Client Testimonials for Commissioned Portraits, House portraits and Landscapes

It's always great to hear from my clients. Here are some comments I'd like to share:

Hi Sonia!
I picked up the framed pastel today and I am deliriously happy. It's really beautiful. I'm not sure it's in the final location, but it's up and I'm thrilled to tears.

. . . thank you once again! It was a pleasure and I enjoyed the process with you.

I knew my wife would cry when she saw the portrait, because it was her.

Sonia exceeded expectations at capturing the warm feeling of a New England home that was ours for a memorable three years. That picture immediately brings us back to great friends, neighbors, schools, and community. What an awesome way to remember the best of the past.

We love it!!!!!!

You are a wonder. Thank you so much for letting us be a part of your alchemy.
xoE

I am speechless! Sonia, it is simply lovely! Thank you so much!

Sonia, this is really wonderful. I am so in awe of your talent.
Wowee! It is even more amazing than the photo shows. The colors, the light -- the skin tones.

Thank you SO much, Caroline for making this happen. I agree with Laura, I think M&D will be absolutely thrilled!

Good Morning Sonia,
Thanks for sending the painting of my mother. I love it ! I tried printing it on photo paper, but my printer needs adjustment to accept the heavy paper. Will keep trying as it will be a focal piece on the wall where I have a xxx memorabilia collection.

Dear Sonia
Mailing me a photograph of my mother would be much appreciated. (referring to the painting of his mother)

Beautiful. I just want to sit here with it for a while.

The painting has a glow and lights up the library.

It is impossible to thank you properly, but we will treasure this portrait always.

Portrait and Landscape commissions:
Portrait commissions are a wonderful way to honor loved ones. In addition I work from my own reference materials and also work on commission, so if you have a dream seascape/ landscape image, please let me know. These make enduring and memorable gifts! ( My email is soniahale1@gmail.com.)




Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

New Formal Woman's commission to be on my website soon

Here is a better photograph of the painting which is currently being framed. It is a pleasure to be able to paint adults along with children. I also like the variety in my work of painting official portraits with family portraits.

To see more of my Adult and Teen portrait commissions click here

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

Outdoor oil sketch: child with pet portrait

Here is a sketch for a painting I'm working on (it's a bit of a washed out photo, I will update the photo soon). It's really nice to personalize children's portraits with pets. We decided for the finished piece to leave out the collar on the dog. Grover, a Portuguese Water dog, is my first dog to sit for me and did his best!

To go to my Children's Portrait Commissions Gallery

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

New corporate portrait: the business portrait

Clark Waterfall
BSG Team Ventures
Oil on linen
40" x 30"


www.soniahale.com

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

New formal woman's oil portrait

40" x 30"
oil on linen
Haley

I enjoyed working on this formal oil portrait. During the several sittings I got to know Haley, a lovely young woman.


www.soniahale.com

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

Plein Air painting at Rob's house

Sea Street Dunes, Dennis
oil on linen panel
9" x 12" (work in progress here)

Dogwood Tree
oil on linen panel
9" x 12" (work in progress here)

To see more of my Cape Cod painting gallery click here

After a long winter with weekly near-blizzards in February and about 5 feet of snow in our built up in our yard (though I'll admit now it seems a bit Dr. Zhivago) AND a rainy and cold spring, it was great to get to the Cape over the weekend. I was surprised at how nice it was to be outdoors painting and quickly got on a roll, wondering why I paint indoors (5 feet of snow, cold, rain. . . commissions deadlines. . .). I will photograph and post the three paintings I did soon.

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

Painting from life in Putney, Vermont

It was a joy to paint in Putney, Vermont this past week and I was pleased that my favorite model out of the three days liked my portrait painting of her (in progress as I had 3 hours to work from life). I will work on it a tiny bit more and post it soon, but it is the middle portrait in the third photograph down. Another three hours to paint the dear Clara Rose's face would have been a dream for me and I would have been about done with the painting. . .

I painted my first nude in a long time as well. In my early 20's I drew from the nude model often in classes, as well as did numerous (quick and detailed) charcoal studies of the figure, skeleton and animal skulls, including at classes with William Reimann at Harvard University's Carpenter Center.

I am always grateful for the artists I meet along the way who share their artistic journey with me. (Michelle D., if you are reading this, thank you. . .)

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

The High School Graduation Oil Portrait: a Timeless Treasure

I am working on my third high school portrait in a year, a double of siblings, and I have to say, what an incredibly wonderful thing to have once your child is off at college. As a parent I can fully understand how comforting it would be to have this in one's home once your "child" departs. Photos are of course superb, but a painting goes so much further.

