Commission an Original Painting by Makiwa Mutomba

A commissioned painting offers the opportunity to own an original Makiwa artwork created especially for you, your family or a particular space.

Your commission may be inspired by a memorable family moment, children at play, a favourite landscape, a meaningful destination or an earlier Makiwa painting that has already been sold. Existing artworks may provide inspiration for the mood, movement or colour palette, but every commission is developed as a new and original painting rather than an exact reproduction.

Makiwa Gallery manages commissions online for collectors in South Africa and internationally. Throughout the creative process, you will communicate directly with Makiwa so that your ideas and preferences are clearly understood.

How the Commission Process Works

1. Share Your Idea

Tell us what you would like the painting to capture. You may provide family photographs, reference images, examples of Makiwa paintings you admire, preferred colours, the required canvas size and any other details that are important to you.

Photographs do not need to contain the complete scene. Makiwa can combine elements from several images to create a balanced and original composition.

2. Quotation and Agreement

Once the subject, dimensions and general requirements are understood, Makiwa Gallery will provide a written quotation.

If you are happy to proceed, we will send you a simple commission agreement. A 30% non-refundable deposit is required to reserve the artist’s time and begin the preparatory work.

3. Composition Sketch

Makiwa will prepare a preliminary composition showing the placement, scale and relationship of the principal subjects. This gives you an opportunity to review the overall arrangement and request reasonable changes before painting begins.

4. Colour Sketch

Once the composition has been approved, a colour sketch may be prepared to indicate the proposed palette, mood and tonal balance.

The colour sketch is a guide rather than an exact preview. The completed artwork will naturally develop through Makiwa’s expressive palette-knife technique, materials and creative interpretation.

5. The Original Painting

After the preliminary sketches have been approved, Makiwa begins the original painting on canvas.

Most commissioned works take approximately 7–14 days to complete, depending on the size and complexity of the artwork and the time required for approvals. Progress photographs may be shared where appropriate.

6. Final Approval and Delivery

Once the painting is complete, a high-resolution photograph will be sent for your approval. The outstanding balance is then payable before collection or dispatch.

Delivery and international shipping arrangements will be confirmed in your individual quotation.

See the Process in Detail

Our illustrated commission booklet presents six previous commissions, showing how an initial idea or reference image developed through composition and colour studies into a completed original Makiwa painting.

[VIEW OR DOWNLOAD THE COMMISSION PROCESS BOOKLET]

Begin Your Commission

To discuss a commissioned painting, please contact Makiwa Gallery with a brief description of your idea, your preferred canvas size and any photographs or reference images you would like Makiwa to consider.

Email: admin@makiwagalleries.com

Whatsapp: Colin +27 63 335 0573

Denise +27 82 346 4731

View some past commissioned works here.