Luxury Christmas: Luxury Gifts for Men who have Everything!

So you have been thinking for weeks of what would be a unique gift for the man in your life who has everything! (Anniversary, Christmas, Birthday...)

He has all the finest clothes he can wear, first rate sporting goods, all the lovely luxuries in life and more. What else would be special? I would like to suggest that a wonderful, memorable gift for such a person is a portrait. This can be painted from existing photographs or we can plan a time for me to visit to make a quick sketch and take photographs. It could be a portrait of him or of your child(ren).

The beauty of this gift is it will never need batteries or gather dust in a corner!

To learn more about how to commission a portrait for your loved one, please click here.

Pet portraits from Photos: pet portrait artists

Pet portraits are a delightful part of my work. Gifts for dog lovers and other pet owners are a delight to do. I am currently working on a dog portrait which I will post when it is complete. The joy that pets bring to their owner's lives is immeasurable, so capturing them on canvas is meaningful as a gift for one's self or a family member. Pet portraits from photos that you have makes the job quite seamless or I am available to photograph your pet and we can review the painting options in more detail.

Pet portraits can also make a wonderful gifts for loss of a pet.

Having learned from the master painters of our age who have passed down painting techniques from generations passed, I can make your portrait go above and beyond a simple rendering.

To learn more about pet portraits, please send me an email, include your photo if you have one you'd like painted. Gift certificates available as well.

To send me a message, please click here.

Luxury Christmas: Choosing a Memorable gift

Gifts for the woman or man who has everything can take more thought and time. One experience gift is to have your loved one(s) painted. It is an exciting process and having the painting to open is a delight.

Gift certificates are available to wrap and present. To read testimonials of how much others have loved this gift, please click here.

To discuss a commission, please click here.

Luxury Gifts for Men who Have Everything: A Memorable Birthday Gift

It was a pleasure to work with this family on this formal men's oil portrait. I was on a tight deadline, but it was rewarding to paint this for the 4 adult children's 90th birthday gift to their Dad. What a lovely family and I was so happy to see this photo in my email inbox a week or two after delivering the framed painting.


www.soniahale.com

Christmas Secrets— Shh...commission

One of the more rewarding aspects to my work is working on Christmas Secrets... Santa's workshop gets quite busy this time of the year, as these paintings are under time contraints to be put carefully bundled and put on the sleigh. In the past I've painted portraits of children, both group and individual portraits for the gift giver. Children love to be in on secrets like this and pose for photos and maybe a quick sketch— and other times a really good digital photos is all I need.

This year I am painting a surprise painting for Christmas for a family in the Boston area. To make it easier on the person who commissioned this painting, I will have it framed and varnished, so all he will need to do is to wrap it up and put it under the tree...


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.

Sargent Watercolors (and oils) at Boston Museum of Fine Arts

The Sargent Watercolors exhibition is one of the finest I've attended. Not only were there watercolors, but oils so that you could truly revel in what Sargent was communicating about his feeling for his subject.

It was moving to see in person his gorgeous paintings of his family including his sister Emily Sargent and niece Rose-Marie a frequent model. Seeing photographs of his settings in a few sparse places gave more information that I appreciated.

Sargent did not like to let go (or sell) of his watercolors and I could well see why. This is a fantastic quote from the exhbition catalog: "Sargent's watercolors 'were not to be obtained for love or money, but to fall to the lot of such of his friends as wisely as marry for them for wedding gifts or tumble out of a gondala and need consolation.' " Written by Edward V. Lucas, a popular Bristish writer.


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.