Custom Watercolor Pet Memorial Portraits: A Hand-Painted Way to Remember
For some families, a hand-painted portrait becomes a quiet way to keep a pet close. Not a photo on a screen, but a piece made slowly, by hand, that hangs on a wall and stays. This is a look at how those watercolor portraits are made, what they cost, and the artist behind them.
The artist behind the portraits
Ksenia Moroz is a watercolor artist in Phoenix, Arizona who hand-paints custom pet portraits from photographs, including memorial portraits made to order. Each piece is painted by hand on professional watercolor paper, with close attention to a pet's eyes, markings, and the small details of character that make a portrait feel like the animal you knew.
Her work has been recognized well beyond her own studio. She has been featured in VoyagePhoenix Magazine, received an Artist Opportunity Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, is a member of the Tempe Artists Guild, and was published in The Art of Saltwater, a coffee-table book.
One point matters more than any credential, especially when you are grieving and buying online: every portrait is genuinely hand-painted. It is not AI-generated, not mass-produced, and not a printed canvas dressed up to look like art. What you commission is an original painting of your pet, made by a real artist with a real, verifiable reputation.
How a memorial portrait is made
There is no shortcut in watercolor. The paint goes down in thin, translucent layers, each one drying before the next, so the color builds slowly and the work cannot be rushed or undone. The fur, the light in the eyes, the soft edge of an ear, all of it is drawn out by hand on heavy cotton paper. The short clips below show that process, from the first quiet washes to a finished face.
The finished portraits
Here are a few finished pieces. Click any image to see it larger.
What a memorial portrait costs
Pricing is meant to be accessible. Her options start with digital memorial portrait files from $10, with small physical framed watercolor portraits starting at $45. Larger custom watercolor portraits are available on request.
A thank-you for FindPetCremations families: use the code FINDPET5 for 5% off a custom memorial pet portrait.
Or follow her on Instagram to see more of her work and process.
The First Month
Practical help for the days after your pet dies.
Questions to ask a crematory. Words for telling children. Pages for decisions about ashes and belongings.
26 one-page cards, printable checklists, and fillable worksheets. Choose the situation you need help with and start there.
Inside the PDF. Tap a page to read it.
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Card 1 of 26, free
The first night
The rule: nothing has to be decided tonight, except one thing.
Read tonight's cardClose the card
If they are still at home with you
The one thing to decide tonight is where they rest until morning. That is all.
- Lay them on a towel or a blanket in the coolest room you have: a laundry room, a garage, a tiled floor. Not the car.
- If you can, settle them on their side with the legs gently tucked, the way they slept. Do this soon rather than later. Within a few hours the body stiffens, and it becomes harder to move them with care.
- A little fluid can release. One towel underneath and one folded over is enough. This is normal, and it is not a sign that anything was done wrong.
- In a cool room they can stay overnight and through tomorrow. If it is warm where you are, wrap them in the blanket and then a large bag, and use the coolest space you have.
- Collar on or collar off. Either is fine. Many people take it off tonight and are glad later that they did.
If they died at the vet's
Then the where is already handled, and there is nothing you have to do tonight. The clinic will keep them safely until you have chosen what happens next. You can call in the morning. Card 4 covers what you can still ask the clinic for: time with them, a paw print, the collar back.
What you do not have to do tonight
- Choose a crematory. Tomorrow is fine. Almost every crematory collects within a day, and the person who answers the phone has heard every version of this call. Card 3 has the eight questions to ask.
- Decide private or communal. Card 2, when you are ready.
- Tell everyone. Tell the people in the house. Everyone else can wait until tomorrow, or next week.
- Move anything. The bowl, the bed, the leash by the door: leave them exactly where they are. Card 7 is for when you want it, and there is no deadline.
What to say in the house tonight
To a child: "[Name] died today. Her body stopped working and the vet could not fix it. It was not anyone's fault. We are going to be sad for a while, and that is okay." Then stop talking and let them ask. Card 6 has more, by age.
To each other: nothing clever. "I am so sad" is a complete sentence.
One small thing, if you want one
Sit with them for a few minutes. Tell them one thing you will miss. Turn off the light.
That is a goodbye, and it counts. A fuller one can come later, and card 16 will help. Tonight, this is enough.
If tonight feels like more than you can carry, card 25 has people who answer the phone at this hour.
When you're ready, you can make them a place to be remembered.
Still Here is a free, beautiful online memorial. Light a candle, write their story, and share it with everyone who loved them. No cost, no account, yours to keep.
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