Got a Commission from the Charity Auction!
 

Hi -

I'm just getting my feet wet, so this is a big step. I followed the advice I found at this site, and for the local art museum charity auction, donated a portrait to be done of the winner's choice. I used a painting some of you have seen (SKlyar - the finished oil piece) as my sample.

Well, the auction went well. I now have a commission! I just got the word, plus the name of the people to contact. This hopefully will be the beginning of getting my name known in the community. Although it is a small town, there are many folk who have moved up from Atlanta. The community has lots of rich members and a strong commitment to the arts.

Anyway, I could use your help. Here's my game plan - please make suggestions if you think I could do things a better way.

I will have my price list ready, in case they want to upgrade the size. If they want an additional person, I will add 50% to what they paid, plus a fee for a larger canvas if necessary.

I will contact them to set up a meeting. and see the person to be painted. Get particulars like clothing, setting, no. of people, any additional fees taken care of. Set up a photo session date.

There is one small commission for a friend ahead of them, plus I am getting into the busiest season at school. Is it appropriate to explain the circumstances and give them a date within a few weeks for the photo session - by March 28th? Then during spring break (April 5-9) I can do my sample drawing as well as color studies and meet again for their approval of the composition. Since I have a very tough end-of-school year with loads of paperwork, I don't think I could finish their painting before the middle of May at the earliest. This painting should be no larger than 24 x 36.

Anyway, I'm excited but nervous. Any helpful comments welcome.

Great news!

You can decide what schedule works for you; your client will readily understand. I think it is really important to meet your deadlines, so be very sure the schedule is comfortable for you.

If the client has not already seen your price list, you should possibly rethink the 50% notion. Every commission painter I have met agrees that multiple subjects should command a premium, not a discount.

The discount you want to charge is reasonable, in my opinion, if the subjects are to painted on separate canvases. Once you are required to combine photo resources, the complexity is logarithmic. Still it has to be your decision.

It is perfectly OK to be busy enough to control your own schedule, and I am not sure it matters what exactly you are busy doing. That being said, I think also that you should try to strike a balance in accomodating clients' needs for deadlines, as long as they seem sound.

However, the client who comes out of the blue and demands a portrait by next Wednesday is much more probably a big problem Only you can judge.

Good for you! Charity auctions built my portrait career, and now you're off to a good start, too.

I would also caution you in your pricing, however. "What they paid" could turn out to be very little indeed, when compared to whatever you had set as the "retail value" of your item. The winning bidder could get themselves a terrific deal and actually only pay a fraction of your "retail value" at the auction. It all depends on how the auction committee set up the minimum bid, and how many bidders there were.

It would be much more effective to base the price of any second person on some percentage of your regular rate, not on a percentage of what they paid at the auction.

And I also second Chris's opinion: putting two or more people on a canvas increases the complexity immensely!

Thanks!
 

Thanks so much for your help. This will definitely be a learning experience. They are getting a bargain, but if they add the second person, at least I am getting something financial out of it, instead of being a complete freebie. Unfortunately, they have already contacted me,
I gave them a price and I didn't get back online in time to read your messages. Sure wish I had now....it's hard for me to get the confidence to go for full price.

Congratulations Julie! I did a charity auction back in the fall and got "one" commission from it. A few months passed by and nothing else happened and just yesterday I had my biggest "order" day ever.
I got NINE commission commitments! Thinking back, it all stemmed from that little auction. So watch out, it just might have a mushroom effect on you too! :thumbsup:

Fantastic, Mary! Nine in one day -- that's amazing.

Julie, my first few commissions were priced way below market value, too. That's how word of mouth gets started sometimes. I donated to nine high end charity auctions over the last two years. About half of the auctions I've done have led to other business afterwards, while others have not ... yet. Almost all of them gave me at least some income, with the winning bidders upgrading either a little or a lot.

You'll get a mixed bag of results: One auction led me to meet one of the very wealthy founders of Microsoft, good friends of Bill Gates. I painted their daughter and they have four more kids whose portraits they want me to do when they get older.

However, there were also two auctions where the winners decided not to go ahead and get anything done at all. Turned out that what they had in mind involved paying to upgrade and they didn't want the additional expense. That happens sometimes.

I'm done with auctions for now since I currently have about a year and a half waiting list, almost all of which is full price work (many of which came to me as referrals from other auction clients).

