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Lara, I think the reason you haven't gotten a specific dollars-and-cents reply on this subject from some of the more established pros (apart from modesty about money) is that there aren't that many long term pros participating in the Forum. Most of the members are relatively new to portraiture or are new at being a pro (as I am, having done this for less than three years). Of the couple of hundred active participants here I can think of only a dozen or so who have been focused on doing commissioned portraits for more than five years. (Someone else correct me if I'm wrong in this.)
However, to get an idea about your question of annual income you can take a look at all the artists represented on the main SOG site. (Most of those folks don't post here because they're busy painting -- which is what I should be doing right now!) Then take a look at the average prices. Assuming, working full time at it, that many of them complete ten or twelve portraits a year. (This is a number I have heard from various places.) Then the math starts to add up.
I just did a little informal survey, on the SOG page that lists artists "By Location and Fees." I went down the left column and wrote down the price range of the first ten artists who show pricing. Because I went down the left column, I got artists in different states. The average price of those ten artists (halfway between their listed high and low price) is $7,500. (I have three commissions on my waiting list that are priced higher than that so I know the figure is not out of line, and I'm still very new at this.)
At ten paintings completed per year that's total sales of $75,000. Assuming $10,000 to $20,000 annual expenses (which might include a new camera, a trip to one of the national conferences, etc.) it's well above your original $35,000 question.
I don't know if any of my fundamental assumptions in making that calculation are inherently flawed, but it seems to make sense to me. Someone jump in here and let me know if I'm way off base.
I'm not saying that every artist on the SOG site has $75,000 in commissions a year, or even most of the artists. (I certainly don't. I don't paint full time and I have given lots of discounts in the past to get the ball rolling. However I have six full price commissions in my waiting list now, so things are happening.) There are many portrait artists who have sales of a lot more than $75,000 a year, too.
It would seem, in any case, with these assumptions, that the "potential" is really there for the rest of us.
Hope that helps!
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