CHILDREN’S HEIRLOOM PORTRAIT PAINTINGS IN AUSTIN, TEXAS

A mixed media heirloom portrait is a fine art painting made from a photograph. I start with a portrait from your child's heirloom sitting, then hand-paint it digitally, refining skin tones, textures, highlights and shadows one at a time until the image reads as a painting rather than a photo. The finished piece is printed and set into a hand-finished artisan frame, most often an oval. Framed portraits start at $1,300 and I hand-deliver them anywhere in the Austin area. Shipping arranged for an additional fee elsewhere.

A hand-painted heirloom portrait of a young boy in a white heirloom shirt, framed in an oval

Custom Painted Portraits from Your NWP Heirloom Photo

Your favorite Noëlle Westcott Photography heirloom photo portrait is thoughtfully transformed into a high-quality, hand-painted mixed media portrait, blending fine art photography with painterly detail. This process elevates your child’s portrait into a one-of-a-kind artwork—soft, timeless, and deeply personal.

These custom painted portraits from your heirloom photo are created for families who desire more than a photograph alone. The result is a museum-quality piece that feels both classic and artistic, designed to be cherished and passed down for generations.

Living room with white sofa, blue armchair, wooden coffee table with a vase of green flowers, and built-in bookshelves flanking a white fireplace. Above the fireplace is a framed portrait of a young girl with blue eyes and a white bow, reflected in a
Framed portrait of a young girl with curly blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing a light blue dress with an embroidered pattern and a large blue bow in her hair, displayed on a light wooden surface against a plain white wall.
A bedroom with light blue walls, a white bed with floral bedding, a wooden nightstand with a lamp and small plant, and a large window with white curtains. Sunglasses are hanging on the side of the window.
A framed portrait of a young girl with blue eyes and light brown hair, wearing a white bow, set against a floral wallpaper background.
A bedroom with two white twin beds with blue and white bedding, a small white nightstand with a lamp and books between them, and two framed portrait photos of a girl and a boy hanging above each bed. A basket of teddy bears is on the floor near the b
Person holding a framed photograph of a smiling baby girl with a white bow in her hair, dressed in light blue with ruffled sleeves.
A cozy living room with a white mantel fireplace, surrounded by seating including floral armchairs and a blue sofa, a wooden coffee table with a floral centerpiece, large windows with white curtains, and a picture of a young girl in a blue dress in a
A bedroom with two wooden four-poster beds with white quilts and pillows, a nightstand with a lamp between the beds, and white curtains on a window, with a blue and white toile wallpaper and built-in shelves in the corner.

The Heirloom Painted Portrait Process

  • A wooden chair in a photography studio with a white background and studio lighting equipment.

    Heirloom Portrait Photo Sitting

    STEP 1

    To begin, you will book a Petite Heirloom Portrait Session on a specific event date with Noëlle Westcott Photography.
    Each child requires their own booking and receives a 10-minute portrait sitting, intentionally designed to capture genuine expressions with simplicity and ease.

  • Close-up portrait of a young boy with short brown hair, blue eyes, and a neutral expression, wearing a white collared shirt against a plain white background.

    Selecting Your Reference Image

    STEP 2

    You will receive a full watermarked digital gallery of unedited expressions and poses. From this gallery, you will select three images to be transformed into fully edited heirloom photo portraits. After you receive your edited heirloom portrait photos, you will select the one(s) you’d like to have turned into a painted art portrait.

  • A young boy with light skin and blond hair, wearing a white shirt, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression.

    Creating Your Painted Artwork

    STEP 3

    A seamless blend of photography and painterly artistry, each mixed media heirloom portrait artwork is digitally hand-painted with great care and intention. Every detail (skin tones, textures, highlights, and shadows) is refined to achieve a soft, painterly finish that feels timeless. This process allows your child’s heirloom portrait to exist as both a photograph and a fine art painting, making it a true statement piece within your home.

