Your first commission?
 

Katherine Annon has suggested a topic, "What was your first commission?"

Thanks to Chris for starting this topic. I'm entering first "serious" commissions territory, and was curious to hear any anecdotes any of you might have. Do you long-time full-time pros remember your first commissions? Do those of you in the same boat as I am right now have any recent experiences you'd like to share?

I imagine there are all sorts of stories out there, funny or moving or crazy-making or sad. And any mixture of the above.

I actually had an out-of-the-way commission about a decade ago. Although I was not a professional artist, a pediatric nurse saw some of my drawings and commissioned me to draw a posthumous portrait of a four-year-old girl who had succumbed to cancer a short time before. It was to be a gift for the child's mother, who had moved from the state in a fit of grief.

The nurse supplied me with a photo. She then tentatively asked if I could add angel wings. And hair.

If I do become a successful portrait artist, I can't forsee laboring over any commission as hard as I did that one. Angel wings are not at all my cup of tea; sentimentality usually leaves me a little cold. But I'll never forget that little girl's eyes.

Katherine, thanks for suggesting this thread.

My first paid commission was for my neighbors' girls, in 1990, a year after my my first child was born. I was out of patience for the hospital rat race, and my neighbor and I attended a local event where a portrait painter exhibited. We were shocked at the prices. (In retrospect, those prices were bargains.) For my neighbor, I did a pencil drawing, double portrait, for $80. If I can find the image I will post it. I am so very grateful to the people who hired me during my first years.

Sometimes I wish I could go back and update all those portraits, but of course, I can't. Still, I appreciate so very deeply every one of my clients' confidence, which gave me the belief that I could become a better painter.

Today, November 3, 2003 I still am grateful for every encouragement, and still strive to become better every day.

First Portrait?
 

My first major portrait commission was a highly overpaid CEO of Corporation you'd all know. I had done several other commissions and it was just one more except it's kind of fun to visit with the people. I recently read they now (15 years later) have 7 homes around the world.

My first paid commision was when I was 14. I got $25.00 plus supplies. I took it pretty seriously. I intend to shoot a picture of the work next time I visit my early patron's home.

Chris and Timothy,

I've just visited both of your sites.

Wow.

Did you hit the ground running - so to speak - with your first commissions?

Timothy, did you continue to take commissions during your teenage years?

Chris, I'd love to see that double portrait.

I've got to say it again, but I promise that this will be the last gushing bout for a while. What a privilege and rich resource to be able to interact with such talented artists!

A Trial by Fire...
 

My first commission was a posthumous portrait of a baby that had been still born.

The grandparents contacted me by phone and I met the father and his father in person. They were very broken up. It was the couple's first child and the baby was near term when something went wrong.

There were no usable pictures for reference - they gave me pictures of both the mother and the father as babies. It was Tuesday at 4 p.m. and they needed the framed portrait for the memorial service on Saturday a.m. I recommended a charcoal because of time and because it seemed the right medium for such a work. They agreed.

The father called me that evening. He had spoken with the mother (still in the hospital) and they wanted me to do the portrait of the baby with her eyes open - as the happy healthy baby she might have been.

To this day, it was the hardest portrait I have ever done. I spent the whole week crying while I worked, and calling on "something" to come to me and help me capture her in the work. On Friday afternoon, I met the mother and the father to deliver the piece. When she saw it, she started crying. I told them that I hoped they would try again and that someday I would love to do a happy portrait for them.

Her name was Bryanna. You can view the portrait at:

http://www.fineportraitsinoil.com/Bryanna.htm

Michael,

What a story. It was a brave choice to take on such a difficult commission. Impossible to put a dollar value on such an experience.

Hi Katherine,
I am not as experienced as some of the other artists posted here, but I did want to share with you some info about my first "real" commission. This was a commission done for a complete stranger (not a friend or relative).
About four years ago, after joining the local art association, I participated in my first group show at the local mall. I received three commissions from this experience, this colored pencil of a little boy in a hat being the first. The mom supplied me the photo (something I try not to do anymore.)It is 16x20 and I charged a mere pittance. ($60. I think!) However, just starting out I felt like I wanted to get as many portraits under my belt as I could. Luckily, I have been able to raise my prices gradually...
Mary

Michael,

Your story brought tears to my eyes. Posthumous portraits are difficult in general, but I couldn't imagine tackling such a difficult task. You did an excellent job.

