PORTRAIT COMMISSIONS
A commissioned portrait is a collaboration between what you know about yourself and what a painter can see. Below are the three strands of commissioned portraiture that I offer:
Traditional Portrait
A timeless oil portrait, created to capture the presence and character of an individual or group. Compositions can range from intimate single figures to more complex multi-figure works, with scale and complexity discussed together.
Janus Portrait
A portrait as a visual story: a larger-scale, symbolic oil painting created to mark a threshold, transformation or significant chapter in your life. Drawing on imagery, metaphor and, where appropriate, precious leaf, each work is conceived as a deeply personal allegory.
Studio Study
An immediate, intimate portrait made from life in a single sitting. Choose between a Conte pencil study on coloured charcoal paper or a small 6 × 8" oil on panel. Spontaneous, direct and quietly expressive.
Before we begin, we talk. I want to know about your life, your work, what you love, what has shaped you. I ask about objects, spaces, light. I'm interested in the story you carry, not just the face you present.
TRADITIONAL
We begin with a conversation - by phone, video, or in person. From there I develop sketches and a compositional proposal for your approval. Sittings can be in person or I can work from reference photographs; for clients who want the full experience of being painted, I'd always recommend at least one in-person session. I will sketch and take photos for reference. Portraits are painted in oils on panel or canvas. Timescales vary by size and complexity, but most commissions are completed within eight to fourteen weeks.
Prices begin at £4500 for a smaller (61cm x 46cm), single-figure portrait and rise with size, complexity, and number of subjects. Every commission is bespoke - size, setting, and level of detail are discussed and priced individually. I'm happy to discuss what's possible within your budget on a call before you commit to anything.
I take a small number of commissions each year. If you're interested, the best first step is simply to get in touch.
The Classic Commission
From £4,500
JANUS PORTRAITS
The Transformational / Narrative Commission
£7,500 & up
Named for the god who looks both ways at once, a Janus Portrait marks a threshold: a marriage, a book published, a diagnosis survived, a career left behind, a new chapter, a self arrived at. These are allegorical works: the sitter rendered not just as they appear, but as they stand at the hinge of their own story, with the symbolic language to carry that weight.
This is the most considered work I make. Each piece begins with a long conversation about the life behind the sitting, and the objects, colours, and gestures that belong to it. the visual story is told through setting, symbols, archetypal imagery, personal meaning motifs, symbolic use of colour. The painting is created in oil and where appropriate, precious leaf, on panel or canvas.
Three tiers, scaled by complexity and scope - MORE INFO HERE.
NOTE - Janus Portraits will be available later this Autumn. I am currently working on a commission of this type and will get this segment up and running, with images! If interested, contact me for information.
STUDIO STUDIES
The Intimate / Immediate Commission
£290 · £800
These are quick, direct, sitting-based studies — the appeal is intimacy and speed, not the labour-hours of an oil. There's a version of portraiture that happens in one sitting, not six weeks — where the whole likeness has to arrive in the time it takes a face to hold still. I keep this practice alive alongside the larger commissions because something gets lost if I only ever work slowly. These are the fast ones: made from life, in a single session, with nothing to hide behind. These exist because something is lost when a sitting takes six weeks instead of sixty minutes, and that immediacy has its own value.
Conté pencil on coloured charcoal paper, 8"x8" - £290.
Alla prima oil study portraits, on 6"x8" panel - £800.
