The Online American Portrait, Pricey or Dicey?

I was commissioned to paint the two daughters of a couple who live in London. I don't personally know them. The mother came upon my portraits on my website page and ordered the two paintings online. This was an extraordinary event for me. I have been getting paid for my portraits since I was in High School and I always attracted a portrait commission by getting to know someone and showing them my work in my studio or from my portfolio.

Two years ago when I decided to solicit portrait work on the internet, I had decisions to make that temporarily paralyzed me. How do I price the work? Which images do I post to represent my finest work? Do I try to represent my finest work or do I sell quick, low cost sketches? First, I was reluctant to represent myself with quick, cheap sketches. At the same time I didn't think that putting the same price on my work online that I was getting in my studio would actually attract any internet customers. All of the online portrait artists I could find were pricing their work lower than a framed print on a Hollywood street corner. And the quality of the portraits I was finding I shouldn't even say out loud, I just wish them the best and hope they find the light. My most pressing question that I had to resolve, was I entering a market that was all about bargain hunting by uneducated art buyers and that would ignore me because my work was too expensive?

Finally I had the answer that felt right to me. Let the bargain hunters ignore me. They are not my customer. The day will come when saavy art buyers will look for exceptional art online and pay a fair price for it. I got up the nerve to attach a higher price to my work than was the standard because when researching online portraiture I found that my portraits have an original edge to them and they are good. Next I adopted an attitude that my customer would find me. I only had to be patient.

My first client was from London and I developed a wonderful communication back and forth through emails and over the phone. She emailed me numerous photos that helped me get to know her daughters expressions and personalities and the differences between the two of them. The oldest girl is pictured at the top of this blog, the younger child is attached to the blog below. As our communication grew so did the trust and the feeling of familiarity when dealing with a good and honest person. When I sent her the first preview of her youngest daughter, she called me and told me my prices were too low, I didn't charge enough, my work was fantastic and she couldn't stop looking at it. She put her money where her mouth is too and when the first portrait was finished she sent me an extra payment that equaled the original price of the portrait. When I finished the second portrait and received her final payment, I raised my prices accordingly on the internet because after all, the fair market value of any piece of work is the price that someone is willing to pay for it.

Read about the unique medium and the process of these two portraits in my previous blog just below this one, titled Contemporary Fresco, an oxymoron?