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I was about to write that I haven't yet said "no" to a commission, and then I remembered a request I received via telephone to paint a composite portrait of a number of family members all shown, heads only, in a "vignette" style encircling the head of the parent.
I told the client that I didn't work in that style and gave her my URL, suggesting that she take a look at my work and see whether she would like me to paint a group portrait along the lines of some of the pictures she saw on my site. She never got back to me, nor did I expect her to.
I have also given my URL to others under similar circumstances, assuming that they would be able to get a sense of my style and see whether it fit their purposes. I also ask them to review the procedures and prices on my site because that, too, can be a deterrent. People around here seem to expect to spend a couple of hundred dollars for a portrait. When I find that this is the case I sometimes refer them to another artist who works much more quickly or impressionistically than I and actually is within that price range.
I don't insist on a partial down payment because I prefer to work without that pressure; if the client doesn't like the finished painting (which hasn't happened yet) I've had the fun of working with the material and no one's the worse for the experience. It would be different if I had a waiting list, but I usually don't.
There was one situation in which I did ask for money up front, and there I also wrote out a contract and adhered to it. The warning signs went up when the client tried to get me to lower my prices and asked me to justify them.
Later she wanted me to change the mouth and substitute the expression from another photo (this was a posthumous portrait). When I complied I was surprised at how genuinely pleased she was with the final product - I expected her to find problems with it no matter how excellent it was.
My work is not as detailed as yours, Karin, and my standards are different, as are our styles. Still I wouldn't accept resource material which I didn't believe could be made into a portrait I could be proud of. The difference is that I think it's fun to work with a lot of different reference photos and make something new from them, while still attempting to express the personalities of the subjects. I very much enjoy that challenge.
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