Custom Oil Portraits: Completed Teen portrait varnished and ready to deliver

The last of three young adults graduated high school and has taken on some incredible volunteer work on a year off between classrooms. Here is the portrait I completed which captures some varied aspects of his character: his humor, intelligence and forward-thinking manner. A wonderful young adult launched into the world!

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



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Pastel Portrait: Bonnie




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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...Full Length Girl's Oil Portrait unveiled for family in the South

Katie Blair
28" x 40"
oil on linen

It was a joy to work on this painting of this little Southern Beauty. Capturing her charm in her dear gesture was my goal. Her parents were extremely pleased and I was very happy to be entrusted to paint their daughter. Photo supplied by the ever-talented Elizabeth Dondis of New Orleans.

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.

Portraiture Artists: Looking back to Connie Pratt pastel workshop on Cape Cod

That is me, second from the left.

It's always fun to look back and remember some of the fantastic workshops I was able to attend, as I was learning about fine art portraiture! Here is a photograph taken by Connie Pratt (Constance Flavell Pratt). Connie was an excellent teacher who gave a demo in the am the first Monday of the weeklong workshop, and then let us learn by painting all day, every day for the rest of the week. There was a new model each day and we spent the entire day painting (in pastel) each one!

I learned so much from the time at the easel and with her fine critiques. When you are really trying to make progress you take all critiques with the intention of improving.

Connie taught me some very subtle things about pastel and I'll always be grateful to her for that.

When I saw her last, with her lovely sister Jane, Jane said they'd agreed I was her best student, which was very kind of them.


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.

Custom Oil Portraits: Photo from Client: Triple portrait framed, gifted and hung in Georgia!

Hearing from my clients and receiving word that the custom oil portrait has been framed, hung and is being enjoyed by all is one of the most rewarding aspects to my work. I have also found that framed original artwork adds a level of enrichment to a home that cannot be matched by prints or other works. Portraits go even deeper than this and provide an everlasting record of one's love for the portrait aubjects.

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, Children's portraiture: Sketch for latest triple portrait

Here is a quick sketch I did for a new client for an custom oil portrait I'm working on: it shows the relationships between the children and the composition and facial expressions. My sketches are usually quick so that I can give my oil paintings the gift of genuine feeling rather than a robotic repetition/coloring of a sketch—something can get lost if an image has been sketched over and over again sometimes.

Children's Portraiture: my latest children's portrait commission

This is my newest custom oil portrait. This young girl is the third generation of New York City family members (at least) who have had their portraits painted at a very young age. I was truly honored to be asked as other family members have been painted by well known artists including Erik Haupt, a New York portrait artist who lived from 1891-1984. It was a pleasure to see the family's portrait collection and to become a part of their family tradition.

As her mother noted she is a self-assured four year old and I was most happy to be sure that all the details were to be finalized to her satisfaction. I was gratified to hear from her that she and her husband were absolutely thrilled with the painting.

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.