Angie Reed Garner

I am happy to do commissions. That said, let me tell you enough about how I work that you'll be happy too if you arrange with me to do one.

Please, before you contact me for a commission-- have purchased one of my works already. That way I know, for sure, that you enjoy living with a painting by me, and that you like what it is that I do. I am not a professional illustrator. I paint what is in my head, and I can't help you with what is in yours.

If you want another painting along the lines of something you see in my portfolio, before gearing up for a commission request just ask if I've got what you want already on hand. I paint full time, I am very prolific, and have paintings in my studio that don't make it online. It is likely that the painting you want is already sitting in my studio, waiting for you.

My commissions, even portraits, are handled in my same style with the same surrealist/narrative tendencies. I welcome your source materials (photos) and will happily grab a few telling details from such photos to help the painting tell a story. But, and here's either the magic or the deal-breaker-- I will be using the content you provide to tell a story. A story that is somehow about how I experience or imagine or intuit you (or the subject of the portrait) to be. Expect all the kinds of symbolism you find in the rest of my work, from gawking crows to nudity to ladders which rest on nothing and go apparently nowhere.

I have had wonderful experiences doing commissions, and my clients have (eventually) been enthralled with the story I painted for them. I think the reason everyone has been so happy is that I screen people thoroughly to make sure that they know and want what I am going to deliver.

Last of all, if you are commissioning a painting with anything other than a simple scale shift on an existing piece, please understand that I am slow. No, slower. I always deliver, and every so often surprise myself with a nearly-instant take on a client's request, and the painting is ready to be shipped two weeks later if the humidity levels aren't high. But if you want something major, expect me to need the time to do some major thinking and feeling around the theme.

Yes, I even paint pet portraits. But don't expect anything sweet or sanitized. Animals are, well, animals. (I also think people are animals too!)