IS IT DIFFICULT (OR EXPENSIVE) TO COMMISSION A PAINTING?

If you like art, and you look at art often, there may have been times you've seen something you really like and thought, "Gee, I love that painting and it would look great in my home IF it was horizontal instead of vertical." Or, "Gee, I love that painting and it would look great in my home IF it had a blue background." 

As much as artists would like to think their art stands alone, people do want to coordinate their art to work with their environment. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking at least one temperamental old master has uttered the phrase, "Non! I will not change the painting to match your salon! You must change your salon to work with my painting!"

Of course that's silly and doesn't really work today. Still, many art collectors don't realize that most artists are willing to paint to your requests -- within reason, of course.

WHY COMMISSION A PAINTING?

That vertical painting you love, but wished it was horizontal? The artist may be more than happy to paint a horizontal version for you. Or the painting you love that has the wrong color background for your living room? Yep. The artist can probably paint a version with a background color that works with your living room, just for you.

HERE'S A GOOD EXAMPLE OF A RECENT COMMISSION OF MINE

A client saw the above painting, "Take a chance on me," on my Instagram thread, and contacted me about purchasing it. Because her home was not close by, we decided to see how it would look in her home virtually, via FaceTime, rather than hang the work in her home on approval. When she sent me a photo of where the painting would be placed, it was obvious to both of us that a horizontal format would work better than the square of this painting. Also, the subtle blue hue in this painting didn't work well with the overall mushroom tone of the client's room.

YOU CAN ALSO BE IN THE LOOP WITH YOUR COMMISSIONED PAINTING!

When I'm working on a commissioned painting, I like to keep my client in the loop. I send photos as well as videos of work in progress because I want to know that I'm fulfilling expectations -- nobody likes surprises, right? You can ask the artist to send you work-in-progress photos if they don't offer. Most artists are happy to do this.

I LOVE YOUR FEEDBACK

I hope this article has been helpful to you. The next time you see a painting you like that's just not quite right for you, maybe you'll consider asking the artist if they do commissions. If you do, I'd love to hear from you!

I love your comments and feedback about my work or the content of my articles, and you can do that below!

And, I sure do appreciate you taking the time to look at my work, and of course, to forward to other art lovers.

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