any good portrait painters in north lincs?

T

tuppence's fortune

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 September 2010
Messages
255
Visit site
my friend is looking for someone who can paint animal portraits (pretty cheaply) but good. to do a pic of her horse. it is her pride and joy and she wants a portrait to hang of her in her house. does anyone on here know anyone or maybe can themselves? she is willing to pay for materials and time? thank you for reading x
 
I don't know of any portrait artists in Lincolnshire. My husband is an animal portrait artist, but he is in Derbyshire, if you want a link to his website let me know.

In the meantime have a look at the equine arts thread in picture gallery, there are lots of examples of portraits on there.
 
I am a portrait artist but am in Cambridgeshire/Suffolk. Is there a reason that it has to be a local person? as I will take commissions from all over the world :)
I wouldnt say any good portrait artist is 'cheap' though, you really do get what you pay for :) If her horse is very special then its important that her portrait will be too. try the 'Society of Equestrian Artists' or the thread in PG. My work is on both *wink*
 
Agree piggyinablanket.

Most artists take commissions from all over the country, but generally you will have to pay for someone good. It is normally a case of getting what you pay for. The artist has to cover their expenses and earn a living.

You normally only manage to get a really good portrait cheap if you happen to stumble accross someone who is just starting out and hasn't worked out how to charge for their work correctly. Often the artists that are cheap are cheap either because they aren't that good or because their results aren't consistent, or because they use poor quality materials, or because they are doing it "on the side" and not paying tax and so on. I've seen some horrors by artists trying to sell their work, horses drawn with one leg shorter than the other or wonky eyes, reproductions done on a home printer, etc.

The society of equestrian artists isn't a bad starting point, or if you do want someone local you might have local arts groups or craft fairs where you could find an artist. Or you could look at county shows, horse shows, etc, we go to events like burghley to advertise DH's work.
 
KristmasKatt said:
Agree piggyinablanket.

Most artists take commissions from all over the country, but generally you will have to pay for someone good. It is normally a case of getting what you pay for. The artist has to cover their expenses and earn a living.

You normally only manage to get a really good portrait cheap if you happen to stumble accross someone who is just starting out and hasn't worked out how to charge for their work correctly. Often the artists that are cheap are cheap either because they aren't that good or because their results aren't consistent, or because they use poor quality materials, or because they are doing it "on the side" and not paying tax and so on. I've seen some horrors by artists trying to sell their work, horses drawn with one leg shorter than the other or wonky eyes, reproductions done on a home printer, etc.

The society of equestrian artists isn't a bad starting point, or if you do want someone local you might have local arts groups or craft fairs where you could find an artist. Or you could look at county shows, horse shows, etc, we go to events like burghley to advertise DH's work.
Click to expand...

As above. I had a portriat painted of my old horse by an artist based in Ireland who is very good and I love the results - it is one of my most prized posessions. Considering it will be hung in a prominent position and I assume you want to keep it forever, pay a bit more, get a proper equestrian artist to do it (equestrian art really is a speciality) and get what you really want. Anything else is money flushed down the toilet.
 
no doesnt have to be local i dont think? that is just what she asked me to put although i think it doesnt really matter where they are. thank you for the links guys i will show them to her when she is round tomorrow :) i dont think she wants to spend a hell of a lot even though the horse means alot to her, some of the prices she was telling me about today cost more than the actual horse did! and i dont think she wants one that badly.

i think she said local as she has found a lot of local horsey people the past year to do things, a few months ago she found a student photographer from the local collage to take pics of her at shows ext rather than employing a professional to do it and end up paying a fortune, i think that is what she ment by that, but i could be wrong (i normally am) lol.

again thanks for links anyone poss interested please feel free to pm me x :)
 
I paint horse portraits, luckily for her I don't charge a fortune, I disagree with the comments on here that you get what you pay for, none of the pictures in my sig took me more than a few hours to do (they are all A3 sized oil paintings), so it would feel wrong to charge someone hundreds of pounds for them. It annoys me that most artists charge so much for their work, it makes it innaccessible for most people and I think everyone should be able to afford a decent portrait of their beloved pet, this is why I refuse to charge rediculous ammounts for my work (even though everyone tells me I should charge more).

I will happily do a portrait for your friend. I work from photos so she just needs to send them to me, I'm not in Lincolnshire but as others have said artists can take commissions from all over the world. There is a link to my site on my profile page, let me know if you are interested.

Hope I haven't come across as really grumpy!
 
As with everyone else says... distance is not a problem, as most artist work from photos, I do most of my paintings for people in the UK, and get them to either post or email photos, or for them to put them on photobucket or facebook and take them from there...
 
