About the Project
Jean Delisle is an oil painter from the Saguenay whose work is inspired by Quebec nature and by rock music. He sells originals directly, takes commissions and teaches. He has been a Rezult client for about two years, so this was a revamp for a good client we know well, not a new project.
The Challenge
His old site was built on Elementor with a black background, and Jean told us he was tired of the black. It carried more plugins than a painter's site needs, it was slow to maintain, and it was built for 2023 search, not for 2026 where people ask AI assistants and read the answer without clicking. He wanted something simpler: the paintings first, no fuss, nothing that looks AI-made.
Before & After
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Page builder | Elementor with add-on plugins | Native Bricks, fewer plugins |
| Look | Black background | White gallery, the paintings carry the colour |
| Gallery | Manually arranged pages | Filterable by series and availability, 25 works, fed from artwork records |
| Blog | Posts inside the builder | 39 posts as normal editable WordPress posts |
| Structured data | Basic | Artwork, article and breadcrumb schema |
Before and after compared on the live site, October 2026. We do not claim ranking or sales results yet: the site went live on 19 October and we will report on it after the first full month.
Our Process
We started with his own words and his real work: research on how top painters present their work, then a few directions drawn inside his existing brand. Jean picked one, an open white gallery where the paintings carry the colour, and set the rules: simple, clean, no decoration, and not AI-looking. We drafted every page as plain HTML first, he reviewed it, and only then did we rebuild it natively in Bricks.
The rebuild drops Elementor. We use Bricks with a small shared design system, the SNN-BRX theme for motion and extras, and Novamira with Claude as helpers for the repetitive work, under a human review on every page. The gallery loads from his artwork records, so a new painting added in WordPress appears in the right series with the right status. The shop runs on WooCommerce for originals, with commissions handled through a native form. Forms, mail and SEO use one tool each instead of stacked plugins.
His 39 blog posts moved over as normal WordPress posts he can edit like a document. Every painting page carries artwork schema, every post carries article schema, and pages answer questions first so search and AI assistants can quote them. French only, with a translation option for visitors, because that is who buys from him.
Timeline
- Early OctResearch and brand extraction from the live site and his own files. Jean asks for a white background.
- Oct 3-7Several directions shown in his brand. Jean picks the open gallery and sets his rules: simple, clean, not AI-looking.
- Oct 7-12Full French site in HTML, with the shop and commission flows, reviewed on a private preview.
- Oct 13-18Native Bricks build: gallery, shop, forms, 39 blog posts, legal pages and mail delivery, tested at five screen widths.
- Oct 19Live on jdelisle-artiste.com, with Search Console checks and the sitemap rebuilt.
Tech Stack
Fewer plugins, no page-builder add-ons, one SEO owner. Designed in HTML, approved by the client, then built native so Jean can edit it himself.
The 2026 Angle
In 2026 a small business site has to work for people and for answer engines like Gemini, ChatGPT and Perplexity, which often answer without a click. Clear text, real structured data and a fast, simple site matter more than animation. Fewer plugins also means fewer things to break or get hacked.