Eighteen is a threshold and what a moment to capture. I get goosebumps thinking about the amazing transition from child to teen to young adult.

So very fortunately these days it is much easier to stay in touch with our children by email, by text, by phone, etc etc. And air travel is so much more "done". However, to have this timeless painting of them . . .!


www.soniahale.com

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

Tips for framing an oil painting/oil portrait commission

Framing a portrait seems like a daunting task to most of my clients. It is not something which comes up routinely in their lives and of course they wish to get it right.

Firstly, get quotes from several framers with excellent reputations in your area. They will be able to guide you through the process and give you their eye. You may find on your first visit that you are comfortable and set to leave the painting to be framed.

Considerations:
1. Width of frame: The larger the painting, usually the wider the frame.

2. Style of frame: Sometimes one wants the frame to speak and add to the statement. Other times one wishes for it to sit back more. [This is where artistry continues to be involved in the decision-making and understandably, the non-artist can become confused. A good framer can help you.}

2. Color of the frame: Extremely important: the color and tone must compliment the painting, whether it's more gold or more brown. One ideally should see the frame right up to the painting and you can cup your hands around the edge of the painting/frame and squint to get a feel for how the entire piece will look framed.

3. Shine in frame: Do you want it to sit back—— and be more matt——or sparkle a bit.

4. Formality of the room where the painting will hang and the level of formality in the painting: Match the frame style accordingly.

In the end it's taste and preference. With a few frames held up to your piece you will soon be on you way to getting your painting hung!

To see some of my portrait and landscape paintings click here

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

Why I do what I do: the Happy client. . .

pastel, Wellesley College paramecium pond 24" x 36" SOLD


What is rewarding to me as an artist is the response from my clients when they receive their paintings——and frame and hang them. If I didn't have extremely happy clients, I'd find something else to do.

So after being out for a bit, I came in and checking my email and received a nice surprise to hear from a woman who mid-year last year commissioned me to do an over-sized pastel of her treasured place from her past , "Hi Sonia!
I am sorry it has been so long.
I got the pastel framed today and I am deliriously happy. . . I have my beautiful painting on the wall. It's up . . . and I'm thrilled to tears.
very best - H
and thank you once again! It was a pleasure enjoying the process with you. "

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com.

Portrait subject Sarah returns

One of my portrait commission subjects, Sarah, has returned from 2 1/2 months in Taiwan. It's always nice to see the portrait subject with the painting and to compare a bit after the interval of painting. A few small adjustments later——I believe it was 4 brushstrokes her Mom counted——and I am set to varnish and deliver.

The finished oil painting, with better resolution/ saturation, will be up on my website within a week or two.


www.soniahale.com

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

Best of Worldwide Portrait and Figurative Artists: my page layout

The art department has done a fabulous job with the spread featuring my paintings, which will be printed early next year in the Best of Worldwide Portrait and Figurative Artists. I'm so pleased they contacted me to ask to include my images. I am truly honored to be featured in this book.

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

Painting from Life: the Portrait Sitting

While I do not require a sitting with my portrait subjects, it's always a pleasure to get to know my subjects better and to observe from life while chatting. I promise you it is not a sleepy event; but a nice time to learn a bit more about each other. It's truly a pleasure and honor to paint my subjects and I do appreciate when they are able to take the time to stop by. Even just one hour can be a very beneficial experience and personalizes the painted commission.

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com.

Choosing between Pastel vs. Oil Portraits

Can you tell which is the oil and which is the pastel? The boy is in oil, and the girl pastel.

I am often asked about the pros and cons of pastel vs. oil portraiture. I studied under Constance Flavell Pratt for pastel portraiture, learning the nuances of handling of this lovely, ethereal medium. I have worked in both pastel and oil for portraiture for over ten years now, and have painted in oil for decades.

Both are timeless works of art, however pastels are intrinsically more delicate. A pastel is essentially chalk on paper; though archival, elite materials are used. Like a butterfly, a baby, a rainbow, I believe we love pastels for their delicacy; how they capture a tenderness of life, but like all delicate things you have to be more watchful not to incur damage.

What do I mean by damage?

—Water/mildew: Never, ever store a pastel (or any work of art for that matter) in a basement.

—Pastels must be hung out of direct sunlight to prevent the fading of color pigments.

—The unframed surface is easily marred since most artists do not spray-fix them as that alters the delicate colors. Until they are framed with glass do not let the cat check it out! As an artist I have heard stories of rambunctious children waltzing into rooms and ruining pieces in the works still in studios.

