How to buy a portrait

I want to make more portraits. I love making portraits. I want to go out and ask people if I can make their portrait, tell a story about that person, make the portrait really beautiful, and make other people want to own that picture – because it’s so lovely, and perhaps also because of the story behind it.

Most people are interesting. I generally get to like them when I make their portrait. So the question of who I paint isn’t governed by who can afford to buy. There are people I’d like to make portraits of simply because I know them, I like them, I admire their work – and I know they haven’t got any cash. That doesn’t spoil anything. Those pictures are the work. They’re why the practice is worth anything at all.

But I do want to make a good living making beautiful pictures. So here’s how buying one works.

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Two ways to own a portrait

Exclusively. A unique print – the image itself at A2, with a white border on top of that, so the paper is larger than A2 and the picture is bigger and more magnificent. Printed on archival museum-grade Hahnemuhle German Etching paper. One of one. Nobody else can ever have that image. Three thousand pounds.

I should say that this larger format wasn’t my idea. One of the people who bought a portrait asked for it to be printed that way and then had it framed, and it looks much bigger and more magnificent at that size. He was right, so it’s now how the unique prints are made.

From a limited edition. The same image, in an edition of ten, on A2 paper – so the picture sits a little smaller, inside its border, and fits a standard A2 frame. Four hundred pounds a print. The sitter can buy one. Their family can buy copies too, if they want. And anyone else who loves the picture can buy one.

That second option isn’t a discount. It’s a different thing you’re buying. With the first, you’re paying for exclusivity, and for a bigger picture – it’s yours and only yours. With the second, you’re buying a beautiful print of a picture that other people can also own.

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Why I’m telling you this

The price of a portrait has nothing to do with how much I like someone. It isn’t a mates’ rate, and there’s no such thing as a non-mate paying full price. The variable isn’t the person. It’s what you’re buying.

I’d rather be plain about it: this is what a unique picture costs, this is what an edition print costs, and both are real ways to own the work.

This applies to portraits from now on.

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If you would like to talk about a portrait, with no commitment, please jp at this domain name. There’s more about the pictures themselves, and how I work, on my portraits page.