An Oil Painting of Your Dog: What It Costs, What to Send, What You Get

Last updated: October 2026

Oil Painting of a Dog

Quick answer: A hand-painted oil painting of a dog, worked up from a photograph you send, costs £220 to £549 in the UK depending on canvas size, with a second dog, cat or person adding from £35. The painting takes about three to four weeks, plus delivery, and before it ships you receive a photograph of the finished canvas so anything that isn't right can be changed. What arrives is oil paint on canvas, unframed, and the photograph you send decides how good it is: a sharp daylight shot of the face at the dog's eye level is most of the job. The dog portrait commission page is where it starts; the rest of this post covers what to send, what you get and when a painting isn't the right call.

What "oil painting" means, and what it often doesn't

The phrase is abused. Search for an oil painting of a dog and half of what comes back is a photograph run through a filter and printed on canvas fabric, sometimes with a textured varnish on top so it catches the light like brushwork. Those are prints. They can be perfectly nice for £40, but nobody has painted anything, and the tell is the delivery time. A machine can print your dog by Thursday. A person cannot paint one in that time at any price.

What this post means by the phrase is the literal thing. A painter looks at your photograph and builds the dog up in oil paint on canvas over several weeks. Every mark is put there by hand, the colour is mixed rather than sampled, and the background is decided rather than copied. That is why a hand-painted dog looks like your dog, rather than like a photo of your dog that has gone slightly wrong.

What it costs

Price is set by canvas size, not by breed, coat or how difficult the dog is. A wire-haired lurcher costs the same as a smooth-coated Labrador at the same size. The full list is on the pricing page; the shape of it is below, with a note on which size suits which dog.

Canvas size	Price	Suits	Where it tends to hang
12 × 16"	£220	Head and shoulders of one dog	A hallway, a landing, a bedroom
16 × 20"	£275	Head and shoulders, or a small dog full body	A sitting room wall, above a sideboard
20 × 24"	£330	Full body, or two dogs	The main wall of a sitting room
24 × 36"	£449	Two dogs full body, or the dog in a setting	Above a sofa or a fireplace
30 × 40"	£489	Large breeds, group compositions	A big chimney breast, a stairwell
36 × 48"	£549	The dog with the whole family	A large open-plan room

Each additional animal or person starts at £35. Shipping is included, worldwide. Framing isn't, and shouldn't be: a UK framer will fit a standard canvas size for £40 to £120, and you get to choose the moulding against your own wall. For most single dogs, 16 × 20" is the sensible middle, large enough to have some presence across a room and small enough not to need a wall to itself.

What to send

This is the part that decides whether the painting is any good, and the part people spend least time on. The painter can only paint what is in the photograph. Colour can be corrected, the background replaced and the lead taken off, but a face that is out of focus in the photo will be a face invented in the painting, and it will look like somebody else's dog.

So: one photograph, taken in daylight, with the phone held at the dog's eye level rather than pointed down from yours, and the nearest eye sharp. Overcast days beat sunshine, because sun puts hard shadows across the muzzle and makes dark dogs go black. Indoors, sit the dog beside a big window with the room lights off. No flash, no Portrait mode, and don't crop before you send. The full method is in how to photograph your dog for a portrait, and if the dog is still with you it's twenty minutes' work on a Saturday.

Send the one best photo rather than twenty. If you can't choose between two, send both and say which is the reference for the face.

If the dog has died and you're working from what exists, the rules soften but don't vanish. A small photo with a sharp face beats a large one with a soft face, and frames pulled from old videos are often sharper than you'd expect. Whatever you find, ask before ordering rather than hoping. An honest answer that a photo won't carry a painting costs nothing; a painting made from one that couldn't costs £220 and a disappointment.

What can be changed from the photo, and what can't

A painter has more freedom than a printer, and it's worth knowing where the lines fall before you decide a photo is unusable.

Routine: replacing a cluttered kitchen with a plain painted ground or a simple outdoor setting, removing a lead, harness or collar, taking out the hand holding the dog steady, cleaning up a weepy eye, and correcting a photo that has come out too orange or too blue. Combining two dogs from separate photos onto one canvas is normal; it's how most two-dog portraits are done, because two dogs will not sit nicely together for a camera.

Not routine: opening closed eyes, standing up a dog that's lying down, inventing a face from a blur, or painting the dog as a puppy when your only photos are of the grown dog. None of these end well. If the change you need is on this list, find another photo or accept the dog as the photo shows them.

What you get, and when

The painting takes about three to four weeks, plus delivery. Before it ships you receive a photograph of the finished painting, and that is the moment to say the ears look too pointed or the coat is a shade too red. Changes are made then, not after it's on your wall.

What arrives is oil on canvas, unframed. Oil paint keeps hardening for months after it looks dry, so keep it out of plastic wrap and don't lean anything against the front while you choose a frame. How to frame an oil painting covers what to ask for at the framer.

For Christmas, order by 20 November. That allows three to four weeks for the painting and a week or so for delivery, with little margin for any changes the photograph prompts. Orders placed after 20 November won't arrive in time for Christmas.

The dog with you in it, or with the other dog

Almost nobody has a good photo of themselves with their own dog, because they're the one holding the phone. If you want the two of you on one canvas, hand the phone to someone else, get down on the floor, and take thirty frames. It goes through as a family portrait rather than a pet one, and the second face adds from £35.

Two dogs together carries the same extra-subject charge and the same photographic problem, solved by painting each dog from its own best picture. Tell the painter which dog is the larger and which the older, because a photo of each on its own doesn't say.

When an oil painting of a dog is the wrong choice

• The dog is under a year old. A puppy at four months doesn't look like the dog it becomes. Wait, or plan a two-age painting later.
• You want it next week. A painting takes the time it takes. A framed print of the same photo is the honest answer for a short deadline, and there's no shame in it.
• The thing you love is a split-second expression. The mid-yawn, the sneeze, the ridiculous ear. Those are photographs. Held still in oil paint for fifty years they can look strange.
• You'd rather spend £60. A photo book or a canvas print chosen with care is a better present than an expensive one bought in a hurry.

If none of those apply, the order form takes a photo and a note about the dog, and comes back with a question if anything about the image needs sorting out first.

FAQ

How much does an oil painting of a dog cost in the UK?

Between £220 and £549 for a hand-painted commission, set by canvas size, with each extra dog, cat or person adding from £35 and worldwide delivery included. Below about £150 you are almost always looking at a print, however it's described. Above £1,000 you are into individual artists with gallery representation.

How long does an oil painting of a dog take?

About three to four weeks for the painting itself, plus delivery. Before it's posted you receive a photograph of the finished painting so that anything not quite right can be changed. For Christmas, order by 20 November.

What photo do I need for a dog painting?

One sharp photograph of the face, taken in daylight at the dog's eye level, without flash. Backgrounds, leads and colour casts can all be fixed by the painter; a blurred face cannot. If the dog has died and the photos are what they are, ask before ordering.

Can two dogs be painted from separate photos?

Yes, and it's the usual way. Each dog is painted from its own best photo and the two are composed together on one canvas, with sizes and lighting matched by hand. The second dog adds from £35.

Does the painting come framed?

No. It arrives as oil on canvas, unframed, and a local framer will fit a standard size for £40 to £120 depending on the moulding. That's cheaper and better than a frame shipped with the painting, and you get to choose it against your own wall.

The short version: the price is set by the size, the result is set by the photograph, and the wait is three to four weeks. Get the photo right and the rest is straightforward.