—Take extra care when hanging/transporting the framed piece as it is in glass. At an art exhibition the organizers were trying out new hanging apparatus and artwork was dropping to the floor. I pulled out my pastel early.

Of course these types of events are fairly rare, but I feel that the ideal owner of a pastel is be a careful person who will watch out for their art and remember they must take good care of it.

Oils are more resilient and framing costs can be less for the same size piece: sometimes that can mean that it is a better "buy" to purchase the oil, if you prefer oil, as the price will be about the same as a consumer, with the purchase of the painting and the frame in total. Framing a pastel is an elaborate process of a custom-cut double matt, glass and frame. However if you want a rainbow, sometimes you are willing to go the extra half-mile for it!

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum—a Boston treasure not to be missed

"The task is to find and create a humane milieu for works of art, a humane environment for all art which will not repel mankind, but attract him."
Matthew Prichard to Gardner 1908

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is one of the jewels of Boston: a gorgeous 15th century Venetian palace in the heart of Boston filled with the finest works of all ages... one simply could not duplicate this enchanting place if one wished. Packed with art stacked on walls from the masters of all ages one could spend a full day in one room alone and not be done. There are oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, and etchings by Rembrandt, Dewing, Hassam, Dennis Bunker Miller, Sargent, Anders Zorn, Vermeer, Matisse, Titian, Rubens, Turner, Whistler . . . and the courtyard is exquisitely beautiful and always seasonally appointed with stunning flowers. It is a work of art in it's own right and incorporates Greek and Roman statuary into its design.

Personally as an artist I have trouble seeing what I wish to see at times. I would like to tweak the lighting and the rope placement. My feeling now is that the museum is about the passion and love of art, not the study of a particular artist's work— so one must soak up the environment and not make any particular plans as one can be immensely frustrated by works in dim, high corners. However, in the end one walks out so fully appreciative of the overall gift of this Venetian Mansion to Boston. Isabella started out as a wealthy mom, but tragically lost her son Jackie when he was a baby of two years old in 1865. She hence flung herself into trips to Europe, meeting and collecting from the finest artists of her time with the help of Bernard Berenson,who was her right hand in these matters of collecting. She sought to create an unprecedented, glorious museum with the plan to give it back to all of us to enjoy.

Also important to note is that she was eccentric and left unwavering rules about rooms not being altered after her death. There are fun biographies to be read about her parties with the powerful and wealthy of her time and her unconventional behavior.

The Harvard Museum's Fogg Art Museum is closed and being renovated http://harvardmagazine.com/breaking-news/harvard-fogg-art-museum-renovation with an anticipated reopening in 2013, so this is now the best small art museum in Boston to visit in my opinion. It is being renovated as well. . but is still open and I highly recommend a stop in. . or several stops in. . .

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.

Testimonials: Unsolicited comments about my Commissioned Portrait paintings

I am speechless! Sonia, it is simply lovely! Thank you so much!

Sonia, this is really wonderful. I am so in awe of your talent.
Wowee! It is even more amazing than the photo shows. The colors, the light -- the skin tones.

Thank you SO much, Caroline for making this happen. I agree with Laura, I think M&D will be absolutely thrilled!

Good Morning Sonia,
Thanks for sending the painting of my mother. I love it ! I tried printing it on photo paper but my printer needs adjustment to accept the heavy paper. Will keep trying as it will be a focal piece on the wall where I have a xxx memorabilia collection.

Dear Sonia
Mailing me a photograph of my mother would be much appreciated. (referring to the painting of his mother)

Beautiful. I just want to sit here with it for a while.

The painting has a glow and lights up the library.

It is impossible to thank you properly, but we will treasure this portrait always.

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com.

Another great conference: 2010 Portrait Society of America conference in Washington D.C.

I'm back to work in my studio in full force this week, very much inspired after an action-packed few days in Washington, D.C. The Portrait Society of America's annual conference is filled with painting demonstrations, lectures, bus trips to local museums, a banquet to celebrate the top portrait artists in the country and this year even offered a wonderful mystery art sale.

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com.

Arts to the Avenue in Greenwich, Connecticut on the occasion of the Greenwich Arts Council's 35th anniversary

It was great to be in Greenwich, Connecticut on Saturday drawing portraits in charcoal and catching up with my fellow CSOPA artists. That the weather held up was wonderful. I made many new friends in Connecticut and really appreciated the Starbucks cappuccino one gracious and happy portrait subject brought to me! It's always a pleasure to be able to chat with one's portrait subjects, which enables one to bring more of their personality into the work. I also want to take a moment to thank those sitters as I was so very impressed with their ability to sit still for 30 + minutes, even the younger ones!

To see my portrait commissions click here

Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com.