Commission disaster - what do I do?
 

Oh man! I'd like to post this here and get your opinions, not just on the painting, but on the fix I got myself into. Can some of the pros please give some insight?

I got a small commission - paint a beach, and stick 2 people on it. We did the drawings, she approved them, and I told her based on all the stuff she wanted in the painting, and the size of the people, and the pictures I had of the people, all I would be able to get was a general likeness. She approved initial drawings and the layout on the canvas. I told her general likeness meant you'd know it was a dark haired woman and a dark haired man of their general proportions kind of thing.

We went over that a bunch of times, and I sent her the work in progress too which I don't normally. Now she's very disappointed, doesn't want it, and I'm disappointed too.

This was a composite composition from a bunch of sources. Can I get some feedback on the likeness, painting in general, and overall situation? What would you do?

Thanks everybody. Here are the people:

And here is the painting
 

The painting. Critique away - I really struggled with this.

Closeup
 

Closeup

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Closeup. I forgot to say the painting size was 24 x 30.

I suppose that my first response in this particular Forum is that this isn

Gloria

I agree with much of what Steven has said here. But given that you

The whole task sounds like a monumental effort based on the fact that you said it was "a small commission". Putting two people on a beach without good reference for the people (none of the photos show them in the poses used in the painting) and unknown reference for the landscape sounds like a huge and possibly insurmountable job right from the beginning.

It's very difficult to create a good painting with excellent reference (either photos or the real thing) right in front of you. It's just about impossible to create a decent painting trying to mix and match references that don't go together in scale, color, lighting, angle, etc.

I agree with Steven. Sorry to say it: this is one that should have been refused from the start.

I've learned the hard way that my paintings succeed or fail before I ever touch brush to canvas. It's (almost) all in the preparation and in what you choose to paint.

Thanks so much
 

Steven, John, and Michele -

Thanks so much for your words. Steven and Michele, I think you're right, I should have balked when I saw the references. I'll do better next time. It sounded like a fun challenge at the beginning.

John, I tried re-cropping it, and you're right, it's better, but man, I think this puppy needs to be recycled as guinea pig bedding.

Thanks!!

Lisa, thank you for sharing this nightmare commission with the rest of us. Disappointing a client is a fate most of us fear and I hope you will just chalk this one up as experience as I'm sure you have learned a lot with this one.

I got a chuckle when you told me last week that this painting will be discreetly left from your portfolio. Though I too would not classify the painting as a portrait, the bland color scheme you have chosen is effective if you were trying to set the mood of the painting as an outing on a cool foggy beach.

Perhaps those clients were looking for something more vibrant and colorful and didn't specify this requirement to you adequately or inform you in the process. Sometimes a person will buy a painting based on how it makes them feel - which can either be warm or cold.

I am posting this sample (it is one of my mom's paintings) of a beach scene with people that is very warm and colorful. Of course, in this example it is a sunny day and the fog is off in the distance. I think a wide range of colors and values adds interest, but everyone develops their own style and palette preferences and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. (I actually think she got a little too carried away in this example.)

By the way - I am in the running for the Larry Flynt bust commission, so thanks for the tip!

Whoops - the photo didn't stick the first try..

Lisa,

My first thought after reading this is that you shouldn't have let them see it before it was complete to your satisfaction. Perhaps you were going to kick up the colors or make other changes to the composition before it was finished. I let my clients see work in progress if they stop in and it's right there, but I do not invite it if I can help it. Their inexperience with how a painting develops can lead to them wanting changes or thinking it's not what they wanted.

If it's gone and they have made up their mind that they do not want it, then brush it off. It was a small difficult one anyway. Or, you can try it again, making changes, then show them and see if they are interested.

Another one bites the dust
 

Heidi, thanks for your comments. Wow, that painting is way better - really gives me something to aspire to!

Kim, you're right, it's over. I've already re-stretched those stretcher bars.

Another thing I've learned here is not to do anything I wouldn't like to see hanging around my studio. As soon as the client gave up on it I was thinking I didn't like it either. I couldn't wait to get rid of it.

I see it now - there wasn't any way this was going to turn out well. I definitely should have passed this one up, but beggers can't be choosers! ;)

I disagree. Unlesss someone is literally starving in the streets I think we have to be very choosy in what we paint, and how.

I have recently put up little signs in my office and in my studio that say "Quality, Not Quantity". They are reminders to me that my goal is to strive toward creating much better work than I do now. My goal should not be to try and get as many paintings in the hands of clients as possible, or to get each step completed as quickly as possible.

Seeing those notes to myself often stops me in my tracks and makes me do things like spending an extra day going over some reference photos to see if they are as good as they can be. It makes me choose to begin a painting over again in order to have it on linen and not canvas or to create it at the right size if it was too small or too large to begin with.

I believe that "Quality, not Quantity" is the path toward my financial success as well as my personal satisfaction with my work.

Michele,

I totally agree with you.

I remember John Howard Sanden talking about how that many of the portraits that hang in museums today were actual commissions. He says that before he begins a new commission that he approaches it with the thought that this could potentially one day become a museum piece.

I have found myself spending more time creating preliminary drawings, value studies and oil studies to help prepare me for the final piece. It's amazing how much one can learn while involved with all this "extra effort" that will certainly pay-off in the long run, both from a financial and quality stand point.

Try it before giving up.

Do an impressionistic likeness of one face; if it is approved, ask for that part be paid! Then go on next face, then the background.

You may use the images they supplied.
I got a similar commission, I'll figure out if it is better idea than a formal commission.