So, Julie, if this auction doesn't lead to new business for you, you may want to try another one, and another one. Just be sure the auctions you pick are all bringing in people who can truly afford oil portraiture, and therefore who have friends who can afford it too. There are high end auctions and low end ones. I have found the best results from private school auctions since I paint mostly kids and the attendees are all parents of school age children.

I looked at those auctions I did as a way for me to get paid at least something to learn on the job, with real clients and real models and then to have real portfolio pieces to show for it at the end.

I owe Stanka Kordic a big thanks for encouraging me, on SOG, to try auctions in the first place!

Thanks Michele, it couldn't have been better timing. However iy sounds a little grander than it is, 6 came from one woman wanting all of her grandchildren done and they will just be head and shoulders.

However this was apparently discussed at some bridge luncheon and now a pile of grandmothers may follow suit ;) . The other three are from one mother.

Julie, I have had similar experiences as Michele. Some auctions seemed to lead nowhere and some, like this last one, were well worth it.

Wonderful!
 

It is so nice to hear all the success stories. (Congratulations, Mary!)
Hearing about the duds - doesn't sound that bad, compared to all the other commissions. I had never thought about private school auctions, but I will definitely check into that.

I'm getting so burnt out with school speech therapy that I am seriously considering going to part-time and supplementing with just enough private therapy to get by and leave time for more art. Your posts give me an extra incentive to consider taking this option.

Hi Julie,

Congratulations! Like Chris, Mary and Michele, I also have donated to charity auctions. I think it's a good way to get your name out there in the community.

I just wanted to add that it helps to have actual portrait samples to show clients when they are contemplating a portrait. (This means having them on display when your client comes to you, or bringing a painting or two when you visit the client.) Generally, people have a hard time visualizing what a real painting is like. You may have a portfolio of photographs of your work, too, but nothing beats the physical presence of real art. This is a good argument for spending one's free time painting family members and keeping them around for a while. (The paintings, not the family members. :D )

Let us know how this commission goes. Have confidence that you can make your client look wonderful and you'll transmit this zeal to her at your meeting. You'll do fine!

The need for samples
 

Thanks, Linda -

I wish I had more samples. I'm so new at this that I only have a few. I just got back into painting last year, and for a while I did still lifes until I felt more confident.

So I only have a few portrait samples and only one of a child, which they have seen. I don't really want to get on a website to show them others' work, more out of insecurity than anything else (what if they see something they like and want it cloned? I want some creative say in the process). So - I will show them what I have, and do an extensive interview to get an idea of what the mom wants. Whoops - this brings up up another matter - the grandparents are footing the bill. So - I guess it's their call, right? I sure hope this family can agree on what they want. I suppose I will need to know who gets the final say, but how do you diplomatically ask such a thing?

You should ask who is actually commissioning the painting and that you'd like to meet with anyone who will be involved in any decisions about the painting.

I've met with wives alone, only to find at the end of the process that the husbands had very strong opinions about what should have gone into the portrait (contrary to what the wives initially said.)

Congratulations Julie
 

It is great to hear about your good news and about everyone's experiences.

What is the process you took to get involved with the auction? This is all new to me, I would like to know how to go about it here where there is a private school that I could maybe contact to get started. What are the best ways to go about it? It sounds as though it could kickstart my career also. What are things to steer away from? What would be the best approach? How could I contact the school to make initial contact for this to eventuate?

Auction
 

Well, for me, it involved becoming a member of the local art museum - one of the perks is being able to donate to the yearly charity auction. They also have a yearly member show. I had an option of donating all or a portion of the proceeds, but if you donated all, your painting would be given priority, so I chose that.

Pretty much anyone with a high quality item (like an oil portrait) can easily donate to these high-end fundraisers. Just phone up the most expensive private schools in the biggest city near you and ask if they have an auction. Let them know you might be interested in donating an item and they will be delighted. They'll let you know how the process goes from there.

Another place to look is fundraisers for a big hospital, art museums, etc. Be sure that you donate to a high end auction. You're looking for something where they have a sit down dinner, where people get dressed up and pay a hefty fee just to attend. One of the auctions in Seattle costs $400 a person just to attend the dinner. Donating your work to a low end auction will not expose you to people who can afford your work, and it will end up being a huge drain on your time creating a free portrait for someone who will not lead you to new business.

