How we work

Assigned by subject

Each commission goes to the painter who works in that subject every day: portraits and pets to one group, landscape and architecture to another, abstract and heavy texture to a third. We don't give a piece to whoever happens to be free.

Built in layers

A painting is built up over days: a thin underpainting to set the composition, then the body of the painting, then detail and glaze. Each layer dries before the next goes on. That's where the depth comes from, and why no print underneath could fake it.

Paid by the piece

Every painting is paid to the painter who made it. So we always know whose hand is on a canvas, and a reorder goes back to the same painter, working from the approved photo of the first.

Approved twice

You approve a proof before we paint and a photo before we pack. Large commissions get progress photos along the way. If anything should change at the photo stage, the painter reworks it before it ships.

What we can't promise

Two hand-painted canvases are never identical, and a color on screen never matches pigment exactly. We paint to the approved proof and photo, and for color-critical work we recommend a sample first.

Curing and rolling

Paint needs time before a canvas can be rolled. Rolled too early, the surface cracks along the curve, the most common and most avoidable damage in this trade. We cure before rolling, interleave with glassine rather than plastic film, and roll face-out on a wide core so the paint layer is stretched rather than compressed.

If you need a piece faster than curing allows, we ship it stretched instead. Large pieces travel in a wooden crate.