It’s been a good year for continuous commissions coming through the
door and so far I’m booked up until the beginning of winter. And that’s even before the
seasonal Christmas enquiries start coming in, usually in August. I appreciate all the support my clients have given me, past and present and I hope to paint your pet portrait soon.
 
To achieve the high standards my clients expect, and which brings me
work from all around the country and abroad, involves a long working
week – often up to 70 hours. There’s a misconception that pastel work
is quicker and sometimes a lesser medium to oil paint. This isn’t the case and I have discussed it before. Pastels have been used by the masters for 100’s of years and they have been around a lot longer than acrylics. They are a relatively new medium and I bet you didn’t know is plastic based! So it definitely hasn’t been around for 100’s of years!
 
Each painting, even the smallest size I offer, requires hours of
painstaking work to ensure the colours and contrast are spot on and
the finished work is a perfect representation of the subject. From the
quotes from satisfied clients on my website and a
full order book I am happy that my pastel work is of the highest
quality which they obviously think is worth paying for, so after many years I think I am due a little price rise. I think all artists struggle pricing their work. I know pet portrait artists do. It is never any easy thing and it is made harder as many people don’t always quite understand the time and effort and value in a piece of art. I know I am often encouraging other artists to put their prices up. No-one should be selling their work that takes hours for £30 or £40. They are earning less than minimum wage for years of learning a wonderful skill.
 
To keep my pricing fair and easy to quote, I find the easiest way to price my work is by square inch. It keeps the pricing structure even and straightforward when working out unusually sized pieces of work. It also enables me to quote for pet portraits before I start. If I based it on time it took to do each piece it would vary so wildly as some come together quicker than others it just wouldn’t be fair and also impossible to to price before starting. It is a system I have used for the last 8 years or so and I find it works very well.
 
See here for my 2015/16 prices for the range of my services. I am sure you will still find them amazing value for the work that has gone into you pet portrait However,please do get in touch to discuss your specific commission
requirements at any time.