Hannah Stahl has built a full-time career painting commissioned oil portraits of dogs and cats, using classical techniques to preserve the appearance and personality of animals that are central to their owners’ lives. Based in Rhode Island and working through her studio, Huund, Stahl has completed more than 170 commissioned portraits and maintains a waiting list of roughly five to 12 clients.
Stahl says the work is deliberately slow and depends on sustained observation, with particular attention to the animal’s eyes, posture, expression and individual markings.
Many customers commission paintings after a pet dies, seeking a lasting representation of an animal that accompanied them through major periods of their lives. Stahl has described clients recalling divorce, heartbreak or the death of a family member when explaining what their dog or cat meant to them. She also paints living pets and has worked from photographs as well as from opportunities to observe an animal directly, including a portrait of a leaping terrier whose muscles and shadows she studied while the dog was being photographed.
The business has grown as inexpensive digital tools and artificial-intelligence systems have made stylized pet images easier to produce. Stahl’s work occupies the opposite end of that spectrum: each portrait requires human judgment, repeated refinement and a physical painting process. Her customers are paying not only for an image but for a deliberately made object that interprets a particular animal rather than applying an automated effect.
The demand also reflects how widely pet portraiture has moved beyond elite subjects. Owners now commission paintings as memorials, gifts and family displays, while artists offer styles ranging from quick acrylic sketches to Old Master-inspired oils. For Stahl, the next stage is continued commission work through Huund, where the queue itself shows how a traditional studio practice has become a viable modern livelihood.