Art Photo Music

I always assumed that portrait painting was one of those lost arts. Having your portrait painted used to be the thing to do before the heyday of photography. Even after photography had been invented, you could get better results from painted portraits. The painter could capture exactly the right feeling, texture, and emotions in an idealized form that would not necessarily come through in early photographs. Nonetheless, because of the realism of photography, oil portraits soon gave way and almost disappeared altogether. You can still see them in art museums, of course, but fewer and fewer people get them professionally done.

As a matter of fact, I never would have gotten into portrait painting in the first place if it weren't for the fact that I saw one hanging in my friend's living room. He had been taking an oil painting class, and it was his final project. He was definitely not an art master, and it wasn't a professional quality work, but nonetheless it really captured his personality in great detail. There is something that came through in it that never would have come through in a photograph. There was such an emotional depth to it. I couldn't even imagine what a professional portrait painter could do!

It inspired me to start looking at portrait paintings online. I was surprised by how many portrait painting services there are. There are literally thousands of different places that will paint a portrait from a photograph. Not all of them are the same, however. You see, portrait painting is a great way for amateur artists and people working their way through art school to try to make a living. Some of them have talent, but some of them don't. Fortunately, most of the studios will show you samples of their work, so that you can make up your mind yourself.

I took a couple months to decide on the portrait painter I wanted to use. I thought about using one of the services that lets you send in a photo, but I eventually decided against it. After all, I wanted the whole experience. I wanted to actually get to go in, sit for a painting, and watch the intensity on the artist's face as the image slowly took shape. I wasn't disappointed either. It was a pretty slow process, and boring at moments, but I was very happy with the results and I was glad I got to see it happening.