About Commissions
Paintings are not just for galleries and museums! When you match the right painting with the right space in your house you can really transform a room from being "just average" to a space that's a real joy to live in. You may have never have given any consideration to commissioning an artist to create a work of art for you, but you may really be surprized at the possibilities.
Here are two basic approaches that I have had great success with in the past...
The Transparent Wall Effect - This approach calls for painting the scene "outside" the wall of one of your rooms - in other words, the scene you would see outside if there were a window at that position on the wall. This is a novel approach that compliments the landscape of your property.
Unique Artwork for Unusual Spaces - In your house there are probably several opportunities to add striking works of art in places you might never have imagined! Certain "dead spaces" that most people never consider, above kitchen cabinetry for example, are perfect for custom pieces made to fit these unique spaces. Landscapes in particular, give the opportunity to accent the long, narrow, high areas one finds above the kitchen cabinets . The spaces above door jams are also great places to add a points of interest.
The dimensions of these pieces can be just about anything. One of my favorite pieces was only 8 inches high but 54 inches wide! Most people are amazed at how much attention these pieces draw.
Prices of Paintings - Since each piece had unique dimensions, prices will vary. However, it's really easy to get a good idea of how much a piece might cost once you understand the following.
For example, the price a painting, with dimensions of approximately 4' by 3" sold outside a gallery will be priced at about $1500 dollars. That works out to approximately $100 dollars per square foot. Even though it might seem odd to calculate the price of a painting by square footage it helps to get a general idea of how much a piece will cost. For example, lets say you're considering a painting above your kitchen cabinets to occupy a space about eight foot long by 6 inches tall. Since that amounts to four square feet, at $100 a square foot, that works about $400 dollars. A piece one foot tall by eight feet long would be about $800, and so on. Naturally, if you wan a special frame that will probably effect the price, but I found that the easiest thing to do is to just start talking about the project, in person, or over the phone and the details can usually be worked out.
Once we decided to go through with your project you will have to pay half of the cost up front, to cover the cost of materials and so on, and then pay the remainder upon delivery.
Because of the way I work, and the fact that each piece is a unigue interpretation of a scene, there's no way predict exactly how the painting will look when it's finished. Naturally, you should feel free to give me pictures that give the general impression of you what want to and I will use them as a general guide to make a painting that suits you. Of course, if you look at the all of the pictures in my galley here you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Please, feel free to contact me, and I'll be happy to try and create a painting for you that you will enjoy for years to come!
Thanks, Jim