Image Rights Policy

This page covers three things: the photographs you send us for a commission, the studio's own demonstration work, and the photographs we take of finished paintings.

1. What we paint from, on a commission

We paint your commission only from photographs you own or have the right to use. That means photographs you took, photographs taken of you or your animal by someone who has given you permission, or photographs licensed to you (for example, by your wedding photographer) for this purpose.

We decline commission requests to copy a third party's copyrighted material: a photograph, illustration, character or logo that is not yours, another living artist's painting, a stock image, or a press or promotional photograph of a public figure. Requests of this kind are declined at the quote stage, and if a rights problem comes to light after an order has started we will stop and refund the unpainted balance.

By placing an order you confirm that you have the rights to the reference material you supply and that you will indemnify us against claims arising from it. If you are a trade customer painting from your own client's photographs, you are responsible for securing that permission from your client.

2. The studio's own work

Separately from commissions, our painters make study and demonstration pieces: copies of paintings whose copyright has expired, academic drawings from plaster casts, and murals. We show these on our studio work page because they are the clearest evidence of technique we can offer — a copy of a master can be compared against the original by anyone.

They are studio work, not a catalogue of things we will reproduce to order. Whether we can paint something similar for you depends on the rights to the source image, under section 1 above; ask and we will tell you plainly.

3. How we use photographs of finished paintings

By placing an order you grant us the right to photograph the finished painting and use those images to show our work, unless you opt out. We never publish your reference photos, your name, or any identifying details without separate written permission.

In practice:

• This covers photographs of the finished painting only — on the easel, under raking light, in the crate — used on this website, in our portfolio, and in material we send to trade partners.
• It never covers the reference photographs you send us, your name, your customer's name, the delivery address, or anything else that identifies you or your customer.
• Trade orders are treated as confidential by default: we do not publish paintings made for trade customers without written permission, because your customer's painting is your customer's.
• You can opt out at any time — there is a checkbox on every inquiry form, or simply tell us in your order message. Opting out has no effect on price or service.
• If you opt out after an image has been published, tell us and we remove it within five business days.

4. Process photographs and video

The process photographs and timelapse on our How We Paint page show a painting made for that purpose and are not tied to any customer. Where a customer's painting has its own process photographs, they appear only on that painting's page and only with the customer's permission; we never show one painting's process on another painting's page.

5. Copyright in the painting

You own the physical painting. Copyright in the painting as an artistic work remains with the studio, which is what allows us to photograph it under section 3 above and prevents unauthorised reproductions. You may photograph and share your painting freely for personal use. Trade customers may photograph and use images of paintings they have commissioned for marketing their own business without restriction.

6. Contact

Questions about rights, or a request to remove an image: hello@example.com.