Commissioning a portrait from an artist can be a very frustrating experience.
It can also be a very uplifting one.
Once in a while, I do a commission work.
Part of being an artist is accepting commissions from diverse sources, like illustration work for children’s books, indoor wall paintings, and outdoors, some in collaboration with other painters when the project is too big for a single artist.
Among all the possible artistic endeavors, I prefer to work on a human face.
It’s not always easy to match the expectation of the sitter or the commissioning person when it’s done from a photo of a loved one, but when the expectations meet the result, it’s a great feeling of upliftment.
Sometimes it leads to a sense of bonding between the artist and the sitter since it is always a joint project in which the willingness of the sitter to collaborate with the artist’s vision.
Working from life in the artist’s studio is, of course, the best. This is many times not possible. Especially since the pandemic forced people to retreat inside and limit in-person meetings, the solution is working from photos.
Today, the process is quite simple when almost everyone carries a high-resolution camera on their smartphone.
You take a photo of your loved one, send it via email, and we collaborate over the desired direction of the result.
The general composition, the mood, the colors, what medium, the size, etc. All these issues are discussed over email or live chat in one of the many chat programs available today.
You can see some examples of my work and get a general impression of what I do, the style, and the general idea of the price range.
Commission work for me is the same as an independent work of art I want to be proud to hang in the best of galleries or museums. Because of that, I do not limit my work to a specific timeline.
I understand that sometimes in the case of a gift to someone dear to us, say the case of a birthday or a wedding; there is a time limit. I can accommodate myself to an occasion, but I ask for consideration of my limitations concerning a dedication to the highest quality work on which I cannot compromise.