My first portrait ever was for my mom's husband. It was of his son who had just died from cancer. I will never forget my stepfather's expression when he saw it for the first time.

Renee Price

Renee: You are the second artist I know whose first commission was posthumous. Good for you for taking it on. :)

For me, it was a real wake up call about what portraiture was all about - our clients want something more than just a painted image. A portrait becomes a focal point for the client to love and honor someone who is part of their life, or to memorialize and remember someone they loved who has passed. It is a vessel of a sort and it holds spiritual energy.

Ok, maybe a little fluffy, but that is how I see it...:sunnysmil

Michael is so right. Those dabs of paint and scraps of cloth we turn into paintings do take on a great deal of meaning for many families, especially the posthumous portraits.

It wasn't my first commission but the 9/11 firefighter portrait I did was the most emotionally challenging and emotionally rewarding one I ever did.

After the family had the painting home for a while the widow told me that having it there was the first thing that truly comforted her in the whole time since September 11th happened. If I accomplish nothing else in this career, that thought will always stay with me.

My first commission was when I was 11. I drew portraits of Cyndi Lauper and C. Thomas Howell for $4 each for my other goofy middle school friends. Also I did unicorns for $3 (8.5 x 11 lined of course).

My first personal commission was $60 for a watercolor of my aunt and uncle.

My first "paid" portrait...
 

... I ended up not getting paid for. Well, not monetarily. I had done a sketch of a friend's child. She called me and said a co-worker wanted me to do one of a neighbor's child.

They brought me pictures and then told me the child had died. I cried the whole time I did it. I told them I couldn't charge for that. The next day I had a stepping stone wrapped up on my porch from them that said "the greatest gift is a gift of thyself".

That is what got me started. :sunnysmil

My first commission was in 1996. I had been painting portraits of people whom I knew but keeping them for myself, and I had completed four or five which I kept in a small photo album in my pocketbook. I was visiting an acquaintance who knew one of the subjects and so I showed the portrait to him. He loved it and asked whether I'd accept a commission to paint his wife. For anyone out there who's a birder, the gentleman was Pete Dunne. His wife's portrait, "Linda's Garden," is on my website. It's still one of my favorites.

I've also done several posthumous portraits. "Smiling Forever" is of a girl who was murdered, and in painting her portrait I felt as though I were somehow giving a little bit of life back to her. It was commissioned by United Parcel Service to be hung in her school, and all they had collected was $350 so I accepted that amount as payment in full. I worked from prom photos and some pictures of girls wearing the school track uniform, since that was how they wanted her depicted. Another posthumous portrait, "On the Beach," was of a six-year-old girl who was struck by her school bus and killed. That was the hardest one, emotionally, that I ever tackled. I was working from a tiny school photo but her father wanted her depicted on the beach, so I used a shot I took at a nearby shore and then had the child of a friend who had a similar build pose for the arms. I did cry while blocking it in. But it gives such joy to the families to see a loved one re-created on canvas, in a new pose, that it's worth it.

Aretha!
 

I was 16 and did a portrait of Aretha Franklin from an album cover for a foreign exchange student. He wanted to take a piece of our culture back with him. I don't remember how much I was paid but the money was meaningless. Painting Aretha was fun.

Jean

.25 cents!
 

My very first commission was when I was in 6th grade. I used to draw pencil sketches in class of the teachers. I'd usually add a moustache to a woman or something else mean to be funny. One of the teachers caught me and she loved it and asked how much. I told her .25 cents and she bought it. She still has it! The students started buying sketches of themselves from me, but I raised my prices to .50 cents very quickly.

The hardest portrait I did was the 28-year-old husband of a 24-year-old woman. He had only passed away 2 months earlier. He was a handsome man and a bodybuilder, but he died in front of his wife and 3-year-old child from heart failure. The mother and child both came to the meetings and cried each time. I was given a fairly good studio photo to use. They wanted 2 portraits exactly alike, one for them and one for his parents. I finished the first and it was pretty good, they were so happy with it.

But, they had started to become friends...talking about her husband and my children playing with this traumatized boy. The end result was that I could not complete the second painting. I would cry over it and comfort her when she started stopping by, but I could not do it. It's like I lost all ability. I still feel guilty over that. I've lost contact with them, but it still haunts me that I could not finish the second one. She was very understanding, but it seemed like a failure.

