You don't know me, I am Carol's husband. Carol commissioned you to do a portrait of our two lovely girls Molly and Tess for Christmas. No doubt she told you that we lost our wee Molly in November after a long fight with renal failure.

Our feelings are raw just now and I'd like to tell you how much I appreciate the portrait. I can't thank you enough. It means that we now have a permanent picture of Molly which memory can't erase.

Molly was such an intelligent, brave and kind-hearted dog and you, somehow, have captured her eyes exactly. If the eyes are a window into the soul of a dog, then you have been given a gift to show that soul in your paintings.

It is unbelievable that you only had a photo to work from!

Torrie was my father-in-law's dog who unfortunately died in January 2009. He is lost without her. My mother-in-law commissioned "Torrie" as a present and when my father-in-law opened it all he could say was "My Dog....... My Dog".

Joanne captured Torrie's expression and character brilliantly and with such depth. The picture could only have been of Torrie. Joanne was utterly professional, helpful and a pleasure to work with.

I have no doubt we will use her services again in the future.

That is absolutely brilliant; I've just been sat back in my office chair gazing at it for the last 10 minutes. You have them both spot on and the style is going to look so good, framed and hung on a Guernsey stone wall.

My little sister is going to be so pleased. You're got real talent Joanne.

John Wellings

Joanne is such a talented artist and has so captured the expression of my Amy in her pencil study, “A wise old head.” Pencil studies have always been something I love, for the detail and shading, and she really has brought out the detail here! Thank you so much Joanne, it really is my girl!

John Weller

I was stunned that someone who has never met Fidgit could capture her so well from just a photograph, the attention to detail is amazing and so lifelike. I would swear that this is a mirror image. 'I'm now saving up for a portrait of my Sister's dog for her Christmas present.

Lesley, Fidget's Owner

What is the finished piece? - The first phase in any portrait commission starts with the concept answering the question ‘What is the required finished piece?’

The Content - Some prefer a traditional posed portrait, perhaps showing just the head in detail, or you might prefer a portrait of the whole subject.    Others prefer something more natural, either a relaxed pose, or an action shot.  The other main consideration for the content of a portrait is, what, if any, background you would like including.

The Media - Some of the decision about what the piece will include may depend on the media you prefer.  Detailed pencil studies and chalk pastels suit a head portrait, or your preference might be something more personal to your taste and include a mix of media with a black and white background and colour subject, perhaps using pencil and watercolour.  It is always possible to tailor media and content to provide a piece that fits in with your own tastes, and no one commission is the same as the next.

Artistic Licence - When commissioning a piece, you may want to alter the look in some respect, perhaps matching the backgrounds when commissioning more than one piece, or using a completely different background.  Perhaps you want a portrait to show a dog retrieving, but haven’t got a photograph of them exactly how you want?  Again, it is possible to work from a set of photographs and put together a final piece to fit your concept.

Each piece is entirely individual to the commissioner the concept stage gives the opportunity to put together a composition that is going to fit exactly what they want.

Once the concept phase of the piece has been decided, the next step is to produce a layout drawing.  This gives the commissioner a clear idea of how their piece will start to come together.  With one simple subject the layout drawing is usually straight forward, once you start to add subjects and background, this stage becomes paramount to the finished piece.

For complicated pieces there may be the need to produce an initial rough sketch, to give more of an idea to the commissioner, which will then be used for the layout drawing.  As soon as the layout is approved the commission can begin in earnest.

Once the layout for a piece has been approved, work begins on putting together the commission.  At each stage of work, the commissioner is asked for their input and to approve the progress.  There is still scope to change the initial concept to some extent, either adding to, or slightly changing the composition.  Depending on the media used and the detail included on a piece of work, it may take as few as five stages of approval to many more.

The progress on a piece of work is photographed regularly, with some of these photographs the ones used for approval.  The photographs can be sent to the commissioner once complete, for them to have a record of how their piece was put together.

When the piece reaches completion, the final approval photograph is sent out to the commissioner for them to agree.  Any last touches can be put in, and depending on the media, the work is then fixed. Where the work is dedicated, appropriate text can be included.

The piece is then packaged carefully and appropriately for the media, to be sent recorded delivery. The completion photograph is added to the website, depending on whether the piece was a gift, either straight away, or following the event.

You don't know me, I am Carol's husband. Carol commissioned you to do a portrait of our two lovely girls Molly and Tess for Christmas. No doubt she told you that we lost our wee Molly in November after a long fight with renal failure.

Our feelings are raw just now and I'd like to tell you how much I appreciate the portrait. I can't thank you enough. It means that we now have a permanent picture of Molly which memory can't erase.

Molly was such an intelligent, brave and kind-hearted dog and you, somehow, have captured her eyes exactly. If the eyes are a window into the soul of a dog, then you have been given a gift to show that soul in your paintings.

It is unbelievable that you only had a photo to work from!

Torrie was my father-in-law's dog who unfortunately died in January 2009. He is lost without her. My mother-in-law commissioned "Torrie" as a present and when my father-in-law opened it all he could say was "My Dog....... My Dog".

Joanne captured Torrie's expression and character brilliantly and with such depth. The picture could only have been of Torrie. Joanne was utterly professional, helpful and a pleasure to work with.

I have no doubt we will use her services again in the future.

That is absolutely brilliant; I've just been sat back in my office chair gazing at it for the last 10 minutes. You have them both spot on and the style is going to look so good, framed and hung on a Guernsey stone wall.

My little sister is going to be so pleased. You're got real talent Joanne.

John Wellings

Joanne is such a talented artist and has so captured the expression of my Amy in her pencil study, “A wise old head.” Pencil studies have always been something I love, for the detail and shading, and she really has brought out the detail here! Thank you so much Joanne, it really is my girl!

John Weller

I was stunned that someone who has never met Fidgit could capture her so well from just a photograph, the attention to detail is amazing and so lifelike. I would swear that this is a mirror image. 'I'm now saving up for a portrait of my Sister's dog for her Christmas present.

Lesley, Fidget's Owner