How much does it cost to commission a portrait?

It is the first question everyone asks, and the one most artists avoid answering. So here is an honest one: a commissioned portrait from an established UK artist typically costs anywhere from a few hundred pounds for a small, simple piece to several thousand for a large, layered canvas. Donna's own original paintings currently range from £350 to £3,900, and commissions are quoted individually from that same basis.

What shapes the price? Size above all: a 60 cm canvas is a different undertaking from a 120 cm one. Then the medium, the number of sittings or photographs involved, and the complexity of the composition. A single head and shoulders is quicker than a family group with a background that matters to you.

Donna works from photographs and conversation, so you do not need to sit for hours. You send pictures of the subject, talk through the feel you want, and she comes back with a proposal: size, palette, approach, a written quote and a timeline. Nothing starts until you have agreed all of it.

Her portraits are not photographic copies. They are painted in her signature style: layered, dripping paint and bold colour that catches a likeness and a mood at once. Browse the portraits in the gallery to see the range, from family pieces to the commissioned portraits of Nelson Mandela and Reuel Khoza.

If you are thinking about it, the next step costs nothing: send a short enquiry with the subject and the size you have in mind, and Donna will reply personally.

Source: Donna's commissions page ↗