Fine Art Family Portraits
Your family, thoughtfully celebrated. Your story, made into art.
Sanders Fine Portraits creates fine art family portraits through a concierge-level studio experience in Highland Park, serving families throughout the Chicago area and beyond. Founded on personal attention, intentional artistry, and a deep appreciation for family, our approach brings together a dedicated portrait artist, an art director, a studio director, and a client concierge to guide your experience.
The result is more than a record of how your family looks today. It is a commissioned piece of artwork that honors your connection - and gives it a lasting place in your home.
Artistic Family Portraits, Created Around Your Story
There is no single way to be a family. There should be no single approach to telling your story.
Your portrait may bring together adult children returning home, several generations of family members, a couple celebrating a life shared, or a family whose beloved dog belongs beside them. Before you arrive, we take time to understand who will be joining you, how you are connected, and what you would most like the artwork to honor.
That understanding informs the experience, from the way your family is arranged in the camera study to the individual relationships we celebrate along the way. Our style is formal and timeless; the story is distinctly yours.
As Gina Sanders explains, “every family is still their own entity, their own story.”
A Luxury Portrait Experience, Personally Guided
Thoughtful service is felt in the details: a suite prepared for your arrival, a team who already understands your family, and the freedom to be present with one another while we guide the process.
Before you arrive, we take time to understand your family’s story: the relationships, individual personalities, and meaningful occasions you wish to celebrate. That understanding shapes your experience, allowing you to feel welcomed, understood, and at ease.
Your Personal Fine Art Portrait Concierge Team
Your family deserves an experience as thoughtfully considered as the artwork itself. At Sanders Fine Portraits, four dedicated professionals attend to your family during your reserved studio appointment, bringing together personal hospitality, artistic expertise, and thoughtful guidance.
Your Studio Director. Your Studio Director oversees the details that make your visit feel effortless. Before your appointment, our studio team connects with you for a personal preparation call, reviewing wardrobe guidance, parking, and any additional details about your family. Your suite is prepared 30 minutes before your appointment, giving you time to arrive and get ready without feeling hurried. Behind this thoughtful coordination is a simple intention: for your family to feel expected, prepared, and genuinely welcomed.
Your Client Concierge. Your Client Concierge brings a personal touch to your time in the studio, helping your family feel comfortable and cared for throughout your visit. With a private suite set aside for changing and finishing touches, you have space to settle in before entering the camera study. This attention to your comfort allows you to leave everyday distractions behind and enjoy being together.
Your Portrait Artist. Your Portrait Artist is an experienced fine portrait artist who guides your family through deliberate lighting and posing, helping each person feel comfortable while bringing your connection into focus. There is no expectation that you know how to pose or that every small detail must be perfect. Your attention can remain on one another while our artists attend to the refinements.
Alongside your family portrait, your portrait artist explores the relationships that make your story distinctive, from each child’s individuality to the parents together or a newly welcomed family member. Afterward, while you relax in your suite, your portrait artist begins preparing the images, selecting the strongest pieces for your viewing experience.
Your Art Director. Your Art Director helps you envision how your chosen portraits will become finished artwork for your home. Through a personal gallery walk, you explore the available finishes and framing, discuss where your artwork will live, and consider the scale that best suits your space.
Your preferred pieces are projected true to size, while examples of completed artistry help you appreciate the refinements to come. Your art director explains the finish options, framing, and investment, guiding you toward selections that feel meaningful to your family. For parents who wish to use the supervised nanny suite, younger children can enjoy their own activities while you give your full attention to these decisions.
Together, your concierge team creates an experience in which every role has a purpose and every family is treated as its own story. You are free to enjoy the people you love while we thoughtfully guide the creation of artwork that celebrates them.
From First Conversation to Finished Artwork
The process of commissioning a piece of fine portrait art for your home puts you and your family at the center from the first conversation through final delivery, and your artwork is guaranteed for life.
Step 1: We begin with your family
Before you arrive in our studio, your experience begins with conversation. We learn the names and relationships of those joining you, the ages of any children who will be part of your artwork, and whether there is a particular chapter of family life you wish to celebrate.
Before your visit, our team walks you through preparation, including wardrobe guidance. We encourage thoughtful choices, including meaningful jewelry or other personal details you would love to see reflected in the artwork.
