Pet and owner
A portrait of you with your pet
Priced as two subjects, combined from separate photographs if you have never been photographed together — with a word about hands, which are the hard part.
A pet and its person is a two-subject painting and is priced as one: the pet takes the second-subject step on the table above the single-figure price, exactly as a second human would. What the extra subject buys is the interaction — the hand on the shoulder, the dog leaning into the knee — which is the entire reason to put both on one canvas rather than buy two separate portraits.
The practical question is whether you have a photograph together where both of you look like yourselves. Most people do not, which is why combining two separate photographs into one composition is standard work here: $60–$70, light direction matched between them, and the combined mock-up approved before any paint is mixed. Many studios refuse the job entirely, which is worth checking before you compare on price.
The photograph problem, solved two ways
If a good photograph of the two of you exists — both faces sharp, the light consistent — it is the best source and needs nothing added. The problem is that such photographs are rare: usually the person is cropped badly, the pet is a blur, or the only frame where the dog looks right is the one where your eyes are shut.
Combining solves it: the pet from its best photograph, the person from theirs, the pose and light reconciled in the mock-up. What combining cannot do is invent an angle no camera saw — if your dog was only ever photographed from above, the painting will honestly be from above, or you send a better reference.
The pet's photograph follows the pet rules rather than the people rules: down at the animal's eye level, daylight from a window, no flash, and a frame where the expression is the one you know. A photograph taken from standing height foreshortens the muzzle and makes every dog a different breed; the painter can correct composition but not invention. If the animal will not sit still, take forty frames while someone squeaks a toy — one of them is the dog you know.
Hands and fur: the two hard problems
Here is what a price table cannot tell you: the hardest thing in a pet-and-owner portrait is the hand. A hand resting on a dog's shoulder is read at close range by its owner every single day, and a badly observed hand ruins an otherwise excellent portrait in a way no viewer can articulate but every viewer feels. Fur is the second problem, and the answer is the same discipline: structure first, then the hairs that catch light over the top.
This is why the two progress photographs exist and why they matter more on this subject than on almost any other. If the hand in the first progress photo looks like a glove, say so at that checkpoint — the free adjustment round on the finished canvas is the safety net, but the earlier catch is the better one.
Owners sometimes ask whether the pet should dominate or share the frame. The honest answer is that the canvas decides: at 20 × 24 in the pair is a close composition, heads and shoulders, and the interaction carries it; at 24 × 36 in there is room for the full figure, the lead, the sofa, the field. Choose the size for the wall it will hang on and let the composition fill it — trying to force a full scene onto a small canvas is how both likenesses suffer.
Size, and which pet fits which canvas
A head-and-shoulders owner with a dog's head at the shoulder fits 20 × 24 in at $549 with the second-subject addition; a full figure with a sitting dog wants 24 × 36 in at $789. A cat coiled on a lap is compact enough for 20 × 24 in; a horse and rider are 30 × 40 in at $1,090 territory, because a horse's head alone is the size of a human torso.
Painting time is the standard three to five weeks plus three to five business days of free tracked shipping, rolled in a rigid tube with the numbered certificate inside. Rush delivery at $90, three weeks including painting, applies to the smaller and mid sizes if a date is pressing.
A final note for households with more than one animal: each additional pet is another subject at the fixed step in the table, and two pets plus an owner is a three-subject canvas from 24 × 36 in at $789. That is usually the right size — three heads on anything smaller stop reading as individuals — and the mock-up will show the arithmetic plainly before any paint is mixed or any money moves.
What it costs
Price is set by canvas size and the number of subjects — not by the occasion, the deadline, or how much detail you ask for. The table below is the same one used on every painting page, so there is no quote to wait for.
| Canvas | Metric | 1 subject | 2 subjects | 3 subjects | 4+ subjects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 10 in | 20 × 25 cm | $189 | $259 | — | — |
| 12 × 16 in | 30 × 41 cm | $289 | $379 | $459 | — |
| 16 × 20 in | 41 × 51 cm | $389 | $499 | $619 | $749 |
| 20 × 24 in | 51 × 61 cm | $549 | $699 | $849 | $1,029 |
| 24 × 36 in | 61 × 91 cm | $789 | $1,059 | $1,290 | $1,560 |
| 30 × 40 in | 76 × 102 cm | $1,090 | $1,449 | $1,749 | $2,090 |
| 36 × 48 in | 91 × 122 cm | $1,390 | $1,849 | $2,249 | $2,690 |
Shipping is free worldwide. Framing is optional and quoted separately — most customers have the canvas stretched by a local framer for $60–$120.
How it works
Send the photograph
One sharp phone photo is enough. Tell us the deadline, the wall it is going on, and anything that must or must not be in the picture.
See the mock-up within 24 hours
A digital composite at the exact canvas size and crop, so size and composition are settled before any paint is bought. Nothing is charged until you approve it.
Watch it being painted
Three to five weeks in real oil, with two progress photographs. You can raise a concern at either one — that is what they are for.
Approve, then it ships
You see the finished canvas first, with one free round of adjustments. Then it travels rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured, with the numbered certificate inside.
Real oil, not a print
Hand-painted on cotton canvas, varnished, signed. Brushwork you can see in raking light.
You approve before we paint
A digital mock-up at the exact size and crop, within 24 hours, included in the price.
Numbered certificate
Every painting ships with a signed COA stating artist, medium, size and year.
Free worldwide shipping
Rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured. No minimum, no distance surcharge.
Questions
Questions we actually get
Yes — a person plus their animal is priced as two subjects, the same fixed step as a second person on the table above. The exact figure at each canvas size is published rather than quoted, and shipping is free worldwide. The mock-up shows the whole composition before paint is mixed.
Yes. Two separate photographs are combined into one composition for $60–$70, with the light direction matched and the combined mock-up approved before painting starts. It is routine work here, though many studios refuse it — worth checking before you compare quotes.
20 × 24 in at $549 plus the second-subject step suits owner head-and-shoulders with a dog or cat; a full figure with the animal wants 24 × 36 in at $789; a horse and rider belongs at 30 × 40 in and above. The mock-up settles it visually within 24 hours.
The hand. A hand resting on the animal is examined daily by its owner and a badly observed one ruins an otherwise good portrait. That is what the two progress photographs are for — flag a weak hand or an off likeness at the first checkpoint, when it is cheapest to fix.
Yes, and many of these commissions are memorials. The animal is painted from its best photograph, combined with yours if you were never photographed together, restored first at $60–$70 if the print is creased or faded. Nothing is painted until you approve the mock-up.
Send both photographs
Yours and theirs — even if they were never taken together. The combined mock-up arrives within 24 hours, and the fixed price is in the table.