Dealing with Rejection - Page 2

Michele Rushworth · 03-02-2003, 12:30 PM

Lon, at least you now have what looks to me to be a very nice sample that you can display when promoting your work. (That is, if the client doesn't live nearby and would be likely to say unpleasant things if, say, she saw it hanging in the local library.) Did you have her sign a model's release so that you own rights to her image?

If you're up for it, perhaps posting the painting and the reference in the critique section might be helpful, as Karin suggested.

Tom Edgerton · 03-02-2003, 03:04 PM

Lon--

Never had one outright rejected, but have had some that were lukewarmly received. And I have found myself once in the most ungodly, dysfunctional situation I've ever seen, but that was a seed sown and watered heavily with Southern Gothic familial aberration long before I showed up. It was a posthumous piece commissioned by a firm of a partner that had died suddenly only a few months before. Photo reference was scant and not very good. I pulled a rabbit out of my hat, but the family still tore into the piece. Fortunately the firm was the client, not the family, and when the piece was publicly unveiled, one of the partners remarked that my painting looked "more like him than he did." But it sticks in my craw of course that the family will never be satisfied. If you're dedicated and professional, how could it not?

My sixth sense would have scared me off of yours, if four painters had tried and "failed." But I know how it is, no one ever wants to say no. But from what I see, the work is not unflattering in the least, not at all deserving of such a heated response. I think your client's reaction speaks volumes about her, not your effort.

I don't think one can do portrait work and not experience this at some time. I fully expect a painting to be refused at some point. But if it helps, whenever I get roughed up, the universe sends one on the heels of it that is pure joy from beginning to end.

Hang in there!

Lon Haverly · 03-02-2003, 03:18 PM

Well, thanks guys, I know it ain't no Rembrandt.

Lon Haverly · 03-02-2003, 03:30 PM

I will admit that I rather hoped to overcome some reference flaws. The teeth and eyes in the reference were bizarrly blurred. (Rather important elements to take a risk with.)

I should have called for further photos. You can't ask yourself to do more than the reference gives you.

Your words of encouragement are very kind.

Karin Wells · 03-02-2003, 03:59 PM

That reference photo is problematical but I am impressed that you did as well as you did with it.

If ever she comes back with another photo so you can have another "try," I would suggest that you ask for 1/2 of the remainder of the money that she owes you before you begin your second painting.

It is the nature of some people to be chronic malcontents. And this way you won't get stuck for the materials you used plus doing two paintings worth of work...for a paltry 1/3 of the fee.

I work hard to please a client but I ask for 50% of the fee up front in order to begin a portrait. This way I get hurt less if I have put in endless hours on a painting only to get flatly rejected for no good reason.

Lon Haverly · 03-03-2003, 12:16 AM

Terrific advice, Karen - another 1/4th payment. I would only touch this one up, and not repaint a second painting. I collect half down up front for oils with a no-refund policy written down in the contract.

Tom, you were right about another joyous work on the heels of the failure. I had a terrific weekend of drawing. I was swamped with charcoal portraits and delighted customers, making as much money as the balance owed on the painting. Only I do not credit it to the universe. I really love the satisfaction level of the quick sketch, not only esthetically, but also in customer satisfaction.

Michele, I have never used a "model's release" for showing my work left behind. If they do not buy it, it is mine, I have presumed. I will do that in the future.

I will undoubtedly use this painting fo reference, since she lives in Japan and will not use it against me locally.

I remain hopeful that she will like it when she sees it in person.

Michele Rushworth · 03-03-2003, 02:06 AM

Here's a bit more information about model's releases. They basically protect you on the legal "privacy" issues associated with using someone's likeness.

You, of course, own the painting, since she hasn't paid in full for it. And even after a painting is sold, you still own the copyright of the painting, of course.

Model's releases are different. They give you permission to use the person's likeness, either to exhibit any image you painted publicly, to put it on your website, or in any other marketing materials, if you wish.

I include a model's release section in my contract, basically giving me permission to use their likeness as part of my marketing efforts. Without that release, I could be sued, even if I own the painting and own the copyright.

Lon Haverly · 03-03-2003, 02:49 AM

Thank you so much, Michele. You are a pro. Karen, Tom and Mike, I appreciate you, too.

John Zeissig · 03-03-2003, 03:23 PM

Lon,

Ah, REJECTION! Below is a little piece I did about ten years ago as a commission. It's a pendant in marquetry a la Boule. The light part of the Least Tern is in silver, cut as a single piece from a silver dollar using a jeweler's saw. The rest of the pendant is in Corian and another polymer that I cooked up myself. It was done as a birthday gift for the significant other of the man commissioning it. When she saw it she flipped out; turns out she had a phobia about birds! (the Hitchcock movie, maybe?) Naturally, the man who commissioned it claimed that he knew about the phobia all along, and that he'd really told me he wanted a sailboat! Well, there wasn't much money involved, so I did another pendant with a sailboat and got paid and that was the end of the matter. They say the customer is always right, but I always thought this piece was far superior to what they wound up with, phobias notwithstanding.

With a portrait, on the other hand, there is always the possibility of seeking revenge. Sometimes we fail to realize that, as artists, we have a certain amount of power, limited though it may be. A few years ago I read an article (in the Wall Street Journal, I think) about portrait artists. One of the anecdotes was about an Italian painter who had labored for some 200 hours (a year's work) on a group family portrait. The piece was rejected on presentation, leaving her short the equivalent of $ 26,000 in final payment. Having little recourse for collection, but still owning the painting, she was considering spending a few more hours repainting the grandmother in the nude and exhibiting the painting for sale in her next show at her commercial gallery. That might be professional suicide, but, oh, how satisfying!!

Tom Edgerton · 03-03-2003, 07:41 PM

Which raises another absolutely essential point....Never, EVER, go to the final canvas without having a client sign off on a commission agreement with price and specs in writing, AND initialing off on a small rough color study. Then, if they say "No, I said I wanted Uncle George on Aunt Sadie's left, and you put him on the right," you've got their signature on the rough. Any client who balks at doing this is maybe someone you want to bill for your out-of-pocket expenses (if any) to that point, and back off from.