A long-form oil register · From your phone
Oil Painting
From Photo.
Slow brushwork, warm varnish, the depth of a register that has been used to paint sitters for four hundred years. We make oil paintings of your dog — from the photo you already have.
On the oil register
Why oil reads differently on the wall.
Oil is the register painters have used to depict a sitter when they wanted the sitter to feel weighty. The slow build of glazes, the way varnish catches the light, the deep settled shadow under a jaw — these are the things that make an oil painting look like it has always been on the wall.
For a dog, oil flatters the things you already love. The dense coat reads as actual depth instead of a flat surface. The eyes, where the painter spends the most time, hold the room. You see your dog the way a portrait painter would have seen them in a 1798 sitting — composed, dignified, quietly themselves.
We start from the photo you upload. Four oil registers to choose from: classical, impressionist, post-impressionist, and modernist. The same dog, four different temperaments, the same slow attention to the small thing only you would notice.
Four oil registers
Same painting medium. Four temperaments.
Classical
The 18th-century court register. Warm varnish, deep shadow, a quiet pose.
Impressionist
Broken brushwork, dappled light. A summer-afternoon temperament.
Post-Impressionist
Bolder color choices, a more structural composition. Quietly modern.
Modernist
Flatter planes, restrained palette. Reads as contemporary art.
A note — the difference between registers is smaller than it sounds. Same dog, same care. The choice is about the room the painting will live in.
Reviewed by Mercy before it ships.
Oil paintings are the register where small details carry the most weight, so the review pass matters. Mercy opens your photo next to the painting and checks the things that only the owner would notice — the white sock on one paw, the slightly long left ear, the way the eyes catch.
If the painting doesn't read like your dog, it goes back. That's the whole quality check. Mercy makes sure your dog looks like your dog before it ships.
Frequently asked
About the oil commission.
How is the oil painting different from the other styles?
Oil reads with more weight than watercolor or modern portrait — deeper shadows, warmer surface, the look of a piece that has been on a wall for a while. It's the register most people associate with the word "portrait."
What photo should I send?
A clear photo of your dog with the eyes visible. Natural light is best. Phone photos work — most commissions begin from one. JPEG, PNG, and HEIC accepted.
Can I order a print, or just a digital file?
Both. A high-resolution digital file to print and frame yourself, or a ready-to-hang canvas we print and send to you. Options are on the order page.
Can I switch oil register mid-process?
Yes — if classical isn't quite what you wanted, write back and we'll re-render in impressionist, post-impressionist, or modernist. The sooner the better.
Do you do memorial oil pieces?
We do, and they're some of the most carefully reviewed pieces we work on. An oil register tends to suit a memorial well — it reads like a piece you'll keep for a long time. Tell us anything you'd like honored in the painting.
From your phone photo to an oil painting on your wall.
Four oil registers, one careful review pass, the dog you already love.
Begin Your Oil Painting