  • Portrait of a young boy with light brown hair and blue eyes, dressed in a white shirt, framed in an oval, gold-colored frame.

    Choosing Your Frame

    STEP 4

    Your heirloom painted portrait is completed in either an oval or rectangular frame, thoughtfully selected for its museum-quality craftsmanship. Each frame is hand-finished and delicately aged by artisans using time-honored methods, and offered in Taupe, Walnut, Gold Spray, Linen White, or Silver Spray—chosen to complement fine art portraiture and transform your piece into a lasting heirloom.

Digital compilation of five portrait photographs of the same young boy with light brown hair, wearing a white shirt, each framed with a different colored oval frame labeled with different names of frames or spray paints, including taupe, walnut, linen white, silver spray, and gold spray, with

Oval Frames

Your heirloom painted portrait may be finished in either an oval or rectangular frame, each crafted with museum-quality materials.

Oval frames, with their timeless elegance, are created from a single, continuous cut of wood, unlike rectangular frames which are formed from four separate pieces joined at the corners. This uninterrupted construction not only enhances durability but also contributes to the refined, sculptural beauty that oval frames are known for.

Every frame is hand-painted and aged by artisans using traditional techniques passed down through generations. Available in Taupe, Walnut, Gold Spray, Linen White or Silver Spray, these frames are curated specifically to complement fine art heirloom portraiture and elevate your artwork into a true collector’s piece.

Interested in ordering an oval frame only? Email me here.
Portrait of a young girl with blue eyes and brown hair, wearing a white lace dress and a white bow hair accessory, inside an oval wooden frame.
Child smiling with open mouth in a white oval frame, wearing a white shirt.
A portrait of a young girl with curly blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing a light blue dress with a Peter Pan collar and a large blue bow in her hair, framed in an oval gold frame.
A smiling baby girl with a white bow in her hair, wearing a light blue dress with ruffled collar, inside an oval silver frame.
Young girl with blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a white dress and a large white bow in her hair, framed in an oval-shaped beige frame.
A baby girl with a white bow in her hair, smiling, wearing a light blue dress with ruffled collar, reflected in an oval mirror with a wooden frame.
A young girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a small blue bow, wearing a white embroidered dress, sitting against a light background, in a gold oval frame.
A young boy with light brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a white collared shirt, appears in a vintage oval wooden frame.
A baby girl with blue eyes and light brown hair wearing a white bow and white top in an oval-shaped frame.
Smiling baby with brown hair and big eyes in an ornate oval picture frame.
Portrait of a young girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing a white dress with ruffled sleeves and a large white bow in her hair, framed in an oval silver frame.
Digital portrait of a young boy with light brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a white shirt, framed in an oval shape.
Portrait of a young girl with red hair and blue eyes, wearing a light blue dress with lace details and a large cream-colored bow in her hair, set in an oval wooden frame.
Portrait of a young blonde girl with blue eyes, wearing a light blue dress with puffed sleeves and lace trim, inside a white oval frame.
Painted portraits of a young girl and boy in oval frames with gold edges, girl with long blonde hair, white dress, large white bow, and boy with short light brown hair and a white shirt.
A child’s bedroom with pink walls, a white bed with floral pillows, and a white dresser topped with stuffed animals, a table lamp, and books. A mirror above the dresser reflects a young girl with blonde hair and a large white bow, smiling. The room is softly lit by natural light from a window with white curtains.

These fine art children’s portraits are not created for a season—they are created for a lifetime. Thoughtfully composed and artistically finished, each portrait honors the innocence and beauty of childhood while offering enduring artistic value.

A gold locket with two oval picture frames, containing a young girl with a white bow in her hair on the left and a young boy with short hair on the right, resting on a cream-colored satin fabric.
A bedroom with a wooden dresser, a teddy bear on a bed, and a portrait of a young boy hanging on the wall.

