How to Commission a Custom Abstract Painting: Steps, Timeline and Budget

"Do you take commissions?" It's a question I hear often, both at exhibitions and by message: can you order a painting that doesn't exist yet, designed for one specific wall, built around a colour palette agreed in advance, sized to fit the space exactly? The answer is yes — and in this new Journal piece, I walk you through exactly how a custom art commission works, from the first message to the finished canvas on your wall.

What exactly is a custom art commission?

Commissioning an abstract painting is different from buying a finished piece from the Collection. Instead of choosing among existing works, we start from your intention — a wall to dress, a colour palette to respect, a mood you're after, perhaps echoing a trip or the tones of a sofa — and I paint something entirely new from that starting point. The size, the dominant colours and sometimes even the title grow out of that conversation, whereas a regular purchase is about a finished work with its own history and material already in place.

A relationship between artist and patron as old as painting itself

Commissioning a piece directly from the artist who paints it is nothing new: it's one of the oldest ways painting and collecting have ever met, long before galleries and art fairs existed. Today that direct relationship is finding its natural place again, thanks to artists selling from their own studio or website, with no intermediary between the canvas and the person who will live with it. That's exactly how I work from my studio in the Tarn, near Toulouse: nearly all of my paintings go straight to their collectors without passing through a gallery, which is precisely what leaves room for conversation — and for custom commissions.

How a commission unfolds, step by step

• —First contact — you describe your project through the Contact page: the space you want to dress, the available dimensions, a mood or reference colours
• —A conversation about intent — together we settle on the size, palette and spirit of the piece (more geometric and structured, or more fluid and gestural); I reply personally within 48 hours
• —Painting in the studio — I work in acrylic, with or without palette-knife texture depending on the effect you're after, always leaving room for instinct in the gesture
• —Progress updates — depending on the commission, I can share a photo of the piece before it's finished, so you can confirm the direction feels right
• —Delivery and certificate of authenticity — the finished piece is handed over or shipped along with its certificate of authenticity, just like any original work

What timeline and budget should you plan for?

Both timeline and budget depend mainly on the size and complexity of the piece — a small canvas comes together faster than a large composition built up in several layers of material. In practice, plan for several weeks between approving the project and delivery, especially if palette-knife work needs to fully cure between layers. Some simpler commissions land close to the price of an already-finished piece of similar size, while a very large format or more elaborate texture work asks for more time in the studio. The simplest way forward is to talk it through directly: I answer every enquiry within 48 hours and set a precise budget once the project is defined, rather than applying a generic rate that wouldn't account for what you actually need.

A commission is never a copy of a painting I've already made — it's a new work, born from a conversation.

A piece made for your home, in the spirit of my painting

To get a feel for what your future painting could look like, the simplest way is to browse the Full Collection: my geometric abstraction, shaped by my training between Buenos Aires and São Paulo and by the exotic palette of Latin America, keeps the same signature — colour, structure and material — from one commission to the next. You're also welcome to meet me in person at an exhibition in France, Spain or Andorra; you'll find the dates on the News page, where we can talk through your project in front of a painting that's already on the wall. And to start a commission, a message through the Contact page is all it takes.