Custom Requests

For the longest time I took on very few

special orders or commission paintings.

I learned...the hard way...that,

in the time it takes

to create a custom digital

or commission painting...

which, for me,  is 2 to 3 weeks...

a lot of folks often have a 'change of heart'.

What they were very excited to order in the beginning...

has cooled to the point of..

'Oh, yeah, I forgot I asked you to do that and...

I've actually changed my mind.'...

So...there you are...sitting there with a painting,

with a green background 

(when I usually do golden backgrounds),

a creeper with his bloody heart in his hands and a 

huge bloody hole in his chest.

This was actually a special request I agreed to do

a couple of years ago.

Now...mind you....that is something I never would

have painted under usual circumstances.

Long story short,

they 'changed their mind' and didn't want it after all...

WTH am I supposed to do with it???

And...I hadn't even asked for a deposit...

So...I declined ALL requests for the next two years.

Then, last fall...someone purchased a painting

I had listed in my Etsy Shop.

He and his wife loved their new painting so much,

that they just HAD to have me do a special painting

for a friend who was coming home from Iraq 

shortly...

something with Jack the Ripper and Sweeney Todd.

I said 'no'....over and over again...I said 'no'.

They finally 'convinced' me...

(I think it was the Iraq thing, )

so

I collected the full purchase price up front

and let them know it would take me 3 to 4 weeks.

They must have like it...they have purchased two

other custom paintings since.

The point of my post today....

I've worked on several digital 'samples'

over the past month,

that took about 18+ hours of my time.

So what happened with them...?

nothing at all.

I spent 18+ hours that I could have spent working

on something else,

for 'zilch'.

 I've always had a problem asking folks for money

for something that doesn't 'exist' just yet...

but

I'm going to have to 'get over that'.

For custom paintings...I have to get the money up front...

to order canvas and paints...

(and 'incentive' to get the painting done as quickly as possible,)

so I'm not as fussed about that as I used to be.

I'm either going to have to say 'no' to all

digital requests

or

request payment before starting on anything...

I'm just not as fast as I like to

think that I am.

So I created a little free website
 especially to
address custom requests.