Let me do a painting just for you.

I’ve successfully completed hundreds of commissioned paintings for collectors all over the country and abroad. I enjoy the process and so do my patrons. Though many people fear this process, let me share with you how it works with me. First, you tell me what you want. Then I’ll tell you if it’s something I’m interested in doing for you. If so, we talk about it… on the phone. Remember them? I feel phone conversations are still the best way to accurately communicate specific thoughts and ideas. If it’s an abstract, we talk about palette, feel and scale. We might reference another painting I have done in the past, or you might show me images of something you like. If it’s a portrait we pick an image to start from. When we are both comfortable that we understand each other, we determine a price (pricing is the same as my other paintings). You send me a deposit in an amount that we are both comfortable with, by PayPal, check or however you prefer. I work on the painting. When I get it to a point where I think it’s near completion, I email you images of it. You are free to have any input you want. If necessary, I make modifications until you are happy with what you see. Then I send you the painting and you send me the balance of the agreed on price. Everybody ends up happy. The whole process usually take 2-3 weeks, depending on the complexity of the piece and how busy I am at the time.

Recently I was contacted by a guy in Canada. He had seen a painting I did years ago of Frank Zappa. When he inquired about it, I said it was sold, but I would be happy to do a commission piece. He said he’d heard bad things about commissions. I said that with Zappa being so popular, I’d be happy to do the painting on spec., I do the painting, you buy it only if you like it. If not, I sell it to someone else. There was no deposit collected up front. He’s now the proud owner of a Frank Zappa painting that is exactly the size he wanted and… it was done especially for him.