To ask how much you'd pay for this painting?

[buckeejit]

After seeing a landscape scene that I liked, I asked my bil who is an artist, (who was with me at the time), if he would do me a painting inspired by it.

His work is abstract, he's only sold some items through art fairs but he is very talented imo & luckily I totally love the painting he's made us.

However, I said 'great, send us the bill' & later dh said similar, and bil said 'just assess it & send what you think it's worth', or similar.

Neither of us know what to do, dh says whatever we send, he'll be insulted!

What would you do & how much?

Why are being so rude? Just because you don't like something doesn't mean you have to say it looks like baby shit. Really?

Also, the OP already explained that the original landscape was brown and clay coloured as well.

Some really nasty messages on this thread. OP said she loves it, thats what matters. She didnt ask for sneery opinions on the picture, and art is after all, completely subjective. I like it, which is irrelevant really, as the price should be based on his time, effort and materials. £400 - £500 maybe?

When you asked him to do the painting did you have a price in mind? You say you love it - if you saw it in a gallery, how much would you be prepared to pay for it? Then consider how wealthy you are. Are you someone for whom a few hundred quid is relative peanuts - or will that amount of money mean you don't get to eat this month?

In other words, get some idea of what you value it at. Then look at what you can afford. That should give you a guide price from your side. Tehn talk to BiL and say "I was thinking maybe..£x. How do you feel about that?"

I can’t see it but I would take the advice given by others and pay along the lines of what his other works sell for. Art is very subjective. An acquaintance is an artist and manages to make a decent amount from, what it appears to me, are pictures of the same old thing, every time. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Does he sell his work on a regular basis? Has he exhibited in galleries? Did he say how many hours he worked on it? Is it on a stretcher or just the painted canvas? I'm studying for an MA in painting. Making a stretcher yourself, stretching canvas over it, treating the canvas with at least four layers of gesso, plus the cost of the paint: these are the basic costs. Add that to the hours spent from start to finish plus your appreciation (and his usual selling price, if he sells his work) and you have your answer.

Does he have a website? That would be the easiest and fastest way of estimating the usual price of his work.

I like it very much. I have a similar sized abstract I bought for £550 from an unknown artist in a gallery 10 years ago.

Just one point.. Are you sure it can be framed? Mine is so textured that it would need a very particular type of deep frame that would cost as much as the painting. We hang it directly as the canvas instead.

I’m imagining the inside of someone’s head, behind empty eye sockets...

Hi OP, I agree with PP, a minimum of 500 quid for the painting. I did art at uni and sold similar sized works for 500 quid at least more than ten years ago (as potentially your BIL did), so he may be a bit disappointed if you think it’s only worth a couple of hundred quid now.
Also, please don’t deduct price of framing! That’s not how art costing really works, if it’s on canvas or board it doesn’t have to be framed and it’s not faur to take that money away from the artist.
I like it! But obviously a mug who likes poncey art haha

Is it by Clayton and Foggarty? Similar style (personally I like this one more but these things are subjective)

www.artzu.co.uk/artist/clayton-and-fogarty/the-day-without-yesterday/

It’s 89x165 and £2500

It's unfair that he hasn't priced something that many people is worth £500. Tell him he's got to price it .

I find it quite that you can hang it any direction- surely the artist had an intention? Surely that's what makes it art rather than just paint? I'm also bemused at the idea of commissioning a painting in colours to match your kitchen!

‘Twas ever thus though, plenty of old, traditional art was commissioned to a home owner’s specifications!

Even Michaelangelo grumbled about that!

It looks like Haffertee Hamster Diamibd is bottom right (or top right when it's turned?) looking at something sucking the big brown tit; a shaggy sheep rather than a horse maybe. I like the style; the colours wouldn't suit my kitchen but as long as they work for OP it's great. Depends what you can afford to pay OP, it looks like the minimum is £500. Maybe tell him you think it's worth £2k, but you can't afford that so can you split it half gift, half payment.

