Priced a wedding commission at €220 and spent three weeks crying over it so I did the math
ok so I finally did the thing where you actually track your hours on a commission and I want to scream.
Wedding gift commission, a watercolor of their venue. Charged €220. Three weeks of work but I kept telling myself "oh it's fine I'm just doing the sketch today" and then "the sketch took all day but the painting will be quicker now" and then the painting took five separate days because I repainted the sky three times, once because the bride's mom asked if I could "make it look more golden hour" and I sat there doing it for free.
Did the math last night. €220 divided by 46 hours because I ACTUALLY counted. That's €4.78 an hour. My local coffee shop pays €13.
The thing is I loved painting it. The venue had this insane wisteria over the arch and I got the light right on the third try and the bride cried when she picked it up, actual tears, and her mom hugged me. And I still feel insane for pricing it at €220 when I know exactly what it cost me. Like I'm running a business where I pay myself less than minimum wage to make people cry in a good way.
I'm raising my next one to €380 and I'm terrified nobody will say yes. The fear of pricing myself out is worse than the math, somehow. Is everyone just... faking it until the numbers stop feeling embarrassing??
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46 hours. Oh no, I felt that in my bones. I've never done wedding commissions but I've definitely sold pieces at fairs for less than what the materials and time cost me, just because I was too embarrassed to price it realistically. It's so hard to charge for the invisible hours, especially when you're sitting there redoing a sky for free because someone asked nicely.
The repainting the sky three times thing got me though. That's the part that would make me want to quit, honestly. At some point you have to start telling people a golden hour revision costs extra, or at least that one sky is included and the second one is on them. I know that's easier said than done in the moment.
What did you actually land on? Did you figure out what the real number should have been? I need to know there's a number on the other side of that math that makes it feel less awful. 🙂
46 HOURS. I know. I had to sit down when I saw it. And the fair thing is so real, I did the exact same thing last summer, sold a big piece for like €80 because the guy was nice and I panicked and then cried about it on the way home. It's the invisible hours thing, nobody sees the sketching and the second-guessing and the sky repaints, they just see a pretty painting and think "how long could that take."
And honestly the repainting the sky three times almost broke me, but what I didn't put in the post is that the golden hour version was actually better? Like the mom was annoying but she had a vision. I still resent her for it though hahaha. The kicker is I'm now lowkey doing a version of that sky for myself because I couldn't let it go.
You're so right that I need to start charging for revisions. I think I'm scared of being the difficult artist but also I'm scared of doing 46 free hours forever so something's gotta give. How do you actually handle pricing at fairs, do you have a formula or are you also just vibing and regretting it?