To get an idea what kind of auction the organization has, ask how much people pay to attend, the price of some of the other high end items that were donated last year, etc.

Search this forum under Auctions and check out other threads with Auction in the title. There's a lot of other information elsewhere on SOG on how to do this.

Michelle, good info.

How would I approach a private school to generate interest and possible commissions? Fundraisers of the high-end are few and far between here as it is a small town. But the school is a very prestigous one recognised highly outside of this town and state. It is a boarding school too. They have a past student committee and event schedule that most students attend their whole lives. It is a close knit and established entity, and prestigous. Many doctors, professors, many high end past students attend these functions not necessarily here as they have events all over. What would be my best approach?

Julie, what was the criteria for your auction. Was there a particular size and what promotional info did you have to provide to them before hand?

Auctions and fundraisers could be a step in the right direction. Should I offer to do the Principal, or students first?

I have just received a commission from a Professor from a new acquantance, I told him I am only in the early stages and I feel uncomfotable at this stage. He said no worries, sometime in the next five years will do, pick a time when you are ready.

Having this on my mind, should I wait until I complete his portrait and then contact the school or get up to speed with the school commissions. No one here in this region is painting portraits and I would like to grab the spot, so to speak.

I don't have any live models to work from which I desperately need to get experience with, small town talk mentality.

Not much needed
 

HI Ngaire -

All they asked was a minimum bid amount and an artist statement to give to the winning bider.

I got my model for the auction picture by asking someone I knew if I could paint her daughter.

Julie

Thanks Julie

That seem's easier enough. Have you ever contacted a private school to cold call for commissions?

In the future
 

Hi Ngaire -

Not yet, but hope to this year. My charity auction winner is the parent of a child at the local prestigious (read:money) private school for this area. Once I get that portrait done to my satisfaction and hopefully, hers, then I will be checking with them about contributing to an auction. As far as commissions via cold call- don't know how that would work. It seems that this business is word of mouth. One thing the local small business administration wants me to try is to give short talks for groups. Maybe a short demo plus oil portrait samples available for inspection (with original photo so they can see that there is a likeness) at a parent-teacher organization meeting, plus brochures to take home?

I have donated to charities, but usually in the form of designing a painting specific to their theme and auctioning it off. I did just donate my first portrait - I have not started it yet. From what I was told though the buyer wants to upgrade and add other people, so I am looking forward to it.

One thing that maybe sounds weird, but has helped me is joining the Chamber of Commerce. I get to leave brochures at their office and they send out mass faxes at anytime I want for advertising. The faxes cannot show photos, but it has gotten the business owners in the community to know I am there and contact numbers. It has been well-worth the $55 a year price. Plus, all the charities go through the Chamber so they call me often (too often) for donations. Plus, I actually had my membership paid for by one of the charities I did a poster for. They were a faith-based charity and I would not take payment so they did that instead.

Donate $ off or % off portrait?
 

There is a lot of great information on this thread about charity auctions. Our church is having a big charity auction in the fall and I'm thinking about donating some kind of painting for that. I'm a little confused about the best way to go about it, seems some artists donate a certain dollar amount discount (say $200 off the price) towards the charity. If I understand correctly, some donate a percentage of the portrait, maybe 25% of the winning bid. I understand there may be upgrades later.

I want to be sure I donate enough, does anyone just donate the entire amount? This will be a nice auction with people donating dinner for 12 or a long weekend at their weekend home (which happens to be in another state!). In light of that, a small discount doesn't seem appropriate. Though, on the other hand, if I don't get the nerve up to donate a portrait, I'll do a small oil of the chapel and donate that painting, which might only bring $200 anyway. (Yikes, I hope.)

On a side note, I thought of this forum the other evening and the question often raised, "where are all the clients?". There was one in my living room! The other day I was visiting with my daughter's friend's mother and she told me she needs art! She just built a huge home and now she needs art but just doesn't have the time to go out and look. Every artists', not to mention art dealers' (!), dream. Naturally, I offered to paint something for her!!! Which reminds me, I need to call her while she's in the mood for buying art.

I look forward to hearing different views on donating to an auction,

Joan

Get an appraisal from N.Y. art auction firms, has anyone tried that?
This idea is from Joe King, who send me his autobiography "There is no rug in Beverly Hill".

Can't afford not to spend.
To spend is the key of Kennedy success.