Picture left by artist put on the counter (9)
I believe the answer is:
portrayal
'picture' is the definition.
(I know that portrayal is a type of picture)
'left by artist put on the counter' is the wordplay.
'left' becomes 'port' (left side of a ship - opposite of starboard).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'put' becomes 'lay' (as in laying or putting something down).
'on the counter' is a reversal indicator (counter can mean in the opposite direction).
'lay' in reverse letter order is 'yal'.
'port'+'ra'+'yal'='PORTRAYAL'
(Other definitions for portrayal that I've seen before include "Representation" , "Artistic depiction" , "It depicts" , "Depicting characters" , "painting" .)