Oil Portraits From Your Photos — Vernon Hills.
Start your commissionA small selection of commissions.
Every painting on this page started life as a customer’s photograph. Each was painted by hand on archival cotton canvas.
Four steps, about a fortnight.
From the photo on your camera roll to the painting on your wall.
Send the photo
Natural light works best. We’ll guide you on which photo will paint up best.
Choose & pay
Pick your size, artist tier and delivery. Pay 50% now, the rest on approval.
We paint & preview
Your assigned artist begins. You’ll see a high‑res preview before final brushstrokes.
Approve & ship
Once dry, we ship by courier. Free worldwide. Typical total: ~14 days.
What customers tell us.
Hand‑painted oil portraits, delivered to Vernon Hills.
Vernon Hills, Illinois – home to ~26,000 residents in the Midwest region of the United States. We deliver authentic oil paintings, hand-painted on canvas by trained artists, to every Vernon Hills address. Free shipping, money-back guarantee, never AI.
Local artistic heritage
Chicago’s Art Institute is one of the world’s great repositories of portraiture, supported by the Smart Museum, the Block Museum at Northwestern and the Krannert at the University of Illinois. Our customers in Vernon Hills commission portraits to mark anniversaries, milestone birthdays, weddings, retirements, and to keep the memory of loved ones close.
How we paint your Vernon Hills portrait
- You upload your photo.
From the comfort of your Vernon Hills home, you upload one to five reference photos via our six-step commission flow. We accept JPG, PNG and HEIC files. Additional reference shots help with details – hair texture, jewellery, skin tone in different light.
- We assign a trained oil painter.
Within 24 hours we match your commission to one of three artist tiers – Junior, Up-and-coming, or Experienced – based on the package you have chosen. Every artist on our roster is classically trained in oil portraiture.
- Sketching, underpainting and the first colour pass.
Your artist begins with a charcoal sketch on a primed canvas, then lays down a tonal underpainting in burnt sienna or raw umber. The first colour layers establish the structure of the face and the overall composition.
- Refinement and detail work.
Subsequent layers build up the likeness – bone structure, expression in the eyes, fabric texture, hair, hands. This is the longest stage and the one that separates a competent likeness from a portrait that genuinely captures who someone is.
- Preview, varnish and delivery to Vernon Hills.
Before the painting is varnished and shipped, we send you a high-resolution preview by email. You can request small adjustments at no charge. Once approved, your portrait is varnished, dried, gallery-wrapped, and dispatched to your Vernon Hills address by tracked, fully insured courier.
Pricing & sizes for Vernon Hills customers
Our pricing is transparent and tier-based – the size you choose, multiplied by the artist tier, plus optional VIP express delivery. The most-ordered size in Illinois is the 16 inch by 20 inch canvas. Vernon Hills customers commissioning for formal living rooms or grand entrances often choose 24 by 30 or larger.
Venues, occasions and gifts in Vernon Hills
Over the past few years we have delivered portraits to Vernon Hills customers commissioning for an extraordinary range of occasions. Locally, anniversaries and milestone birthdays drive the bulk of our work – but we have also painted university graduates, generations of family for country club walls, posthumous tributes to grandparents, and corporate retirement gifts for executives across the wider Illinois area. Increasingly, we are commissioned for newborns and pets – rates of dog and cat portrait commissions in Illinois have more than doubled in the last two years.
Recent Vernon Hills commissions
“Family commissioned this for my retirement from a photograph taken on our last family holiday. I had to sit down when I unwrapped it.”
— Timothy P., Vernon Hills
“Standard turnaround was 23 days exactly. The painting arrived properly packaged with a thank-you note from the artist. Lovely touch.”
— Karen P., Vernon Hills
Photo tips for Vernon Hills customers
The single biggest factor in a beautiful portrait is the source photograph. Here is what we have learnt from thousands of commissions across Illinois and the rest of the United States:
- Use natural light. Photographs taken outdoors on an overcast day, or beside a north-facing window, give the artist the most workable detail.
