Like regatta sailing, fox hunting, and breeding slaves, commissioning portraits was once a favored pastime of the upper classes, a way to subsidize the arts and aggrandize the ego in one stroke. Leave it to the whimsical capitalizers at my-PhotoArt to bring this refined pursuit to the people. The deal here is: you buy this kit with instructions and mysterious ?custom order materials? for submitting a photograph. You send that pic off (either in hard-copy form, or the quicker way - as a JPG uploaded online), they put one of their art laborers on the case, and four weeks later you receive a 16" x 20" rendition of your photo, printed on canvas.

Is it paint or is it Memorex? Neither. The graphic artist ?paints? on a digital tablet, and the image is printed onto canvas with archival inks. But don?t worry ? unless you hang out with actual painters, nobody will know the difference. (And if you hang out with actual painters, you could probably get one of them to paint your portrait anyway.) It?s kinda the way the nobility used to immortalize their highbred mugs, except there?s no actual paint involved. On the bright side, at least you won?t have to sit still for days at a time.

• Kit includes custom order materials and instructions
• Shipping of finished portrait is included in price