Taken at your pet’s eye level, in daylight, with their face in focus and their eyes clearly visible. Outdoors in shade is ideal — bright sun blows out the light tones and flash flattens everything.

Phone photos are completely fine. In fact they’re usually better than posed studio shots, because they catch the animal being itself. Send them uncropped and unfiltered so Tayler sees the original detail.

Two or three is plenty. One clear photo of the face for the likeness, plus a couple of others so Tayler can see colouring and markings from different angles. The enquiry form takes up to three.

Tayler will tell you before you pay anything. If a photo won’t paint well — wrong angle, flat light, eyes lost in shadow — she’ll say so and tell you exactly what to shoot instead. It costs you nothing to send what you have and find out.

Often, yes — particularly for memorial pieces, where the photos are whatever exists and there’s no chance of taking more. Tayler works with what you have and will be honest about what’s achievable before you commit.

Several photos help enormously here, even poor ones. Between them she can usually piece together the markings and expression.

Only with the photographer’s permission. Copyright in a photograph belongs to whoever took it, not to the person or pet in it — so a portrait painted from a professional’s photo needs their say-so. A short email from them is enough.

The enquiry form asks you to confirm this, which is why.

Yes. Each additional pet adds to the price and usually calls for a larger size so nobody ends up squeezed into a corner. Mention it in your enquiry and Tayler will recommend a size.

Horses, birds, rabbits, reptiles, the occasional extremely photogenic chicken — yes. Have a look at the gallery; not everything there is a pet.

Yes, and Tayler takes particular care over these. Say so in your enquiry — there’s a question on the form for it — and she’ll handle the whole conversation accordingly, with less hurry and no chasing.

Soft and unfussy, so nothing competes with the animal. Watercolour portraits traditionally fade out into bare paper at the edges, and that’s the style you’ll see throughout the gallery. If you want something different, ask — it’s worth discussing before the painting begins.

Usually. Removing a lead, changing a collar to the good one, adding a favourite toy — all reasonable requests. Mention them up front

Be honest. Tell Tayler what you do not like through-out the progress updates. Small adjustments can be made on occasion. Full payment is only required after you have received the high-quality final design.

Once the painting is underway, changes are much harder. Please mention any concerns as soon as possible and Tayler will work with you.

Prices depend on size and how many pets are in the painting. The current sizes and prices are listed on the home page, in Australian dollars and including tracked postage within Australia.

A 50% deposit books your slot in the queue, and the balance is due once you’ve seen a photo of the finished painting — before it’s posted.

Tayler will send payment details with her reply. Bank transfer is the simplest.

If you cancel before any progress updates are sent. After painting has begun it can’t be refunded, since the work is already done and the piece can’t be sold to anyone else. If something changes, just say so early.

Ask and Tayler will sort one out. A voucher could be a good choice for a gift, because it lets the recipient choose the photo — and it removes the deadline pressure entirely.

About four weeks from booking, give or take: two to three weeks of painting, then three to seven days in the post. Tayler paints around a full-time job as a veterinary nurse, so she’d rather give you an honest timeframe than a fast one.

Say so in your enquiry — there’s a field for it — and Tayler will tell you honestly whether it can be done rather than promising and hoping. For Christmas, get your enquiry in by early November.

Flat and tracked, so it can’t bend in transit. Postage within Australia is included in the price.

Sending overseas is usually possible — ask, and Tayler will quote the postage.

No — framing is left to you, so you can match it to your own walls. Every size is a standard paper size, so off-the-shelf frames fit without custom cutting.

Yes — you’re commissioning an original painting, not a print, and it’s yours. You’ll also get a high-resolution photograph of it for your own use.

Tayler keeps the right to photograph her own work and share it, which is how the gallery on this site exists. If you’d rather your commission wasn’t shown publicly — a surprise gift, for instance — just say, and it won’t be.