Can you draw this?..

Most requests I get for paintings, especially from people that might have used me before, are usually very considerate with their picture choice and requirements. and most of the paintings, I really enjoy putting together for these people. Sometimes however, you come across people who don't realise that it can be very hard working from a picture supplied that is around the size of a postage stamp on a computer screen, or beat a hasty retreat when I give a quote for a painting.

The poor reference picture given I can usually get around to a certain extent (unless it's really small or bad quality), but it's very hard sometimes to get people to understand just how much work and cost to myself it involves in giving even a small-ish painting. 

The prices I quote don't usually take much of this into consideration, as I am not a professional, it's not my full time job and it really is just to make a bit of pocket money which more often than not I use to buy more art materials.

One thing that people don't realise sometimes is that I work a normal job, sometimes 6 nights a week. That leaves me, sometimes, barely one full day a week that I can work on people's paintings. Sometimes on that day off, I don't have the time or even the desire to work on a painting - which really means that it might be a gap of two weeks between painting sessions. 

Working nights, by the time I get up in the afternoon, painting is the last thing I have time to do, although sometimes I might put a couple of hours in here and there during the week, I do not have a studio space to dash off to and nor is my equipment permanently set up. 

As I stated at the beginning, most people know this and are perfectly happy to wait as long as it takes, 'just 'til it's done', and to them I am very grateful. 

I try to do the best I can, and I try to use the best materials I can reasonably afford. I like to work with good equipment as in art, cheap materials show in the final work. I have work from even 5 or 6 years ago which shows how your materials make a difference.

Some of the requests are funny too. (Not funny at the time, when you have to say No as politely as possible!) Here's a couple of genuine questions.

"Can you draw this person, but how they would look in 15 years time?"

"Can you draw this person, but change their head to this person?"

"Can you draw this place that I only have an overhead map of, but draw it as if you're on the ground?"

I think I might have even said yes to one of them, but sometimes all I can think is that I'm not a magician, just a normal bloke who happens to do a bit of painting now and then. Ask a professional or established artist the same questions and see what kind of a price you get. 

I love painting as I always say, but sometimes I do wonder if people understand just what a sacrifice I make of my own time and money to get the work done. One day, maybe I'll be able to do it full time, and then I can pick and choose as I want - a lot of it is my own fault as I can't say no, and nor do I like asking for money. Especially when friends ask, I wish  could do them all for nothing. But, sadly, it's impossible. 

Maybe I should start running itemised receipts to show just what goes into each piece.

Anyway, I had a painting to finish this week, and thankfully it didn't take all that long to do as most of the hard work had been done a weekend or so previously. Not my usual subject, portraits (I usually concentrate on sports), but at least the picture supplied was clear and the timescale workable.

See you tomorrow!