Fiasco with a great portrait
 

Here's a new one for me. A woman at church commissioned me to do a portrait of her for her mother's Christmas Gift. I took reference photos and in 6 hours had a completed portrait. Her only request was that I remove as many wrinkles as possible. I just presented it to her and she cried. Happy tears? NO Way! She said, "Is that how I really look? I look dead". She then showed me a photo of herself taken about 6 years ago and stated THAT was what she wanted. Well, it doesn't look anything like the woman I photographed or painted.

I realize that many people, as they get older, view themselves at a certain age, then when confronted with reality are VERY disappointed with the results. Her husband, I might add, also sees her several years younger.

My question is, how much do I tweak this portrait to suit the client? She wants the hair color changed, and to look happier (like in a "cheese" photograph).

I am very pleased with the outcome as are many mutual friends.

Did your client see and approve the reference photos you used before you began painting, by any chance? I always show them a selection of photos from the photo shoot and have them initial the one or ones they would like me to paint from.

If there is anything they want me to change we discuss it very specifically before I begin painting.

I usually don't do this since the reference photos are only for my reference and I don't want the client to be confused with backgrounds that will be changed, flaws in skin, messed up hair etc. Perhaps I should have done this and it would have saved me a great deal of frustration. I think she would not have approved the photos, thus preventing wasted time.

Hi Julianne,

In my opinion, in her vanity, your client will probably never like her portrait, unless you work from photos of her when she was twenty years old, perhaps. I guess it depends whether she is paying you enough for you to spend much more time on it or if you need to keep in "good" with her for social reasons.

I once did a pastel portrait of a woman with strawberry blonde hair who requested a serious expression. She then posed and wriggled and laughed and moved about. Finally I had a portrait which onlookers agreed looked just like her and I was happy. Was she? No way. Would I change the hair colour, and this... and that.. etc. She then took it home for her husband to see. Back she came the next day carrying a passport photo, for changes. And the next, and the next. Meanwhile, the paper was just about worn through from the rubbings out and I finally had to concede defeat and insist that I couldn't do any more.

We can't please all of the people all of the time.

It is very frustrating!

Eureka! A Solution
 

I pondered the issue at hand at length. An epiphany was granted along with a solution. I called the cleint and told her that the amount of changes really required a new portrait, not "tweaking" this one.

I told her that after Christmas, we would get together and take a series of new photographs (with her new hair color) and allow her to choose the photo from which her new portrait would be derived. She agreed. I honestly don't think we will ever get beyond the photo stage. And I will be off the hook.

If not, we'll both be on the same page as to the "look" she truly wants in her final portrait. I will not compromise and deliver a substandard piece of work that has my name on it for all the world to see. I think some clients see us as "servants" instead of experts in our field.

If we bend over backwards to the point of breaking our integrity, we have essentially created a work that is not our own. I like the portrait I've created and will frame it and hang it proudly in my studio.

John Singer Sargent once said "a portrait is a painting in which there is something wrong with the mouth."

If it was true for a master, like Sargent, it must be a universal problem.

By the way, I'm really curious now. Could you post the portrait... and the reference photo?

I understand the curiosity to see the final product and reference photo, however, out of respect for this client and considering the small world in which we live, I feel it best not to post this particular painting.

Julianne,

I understand your position. You feel you captured this woman as she was, but she does not like the painting. Although you must be true to your style and your vision of the portrait, part of portraiture is making the client happy.

Everett Raymond Kinstler devoted an entire chapter in his book about this titled "Professional Attitude." I would like to quote a section from that chapter:
Now much of Mr. Kinstler's book and this chapter especially is based on his experience and his working procedures. Since the entire chapter relates to this there is much too much for me to quote here. But the one thing that strikes me after reading your post is that the person commissioning the portrait was also the subject, and yet they never saw the painting as it progressed. How much time did you spend with the subject? How many sittings and did you paint any of it from life?

Again from Mr. Kinstler's book
[QUOTE]
Painting the Portrait

The portrait painter reacts, responds, analyzes

I am glad to hear you have planned to do a new painting and I hope things work out better this time.

I would not only let her see the photos but let her see the painting in process. I would even suggest painting some of it from a live sitting maybe for final touches at the end. It really does help make the subject feel they are part of the process. And you spend more time looking at and interpreting the person from life, not from a photo.

Julianne,

I have been in this situation, twice. Once where the commissioner was an adult, and once, a parent.

Let me preface this by saying, in retrospect, I should have declined both commissions, but did not...now I do.

My advice (?!) is to go ahead and take one more set of photos. If she does anything less than ecstatically shout, "Yes! This is it!", decline the work. Explain that a portrait is always part subject, part painter, and that not every painter and subject are the right match. Offer to help her find a painter that is a better suited to what she feels she wants.

If it comes to this, refund her money. Even if you have a signed contract that a fee is non-refundable, unless you have a year's work lined up, refund it anyway. It doesn't matter what price level you are at, because she is at the same purchasing level as her friends, and it is simply not worth the ill-will.

I now spend a lot of time up front with people to make sure I am the right painter for them; it has happened several times that I send them off with names of other artists to interview. I require people to spend time reviewing my source photos and the resulting paintings to make sure that they are fully comfortable with what to expect from me by way of likeness and style. I actually laugh with people and make them raise their right hands and repeat: "This is painting, not a photograph!"

Clearly, many, many portrait painters would be aghast at this approach, but it works fine for me.

P.S. This is why I have in place a three-part payment system: a fee at the time of photos (absolutely non-refundable) 50% down at time of decision about the content and size (also non-refundable); however, at this point they know what they are getting into. If they decide not to go forward, I have been compensated for my time in taking the photos, and there would be no hard feelings. Then the balance upon happy delivery. I have never had the situation (since the intial two I've mentioned) of having a painting rejected. It's bound to happen someday, but at least I do everything within my ability to spot a problem up front.

Julianne,

I had a request once from a woman who wanted me to do her portrait for her husband for his birthday. After taking the reference photos, this lady decided that she was too big in the photos. She wanted me to paint her 30 pounds lighter. I explained to her that I don't "make-up" any of the information in my portraits. She said ok and I assumed that she had come to grips with her perceived weight problem.

She called back a couple of days later and asked if I could maybe use someone else's body and her face from 10 years ago stating that she had lots of professional portraits from which I could work.

Again I declined. At this time she huffed that she was just trying to help me in the first place and that I must not need the money very badly.

I was as polite as I could be and refunded her deposit (I charge 40%). Now, I know that this is obviously a situation that surely everyone would turn down, right? Wrong. Another portrait artist is currently completing the portrait as we speak! Thankfully it will have his name on it and not mine!

I always feel it is best to cut the strings and minimize your losses. You never know how many people will see that work and assume that you can't do your job because it doesn't look anything like the person it is supposed to be! In this business our word of mouth reputation makes or breaks us, so being very polite in your rejection is very important, at least in my humble opinion.

Rebecca

Call me Psychic!
 

The client came back from her holiday trip with jet black hair! Quite the contrast from the frosted blonde I painted in the portrait. Anyway, I rescheduled a new photo shoot letting her know that she could pick out the pose I would paint. She canceled the shoot 2 hours prior to my arriving at her home. I don't think this client will ever allow me to re-paint her portrait, and I will be more than happy to accommodate her wishes!

Thanks all for the advice! I've learned a GREAT deal from this one!

If a client can't decide who they are, how can they expect us to paint them, unless they're willing to look at it as capturing a moment of their changing life.

This one just seems very neurotic.