Commissioned Portraits

Painting portraits is my specialty. I have been painting commissioned portraits for almost 25 years! Nothing I paint is more challenging and rewarding. Below you can see some examples of portraits I've been commissioned to paint over the past few years.

I can work from life or photo, preferably photo for kids and pets. You may provide the photo or I can take photos for you for an extra $25.

My prices are moderate for my experience and are based on size, medium, and number of people/pets. Starting at $150 for a pencil 8 x10" with one person/pet and going up to $1,400 for an oil 20 x 24" with four people/pets. Email me for an exact quote for your commission.

Prices include basic professional framing. A 50% deposit is required to begin and the balance is due on approval of the portrait. You may also order prints or notecards to share your portrait with family and friends.

Unfinished portrait

Today I'm working on a portrait that I started at least a year ago. To be completely honest, I don't remember when I started it. It was meant to be a gift for my mother in law and since today is her birthday, I decided to try finishing it up so I can give it to her.....FINALLY!! This is a portrait of one of my nieces. I have already given my mother in law portraits of my other niece and my two nephews. Now, of course, I have a new niece who just turned one, so I'm a little behind! Anyway, I guess it's better late than never! This started as a watercolor, but I decided to finish it with my new favorite...H2O oils.

In other news, I have to take my youngest son to the Dr. for an ultrasound today. He has a lump in his left breast that is most likely a cist, but the Dr. wants to be sure. So....keep some positive thoughts going for him please!

Final Portrait

Here it is, the final portrait! The client has seen it, approved it, picked the frame and I am almost done getting it ready to go! Everyone was right, btw, he loved it!

Today I'm working on cutting mats and cleaning house. My brother and his wife are coming up from Las Cruces to visit, so everyone will be at our house for dinner tonight. I'm making beef stew in the crock pot, so I can still get my work done during the day.

I'm really excited about finishing the portrait and mats because that means I can get back to working on MY art! I am going to get back to my flower spiral abstract series, as I have a gallery show in December to get ready for. I will let you know more about that as I know. What I know so far is the gallery is in Gallup, New Mexico and it is a new gallery for me. The owner saw my work at the state fair in September and invited me to show in his grand reopening in December. They are moving into a new building at the moment. Once I get more info I will post more.

Not much else exciting happening. Holiday season is upon us and I am in a rush to get everything together. I have lots of new things to post in my etsy shop, hopefully they have worked out all the bugs for the new V2 by the time I get around to listing everything.

Anyway, I'd better get back to work, hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Last progress photo

This is yesterday's progress photo of the portrait commission I'm working on. I finished this morning! Waiting for my camera batteries to recharge so I can take the final photo. There were only a few last touches to be made after this photo, so I figured I'd post it while I wait for the batteries. I don't think I said before, but this is an oil painting on canvas, 16 x 20".

I'm so nervous about showing it to the customer. That's always the hardest part with doing commissions. Will they love it? Will they think it was worth the money they paid?

Personally, I love it and think it came out beautifully!

Now it's back to cutting mats!

Portrait progress

Latest progress photo, taken before I worked on it for a couple hours today. I seriously have to be done with this by Friday! I am getting close. I ran out of light to take a photo of today's progress, but I want to work on it another day before I post another one.

Today I went to the doctor, she prescribed physical therapy for my back problem. Hopefully, that works. I may just have to get a massage too, oh darn!

Once I get the portrait done, I have tons of mats to cut! For any of you who don't know this already, I also do matting and framing jobs on the side, to help support my art. I have worked as a manager and even owned a frame shop in the past, now I work out of my studio. So, if you have any matting or framing that you need done, I have great wholesale prices, just email me. You can also find some of my mat listings in my ebay store. One of these days, when I have time, I also plan to put up some ready made standard size wood frames. Since I make them all myself, I have also considered putting them up on Etsy. All I need is a few 40 hour days to get it all done! Or possibly a little patience in the knowledge that I can't do it all at once. ;)