Investment

To create your Fine Art Mixed Media Painted Portrait, you must first book a Petite Heirloom Portrait Session ($399), which includes a 10-minute portrait sitting, a full watermarked digital proof gallery (unedited), selection of 3 images to be turned into heirloom portraits, fully edited color and black & white heirlooms, a $50 fine art print credit, and one web-size digital file for social sharing—additional heirloom edits are available at $50 per pose. Finished artwork is priced separately. My fine art, hand-colored framed painted portraits start at $1,300 for a 16×20″ portrait with an oval frame and $2,000 for a 20×24″ portrait with an oval frame. Custom painting-only commissions (without a frame) are also available upon request. If you are in the Austin area, I will hand-deliver your painting. For out-of-town clients, shipping can be arranged for an additional fee.

What Investment Included
Petite Heirloom Portrait Session $399 Required first step. A 10 minute sitting, full watermarked proof gallery, 3 fully edited heirloom portraits in color and black and white, a $50 print credit, and one web size digital. Additional edited poses are $50 each.
16×20 painted portrait, oval frame From $1,300 Hand-painted mixed media artwork, finished in an artisan oval frame in your choice of Taupe, Walnut, Gold Spray, Linen White or Silver Spray.
20×24 painted portrait, oval frame From $2,000 The same process at a larger scale, suited to a mantel or a stairwell wall.
Painting only, no frame On request Custom commissions available without a frame. Email me to discuss.
Oval frame only On request For clients who already have an heirloom photo portrait and want it framed.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Neither. It's digitally hand-painted, which means I work the image over by hand, brushstroke by brushstroke, refining skin tones, textures, highlights and shadows. It isn't a preset or an automated effect, and it isn't oil on canvas either. It's its own thing, and the closest description is a painting made with a digital brush rather than a bristle one.

  • This is the question I get most, and it's a fair one. Painted portraiture has a reputation for softening a face until it stops being a specific person.

    Let me be honest about what this is. It's a painting made from a photograph, not a copy of one. Minor things shift in the translation, the way they do in any painted portrait, so it won't be a pixel for pixel match to the original image. What I can tell you is that it stays very close, because I'm not painting from imagination. I'm working over a photograph I made myself, under controlled light, one detail at a time. The structure of your child's face is already correct before I start.

    You also won't be seeing it for the first time when it arrives. I send proofs and we go through revision rounds together, so you can tell me what's working and what isn't. Nothing goes to print and into a frame until you've approved it.

    If something feels off in a proof, say so. I'd much rather adjust it than hand you a piece you're quietly disappointed in.Item description

  • Only if it is a portrait I photographed. Mixed Media Heirloom Portraits are painted from files created in my studio under controlled light, because the painting process depends on the quality and consistency of that original file. If you have sat for a portrait with me before, I am happy to work from that image. If you have not, the first step is booking a session.

  • These are true works of art, so they take time. Each portrait is digitally hand painted by me, and the artisan oval frame is made to order once your painting is underway. The full process takes up to 1.5 months from the time you place your mixed media painted portrait order to the time your finished piece is delivered.

  • The oval shape is a nod to the classic Victorian portraits these pieces are modeled after, and staying true to that tradition matters to me. It is also cut from a single continuous piece of wood, where a rectangular frame is four pieces joined at the corners, which makes it more durable and gives it a sculptural quality. Each one is hand painted and aged by artisans using traditional techniques. If you prefer a rectangular frame, that option is available too.

  • Taupe, Walnut, Gold Spray, Linen White and Silver Spray, chosen specifically to suit fine art portraiture. Rectangular frames are available if you prefer.

  • Yes. Painted portraits are created from your own heirloom sitting, so the Petite Heirloom Portrait Session at $399 is the first step. Each child needs their own booking.

  • Yes, and siblings hung as a pair is one of my favorite ways to see this work. Each child needs their own sitting and their own artwork.

  • Hand-delivered anywhere in the Austin area. For clients outside Austin, shipping is arranged for an additional fee.

  • I offer two standard sizes, and 16x20 is the one most people land on.