*Haffertee Hamster Diamond

Oh booboo, I do like that as well. Thanks for replies, I'm not offended by those that don't like it, rude replies are totally expected on AIBU (& all the other boards now)

I will try to get a price out of him-may be difficult to frame as it's heavy-many layers of resin on board. Yes to the op who said it has a volcanic, fluid quality, especially when in a well lit area such as my kitchen 😁.

It is a balance between gallery price I'd pay if I had the money & what we can afford but definitely don't want to offend him. Will come back if there's anything to report.

Now I just need to pack the car full of all our camping gear & get it to fit on top for a day of travelling. Fingers crossed I'm not back for advise after breaking it! 😬

If it was the kind of thing that I liked, I'd expect to pay between £500 - £750 for that, more if it was an artist who had a bit of a name. We have a local semi-famous artist (at a level to have their own show in the local proper art gallery) who would sell something like that for around £1,500 - £2,000.

Excited-that's a good idea. I'll definitely need to tell him It's worth more to us than we can afford to pay!

blimey people are rude.

It really doesn't matter if some random person on the internet likes it, that isn't the issue.
I think a pp hit the nail in the head when they said that the resale value of amateur artists is very low, so what you are paying for is materials, and his time etc.

Given that it is large and complex, and probably took him a lot of hours to do, how many hours, and how much per hour?

When I talk to people selling crafts at art markets etc, they can never get back the amount they have spent in terms of time and labour.

There is a lot of art is actively dislike, including a lot of classic and famous stuff. I wouldn't want most of it hanging in my house, but I recognise that it is well done, just not for me. I would love an original piece made for me in my style, and I think the price should reflect that.

I like the style of this one, but not the colours, not for me, but I recognise the amount of time and skill that has gone into it.

It is a balance between gallery price I'd pay if I had the money & what we can afford but definitely don't want to offend him.

As I said above Gallery prices include as much as 40% commission, you need to take that into account

This is the painting I recently bought, it’s a similar size. From a friend who paints full time. He’s very clear about his prices which, actually, has been awkward as galleries say he should be selling at the £2k mark but then nothing much sells (he’s not well known).

He then feels his paintings have a retail value that few people will spend. Anyway I paid £800 as I love it and it’s in a very specific place.

But Matilda, a retail value IS what people will spend! That's what it means.

Can I ask again?

How many years past graduation is he?
What overheads does he have?(studio? Insurance? Web? )
How many hours did it take him to make it? ( including prep, meetings as well as painting)
How much did it cost him in materials?

You can use this static.a-n.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Guidance_on_fees_and_day_rates_for_visual_artists_2016.pdf to find a day rate based on years experience and overheads. If he's 15 years since graduation but not practising professionally then I would guess at him having small overheads (under 5k) and therefore his day rate would be around £250.

So then you need to ask him how long it took him to make the painting and how much the materials to make it cost and do the sums.

Off the top of my head as a guess

I'd say at least 3 day for making ( which includes making the board, priming it, doing any preparatory sketches and design work. testing techniques and drying times, mixing paints, aswell as actual painting and not allowing for drying time)

and materials will be ballpark £160 (wood for stretcher and board £40, primer £20, paint £50, resin £50)

So around £900.

Framing would definitely be extra and at your own expense.

oh and gallery commission would be another 40% or so ontop of this.

So this piece in a gallery would be between 1.5k to 2k (depending if it was framed)

Ofcourse this piece and this artist may not ever be sold through a gallery. Galleries are businesses and are very selective of who they will show, and only do so when they are very certain that their clientele will buy the artists works because the artist is well known or is making work in a popular commercial style for their type of client.

But the fact that it's not framed and your are not buying through a gallery does not lower the price for the artists time and materials.

£500 sounds low to me. I guess as he's a family member and obviously only not working professionally just now (does he have another job?) then he may be happy to accept mates rates. But just be aware that £500 would be mates rates and not a fair price.

Well anyone that wants a copy can print it off for free so not a one off anymore.

I agree it looks like a plate after lasagne.