A painting made with intention — commissions open

Mireia Fàbrega
Jun 15
2 min read

Updated: 16 hours ago

How a commission actually begins

Every commission starts with a personal questionnaire I send before we even speak — it's how I get a first read on what matters to the person, not just what they think they want on a wall. From there we get on a call together, and that's where the real work starts: we talk through the images, the feeling, what visualization actually fits this exact moment in someone's life.

A painting for a difficult year

One commission that stays with me was for a woman going through a hard transition after losing someone close in her family. We talked, and a butterfly came up almost on its own — it's such a direct symbol of transition. From there I made the choices that were mine to make as the artist: light colours throughout, a cherry blossom because she lives somewhere full of them and they bring her real joy, and splashes of gold worked into the piece to carry a bit of light into the room on the days she needed it most. That's the part that can't come from a questionnaire alone — interpreting what someone has told you and finding the visual language that actually holds it.

Why I work this way

I spent years running educational programmes, and what kept me in that work for so long was a real belief in what education changes in people's lives — the same idea behind something like the Erasmus motto, that exposure to something larger than yourself reshapes who you become. I think I bring that same instinct into commissions — it's the same approach behind every original mixed media painting I create.

What people tend to ask for

Every commission is different — humanity, change, relationships, support show up in all kinds of forms — but lately, lightness and flow come up again and again as something people need right now. A piece built around lightness does more than look good on a wall: it anchors you, brings you back to the message every time you walk past it, and that quiet, repeated reminder is its own kind of energy. That's the part I care about more than anything else in a commissioned piece. If you'd like to see examples of pieces I've already created, you can browse my original art collection.