Commissions

[Mary Sparrow]

WOW, I'm suddenly overwhelmed with work. This is new and unfamiliar territory to me. I have painted for about 8 years, however the majority of my painting was murals, with a random portrait here and there.

Except for the generous guidance of a few artists on this board and recently some private sessions with Gian Cassone, I am completely self-taught making me very self-conscious of my portrait work feeling inadequate because of my lack of formal training.

I have never advertised and relied soley on word of mouth and have had a slow but steady stream of work which has suited my schedule until last night. I placed two portraits in a Holiday Designer house that will run for 10 more days, last night, the first night, I received five commissions alone. There are 10 more days left, which may or may not bring more work. That added to the 8 I had lined up already (which already had me uncomfortable), 90% of these are 3/4 to full-length of children. Suddenly I have a REAL waiting list. I have never experienced this and am not sure how to handle it. I'm not complaining, I'm just dumbfounded I guess you could say.

Go up on prices? I don't know. How do I realistically gauge how long it will take to get all of this done so that I can get it done in a reasonable amount of time? How many portraits do most of you have going at one time. I've never worked on more than one at a time.

I realize this is not a bad thing, it's just, well I truly never expected this. Any guidance on how to handle myself in a professional manner is more than appreciated.