    Every Mixed Media Heirloom Portrait includes your photograph transformed into a painted portrait, a museum quality fine art print on premium paper, an oval frame in your choice of color selected on the order form, professional cutting and mounting of the artwork in the frame, and a high resolution digital file delivered once your framed piece is complete.

    16x20, $1,300. Reads beautifully above a crib or dresser in a nursery, where you're usually viewing it from a few feet away and the room has a softer scale. It also works well on a gallery wall alongside smaller pieces.

    20x24, $2,000. Over a mantel or on a large open wall, the room can carry more. A fireplace typically wants a piece that spans roughly two thirds the width of the mantel, so this is the one I'd point you toward for that.

    If your space calls for something different, I can also order 8x10, 11x14, 20x30 and 30x40. An 8x10 or 11x14 works well on a bookshelf, a desk, a hallway grouping or a bedside table. A 30x40 is a true statement piece for an entry, a stairwell, or a wall with high ceilings. Those sizes are priced individually.

    Email me at info@noellewestcott.com

  • Wherever you'll walk past it every day. That sounds obvious, but the most common regret I hear is that a piece ended up in a formal room nobody actually sits in.

    A few things I've learned from seeing these installed in real houses:

    Above a mantel is the classic placement and the reason the larger size exists. A 16x20 tends to get swallowed by a fireplace wall, so if this is your plan, go with the 20x24.

    Above a bed or a dresser in your child's room is my personal favorite. There's something right about a child growing up with their own portrait in their own room, and the 16x20 is well scaled for it. Siblings hung as a pair over twin beds is the version I'd hang in my own house.

    A stairway wall or upstairs landing works beautifully, especially if you're planning to add a portrait each year. Vertical stacking suits oval frames, and a growing wall of them is what turns a purchase into a tradition.

    Patterned wallpaper is not a problem. Oval frames actually work better against a busy wall than rectangles do, because the curve breaks up the pattern instead of competing with it.

    One practical note: hang it at eye level, which usually means lower than people think. Center of the frame at about 57 inches from the floor. And avoid a wall in direct afternoon sun, the same as you would with any framed artwork.

  • Yes, in specific ways, and I would rather tell you exactly how.

    Every portrait I deliver begins with photographs I take. For sessions and standard portraits, AI assisted tools handle workflow only: sorting files, color correction, noise reduction, and finishing.

    My Mixed Media Heirloom portraits are interpretive artwork rather than straight photographs. AI assisted tools help me move from photograph to painted foundation. From there, every piece is hand painted in Photoshop: brushwork, layers, skin and fabric, hair, light, and background, all built and refined by hand until the piece looks the way I intend. There is no button that produces one of these. AI shortens one stage of a long process. It does not make the portrait.

    I do not create a portrait of someone I did not photograph, and I do not sell or license your images for AI training.

If you would like to learn more about my mixed media painted heirloom portraits, or if you are interested in ordering an oval frame for your existing heirloom photo portrait, I invite you to join my email list for exclusive updates and first access to this limited offering.

Person sitting on bed using a laptop with a website displaying children's portrait artwork. Around are drawings, a yellow crayon, and a small orange and black cartoon cat drawing.

This new offering is something I have poured my heart into—carefully refining both the artistic process and the presentation to offer families something truly special.

Where I Create Heirloom Portrait Paintings

Every painted portrait starts with a sitting in Austin, so that part is fixed. The heirloom sessions happen here on select dates throughout the year, and families drive in from Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and all over the Hill Country for them, along with everyone closer in around Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, Liberty Hill, Westlake, Lakeway, Bee Cave and Dripping Springs.

The painting itself happens at my desk, one brushstroke at a time, over however many hours it takes to get a face right. That part isn't geographic.

Finished artwork is hand-delivered anywhere in the Austin area, because a framed piece this size deserves to arrive in someone's hands rather than on a doorstep. For clients outside Austin, I arrange shipping for an additional fee.

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