- Higher resolution is better. Shoot at the highest quality your camera or phone allows. We can work from older photos, but more pixels gives us more detail to translate into oil.
- The subject should fill the frame. A close, well-composed photograph of a face will always paint better than a distant snapshot, however charming.
- Don’t worry about the background. Our artists routinely re-paint or replace backgrounds.
- Multiple photos help with composites. If you are commissioning a portrait of multiple people who were not photographed together, send up to five separate photos and we will build the composition.
Delivery to Vernon Hills
Standard delivery to Vernon Hills takes roughly 23 days from the moment you complete your commission. We ship via fully tracked, fully insured courier – typically FedEx or UPS – with signature required on delivery. Each painting is varnished, dried for 72 hours, then packed in a custom protective sleeve with corner guards and a rigid outer box. There is no shipping charge to Illinois, or anywhere in the United States. VIP express delivery – an additional $199 – typically reduces total turnaround to around nine days from order to Vernon Hills doorstep.
Care & display in Vernon Hills
Illinois’s variable climate — humid summers, dry winters — calls for stable indoor humidity; modern HVAC is plenty. For best results, hang your portrait away from direct sunlight, avoid kitchens and bathrooms where airborne moisture and grease can dull the surface, and dust gently with a soft, dry cloth no more than once a month. Should you ever notice an issue, our 100% money-back guarantee covers you for 60 days from delivery.
We also serve nearby
If you are commissioning for someone in Vernon Hills or the wider Illinois area, here are the nearest cities we also serve.
Frequently asked questions for Vernon Hills customers
How long does delivery to Vernon Hills take?
Standard delivery to Vernon Hills takes roughly 23 days from the moment you complete your commission. VIP express delivery brings that down to around nine days for an additional $199. All shipping is fully tracked and insured.
Do you ship to every Vernon Hills address?
Yes – we ship free of charge to every postal address in Vernon Hills and the surrounding Illinois area, including Naperville, Aurora, Wheaton. There is no minimum order value.
Can I commission a portrait from an old photograph?
Absolutely. Most of our Vernon Hills commissions come from photos taken years (sometimes decades) earlier – wedding photographs, family snaps, holiday memories, posthumous tributes. Our artists are skilled at restoring detail from imperfect originals.
What’s the most popular size in Illinois?
The 16 inch by 20 inch canvas is the most-ordered size across Illinois – substantial enough to anchor a wall, manageable enough to ship cleanly. Vernon Hills customers commissioning for formal living rooms often size up to 24 by 30.
Do you offer rush delivery for Vernon Hills weddings or anniversaries?
Yes – VIP express delivery cuts roughly two weeks off the standard turnaround for an additional $199. Standard Vernon Hills delivery is typically 23 days; VIP brings that closer to 9 days.
What is the full process for commissioning a portrait?
Six steps. Upload your photo, choose how many people are in the painting, pick your artist tier, choose your canvas size, choose standard or VIP delivery, and pay securely via Stripe. From there, your assigned artist starts work, and you will receive a high-resolution preview by email before final brushstrokes.
Will I see the painting before it is shipped to Vernon Hills?
Yes. Before any portrait is varnished and dispatched, we send a high-resolution preview by email. Vernon Hills customers can request small adjustments at no charge.
What if I do not love my finished portrait?
Every commission is covered by our 100% money-back guarantee. If you are not delighted with your portrait, return it within 60 days of delivery for a full refund. Our refund rate is below 0.5%.
Do you frame the portrait, or does it arrive unframed?
Every portrait arrives gallery-wrapped on stretched canvas, ready to hang directly out of the box – no frame required. Vernon Hills customers who prefer a traditional framed look typically use a local framer.
Is the portrait painted by a real artist, or is this AI?
Every portrait we deliver is painted by hand, in oils, on stretched canvas, by a trained human artist. We do not use AI.
A photograph,
painted in oils.
Six steps. About fifteen minutes. From $129.
Start now