questions about your photographs
1. Are my photos OK for a portrait?
What makes for a good photo for you to work from? Do you have any guidelines?
2. Dog memorial portrait
My pet has died and I only have poor photos. Can you create a memorial portrait from this? And do you return the photos?
3. Sending your pet photos
Do you accept photos by email? Can I post them to you? What digital format should they be in?
questions about ordering
1. How long does a portrait take?
How long will it be before I receive the work?
2. Gift vouchers
Can they be made out to a specific amount?
3. Internation Commissions
I live in the USA. Can you deliver to here?
questions about the portrait
1. What is a pastel painting?
How is it different from an oil or watercolour?
2. Group portraits
I'd like a number of my dogs together in one portrait, but I don't have a good shot of them all in one photo. Is this possible?
3. Backgrounds to portraits
Can I choose a background for the portrait?
4. Custom portraits
Can I ask for additional features to be added such as collars, scarfs and the name of my pet on the portrait?
5. Do you paint anything else to commission?
Do you paint people, houses, landscapes etc?
framing and the size of portraits
1. What size of portrait do you recommend?
What size do you advise for my breed of dog, and what size would you suggest for full body portrait?
2. Can you work to a specific dimensions?
Can you create the portrait to fit my frame?
What is the largest size possible?
3. Framing a pastel painting
Do you frame pastel paintings, and how should they be protected?
payment, delivery and refunds
1. What happens if I'm not happy with the portrait?
My comprehensive refund policy
2. Methods of payment
How do I pay for the portrait? Can I pay by cheque/credit card? Do you take a deposit?
3. Delivery costs
Are the portraits insured in transit? Do you post overseas?
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Group Portraits
I'd like a number of my dogs together in one portrait, but I don't have a good photo of them all together. Is this possible? |
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It's perfectly possible to commission a group portrait!
I'm also commonly asked "I'd like a group portrait of my dogs, but I don't have a good photo of all of them together. What should I do?
It's actually very rare that I use just one photo for a group portrait. |
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To give you an idea, here's an example of a recent pastel commission for four small dogs together on 24" by 18" paper. The owner sent me several photos of each subject. I then selected a photo of each dog to work from so that the composition felt "balanced" i.e. with the dogs heads pointing in the appropriate directions etc. |
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Group portraits can also be commissioned as full body portraits with background. (The above example is a head and shoulder study). Featured below is a recent commission where the owner asked if her two collies could be seated together on a bench. I pieced the composition together from separate photos of each dog, and found a suitable bench as a backdrop. |
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Prices
To work out the cost, add £95 for each extra subject in the composition.
For example, if you choose a 16" by 12" pastel (£160) and wanted two dogs in the portrait, the total cost would be £255 (£160+£95).
Another example - a 24" by 18" full body portrait in pastels (£295) with four dogs. This would be £580 (£295+£95+£95+£95)
(please refer to the price list for the different size options). I recommend 16" by 12" and upwards for group portraits. Larger sizes are available on request. |
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There are certain types of group portraits which I do not recommend. These would be when the subjects are very different in size. E.g. a horse and a dog do not work well together because the dog's head has to be drawn very small (and consequently with a loss of detail) in relation to the horse's head. Other examples of this issue would be large breed dogs alongside very small toy dogs or cats. |
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