Bronia GardnerStudio

Commissions

All it takes is a photograph.

A person, a pet, a house, a place that matters. Send the photograph and Bronia will turn it into a piece of fine art, painted or hand stitched, in the same language as the rest of her work: reduced, softened, and made to hold a memory rather than to copy a picture.

Most are of people. Some are of a house someone grew up in, a dog, a boat, a view from a window that is not there any more. What matters is that the photograph means something to you, not that it is a good photograph.

Starts at £90
Size, medium and framing set the final price, and it is agreed with you before anything begins.
Painted or stitched
Whichever the photograph asks for. Bronia will say which she thinks it wants to be.
Any photograph
Old, blurred, creased or black and white. Imperfection tends to help rather than hinder.
Sent anywhere
Across the UK and worldwide, framed in oak or left unframed, whichever you prefer.
The west front of Lincoln Cathedral in pale honey stone, breaking away at the edges into bare grey ground.

Beautiful Lincoln

2026 · Limited edition giclée print

A painted commission works this way. A place is held where it matters and let go everywhere else.

Stitched Memories

Your photographs, reimagined in stitch.

Send a photograph that matters to you and Bronia will stitch it by hand, thread worked directly over the printed image on canvas. It is the slowest thing she makes, and the most personal.

Usually only part of the picture is stitched. A coat, a reflection, the stretch of water someone is walking into. The stitched part is where the eye goes, so choosing it is really a decision about what the photograph is about, and that is worth talking through before anything starts.

Hand stitched
Every stitch worked by hand in the studio. It takes as long as it takes.
One of a kind
Nothing is repeated and nothing is editioned. There is only ever the one.
Slow work
A stitched piece takes considerably longer than a painted one, so ask early if it is meant for a particular date.
Framed to suit
Usually oak, which sits well against linen and canvas. Framed or not is your choice.

Ask about a stitched piece

There is a printed version of all this, for anyone who would rather hold something. Open the leaflet to read it at full size.

The printed Stitched Memories leaflet: the title, the line about photographs reimagined in stitch, a framed stitched beach scene, three smaller stitched pieces and Bronia's contact details.

Stitched work

Three of her own pieces, made the same way a commission is made.

A stitched canvas of three figures in straw hats walking away across wet sand, their reflections beneath them.

Those Summer Days

2026 · Hand stitched photograph on canvas

The hats and the reflections are stitched. The sand is left as it was.

Two figures in red bathing caps walking across bare pale canvas, worked in thread, with a dense stitched line of surf running out behind them.

We Went Anyway

2026 · Hand stitched photograph on canvas

Two figures and one line of water. Everything else is left bare.

A faded sepia family photograph on canvas, with the coat of the smallest child picked out in dense hand stitching.

The Smallest Among Them

2026 · Hand stitched photograph on canvas

Only the coat of the youngest child is stitched. Nothing else is touched.

A fragmented painting of two upholstered chairs on a flat grey-lilac ground.

Where Someone Sat

2026 · Archival pigment print on canvas

Commissioned work is made in the same language as her own.

How it works

There are four steps, and none of them are complicated.

Send the photograph. Email it, or message it on Instagram. A phone snap of an old print is usually fine. Tell Bronia what the picture is of and why it matters, because that tends to change what she keeps and what she lets fall away.

Agree the piece. She will come back with what she thinks the image wants to be, a size, a medium, a price and a timescale. Nothing starts until you are happy with all four.

She makes it. You will usually see it in progress at least once.

It arrives. Framed if you want it framed, and shipped anywhere in the UK or abroad.

Questions people ask

What kind of photograph works best?

Almost anything. Old, damaged, blurred, black and white, a face half in shadow. Imperfection is usually an advantage here rather than a problem, because the work is about memory rather than accuracy. If the photograph is already soft around the edges, so much the better.

Can you work from a photograph of someone who has died?

Yes, and often. A lot of this work is about absence and remembering. Commissions of this kind are among the most common, and Bronia treats them carefully.

How long will it take?

It depends on the piece and on what else is in the studio. Hand stitching is deliberately slow, and it is not worth rushing. You will get a realistic answer when she quotes, not an optimistic one.

Do I have to send the original photograph?

No. A good digital copy is all that is needed, so the original stays safely with you.

Start a commission