Dog related Christmas gift not as expected

[fortifiedwithtea]

Didn’t know whether to put this question in craft or chat . On balance thought asking dog owners was the best option.

We have a specific breed of dog and belong to a Facebook group of owners of this breed. An owner who has 2 of her own and is an artist regularly posts her creations. Her work is excellent. She does paintings from photos and clay sculptures.

I commissioned in August a 6” ornament of our dog. I could have ordered a 4” but opted for the bigger version to enable her to paint the details better. Had to send reminders a couple of times and it was looking like it was never going to get done.

Fast forward to today. The artist sent me completed pictures of the ornament. She has included all our dogs white patches but it doesn’t look like our dog. Our dog is brindle the ornament appears red.

The gift is for my eldest daughter. My first reaction was the colour is wrong. Asked her boyfriend’s opinion knowing DD is a perfectionist. He said its going to wind her up the colour is so wrong. My DH just burst out laughing and said Christ how much are we paying for that.

I messaged the artist explained the problem. She sent another picture which shows the brush work better. Said that is how she paints brindle. And said we do not have to pay for it , she can easily sell it. No mention of what would happen to the deposit but I assume I would forfeit that.

I replied Although it was a gift I would show my daughter the pictures as its not a surprise gift. Daughter’s reaction was why has she painted it ginger? But she loved how the face was done. Personally I didn’t like the face, the ears are too flat to its head but I didn’t point that out to DD.

Have looked on her fb page and she has done other brindles that definitely look brindle and reds that look far more ginger than the one she has done for us. I think the problem is everyone in the group had the same wow reaction and placed orders. Maybe she took too much work on? She didn’t start work on our model until November. We placed the order in August.

Next step, I am going to ask for photos in natural daylight and hope its a lighting issue. Then decide whether to accept it. Its not cheap £100 and I paid £10 deposit.

Sorry for the long post, didn’t want to drip feed.

My question is are we being over fussy? The markings are perfect but the coloured fur painting is way different to our dog.

Firstly, a hundred pounds IS cheap for one-off, commissioned art. It's amateur prices.

I can tell you that because I work in a gallery which sells art and craft from around the country.

Secondly, you're not unreasonable to have issues with the way it looks at all. Your opinion is your opinion.

The fact that she does not have a contract with her customers when taking commissions is a sign that she's an amateur and that her quality won't be reliable.

A professional artist would have asked you to sign a contract and that would have specified that full payment would be due no matter what your opinion of the piece was...apart from cases where it deviates considerably from the expected.

I would say that you should forget the deposit.

@FortunesFave interesting. So really your reply is pay monkeys get peanuts? Yes the transaction was very amateurish. I was expecting to 50% deposit as that is what I do in my business (I'm a dressmaker ) I know she doesn’t have her own kiln meaning 2 trips to a third party kiln for hire plus petrol costs of getting there. But she only wanted £10 deposit.

My dilemma is do I accept it as a amateur piece and chalk it down to experience or reject it as we are all disappointed it doesn’t look like Our dog

It can be hard to tell colouring from a photo - often it shows up very different. Is there a return option so you can see it in person?

@midnightstar66 I have asked the artist for photographs in natural day light. Now waiting for her response.

Don’t think a return once delivered would be practical. Its clay what if it was damaged in the post?

Sounds like it might be a lighting issue?

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages sadly not, just seen new photos in daylight. Artist has now suggested a remedy to change the colour. I think we now have a solution.

I also think you need to see it. My daughter was looking at ukuleles a few weeks ago and was pointing to pictures, saying "I like that one but I don't like that one" They were the same ukulele, just photographed slightly differently. Colour is notoriously hard to accurately portray in a picture.

I'd just forfeit the deposit. I have a brindle greyhound and a ginger mongrel and they're nothing alike. It'd drive me mad.

I have had my dogs painted in watercolour and they're stunning. I'd hate that ornament every time I looked at it and the trouble it caused would give me the rage