The most common anxiety people have about commissioning a painting is not the cost. It is the fear of not being able to describe what they want — or of describing it badly and ending up with something that was not what they had in mind.
It is a reasonable concern. Painting is a visual language, and translating a feeling, a memory, or an image you have in your head into words that another person can work from is genuinely difficult. But it is a lot less difficult than most people assume, and most of the time a few paragraphs of honest description is all that is needed.
Here is what I look for in a commission brief — and what I ask when something is unclear.
Start With the Subject, Not the Style
The most useful thing you can tell me first is simply: what is this painting of?
Not the mood, not the technique, not the colour palette — just the subject. A view from a particular window. A stretch of riverbank you walk along. A cottage in a village where your grandmother lived. A place you visited on your honeymoon. The garden of the house you grew up in.
That one sentence — "I want a painting of the view from the top of Box Hill in late afternoon" — tells me more than two paragraphs of vague requests for "something calm and atmospheric in soft colours." Start with the concrete.
Tell Me the Story Behind It
The why matters as much as the what. Not because it changes how I paint, but because it changes how I think about what the painting needs to carry.
A painting of a garden as a memento of a childhood home has different emotional requirements from a painting of the same garden as a housewarming gift for friends moving in. Both might look similar on the surface — a watercolour of a garden — but I will approach them differently if I know the context.
Do not worry about sentimentality. I work best when I understand what a painting means to the person who asked for it. Tell me who it is for, what the occasion is, and what you hope it will feel like to look at it. That information is never wasted.
Reference Images Are Extremely Helpful
If you have photographs of the place, send them. Even phone photos taken in poor light are useful — I am looking for the structure of the scene, the relationship between elements, the approximate proportions. I do not need a professional photograph. I need to be able to see what you see.
A few things to include in reference images if possible:
- Multiple angles if the subject allows it — sometimes a view from slightly to the left works better compositionally
- A photo taken at the time of day or season you associate most strongly with the place
- Any key details you particularly want included — a specific tree, a gate, a cluster of reeds
Reference images for artist-style do not need to be my own work — if there is a painting by another artist that captures a tone or atmosphere you like, it is genuinely helpful to see it. I will not copy another artist's style, but knowing that you like the loose, gestural quality of a Winslow Homer watercolour versus the tight detail of a botanical illustration tells me something specific about your aesthetic preferences.
Specifics That Make a Real Difference
Beyond subject and story, there are a few practical details that dramatically affect the outcome:
Orientation. Landscape (horizontal) or portrait (vertical)? For wall hangings this often comes down to where the painting will be displayed. A long horizontal above a sofa suggests landscape orientation. A narrow wall between two doors might suit portrait format. If you do not know, tell me the dimensions of the wall space and I will advise.
Size. Watercolour originals are priced by size. If budget is a factor, it is better to say so early — a smaller painting done well is significantly better than a larger painting that is rushed. I work from A5 up to approximately 50x70cm for originals. For larger formats, prints are an option.
Palette. If there are specific colours that need to be avoided — or that are particularly important — say so. This is especially relevant for paintings being made to match existing decor. "The walls in that room are a deep teal, and I want the painting to complement them" is genuinely useful information.
What must be included vs what can change. Some elements of a scene are fixed — the subject itself, a key landmark, a specific tree. Others are flexible — the time of day, the season, the sky conditions, the degree of detail in the foreground. Being clear about which is which gives me creative flexibility where it helps and precision where it matters.
What You Do Not Need to Specify
You do not need to tell me what brushes to use, how wet the washes should be, or how much detail to put in the sky. That is my job. A commission brief is not a painting instruction manual — it is a description of the outcome you want, not the process of getting there.
If you try to over-specify technique in a brief, what usually happens is that you constrain the painting without improving it. Trust the painter you have chosen to make those decisions. If you are commissioning me, it is presumably because you like how I paint — so let me paint.
What Happens After I Receive the Brief
Once I have enough information to proceed, I will come back to you with any questions before I start. I do not begin painting until I am confident I understand what you want. If you have sent reference images and a clear brief, there may be no questions at all — I will simply confirm I am going ahead and give you a timeline.
For larger or more complex commissions, I offer a compositional sketch stage: a rough pencil layout of the composition before I commit to the watercolour. This gives you an opportunity to confirm the framing and arrangement before paint touches paper. There is no additional charge for this stage — it saves both of us time.
Mid-process I will send a photograph of the work in progress, usually when the main wash layers are established and I am about to move into detail work. At that point, small changes are still possible. Major compositional changes at that stage are not — which is why the brief matters.
A Note on What I Cannot Do
I work from real places and real subjects. I do not paint imaginary scenes assembled from multiple unrelated reference images. I do not paint photorealistic reproductions of photographs — watercolour is an interpretive medium and what I produce will be a painting, not a painted photograph. And I do not take on commissions where the subject requires painting real people unless we have specifically discussed portraiture as part of the brief.
If you are not sure whether your commission is something I can take on, the quickest way to find out is to send me a brief description and any photos you have. I will tell you honestly whether it is a good fit.
Ready to Commission?
The commission form on this website walks you through the key information I need. It covers subject, dimensions, occasion, timeline, and budget — everything required to get started. It takes about five minutes to fill in.
If you would rather have a conversation first — about subject matter, sizing, pricing, or anything else — you are welcome to get in touch directly. Most commission enquiries start with a single question, and most questions have a simple answer.
View the full commission process and pricing, and submit a brief, on the commission page.
