Do You Allow Deadlines?

[Renee Brown]

I have a marketing campaign coming up in 2002. Starting in January, I have booked fourteen to twenty of my portraits in monthly shows in my area. The paintings will be removed on the last day of the month and placed into the next location on the same day, where they will be exhibited for the following month. I live in an area where portrait commissions are plentiful.

I will be getting new commissions this way. My question is, in the past I have always allowed clients to back me into a deadline. This puts pressure on me and I feel does not allow me the freedom to complete the job in a relaxed way and in my own timeline. Now, I feel I want to set the rules and change them to my advantage. I am a relatively quick painter so one would receive their painting in a reasonable amount of time (say two months, sometimes less), but I am specifically talking about when one has perhaps four portraits going at once. The idea that a portrait must be done by someone's birthday is a real problem.

How do the pros on this forum handle this? Is this something to include in my contract and how would I word that? Thanks for the advice.

Renee Brown

[Mary Reilly]

I have found that the positive approach works when discussing the portrait deadline with the client. I tell them that I will most likely meet the deadline, but that an excellent painting is my top priority and not the deadline, and that I won't sacrifice the quality of the portrait just to meet a deadline. (I never refer to it as "their" deadline, but rather "a" deadline or "our" deadline. That way they don't get on the defensive that I'm ignoring "their" deadline.) They almost always agree. I also have gift certificates that they can give to the person to whom the painting is intended. The certificate is nicely made on my computer with borders and then I mat the certificate so it looks classy. It says something to the effect "In honor of your special birthday an oil portrait is being created of ...etc."

In the contract that customers sign I have the following section:
"Every attempt will be made to meet the requested due date, however the painting will not be sacrificed for the sake of the due date. If the painting is a gift for a specific occasion, an appropriate gift certificate will be provided in the event that the painting is not completed in time. If appropriate, the unfinished painting may be made available for a special event, to be returned to the artist for completion after the event has concluded."

Hope this helps.
Mary Reilly

[Renee Brown]

Mary, Thank you. Your entire post was informative and I printed it out. That was exactly what I was looking for.

I really like the gift certificate idea and the matting makes it seem classy. Also, the wording "In honor of your....". Excellent.

Thanks for solving my problem and I will be rewording my contract.

Renee

PS: I see you also paint pet portraits. They are fun, aren't they? Below is an almost completed ( one Samoyed to go) current portrait commission.

[Mary Reilly]

Glad I could be of help.

This pet portrait looks great!

Mary