Oil portraits of Children: Children's portrait paintings

Painting children has been my passion since about 1998, about 15+ years ago. I started off by painting pastel portraits and took several workshops, included some with Connie Pratt a master pastel artist who taught me some of her secrets. Once I was comfortable with pastels and my own children were slightly older, I began oil portraits of children in earnest and I sought out the nation's leading, famous portrait artists to further understand how to paint portraits. I traveled nationwide to workshops and conferences, entered my paintings of children into competitions on a national basis and began accepting commissions. I was mentored by a famous portrait artist who is now in his late 80's.

Some of my first commissions were group portraits of moms and children and 5 cousins, which gave me a lot to work on.

I have been fortunate to paint some wonderful children from as nearby as my hometown and as far away as New Orleans.

I love depicting children's skin tones, eyes—their external and their character. Capturing a child on canvas is a joyous thing and these portraits can make lovely gifts.

To check in with me to discuss a commission, please click here: soniahale1@gmail.com.

Commission a Portrait: New Commissioned Portrait Paintings recently added to my website

Commission a Portrait, getting ready for the Commission: Choosing a Group or Individual portraits for Family Commissions

One of the next decisions parents make when getting ready to commission portraits is whether to have their children painted together or separately. This is a very personal decision. A group portrait displays the bonds between the children and is endearing that respect. The children's relationships and personalities can be very evident.

The individual portrait is quieter by contrast and all eyes are on the individual.

The other aspect to this decision is how the painting will move through the family generations. Individual portraits can easily be passed on to the next generation.

One exciting option these days is that one can have a giclee made of the original painting and have that framed and given to the other siblings or all the siblings while the parents own the original.

I find that most families have a sense of what is best for their family and do not labor unduly over this decision.




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.

Commission a Portrait, getting Ready for the Commission: Choosing Between Oil and Pastel Portraits

When beginning the commission process, there are a number of decisions the art buyer must consider. One of the first is the medium. Sometimes a family will have the tradition of pastel children's portraits, having themselves been painted in pastel and their parents as well, and wonder whether to switch to oil. It feels like a big decision and they are uncertain. Sometimes they really cannot discern the difference between the mediums. Here are my thoughts, after having been working with families for over 15 years.

Key points to consider:

1. Care: If you are meticulous about taking care of things, a pastel will be a good choice. Pastels really need to be kept away from humidity. They also need to be kept from bright light or they made fade. In addition they are more fragile, as they are framed in glass and are created on paper.

Having said that, Mary Cassatt's (1844-1926) pastels are legendary and have survived a hundred years. When I visited the Louvre I saw amazing pastels by Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1704-1788) and the Jean Chardin.(1699-1779) There is something in the fragile nature of pastels that is extremely compelling as well! They are endearing and treasured—— but must be cared for as well.

2. Style of portrait: pastels are generally a vignette and slightly more sketchy in appearance. You'll see in oil portrait below, how I was able to recreate the "vignette" feel by painting on a toned canvas. I did this to match the look of pastels of family members from prior generations.

3. Cost: Generally framing will be higher for a pastel, so the price will be about the same for a framed pastel vs a framed oil.

Here are a few samples of my work in these mediums below. You can click the links below the images to go to my website for more samples of these types of works.


Oil Portrait: Maisie



www.soniahale.com


Pastel Portrait: Bonnie




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.