Not long ago, someone from Pixelist reached out to see if I would try out and review one of their products, a hand-painted oil painting created from one of my photos. I don’t do a lot of reviews, but when I went to their website I have to say I was intrigued! What a unique way to “print” a photograph. So I said yes, and sent them a photo I took of my dog, Kodak.

In about three weeks, I received an email from them saying that the painting was finished. They included a photo of it and asked if there was anything that needed to be changed or adjusted. It looked good, so they put it in the mail and sent it to me in Portland. They ship from China, and they estimated about two weeks delivery time.

When I got it, I was floored. It looked almost identical to my photograph, but as a painting! This is definitely an impressive way to present photography, and could make a very unique gift, too. I’m actually looking forward to having some more of my work turned into paintings. A landscape photo or even a food image would make for an interesting subject, I only wish I had more wall-space to accommodate. :)

In terms of pricing, for what you get it’s actually quite reasonable. With their current pricing, the small version (12’x12′) starts at $149, and they go up to $739 for a 30’x40′, and they are delivered as stretched gallery wraps (ready to hang). They also do custom sizes, you can contact them for a quote. The prices do get expensive for the larger prints, but you have to keep in mind that these paintings are literally hand-painted; there’s no machine is doing this work!

Here are some more images of the painting (click the photos to view larger and scroll through):

Here’s a video from their website that shows the behind-the-scenes of one of their paintings:

[vimeo 104245217 w=600 h=336]

To learn more about this product, please go to their website: http://www.pixeli.st/

Disclosure: The product reviewed in this article was given to me free of charge.