How are the paintings made?

The paintings start with a photograph that is altered digitally then transferred to stretched canvas. It is then overpainted / overdrawn by hand, in layers. A variety of media is used including: digital, acrylic paint and medium, oil stick, oil pastels, dry pastel, carbon pencil, colored pencil.

How much do they cost?

The pricing depends on painting sizes which are customized based on the image a customer sends and are not necessarily standard. To give you an idea, an 11 x 14 painting is $110; a 20 x 26 is $210; a 30 x 40 is $440 . Shipping charges are additional.

How do we start?

How the process usually starts is the client emails an image or few/several then we take a look and make a recommendation on which ones would be best to use, how we'd digitally alter it (usually just involves cropping but we've been known to for example lighten/darken an image or pull objects out of a photo, etc), and also give size and pricing options.

How long does it take?

After we receive your approval on an image size, the painting takes about 2 weeks to complete.

What if I’d like a painting but don’t have the right photograph?

Tell us what your idea is and we’ll work with you on the painting. We have hundreds of photographs to work from and, if we don’t already have a suitable image, we can usually get it.

I’d like to purchase one of the paintings on your website, is that possible?

Yes, if the original image is one of ours. All of the nature/outdoors paintings and some of the figurative work is ours. Contact us and let us know what you are interested in.

Who is Lincoln Park Studio?

Lincoln Park Studio is Dare (painter) & Mark (photographer) Wenzler (phot at right). They are a husband and wife team and live with their young daughter in Washington DC’s historic Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Mark is an avid nature photographer, lawyer and longtime environmental activist. He is currently the Director of Clean Air & Climate Change programs at National Parks Conservation Association . Mark works every day to help preserve and protect our national wild places through Congressional lobbying and media outreach.

Dare runs Lincoln Park Studio and creates the paintings. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Southern Methodist University and did some graduate work in graphic design at Texas A&M - Commerce. Her work has been exhibited at galleries and other venues throughout the DC metro area, but she concentrates primarily on commissions. Launched in July 2007, Lincoln Park Studio currently receives an average of 5 commissions/week. The commissioned paintings are primarily family portraits: children, couples, houses, pets, etc.

What is the idea behind this technique?

Dare says, “The paintings are like the photograph they are based off of in that they capture a moment in time. But warmer, hazier, lovelier and somehow more "real" than the photo. The paintings are more like how you might have experienced the moment if you'd been there. and they are also more like the way you might remember the moment afterwards (At least this is what I am going for ;) , whereas a photograph can be colder and more one dimensional. We've all had the experience of having had some fantastic day or fun outing, then seeing the photos from it and feeling disappointed because the photos are not like how we remember the event.

I also like the way the way this technique typically makes the viewer really think and wonder how it was done. They are very photoish but there is also so much texture, line and other evidence of a human hand

My last thought about this technique, as far as the children/family portraits are concerned, is it’s an opportunity for "regular" people to commission a painted portrait without spending a fortune. The portraits are normally large, 2' x 3' and up, and make quite showstopping paintings for just a few hundred dollars.”