Paint it Lucky said:
I paint horse portraits, luckily for her I don't charge a fortune, I disagree with the comments on here that you get what you pay for, none of the pictures in my sig took me more than a few hours to do (they are all A3 sized oil paintings), so it would feel wrong to charge someone hundreds of pounds for them. It annoys me that most artists charge so much for their work, it makes it innaccessible for most people and I think everyone should be able to afford a decent portrait of their beloved pet, this is why I refuse to charge rediculous ammounts for my work (even though everyone tells me I should charge more).

I will happily do a portrait for your friend. I work from photos so she just needs to send them to me, I'm not in Lincolnshire but as others have said artists can take commissions from all over the world. There is a link to my site on my profile page, let me know if you are interested.

Hope I haven't come across as really grumpy!
Click to expand...

Sorry but Im going to risk a HHO telling off (This is NOT advertising just sticking up for artists!)

If you are happy charging what you do and can do it in a few hours then thats great!!! I dont try to be inaccessable at all. I am a professional artist, I take great pains to produce a painstakingly accurate and perfect representation of the pet. A portrait like this one, A4,
portrait013.jpg

takes 20 hours or so including the initial drawing stages and cost £140. I also visit local clients in person and photograph pets myself at no extra cost. How many people are earning £7 per hour and think they are overpaid? I am self employed. I have to pay my tax and NI like everyone else, pay for materials, photographic gear, good lighting etc. Believe me I never cheat people by overcharging.
I stand by my pricing, and have many happy clients only too pleased to pay for a portrait of mine. I wouldnt expect to pay a professional in any trade £7 per hour. If anything, Im too cheap and will be increasing my prices next year. If owners cant afford a portrait, I will sometimes take payments, if its still too dear I cant help that!

Sorry, theres a mini rant, but hey ho. I really dont mind if people charge less or can take less time over their work. I will still be selling mine at my prices.
Keep smiling! :D
 
I agree with you.. piggyinblanket..

I base my paintings on 6€ an hour, and its peanuts, and then I still get people asking if I can do them cheaper!! they dont realise that I get most of my products from the UK, and the postage is high, plus the time involved, as well as lighting etc...

ps.... that is a lovely portrait
 
freckles22uk said:
I agree with you.. piggyinblanket..

I base my paintings on 6€ an hour, and its peanuts, and then I still get people asking if I can do them cheaper!! they dont realise that I get most of my products from the UK, and the postage is high, plus the time involved, as well as lighting etc...

ps.... that is a lovely portrait
Click to expand...

Thanks. Its madness isnt it! eg I wouldnt ask Currys to sell me a £300 laptop for £50 because I couldnt afford it, and its out of my price range. I Just wouldnt be able to have one! :)
 
it is a fair point that alot of people have said about quality and price but my friend has shown me some artists work who are, yes very good, but are charging upwards of £400 for an A4 size picture. and i agree alot of people can not afford that cost but there are alot of fab artists who do doit alot cheaper and are just as good. didnt mean to start a debate sorry :o x
 
santaboooogypie said:
it is a fair point that alot of people have said about quality and price but my friend has shown me some artists work who are, yes very good, but are charging upwards of £400 for an A4 size picture. and i agree alot of people can not afford that cost but there are alot of fab artists who do doit alot cheaper and are just as good. didnt mean to start a debate sorry :o x
Click to expand...

Not your fault!!!!!! Apologies santaboogiepie :D Must sit on hands more LOL
 
Oo-er not sure I want to join in on this one....the pricing issue amongst artists always seems to be a very emotive subject.

I'm sort of sat on the fence a bit really....I'm just really starting out, I have been accepting commissions now for almost 12 months and as such I have kept my prices lower, partly because I am new to the 'industry', secondly because I mainly work in graphite at present, and thirdly because currently I am doing it on the side of my full time job. The amount of time I put into producing a portrait (usually upwards of 10 hours for a small portrait), and the cost of my materials means that actually I don't make anything from it at the moment, however I love drawing and painting, and am working hard to hopefully build up a reputation to equal those artists that so inspire me (including a couple on here!), so that one day perhaps I can do it as my main profession. But that doesn't happen overnight, an surely I am entitled to start somewhere.

As such, I totally agree with everything Artysteph (piggyinablanket) is saying, but equally feel dismayed when other artists (I'm not saying anyone in particular as I have read a number of threads on here in the past where there tends to be a similar theme) always knock those artists that perhaps don't charge much citing inconsistent or even bad work.

My clients have always been delighted with work I have produced, and if they were not I would be more than happy to re-work a piece/offer a refund or whatever (but this has not yet happened to me). But if another artist wants to say my work is 'bad' on the basis I don't charge much right now, then I'd like to hear it!

So I certainly hope I am not stirring this up at all, but from someone sort of on the other side, please lets consider all angles :-) xx
 
Ok, seems my comments have caused a bit of discussion.

Firstly I'm going to stick up for every work ArtySteph says, and go one step further and say I think she is undercharging. £7 an hour as a straightforward hourly rate may not be too bad but it doesn't take into account all her overheads, so she won't receive this.

