Do I Need a Local Pet Portrait Artist?

No, you do not need a local pet portrait artist. A painted portrait is made from your photographs and delivered to your door, so a local artist offers no advantage. You are free to choose the artist whose style you love most, wherever they are in Australia.

It feels natural to search for someone nearby, but a painted pet portrait is not like booking a photographer or a groomer. Nothing about the process requires you and the artist to be in the same place. Once you understand how a commission actually works, the idea of limiting yourself to local artists falls away - and you can choose based on the work itself.

The portrait is painted from photos

Your pet never sits for the artist. You send clear photographs, and the painting is created from those images over several weeks. This is true of virtually every pet portrait artist. So whether the artist is in your suburb or on the other side of the country, they are working from exactly the same thing: your photos.

The finished painting comes to you

Once complete, the framed portrait is packed and delivered. Leah Justyce delivers framed portraits free across Australia, so the artwork arrives at your door ready to hang. There is no need to collect it in person, and no reason the artist needs to be nearby.

So what should you choose on instead?

• Do you love their style? The look of their work is what you are really buying.
• Are they experienced and skilled? Character and life in a portrait come from talent.
• Is the process clear and reassuring? Good photos in, a beautiful framed original out.

Choosing on those things - rather than distance - means you end up with a portrait you genuinely love, not just one from whoever happened to be close.