Beautiful artwork for medical facilities and community organizations

Paintings from photographs, memories and imagination

Custom color and style to enhance interiors

Tell me about your project!

COMMISSION PROCESS

My approach to creating commissioned artwork

Most of my paintings portray personal histories. And I don't mean history the capital H, but small, intimate, everyday histories of common people like you and me. And it's only natural that I end up doing a lot of family portrait commissions using family albums, digital snapshots, and vintage photographs.

I love to work with goofy, fun and even slightly irreverent images. Amateur snapshots are always a better starting point for the sort of commissioned painting I make than professional studio shots. Painting these types of commissions is deeply satisfying for me as an artist and my clients end up with a unique work of art that reflects their personality and style. 

Free video chat consultation

If you’d like, we can set up a virtual meeting to look at your images together and assess which images will translate best into a painting. This is the time for you to tell me family stories about the people and the pictures, about that specific moment and about what they feel when they look at the image and why they want it memorialized as a lasting family heirloom. These stories inform the process of me creating a truly personalized artwork.

Canvases and Materials

I use high quality pre-stretched canvases that get two additional coats of gesso primer on top of the standard factory gesso to ensure a stable archival quality surface. Oil paint is caustic by nature and this extra precaution ensures longevity and beauty of the finished painting.

You get to choose between a standard ¾ inch depth canvas which is easiest to frame, or if you prefer a contemporary unframed look, you can opt for a gallery wrapped 1 ⅓ inch depth canvas which looks great without additional framing, but can always be framed later if you wish.

Oil paint and mediums

Majority of my paints and mediums are made locally here in Portland. We are fortunate to have two world class oil paint manufacturers in out city: Gamblin and M.Graham. Both companies make outstanding quality paints that produce superior results and are a joy to work with.

I use M.Graham brand walnut alkyd painting medium that is fast drying, won't yellow with time and is safer to use a lot of traditional oil painting mediums.

Style and portrait likeness expectations

My painting style is best described as painterly realism with impressionist elements.

Please look over the images of commissions at the top of the page to get a good idea of my painting style.

If you are looking for a photorealistic painting that is a close copy of your original photograph I am not your artist. It will be cheaper to get your local Kinkos to print your photo on canvas for a fraction of my price 😉

I take great care to represent the likeness of your loved ones in these paintings, however I am more focused on the overall emotion and atmosphere of the image rather than on the tiny details.

Please note that I paint in large strokes and allow for the expressive nature of oil paint to create a dynamic and exciting artwork rather than an exact handmade reproduction of the source material.

COMMISSIONED OIL PAINTING RATES:

14x11 inches $650

20x24 inches                       $950

30x40 inches                     $1750

Custom sizes available upon request

Domestic shipping is included. International shipping charges apply for orders outside of the USA.

Please inquire about specific shipping costs.

A 50% deposit is required to start commission work. The remaining 50% is due upon pick up/delivery.