Father's Day
A painting for Father's Day
A portrait for a man who does not want to be painted — which is why the best Father's Day commissions are often of his car, his boat or his bench.
Most fathers do not want a portrait of themselves, and saying so at length will not change that. What they have is a thing: the car kept for thirty years, the boat, the workshop bench with the tools in their worn places, the dog at his feet. Painted well, that thing is a portrait of him. Painted badly, a stiff head-and-shoulders of a man looking mildly trapped hangs in a hallway for a decade as a monument to a gift he was too polite to return.
Count back six weeks from the date — mock-up within 24 hours, three to five weeks of painting, three to five business days of free shipping, and margin for the one free adjustment. Father's Day falls in June in many countries, which puts the ordering deadline in the first week of May.
The thing instead of the face
Here is what nobody tells you: the commissions that survive in these houses are of the thing, not the face. A car portrait needs three-quarter views from the side the owner sees when he parks it, correct badging, and the particular colour that catalogues get wrong. A boat needs the water handled honestly rather than painted as a mirror.
If a face must be in it, the recurring solution is the man small in the frame: at the wheel, at the tiller, on the bench. Detail at that scale forgives a soft photograph in a way a close likeness never does, and it gives the painting somewhere to look besides at him.
Photographing the thing follows its own rules. A car wants overcast light — bright sun turns the paintwork into a mirror of the sky and loses the body lines. A boat wants to be on the water rather than on its trailer. A workshop wants its working mess left exactly as it is; tidied benches photograph like showrooms and paint like lies. Send three or four angles and say which details must survive — the badges, the registration, the particular dent with a story.
Low-key delivery
A big reveal is exactly what a reluctant subject dreads. The commission is quiet by default: the mock-up and progress photographs come to you, the canvas ships rolled in a rigid tube to your address, and the certificate travels inside it. He finds out when the tube is opened.
If the painting includes his own face, expect the first reaction to be a joke and the second one to be silence while he looks properly. That gap is normal and it is not dissatisfaction — plan to leave the room rather than watch for approval in real time.
The tube arrives rolled in plain packaging with the certificate inside, so nothing about the delivery announces a portrait of anyone. If you are commissioning the man-and-the-thing version and he lives in another house, the shipping is free to whichever address you name — which also makes this workable for adult children commissioning from abroad. The free worldwide shipping is not a gift-tier upgrade; it is the same tracked, insured service every commission gets.
Sizes and dates
A single car, boat or bench reads well at 16 × 20 in for $389; add the man and the dog and you are at 20 × 24 in for $549 or 24 × 36 in for $789. Every additional subject is a fixed increment in the table above, not a quote.
If the deadline has slipped past early May, rush delivery at $90 brings painting and dispatch to three weeks total — workable for the smaller and mid sizes, not for the two largest canvases. And if even that is gone, the honest move is to show him the mock-up on the day with a delivery date attached.
On price: the thing-subjects cost exactly what a person costs, because the price follows canvas size and subject count, not sentimental category. A single car at 16 × 20 in is $389, the same as a single figure — and often the better use of the money, since regalia-free subjects are more forgiving of an ordinary phone photograph. If the calendar is gone for June, the printed mock-up with a delivery date works as well here as anywhere; the promise is real either way.
What it costs
Price is set by canvas size and the number of subjects — not by the occasion, the deadline, or how much detail you ask for. The table below is the same one used on every painting page, so there is no quote to wait for.
| Canvas | Metric | 1 subject | 2 subjects | 3 subjects | 4+ subjects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 10 in | 20 × 25 cm | $189 | $259 | — | — |
| 12 × 16 in | 30 × 41 cm | $289 | $379 | $459 | — |
| 16 × 20 in | 41 × 51 cm | $389 | $499 | $619 | $749 |
| 20 × 24 in | 51 × 61 cm | $549 | $699 | $849 | $1,029 |
| 24 × 36 in | 61 × 91 cm | $789 | $1,059 | $1,290 | $1,560 |
| 30 × 40 in | 76 × 102 cm | $1,090 | $1,449 | $1,749 | $2,090 |
| 36 × 48 in | 91 × 122 cm | $1,390 | $1,849 | $2,249 | $2,690 |
Shipping is free worldwide. Framing is optional and quoted separately — most customers have the canvas stretched by a local framer for $60–$120.
How it works
Send the photograph
One sharp phone photo is enough. Tell us the deadline, the wall it is going on, and anything that must or must not be in the picture.
See the mock-up within 24 hours
A digital composite at the exact canvas size and crop, so size and composition are settled before any paint is bought. Nothing is charged until you approve it.
Watch it being painted
Three to five weeks in real oil, with two progress photographs. You can raise a concern at either one — that is what they are for.
Approve, then it ships
You see the finished canvas first, with one free round of adjustments. Then it travels rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured, with the numbered certificate inside.
Real oil, not a print
Hand-painted on cotton canvas, varnished, signed. Brushwork you can see in raking light.
You approve before we paint
A digital mock-up at the exact size and crop, within 24 hours, included in the price.
Numbered certificate
Every painting ships with a signed COA stating artist, medium, size and year.
Free worldwide shipping
Rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured. No minimum, no distance surcharge.
Questions
Questions we actually get
Paint the thing instead: the car, the boat, the workshop, the dog. These commissions are usually better received than a formal likeness, and the mock-up arrives within 24 hours so you can check the direction before any paint is mixed. Nothing is painted until you approve the composition.
The same as any portrait, because price follows canvas size and subject count: $189 for 8 × 10 in, $289 for 12 × 16 in, $389 for 16 × 20 in, $549 for 20 × 24 in. Adding the man or the dog adds a fixed amount from the table — a thing costs the same as a face, because the price follows the canvas, not the category.
Six weeks before the day: mock-up within 24 hours, three to five weeks of painting, three to five business days in transit. For a June Father's Day that means the first week of May. Rush delivery at $90 shortens the whole job to three weeks including painting.
It arrives rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured, shipping free worldwide, with the numbered certificate inside. A local framer stretches the canvas for $60–$120, or frames it for $80–$250. Rolled travel is safer for oil than stretched, and it lets him choose the frame.
Yes. Separate photographs are combined into one composition with the light direction matched, for $60–$70, and the combined mock-up is approved before painting starts. Send both photos and we will tell you whether the two light sources can be reconciled.
Send the photograph of his thing
Car, boat, bench or dog — send one photo and the date. Fixed price, honest deadline, and nothing painted until you approve the mock-up.