People ask me about commissions with a little hesitation, as if they need to be art experts before they can order a painting. You do not. A commission is simply this: you have a wall, a room, and a feeling you want in it — and I paint the work that belongs there, in the size that wall actually needs. Some of my favorite pieces started as a conversation just like that.
Start with the wall, not the painting
The first thing I will ask for is not a style. It is measurements.
Measure the wall where the painting will hang: the full width and height, and the width of the sofa, fireplace, headboard, or table beneath it. If you can, send me a straight-on photo of the room in daylight, and one at night with the lamps on. That tells me more than any description. I can see your colors, your light, and how much space the painting needs to breathe.
That is why I offer room-sized custom work. A painting made for a specific wall does not have to squeeze into a standard size made for somebody else's house. If your wall wants a wide piece above a long living-room sofa, we make it wide. If it wants a tall, calm piece for an entry, we make it tall. We follow the two-thirds rule I use for ready-made work — the painting about two-thirds the width of the furniture below it — and then we build the canvas to match.
What to tell the artist
You do not need art words. Tell me these four things, in plain language:
- The feeling. Calm? Energy? Warmth? Something guests notice the moment they walk in?
- The colors you live with. Your sofa, rug, wood, and the colors you love — and any color you cannot stand.
- Works of mine you respond to. If Three Fishes, my 48 by 48 inch oil on wood, moves you, or if the gold light of Golden Face is more your language, that gives me a starting palette and spirit. Your painting will be its own original, not a copy, but we can begin from a family of colors you already love.
- The occasion, if there is one. A new home, a holiday gathering, a milestone. A deadline matters, and I would rather know it on day one.
How the process goes
Once we agree on size, subject direction, and colors, I stretch or prepare the surface and begin. Oil paint has its own honest timeline. It goes on in layers, and layers need time to set before the next one can carry them. A commission is not a print ordered on Monday and shipped on Friday — it is built by hand, and that building takes weeks, not days. Ask me at the start what is realistic for your size and your date, and I will give you a straight answer.
While I work, I send progress photos. You will see the painting grow — the first broad colors, the forms appearing, the details settling in. Those check-ins are not just courtesy. They are how you know the work is heading toward your room, and they are usually the part collectors enjoy most. Small course corrections happen early, while the paint is still young.
When the painting is finished, it needs time to dry properly before it travels or hangs. Then it is signed, documented with a certificate of authenticity, and prepared for delivery. If you want framing, I offer floater frames in black, gold, or natural wood, quoted per piece, so the work can arrive ready for your wall.
For the holidays, I am holding three custom commission slots this season: order by November 1, and your painting can be on the wall before Christmas. Those slots are small in number for a real reason — oil takes the time it takes.
What a commission is not
It is not asking an artist to copy a photograph exactly, or to remake another painter's work. The best commissions trust the painter's hand while giving it a clear home and purpose. You bring the wall, the room, and the feeling. I bring the paint, the years, and the judgment to turn that into a painting that could only be yours.
If you have been living with a blank wall because nothing ready-made was quite the right size or the right color, that is exactly the problem a commission solves.
Looking for the right piece for your wall? Write to me at [email protected] — tell me your wall size and the feeling you want, and I will help you find the painting that belongs there.