From photograph to painting: how a commission works

Many of my favourite paintings began as someone else's memory. The sailboat above was painted from a photograph taken fifty years ago — two passengers, a light sail, a day the family still talks about.

A commission starts with an email. Send the photograph you have in mind, even if you are unsure about its quality; often an imperfect photo carries exactly the atmosphere a painting needs. We discuss the size, the panel or canvas, and what matters most in the image.

I then make a small colour study before committing to the final work. You see it, we adjust, and only then do I begin the painting itself. Oil takes its time — expect four to eight weeks from study to varnished panel.

You pay nothing until you have approved the study. If the final painting is not what you hoped for, you are under no obligation to buy it. That has never happened yet, and I intend to keep it that way.