Why I Only Take a Few Commissions at a Time?
Three to four cards a month — not for lack of motivation. It’s simply what this work looks like when it’s done right.
When collectors find out that my monthly slots are limited, the question comes up almost every time: why so few?
It’s a fair question, and the answer is simple enough.
One week per card — that’s the reality
I used to think I could take on more. The demand is there. The desire too.
But over time I’ve come to see that a single card takes roughly a week of actual work. Not a week locked in the studio from morning to night — a week in the real sense: painting shares space with everything else that running a small artistic practice requires. Answering collectors, preparing shipments, tracking ongoing projects, handling the administrative side.
When I account for that rhythm honestly, three to four cards a month isn’t a limitation. It’s simply what this work looks like when it’s done properly.
What it means for your card
When your commission month arrives, you’re not one of twenty cards competing for my attention that week.
You’re one of three or four. Your card has room. Your project gets my full focus — from the first study of the original illustration to the final brushstroke.
The wait is real. I won’t pretend otherwise. But it exists because the work that comes out of it is real too.
Keeping space for the rest
There’s another reason I work this way, and it’s worth saying plainly.
Commissions are what I do. But they’re not all I am as an artist.
When the calendar fills faster than it empties, something gradually disappears: the space to experiment, to follow an idea that has no client and no deadline, to do the part of the work that feeds everything else.
Recently, that space gave me two things I couldn’t have planned: an exploration of dollar art last December, and a collaboration with artist Julien Gavard that pushed me in directions a commission alone probably wouldn’t have opened. You can see one of the pieces we created together on the shop page.
Those experiences don’t stay separate from the cards I paint for collectors. They come back in the way I read a composition, in the confidence of a gesture, in the willingness to try something slightly different in an extension.
Keeping time for my own work isn’t a step back from commissions. It’s what keeps the work I bring to yours alive.
A limited number of slots is a commitment
Every time I open new slots, I’m making a commitment: to give each of those projects the time and attention it deserves.
That commitment only holds if the number stays honest.
Considering a commission? You can check current availability and submit your request here. If this month is full, the next opening is always listed on the commissions page.
Want to understand what happens once your slot is confirmed? I walk through the full process in this article.
