Memorable Gifts for Parents: Child Custom Portrait Paintings

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Our children are the most important people in our lives, so there is nothing more memorable for a parent than a gift representing their little ones. A work of art can be especially heartwarming because it can capture and elevate the features and personality of the person being portrayed. We selected some tips for choosing the perfect portrait to gift a proud parent. Also, a painting, if properly cared for, can endure generations to come.

Traditional

Traditional oil portraits have been made for centuries to immortalize important people and were once a privilege reserved only for the aristocracy. A traditional portrait is perfect for a parent who has a more conservative art taste, fond of more realistic styles such as Classical and Renaissance art style. When done right, an oil portrait is a great addition to the wall of any loving parent.

Photo-Montage

A custom portrait from a photo montage is also a great way to gift a parent. The process consists of using image-editing software to take elements from different photos to create one final image. Let’s say the child loves dinosaurs and outer space; you could ask for a photo montage of the child fending off dinosaurs on Mars. Or, if the child loves fairy tales and magical creatures, they could be represented playing with fairies in a fantastical world worthy of Alice in Wonderland.

Royal Portraits

Painting custom portraits from photo of a kid as royalty can result in a lighthearted and creative gift. For example, imagine the child’s face in “Prince Baltasar Carlos on Horseback”, by Diego Velazquez. That would be a playful painting that would appease both parent and child.

In case the child is a girl, her face could be represented in the body of a princess, with an exuberant, beautiful dress, such as in Velazquez’s “Infanta Marguerite Therese”. And you would not be limited to only the portrait but could also ask to add some elements dear to the child in the final composition, such as her puppy. All in all, there are several possibilities to create a unique and elegant royal portrait of a child that any parent would love.

Portraits in the Style of Great Artists

Another great way to create an impactful and unique portrait is using a photo of the child to create a portrait in the style of iconic artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Gustav Klimt, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Mary Cassat. By making custom portraits from photo, and seeing your kid through the eyes of a great artist would certainly be an unforgettable gift for any parent.

Mary Cassat

Mary Cassatt was certainly one of the most important painters of her time and arguably created some of the most endearing family-themed paintings in history. Cassat was an American painter whose artistic life was spent mostly in France, where she became one of the foremost members of the Impressionist movement.

Her style is soft, hazy, and with a pleasing luminosity, and most commonly represents women in family-related activities. Considering Cassat’s art, it’s safe to say that a child’s custom portrait in her lovely style will joy to the heart and tears to the eyes of any family member who receives it.

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most famous artists of all time. Despite being virtually unrecognized during his lifetime, today, van Gogh’s distinctive style is celebrated throughout the world.

His style was characterized by striking representations of landscapes and people, with a vibrant color palette and apparent brushstrokes loaded with pure paint, which added another layer of visual complexity to the composition. Therefore, a child portrait made through the lenses of van Gogh, such as “Portrait of Camille Roulin”, is a perfect gift for a parent who loves modern, bold, and eye-catching works of art.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir is one of the foremost Impressionist painters. With his delicate brushwork and vivid color palette, Renoir was able to create pleasing compositions with a comforting and hazy atmosphere.

As we can see in his “Girl with a Watering Can”, a child portrait in the style of Renoir can prove to be a charming and lively portrait. The final painting will be a quaint, endearing, and visually soothing work of art that would bring life to any room.

Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt was immortalized by his unmistakable style and powerful portraits. The Austrian painter became famous for his marvelous and opulent Gold Phase, in which he used leaves of actual silver and gold in his paintings. The most famous artwork of this period is his “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer”, one of the most expensive works of art in the world.

However, Klimt’s art is not limited to opulent paintings. He also created simpler yet still impactful portraits, such as “Mada Primavesi”. Here, the artist chose a more modest color palette, with variations of white, green, and purple, with spots of different colors to keep the composition dynamic. The clothes of the girl and the background are made with loose brushstrokes, with the latter verging abstraction. Yet, her face and expression are rendered with precision, preserving her personality.

The Bottom Line

As we can see, there are countless ways to gift parents with memorable child portrait paintings. From a more traditional to modern and imaginative, there are ways and styles to appease all artistic preferences.