TL;DR I painted a commission and they wanted it for a quarter of the agreed on price.

Someone at an art fair approached me for a commission. I hate special orders, and usually don't take them, but I am desperate for money right now. I knew I could do it and do it well in a couple of days, plus it was a painting that was emotional, so I broke my personal boundaries and accepted.

The person had a sister that died when she was 5, and for an upcoming family reunion wanted a painting in remembrance of her. She also wanted to reference her grandmother, and also the siblings. I came up with an idea she loved that wouldn't necessitate me doing a recognizable portrait (not good enough to do that).

She gave me 45.00 down payment through PayPal, I send her back a text acknowledging the down payment along with the details we discussed and my terms, she texts back 'all good'. She had offered 200.00, Which I thought was reasonable, and that was in the text too.

As I say, I need money, so I got right on it. I made two versions of mock ups, ( small, less detailed paintings). Even the mockups were really good small paintings, and I finished the large one to the point where she just had to decide which details she wanted from either mock up 1 or 2. We meet, and I let her keep them to decide.

She takes both mock ups, and tells me she likes version one. I finished the big painting and let her know where to meet me, and she comes to where I am. Then tells me her husband flipped out over the 200 price tag, and that she could get a watercolor painting for 20 on eBay (eBay? Whytf she looking for original art on eBay? ) so she says she'll do the 45.00 down payment and nothing more. She hinted that I should refund her 25.00. I was shocked.

While I was stammering, she pulls out the mockups. I had told her she could keep them for free, assuming I'd get 200, and thinking it would be a nice extra to give them to her since the main painting is for a gift, so she'll have a little version to keep.

She pulls them out and asks me to sign them. I reach in my bag for a pen, and I'm shaking mad. I had a big fat blue permanent marker in my bag, I pull that out, scribble 'mock up mock up mock up' across them both, and start writing my name in big letters, and she screeches and grabs them back. I made sure that you could hardly see the images before she got them back.

She is mad and asks for the big painting. She is still thinking I'm gonna give her the painting at this point! I showed her the text I had sent accepting the commission. It said that any further changes after accepting our agreed upon details will either be an added charge, or I have the option to stop the work, and the down payment is not refundable, and the 'all good' she wrote to accept the deal. I said her changing the payment was a change, so I'm stopping the work and keeping the down payment. I leave the scribbled mockups for her and take the real painting with me. I have no idea what I'll do with it, but I'll be damned if she ever gets it.

Update: Today I got texts from the brother of this person this afternoon. He demanded a refund . At first I said no, but then I did go ahead and refund the down payment to the original person that ordered the painting because I just wanted to be done with it. Then things got weird, and the brother wanted 2k (!!!) and said he'd call the police to get it. I told him that I had a text contract she had agreed to and then said I'd call a lawyer if I had to. He said that he had been misinformed , and that was it. I wonder what was going on beneath all this, but not enough to pursue it. Here's screenshots, I don't know if they're allowed. https://imgur.com/a/K8knKVk