch of the family has survived in North America. I have seen the coat of arms online elsewhere and if memory serves it was the same one. Whether any of that might shed light onto the authenticity of this coat of arms, I don't know. It has made for some interesting reading though.
3 people like this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
6 Jun 16
@topffer I'll pass the info onto my wife because she really would like to know how it originally should have looked.
3 people like this
@toniganzon (72279)
• Philippines
6 Jun 16
Too bad she's not on here often and congratulations to her for finally making her first sale.
1 person likes this
@toniganzon (72279)
• Philippines
7 Jun 16
@koopharper I can understand. She speaks French?
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
7 Jun 16
@toniganzon Yes. She speaks French. When we met she spoke a minimal amount of English and I understood very little French. Our first conversations were simple and at times amusing. At the time I would have never guessed that our relationship would grow to the point that it has.
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
6 Jun 16
She'll come by here again. English isn't her first language though and sometimes she finds writing in English tiring.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (48506)
• Mojave, California
6 Jun 16
Pretty neat and looks to have captured his family coat of arms well. That is the best promotion I like to see. Wish more people would do it more like this, instead of all that generic stuff. Great job both of you.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (48506)
• Mojave, California
7 Jun 16
@koopharper I think it adds to the true essence of the piece.
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
7 Jun 16
@crossbones27 So do I. That's why I went through the trouble of rescuing it.
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
6 Jun 16
I love this picture but Francine thought the art clutter in the background was distracting so she deleted it from her computer. Fortunately she had shared it on Facebook and I was able to retrieve it from there.
1 person likes this
@Carmelanirel2 (8084)
• United States
6 Jun 16
Wow, that is cool and I would love to see her paintings, are they on your blog?
1 person likes this
@Carmelanirel2 (8084)
• United States
6 Jun 16
@koopharper That's okay, I ended up switching computers and didn't see the picture you posted of her art..she is really good and I will look for her page now.
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
6 Jun 16
@Carmelanirel2 Be sure to check all the gallery tabs to see everything she has online right now.
1 person likes this
@Carmelanirel2 (8084)
• United States
6 Jun 16
@koopharper I did and I love the Asian woman she painted. But isn't there a way to subscribe to her blog, or no?
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
7 Jun 16
@jaboUK My mother's family coat of arms is very old apparently dating back to the crusades. It has mailbags and letters on it. Evidently they were messengers of some kind. My father's family coat of arms is not that old but we don't know that much of its history. That name traces back to a specific little town in Holland from which our name is derived. The little town to this day is the only place on earth where my last name is common.
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
6 Jun 16
There is a great deal of interest in North America about family history. My parents both came over from the Netherlands in the 50s. I have the shield part of both of their family coat of arms.
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
7 Jun 16
@koopharper Were your parents 'landed gentry'? I thought they were the only people that had them.
1 person likes this
@cherriefic (10400)
• Philippines
7 Jun 16
It's really sweet of you. You must be very proud of her.
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
6 Jun 16
The kids give her a bit of peace and quiet now and then so she can work. 
@sol_cee (38222)
• Philippines
6 Jun 16
@koopharper haha the best contribution ever.
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
24 Jun 16
Thank you. She went through all those things and the customer was very happy with it.
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
8 Jun 16
Thank you! And you officially made this my most active discussion ever.
@MarymargII (12422)
• Toronto, Ontario
7 Jun 16
Just curious- you started a blog for her? Was it a free site or your own with a domain- Why I ask is I want to start a blog and don't have a clue how.
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
7 Jun 16
I set up a free account through blogger. I have more experience with that platform than any other. Personally I don't see any reason to spend money to create that kind of site if you have the time to figure it out yourself (youtube videos and online articles will answer just about anything you can ask). I do list it as work I can provide on my freelancing site and I do use her site as an example of what I can do. There are other free platforms out there but I find blogger to be the simplest.
@MarymargII (12422)
• Toronto, Ontario
7 Jun 16
@koopharper Thanks for that- I really want to get started soon
1 person likes this
@josie_ (9763)
• Philippines
7 Jun 16
This is such an interesting read, especially the back and forth comments between you and @topffer . It has made me curious to learn more about coat of arms, their history and use. Congratulation also to your wife. I imagine it wasn't easy working with the corrugated roofing material
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
7 Jun 16
This has turned out to be a great discussion. It's been a long time since I've had this level of back and forth with so many people on the same day. Almost led to me staying up too late.
The roofing material was less than fun to work with but once it was cut out it wasn't too bad.
1 person likes this
@Divyanshi45 (193)
• India
7 Jun 16
Your wife is very creative.Hope this talent of hers leads her to a gainful road!
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
7 Jun 16
She'll keep working at it. Were hoping to get to the point where it has a noticeable impact on the family finances.
@owstalaga (4707)
• Philippines
24 Dec 16
Oh wow that's great she got her first commissioned work! It's always a very nice feeling when it happens.
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
6 Jun 16
Thank you. Customer was pleased and so was she. Hopefully writing about it will lead to more work for her. On the year her artistic endeavors are making more money than mine are.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
7 Jun 16
yes a lot of people have other art interests other then writing and she is really good with her art. of course you know that. might be a specialty of hers with the coat of arms thing. many people like having it on their things
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
7 Jun 16
We'll do our best to continue showcasing her work. If she gets more coat of arms commission work, I'm sure she'll be happy to go where it takes her.
1 person likes this
@STOUTjodee (3572)
• United States
7 Jun 16
Congratulations to the both of you!! 
Hope she continues to get more obs!!
Hope she continues to get more obs!!1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
7 Jun 16
Thank you. We're hoping to get her original canvasses on display somewhere locally. By the end of the year I'm hoping we can be to the point where sales are making a noticeable impact on the family budget.
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
6 Jun 16
It is really nice to see her finally getting some recognition for her obvious talent. Glad you've been able to sell photos.
@acelawrites (19273)
• Philippines
7 Jun 16
Such a nice business, where she can use her artistic skills and earn at the same time. Good that you are helping her with her blogs.
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7523)
• Canada
7 Jun 16
It's nice to be able to work together at something. With me doing the writing for her, it frees her time up to paint and also allows me to showcase some of my freelancing skills. A true win win situation.
