i charged a local coffee shop $400 for four large paintings and they framed them over the edges
so i did this thing a few months ago where a neighborhood coffee shop asked for four 24x36 acrylic pieces. walls are big, they wanted "something colorful," easy brief. i quoted $400 for all four because i'm an idiot and thought "bulk discount" like i'm selling socks. $100 per painting. that's like $2.60 an hour if you count the sketching and the repainting and the repainting again because acrylic dries fast and i hate myself.
finally deliver them. they're thrilled. two weeks later i walk in for coffee and they've framed them in these cheap black frames from michael's. completely covering the edges. i paint the edges. that's like. a thing i do. the sides are part of it. they just. framed over them.
i didn't say anything. i drank my latte and left. still haven't said anything. $400 and my edges are in framing jail forever.
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This is a painful thing to read, ji. Four paintings for $400, that is already too little. A painter puts his time and his eye and his hand into the work. That itself has a value. But then to see them framed over the edges, that is a different kind of hurt. In Mithila painting we work on paper mostly, no stretching, so framing is always a careful business. You have to leave the border visible, the whole composition must breathe. If someone covered the edges of a wedding scene or a fish-and-lotus border, the story itself becomes broken. Your paintings deserved the same respect. The price you set, that is a lesson you will learn from. But the framing, that was their mistake, not yours. Next time, write it in the agreement itself. "Frame with full painting visible." Some people do not understand until you tell them directly. I hope you take better care of yourself and your work going forward. 🙏
This is such a good point about the borders. I paint landscapes so I'm not thinking about edges the same way, but I still leave a margin around everything because that's just part of the painting to me. Can't imagine handing something over and watching someone frame out bits of it like it's a poster from Target.
The $100 thing stung to read too but the framing almost makes it worse somehow. Like okay you already undervalued yourself and now they're treating them like decor you'd grab off a shelf.
the target comparison 🤝 i felt that in my chest. that's exactly what it looked like. like i'd walked in and seen my work shrink wrapped next to a candle section.
and yeah it's funny how the price thing stung initially but the framing is what actually lives in my head rent free. guess because the lowball was my fault, but the framing was out of my hands. somehow that's worse.
the mithila comparison makes it worse honestly lol. like yeah, you get it, there's a reason those borders are part of the piece. my stuff isn't that traditionally composed but i still painted those edges thinking about how they'd sit against the wall, yknow? they weren't afterthoughts. and then a michael's frame just... erases the whole conversation.