FAQs 

Shipping

What is your shipping method?

• All Paper artworks are shipped via a trackable shipping service like UPS, or FedEx Ground, and will be shipped in a sturdy flat box or a shipping tube, depending on the nature and size of the art. 

• Paintings on canvas or wood boards are carefully packed and shipped via FedEx Ground.

• Items are photographed before, during, and after the packing process.

• To save costs on shipping very large canvases. Large paintings may be shipped un-stretched & in a puncture & moisture resistant Poly Mailer (rolled around a tube to prevent creasing). Stretching (reattaching) a painted canvas onto a frame is relatively easy and can be done yourself, however, these pieces can also be taken to a frame shop and stretched and framed by a professional. Typically stretching charges range from $75-$400 (depending on size and frame shop). 

What is your Shipping Turnaround Time?

Actual shipping times will vary depending on each shipping service. Factors including the holiday rush season, or your location can alter the time it takes to receive your shipment. The processing time to prepare the shipment is generally consistent and as follows:

• WORKS ON PAPER: 1 - 4 days to ship

• PAINTINGS ON CANVAS (unstretched shipped in a tube): 2 - 6 days to ship

What about International Shipping?

I gladly ship to international destinations through USPS via Priority International and can give you a shipping cost estimate at the time of your order. 
* Tracking cannot be guaranteed for international customers once the order leaves the United States, but a customs number will be provided to you. 

Returns & exchanges

I don’t believe in getting something you don’t like or want. I will accept returns or exchanges in a limited capacity as follows:

Returns: Contact me within 3 days of receiving your delivery with your Return request.
Ship items back in the original shipping material with a reputable service like FedEx. A Return needs to include a tracking number. All shipping costs are the responsibility of the sender. Refunds typically take 3-5 days and will be processed from the date the order has been received by Koval Fine Art and inspected for damage.
Cancellations: If you made a mistake and changed your mind, contact me as soon as possible or within 12 hours so your shipment can be stopped and a refund can be processed quickly. Once an order has shipped the process reverts to a regular Return.

I can't accept returns for:

• Commissions. Any custom orders, unless agreed upon at the time of the commission.

• Damage. Any order that has been damaged or altered in any way for any reason.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Paints & Process

What brands of paints do you use?
I detail this in a lot more depth on my blog pages, however in a nutshell, for water-based artwork, I’ll use a combination of Holbein, Winsor & Newton, Schmincke, and Daniel Smith, depending on what effect I’m trying to achieve. For instance, Winsor & Newton has excellent transparent paints, whereas Daniel Smith has amazing granulating pigments. Each brand has its strengths so there isn’t one best brand. For oil paints, I’ll use Williamsburg, Sennelier, or Charvin mostly. For similar reasons, each one has its strength.

Do you paint the architectural scenes on-site?
Yes, I generally start them on site, with a sketch or rough rendering, and will also take reference photographs. Once I feel I captured the feeling of a location I’ll make notes about the experience, often recording the temperature, other weather conditions, amount of people, or anything that will help me remember the feeling and spirit of what made me curious about a scene. I will take all that back to the studio to finish the rendering process.

What’s your interest in NYC architecture?
I took 2 years of architecture schooling years ago, thinking that one day I might be an architect, but I ventured into photography instead. I still have a deep appreciation and interest in architecture. I love how buildings age, decay, get rebuilt, or change as time passes. I’m also very curious about how architecture changes and influences over time-based on our own cultural needs. When I started to paint my New York series, it originally started as a simple interest in NYC’s unique architecture, but then after a while, I started to notice how quickly places that I found interesting were closing or being renovated. It was then that I realized that what I was doing was not only creating art but documenting history from my own perspective.

How do you decide what buildings to paint?
It has to grab me emotionally. Sometimes it’s because of the actual architecture, but often times it’s about how the aging process appears. I love the aesthetic of graffiti on buildings as a type of cultural marker. I don’t necessarily find beauty in graffiti in isolation, but when it’s combined with the austere nature of some architecture, it’s a great juxtaposition. I do take commissions as well. So when a customer has a scene that moves them, I’ll try to tap into that and find the beauty and emotion that they also feel. It’s a very collaborative process.

If you have any questions please free to ask me, and I’ll include them here on the FAQs.