I met Allan at the Whyte Avenue Art Walk in the summer of 2011. I loved his style, and purchased some prints while I was there. Shortly after the Art Walk, I contacted Allan via e-mail to commission a painting for my fiancé.
He agreed to take on the project, with an estimated completion date of sometime in October 2011, and things ran smoothly until the end of September. At that time I stopped receiving responses to my e-mails. Allan hadn't given me an alternate means of contacting him, and save for a short message I received at the end of November, there was no communication from his end at all. This frustrated me, and I gave up on the idea that I'd be able to acquire an original painting.
In the summer of 2012 I returned to the Art Walk, and met up with Allan there once again. He was very apologetic about the electronic issues (we still don't know why e-mail doesn't seem to work for us, both of our workplaces' e-mail providers have undergone changes since the issues started). Allan assured me that he was interested in going through with the commissioned painting, and even gave me a free print for the trouble.
The new completion date was set in December. I got his phone number this time (!!) and we met up to discuss the project. Throughout the planning process, Allan was reliable, accommodating, and easy to talk to. I received the painting last week, and it looks amazing! (I hope my fiancé likes it too.) When I received the piece, Allan took the time to go through basic maintenance and such with me, and even told me not to hesitate to contact him should I have questions, or should something go wrong with the painting. To top it off, Allan was kind enough to charge me for the painting what he charged in 2011 (his prices have since increased).
Overall, Allan went above and beyond what I expected and I am very happy to own some of his art! read more