Small sizes
Small oil paintings: 8 × 10 and 12 × 16
What the two smallest canvases are actually for — desks, hallways and narrow walls — and why painting small is harder than painting large.
The two smallest canvases on the price table are not lesser versions of the large ones; they are different tools. An 8 × 10 in at $189 is roughly 20 × 25 centimetres — desk-scale, shelf-scale, the size of a hardback book stood upright. A 12 × 16 in at $289 is about 30 × 41 centimetres, which is the smallest canvas that reads as a proper portrait across a room rather than as an object on a surface.
Here is what nobody tells you about small paintings: they are harder to paint well, not easier. At 8 × 10 in a head occupies barely six centimetres and an eye is under a centimetre wide; every brushstroke is proportionally larger, and a single misplaced one is a scar across the likeness. There is nowhere on a small canvas to hide a bad day.
Where a small canvas belongs
An 8 × 10 in works on a desk, a bookshelf, a narrow strip of wall beside a door, or a gallery wall in a group of frames. It is also the natural size for a gift where the recipient's walls are a mystery — a study, a first flat, a bedside — and for a class or office collection where the price needs to divide small.
A 12 × 16 in is the better single-subject portrait for a hallway or the wall above a desk: head and shoulders at a readable scale, without demanding a whole wall. Below this size, a full-length figure stops working — the face shrinks to a thumbnail and the likeness depends on the clothes rather than the person.
Group walls are where small canvases earn their keep: three or four 8 × 10 in portraits of grandparents in a row, or a 12 × 16 in beside the photographs already hanging in a stairwell. Hung as a set, small paintings read as a collection rather than a compromise — which is a different and often better effect than one large canvas commanding a room. If a set is the plan, keep the sizes identical; mismatched scales fight each other on the wall.
Why small is harder, and what we do about it
The mechanics: a large canvas allows long, tapered strokes and soft transitions across a broad cheek or coat; at small scale the same transition happens inside a couple of brush-widths, so the painter must be more precise with less room for correction. Small paintings expose wavering edges and lazy values that a big canvas would absorb.
The process is identical at every size, which matters more here than anywhere: the mock-up at the exact canvas size and crop arrives within 24 hours, two progress photographs come during the three to five weeks of painting, and one free round of adjustments follows on the finished work. At small scale, catching a drift at the first progress photo is the difference between a likeness and a souvenir.
The brushwork point is worth pressing because it explains the price: at small scale the painter is working at the limit of what a brush can say, and the hours do not shrink with the canvas. A $189 8 × 10 in is not a discounted painting; it is a concentrated one. The same mock-up, the same two progress photographs, the same numbered certificate and the same free tracked shipping apply — the process is not resized, only the picture is.
Subjects that suit the small sizes
One head, one animal, one façade, one flower — the small canvases are single-subject territory. A second subject at 8 × 10 in means two heads of three centimetres each, and the painting reads as a scene rather than a portrait; if two subjects are wanted, 12 × 16 in is the honest minimum and 20 × 24 in is the comfortable one.
Old photographs suit small canvases too: a restored print of a relative from a single clear photograph, at $60–$70 for restoration, painted at 8 × 10 in for $189, is the most affordable way into an original oil — and the desk-scale result is often more looked-at than a large canvas hung across the room.
One more use the price table quietly enables: the small canvas as the first commission. A family unsure about the whole idea — is oil worth it, will the likeness land — can test the studio at $189 with a single subject, and return for the larger family painting once the first canvas is on the wall. The certificate and the mock-up process are identical at every size, so the trial is honest: what you see at $189 is what the $789 is.
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
Desks, shelves, narrow wall strips and gallery-wall groups — roughly 20 × 25 centimetres, single subject only. At $189 it is also the most affordable way into a hand-painted oil, with the same mock-up, certificate and free tracked shipping as every other size on the table.
Yes, for one head-and-shoulders subject — about 30 × 41 centimetres at $289, and it reads across a room rather than only up close. It is the smallest size where a full sitting figure still works; below that the face shrinks to thumbnail scale, and for a figure with hands and a chair, 16 × 20 in at $389 is the comfortable minimum.
Because the cost is the painter's hours, not the canvas. Small work is harder, not easier: at 8 × 10 in an eye is under a centimetre and every stroke is proportionally larger, so mistakes cannot be absorbed. The price difference between sizes is far smaller than the surface area difference.
Not honestly at 8 × 10 in, and at 12 × 16 in only as head-and-shoulders with each head under about five centimetres. Two subjects want 20 × 24 in at $549 for the likenesses to read as individuals. The mock-up will show you the problem before any paint is mixed.
The same three to five weeks of painting as the large sizes, plus three to five business days in transit — smaller canvas does not mean fewer weeks, because the likeness still has to be built. Rush delivery at $90 compresses the whole job to three weeks including painting.
Send the photograph
Tell us the wall or the desk it is going on. We will tell you honestly whether the small size carries your subject — mock-up within 24 hours.