FAQs & How-To's

For digital cameras choose the highest quality setting, and snap away. Take overall compositions as well as close ups of the pets face. Take 30 pictures or more and then choose the best of the best. Take your time, if they don’t turn out how you had planned, try again. Photographs look best when taken in natural light, rather than with a flash. Outside lighting is best. Especially when it is mildly cloudy or in light shade. With the pet facing a bright window is also a great place to take photos.

Six (or more) is a good number to send. I can get a better feel of the animals character, expressions, markings and correct color with the information in the extra images.

The higher quality the photo the better! Do not resize your photos for the internet, leave them as large a file as possible. If you have a photographic print, you can either scan and send the digital version, or mail me the photograph via snail mail.

If you only have one picture that is ok too. If you don’t have the opportunity to take more pictures of your pet, that is ok too. I can sharpen blurry pictures. Contact me if you have doubts about the image you wish to choose.

Portraits can take an average of six weeks for completion and delivery. Oil Paintings have to be completely dry after completion before they are sent, which can take at least a week.  If you have a special date in mind please let me know immediately.

If you have a photograph of the desired background send it with the pictures of your dog. If you have an idea for a background, I can supply backgrounds to choose from in mock ups that you can then choose from.

Keep in mind paintings will need to be framed, and drawings need to be matted. Drawings will arrive in a complimentary mat adding about 5 inches to the length and width of a portrait. You may re-mat the drawing to have it fit the appropriate frame.

I paint in Acrylic and Oil in a very similar style. Oil paintings have a more saturated quality than Acrylics. Prismacolor pencils or graphite can capture very fine detail and are ideal for small portraits. Browse my galleries and note what medium the portraits were created with, this will give you an idea of what medium to choose for your portrait. If you are unsure or have an unlisted medium in mind, contact me for advice on which to choose

Windsor & Newton Oil Supplies, Liquitex Acrylics, Dick Blick Stretched Canvas, Prismacolor pencils, and Acid-Free Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper. I use the smoothest paper possible for the colored pencil drawings to get as much detail as possible. If you prefer a more grainy paper quality let me know.

For more information or to commission a portrait, contact me.