People ask me this quietly, as if it might sound rude: why does this painting cost what it costs? It is not rude at all. It is the right question. If you are going to live with a work of art — and maybe hand it down — you should understand what you are paying for. Here is my honest breakdown, painter to collector.
First: is it an original?
This is the biggest line in the whole subject. A painting made once, by hand, that exists only once in the world, is a different thing from a print, even a beautiful print. A print can be made again. An original cannot. If I sell you a canvas, that exact arrangement of paint, texture, and decision-making leaves my studio and never happens again.
Every painting I make is a single original, never printed. That scarcity is real, not marketing. When a collector asks about Three Fishes, my 48 by 48 inch oil on wood, they are asking about the only one. There is no warehouse, no second run, no smaller version waiting behind it.
Check for the signs of an original: real texture you can see in raking light, brushwork that changes direction, a signature, and a certificate of authenticity that names the work, the medium, and the date.
Size and materials are not small things
A larger painting is not just a bigger picture. It is more canvas or panel, more paint — and oil paint is not cheap — more hours, and more risk. One wrong passage on a small study is a lesson. One wrong passage on a large canvas can mean days of reworking.
Oil itself matters. Good oil paint holds its color, builds a surface with depth, and, cared for properly, lasts for generations. Acrylic has its place, but the body and luminosity of oil — the way light sits in the paint, not just on it — is part of what you are buying. When you stand close to Desert Sun and see the warm layers that carry that desert light, you are seeing time as much as pigment.
The artist's story and record
A painting also carries the life behind it. My work did not start last year. I have been painting since 2000 and exhibiting since 2001 — solo exhibitions at Corona Public Library in 2017 and again in 2022, at Fontana Civic Center in 2019, a solo show in Cairo in 2006, and a solo exhibition in Riverside in 2023. That record matters because it says this is not a hobby that appeared one season. It is a practice, built year after year, that collectors, libraries, and cities have put on their walls.
The story inside a particular work matters too. In my Feet series, three paintings carry one project across 4,366 years: Foot in Sandal from a Pharaonic inscription of King Kagemni at Saqqara, Mosaic Foot from a Michelangelo sketch, and Golden Foot — my own foot in 2026, lit by the sun of modernity. A collector is not only buying paint. They are buying that idea, researched and carried through by hand.
What value is not
Value is not a logo, and it is not a price invented to impress. Some work is priced high because a name is fashionable for a season, and some honest work is priced reasonably because the artist would rather see it living in a real home than sitting in storage waiting for a perfect buyer. I set reasonable prices and leave room to talk, because I am a living artist. I am here. I can hear what room you have, what colors you live with, and what will actually serve your life.
That is part of the value too — buying from a living artist means the story is still being written, and you can be part of it directly, with no middleman between you and the hand that made the work.
A simple way to judge it yourself
Stand in front of a painting — or study it closely in photos — and ask four questions. Is it truly one of a kind? Is the craft honest when you look close? Does the artist have a real record behind them? And does the work still hold you after ten minutes, the way it will need to hold you after ten years?
If the answer is yes four times, you are not looking at a decoration. You are looking at something with lasting value.
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.