What are garden painters actually charging for commissions in LA right now?
I got an inquiry last week from a boutique hotel near Culver City wanting a series of floral panels for their lobby. Big canvases, spring palette, lush garden scenes. Right up my alley. Then they mentioned their budget and I nearly dropped my tea.
They wanted four 36x48 paintings for what I'd normally charge for one. And of course they framed it as "great exposure" because their clientele is "very art forward." I'm not new to this but I genuinely don't know what the going rate is for other painters doing similar commission work around here. I paint a lot (too much, honestly) but most of my sales have been at the Beverly Hills Art Show or through my own site, not hotel or designer commissions.
For those of you doing commission work for local businesses, restaurants, or hotels, what are you actually charging per piece at this scale? Is the "exposure" pitch just standard now or are some of these clients paying real money?
I can’t speak to current Los Angeles commission rates, but four large original paintings are still four original works — with four sets of materials, time and creative labour. ‘Exposure’ may have value, but it doesn’t replace fair payment. For a boutique hotel commissioning work specifically for its space, I would expect the budget to reflect the scale of the commission.