Mistaken Identity
 

Hello Katherine,

I've been so amused by this thread but couldn't quite recall my first commission until now because I've always drawn people, even as a grade schooler. I used to draw people's images on the Christmas cards that were pre-ordered but never knew there was a formal term to the transaction.

My first official commission was a case of mistaken identity. I was a freshman in college and the manager of the bookstore approached me and asked "Are you the artist in a wheelchair who was commissioned by..so and so... for that beautiful portrait?" I said "Yes!" knowing it wasn't me but I got a kick out of the whole scenario.

Guess what? He commissioned me to do a portrait of his niece. And after that he commissioned me one more time of his niece and dog and the buyer for the bookstore commissioned me for a double portrait plus their cat! Then someone from the Administration office commissioned another portrait. All along I was just waiting for the actual artist to surface but never did!

So for some reason I became a commissioned portrait artist just because I'm a little devil! The price of the Christmas cards were 50 cents for a dozen. In 1980, the price for the gentleman at the bookstore was $125.00 each (I now charge $125.50 haha j.k!).

It was a nostalgic moment when I visited my former school 2 months ago to meet someone for lunch. I happened to go by the bookstore and there was a photo of my first client, Mr. Davis, up on the wall, with Memorial Ribbons and bouquets beneath it. He apparently died in his sleep 2 nights previous.

Somehow it was like a short visit with an old friend looking at the 8x10 photograph of him that captured his personality so well. So this thread just added a new meaning to my nostalgic string of events. It's nice to find little gifts like that around the corner. :)

My first was Max
 

Hello:

My first portrait commission was of Max, a handsome German shepherd. When I show a copy of it, I always point out that this is Max, and he own a local dermatologist.

Going to the Dentist
 

My first official commission was my dentist. Prior to a filling, he saw me nervously sketching my daughter from a photograph. Seeing a good likeness, he got the brainstorm, all by himself, to have a portrait done for his wife as a Christmas gift. Something I later learned was truly a feat of enormous magnitude. I was to do a pencil portrait of his two children at the beach. When I saw it, I HAD to do it in color. So I did. I received a whopping $150.00 for that and today it stands as one of my best. I've recently been commissioned by the same man and his wife to do several other pieces, and you can bet they won't be in the $150
range.

The most impact a commission has had on me was that of Claytie. A young boy who had recently passed away from a sroke.Claytie
It was a wonderful and moving experience that I will never forget. Like having an angel sitting on your shoulder. I am one of the only artists in the area doing Posthumous portraits as other artists here see it as kind of creepy or so sad they can't focus on the subject at hand. Not me, I love them and since I work quickly, I can have the painting done within 24 hours of receiving the reference photos.

Although I have only been painting portraits for a little over 2 years, I have learned to appreciate and respect inspiration, dedication and education. Truly an artist

I have done a couple commissions but am still waiting for one from a pure stranger who has seen my work. Well, I guess you could say I received my first call from a potential client yesterday. I just got off the phone with her and thought my friends here would appreciate this story...

Of course, I was very nervous. So I took out my price list and rehearsed in my mind what my process is for meeting with the client and subject to discuss wardrobe, setting up the photo shoot, pricing, deposit requirement, time frame, the whole schtick!!

After saying a silent prayer I dialed the number. She is an elderly woman who, it turns out, had purchased a large print which had cherubs in it. "I just love those baby angels, you know?..."

"However, these adorable angles are male, of course, and being angels are unclothed. I was wondering if you could paint ribbons over their private parts?". . .

I haven't stopped laughing since graciously ending the phone call !!!

My first paid commission was a group portrait of the family of one of my mother's piano students in 1982. I deliberatly aimed for primary colors in an impressionistic interpretation. I think I was paid about $400.00.

A year went by as I was working on "Susan Weiss and her Daughters", so the youngest began as a newborn and gradually became a toddler in the painting. Now all the girls are adults and there are grandchildren too.

It' kind of scary how the years have gone by and how many ways my painting style has evolved. This family kept me busy with other portrait projects over the years. One of the most interesting were three standing life-sized cut-out oil on birch plywood portraits of the three teen-aged girls in 1994. You never feel alone in an empty room with these standing portraits!