Pet memorials
A pet memorial painting, from the photographs
For the animal that was in the room for fifteen years — painted from the photographs taken when they were still well.
Pet memorials are commissioned faster than any other painting we make — usually within days, often by somebody slightly embarrassed at how hard it has hit them. There is no need to be. A dog or a cat that has been in a house for fifteen years is part of the furniture of a life, and the room is visibly wrong afterwards. The painting is not a substitute for the animal. It is a fixed point, and that is the whole of the commission.
The craft problem differs from a human memorial in one important way: almost all of a pet's identity is carried by the shape of the head under the fur, and the photograph people send is usually the last one, taken when the animal was thin, dull-coated and tired. We ask for an earlier photograph even when it is technically worse, because a painting made from the final week is a painting of the final week. Send both if both exist; the choice between them is yours, and it is usually the first real decision in the commission.
The photograph from before, not after
What we need is the animal in ordinary health: coat with some bloom, eyes clear, weight normal. A photograph from three years ago taken on a bad phone usually serves better than a sharp one from the last month. If both exist, send both and say which period you want, because this is a decision about memory rather than about accuracy.
Old prints and phone photographs from 2011 are restored first, at $60–$70, and you approve the restoration. What restoration cannot do is put weight back on an animal or brighten a dull coat without it looking painted on. Where the gap is too large we will say so: painting a thin animal as a plump one changes the shape of the skull, and the result stops being your dog.
The eyes are the part that cannot be reconstructed. A photograph where the eyes are two dark holes will produce a painting with two dark holes in it, and no amount of careful fur rescues that. If every photograph has the problem, send the sharpest one and we will say what can be done — usually a smaller head and shoulders where the eye is a few brushstrokes rather than a studied detail.
Collars, tags and the objects that carry the animal
A collar is often the thing people cry at. It has a shape that sat on that neck for years, a tag that made a noise at night, a worn patch where the buckle rubbed. If you have a photograph where the collar and tag are legible, even partly, they can go into the painting. We will not invent a tag number or a name we cannot read.
The same goes for a favourite bed, a windowsill, a particular chair, one corner of a sofa. Those are legitimate parts of the painting and they do more work than any scenic background. What we avoid is the memorial cliché — the rainbow, the paw print fading into mist, the shaft of light. They date within a year or two and they turn a specific animal into a generic one.
Grief on a different timetable
People are often apologetic about how much a pet portrait matters, and then mention that they have not been able to put the food bowl away. We do not think that is excessive, and we do not treat this as a smaller version of a human portrait. It is priced the same way — by canvas size and subject count — and painted with the same attention.
There is no deadline unless you set one. If you want the painting before a particular date, tell us and we will say whether it is possible; if you want to wait until the ashes come back, that is a date we can work to as well. And if the mock-up is too much on the day it arrives, it can sit in a folder until you are ready to open it again.
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
$189 for 8 × 10 in, $289 for 12 × 16 in, $389 for the 16 × 20 in most people choose, up to $1,390 at 36 × 48 in for the largest multi-pet canvases. A second animal is a fixed addition, and restoration of an old photograph is $60–$70. Shipping is free worldwide, and the price is per canvas rather than per hour.
It is workable, but tell us if you have anything earlier, even a bad phone snap. We can often paint from a thin animal honestly and still keep the character, but we will not silently add weight or brighten a coat, because that changes the shape of the head. You will see what we propose in the mock-up, and you can reject it before any paint is bought.
Yes, and it is worth doing. A worn collar or a chewed toy says more about a specific animal than any background. Send a photograph of the object on its own if you still have it, so the shape and the wear are accurate rather than remembered. Tags are painted only if the lettering is legible in a photograph, and a blank brass oval is better than invented digits.
Yes. Both are painted from separate photographs with the light matched, and the composite is $60–$70 on top of the second subject. It is often the reason people commission at all: the two never sat still together for a photograph, and this is the only way to have them side by side.
Three to five weeks of painting plus three to five business days in transit, with the mock-up inside 24 hours and two progress photographs. Rush delivery is three weeks including painting for $90. Nothing is painted until you have approved the composition, and there is no follow-up pressure from us.
Send a photograph of your animal
Send the best one you have, and any earlier one, however poor. We will tell you what can be painted from them and what it costs, without asking you to hurry.