Secondly alsxx I didn't say that cheap work was necessarily "bad" in fact I cited artists just starting out as an example of a time when you can get good work for a decent price. However often cheap pictures are cheap for a reason. And further when you buy art, you hope that it might at least hold its value if not increase in value, if an artist is very cheap they may not be able to stay in business for long and then you are unlikely to have a work of art that will be worth anything much in the future.

My husband prices his work very roughly based on £10 an hour. He can't do a piece that is up to his very high standards in less than about 30 hours, and he is not prepared to compromise his reputation by doing work than isn't of his usual style and standard. His work is time consuming but that is because it is very detailed, and when you are looking for a portrait you want a good likeness, the likeness is in the detail. You want a picture of your horse, not just any old bay horse, if the artist hasn't bothered with the unusual whorl or freckly muzzle or whatever it won't look like your horse. It is an indication of how good a likeness he acheives when people walk past his work at shows and recognise the horses in his pictures, even though they have never seen the picture before. At Your Horse Live a lady walked past the stall and did a double take. She came back and explained that the horse in one of the pictures was one she sold about 10 years ago - she had recognised the mare, despite the picture being done years after she sold the horse!

Anyway £10 an hour is not the rate that my husband takes home, before he can draw any sort of wage from his work he has to pay all of the following expenses:
Paper
Pencils
Website hosting
Domain name
Camera equipment
Computer equipment
Electricity
Insurance
Production of publicity materials like business cards
Membership of professional organisations such as the society of equestrian artists
Attending shows to attract new work(a show like Burghley can cost over £1000 just for the plot)
Broadband
Telephone
Cost of producing and maintaining a portfolio/samples for prospective clients to see.
Book keeping
tax
studio costs
etc etc etc

It isn't a cheap business, and the reason that someone starting out may be cheaper is often that they don't have all these overheads, they may be working on a word of mouth basis only. They may also not yet have worked out how much all these things cost them over the years.

My husband isn't taking home vast wedges of cash from his commissions, virtually everything is poured back into getting more work so that he can sustain the business long term.

And although you can commission a picture from about £350, his pictures have sold in galleries for well over £1000.

Bear in mind your probably pay your hairdresser, mechanic, plumber, riding instructor, cleaning lady etc more than most professional artists are receiving per hour.
 
Paint it Lucky said:
I disagree with the comments on here that you get what you pay for, none of the pictures in my sig took me more than a few hours to do (they are all A3 sized oil paintings), so it would feel wrong to charge someone hundreds of pounds for them. It annoys me that most artists charge so much for their work, it makes it innaccessible for most people and I think everyone should be able to afford a decent portrait of their beloved pet, this is why I refuse to charge rediculous ammounts for my work (even though everyone tells me I should charge more).
Click to expand...

Like any other industry the world of art is driven by supply and demand. Once demand outstrips supply the price goes up.

If you are commanding prices you feel are fair for paintings that take a few hours to paint then that is great, but you need to understand that a lot of artists charge more not only because of high demand for their work, but because it takes them much MUCH longer than a few hours to paint a portrait, and because they can't afford to charge less (due to the overheads involved with being a full time artist being so high). If memory serves painting is not your primary source of income, so your perspective may be very different to someone who relies on their art to pay the bills.

I paint horses and I feel sad when I see posts like yours PiL. There are so many equestrian artists out there and they are all so different in terms of style, medium, experience, and price- there is room for all of us and no need to imply that others are 'wrong' and in some way disingenuous for not feeling obliged to undervalue their work. For many their art is their living, and their current paintings are the result of a lifetime dedicated to their trade, working hard to develop their skills and style- it's not just about how long an individual painting takes, or how big it is.

I think generally you DO get what you pay for, but at the same time there are always exceptions- expensive rubbish and beautiful bargains are out there in equal measure I should think.

Ultimately art is totally subjective; each and every customer out there has different tastes, budget, and ideas about what kind of portrait they are looking for- so long as they are thrilled with their purchase and feel it was worth every penny they spent it doesn't matter whether it cost £20 or £2k. There is a big market for cheap and cheerful portraits but there is also a market for expensive fine art produced by the country's leading artists, and everything in between- a good thing in my book! :)
 
And I third everything Laura and Katt say. :D Us artists all had to start somewhere so understand about undercharging, we didn't start out charging the prices we do now, we've worked long and hard to get to where we are and as they both say, when it's your living, people have very little understanding as to our costs, outgoings etc. People assume because I charge from £450 for an A4 painting that I take all that money home to spend. I wish! I'm very lucky that I have a husband who pays our mortgage and all our bills because even though I paint full time and rely on commissions for an income, I still earn less than minimum wage. But hey, we do it because we love painting horses as they are such stunning creatures so we're very lucky in that respect.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top