Raised my sitting fee from 400 to 650 euros in January. The sittings are three hours, live, in my studio, and then there are usually two more passes at the head before I'd let anyone see it. At 400 that was already charity, and I knew it, I just didn't want to say it out loud.

Lost two clients over it. Both of them were extremely polite about it, which somehow made it worse. One wrote back that she "completely understood" and would "circle back when things settle." That was in February. It has not settled.

But the ones who said yes, said yes without blinking. A man I've never met wired the deposit the same afternoon, no negotiating, no asking if the fee included the frame. So now I have fewer clients and less work and I'm painting better, and I still catch myself refreshing my inbox like an idiot waiting for the polite lady to come back.

I don't know what the lesson is. Maybe there isn't one. Maybe the lesson is that I spent nine years pricing for people who were never going to pay me properly anyway.