You will also receive a schedule for your day, including details on arrival and parking. We reserve approximately two hours for the portrait and selection experience, so you can move through both in a single visit.
Step 2: Arrive and settle into your private suite
You will arrive in our Gallery Hall and be shown to your private suite by your Client Concierge.
Your private suite is prepared for you 30 minutes before the start of your portrait experience, allowing time to change into formal wardrobe and attend to finishing touches. With a dedicated changing room and bathroom, your family has space to settle in before entering the camera study.
Step 3: Create the foundation of your portrait
In our Camera Study, your family Portrait Artist guides you through deliberate lighting and posing that flatter each person while bringing your connection into focus.
You do not need to know how to stand, where to look, or what to do with your hands. We guide you with care, allowing the experience to feel comfortable and unhurried. Fine details, such as stray hairs or a tie that needs refinement, can be addressed during the artistry process so your attention can remain on one another.
Alongside the family portrait, we also explore meaningful individual portrait sittings for individual members of your family.
Step 4: Select your artwork with your Art Director
After your time in the Camera Study, you may return to your suite while your Portrait Artist prepares the strongest images for your viewing experience.
Then, your Art Director will guide you through our Viewing Room, where the selected images from your experience are projected true to size, helping you appreciate their presence at different dimensions.
At this stage, you are viewing the foundation of the artwork, not the completed commission. Examples of finished artistry help you envision how the selected pieces will be refined.
Your art director will discuss where you envision the artwork in your home, introduce the available finishes and framing, and guide you through your selections. Your art director explains every aspect of your investment before you finalize your choices.
For families with younger children, an optional supervised nanny suite offers games, toys, and entertainment while parents give their attention to the selection experience.
Step 5: Allow the artistry to unfold
After you have chosen the image you wish to commission along with finish, and framing, the artistry behind your fine art portrait continues. The finish you select guides the treatment of your portrait, with careful attention to likeness, detail, and the overall character of the artwork.
We allow six months for the delivery of your final commissioned fine art portrait. Your completed artwork is shipped directly to you; pieces framed through the studio arrive ready to hang. There is no need to return for a separate selection appointment or to do any assembly in your home.
Our Finishes - Artistry That Preserves Your Likeness
Our portraiture begins with photography and develops through artistic refinement. This foundation preserves the familiar expressions and individual qualities that make the portrait unmistakably your family.
The Classic Finish retains lifelike realism with carefully considered artistic enhancements. The finished mixed-media piece has a canvas texture, is mounted to artist masonite, and receives a protective coating. This finish is rated to last 80+ years.
The Legacy Finish is rendered entirely as a digital painting by an artist working in a program developed for traditional painters. Brush selection, color, pressure, and technique are guided by the artist to create a painterly portrait on museum-grade canvas. This finish is rated to last upwards of 250 years. Legacy is available in sizes of 24 inches or larger.
Neither approach requires your family to sit through the creation of a traditional oil painting. Your studio experience establishes the foundation; the artistry follows after you select your commission.
One Family, Different Meaningful Portraits
A family portrait celebrates belonging. An individual portrait celebrates the person within that family.
We value both. A portrait of each child can become a deeply personal piece to carry into adulthood. A portrait of the parents together can honor a relationship that is too often absent from the family’s own collection. A multigenerational portrait can bring the people who shaped your story into one enduring composition.
These possibilities are considered in the context of your family. Whether you choose one significant piece or a collection, the intention is the same: artwork that feels personal now and meaningful in the years ahead.
Created for a Special Place in Your Home
A fine portrait deserves more than an available space on a wall. It deserves thoughtful consideration of scale, framing, and the room in which it will be enjoyed.
Your Art Director helps you consider those choices during your studio visit. True-to-size viewing allows you to understand how a piece will feel at the dimensions you are considering, while the framing discussion brings the presentation into focus.
Our portraits are intended to be framed, rather than displayed as gallery-wrapped canvas. Artwork framed through Sanders Fine Portraits is backed by our lifetime guarantee; our team will explain the coverage and terms when you commission your piece.
Begin Your Family’s Fine Art Portrait Experience
The people who matter most deserve a place of honor in your home.
We invite you to share your vision with Sanders Fine Portraits. From your first conversation to the arrival of your completed artwork, our team will guide you toward a portrait that reflects your family with intention, warmth, and lasting beauty.