Abby Gail Davailus, a pet-portrait artist, likes to make her pieces as personalized as possible. When she starts preparing to work on one of her commissioned paintings, she asks the pet parents to share as many photos and personality traits about their
animal as possible.
“I’ll send a questionnaire and get all the details,” Davailus told The Dodo. “I’m like, ‘I want to know everything that you want to tell me about your pet.’”
Every pet parent knows how important an animal’s favorite toy is to them. As such, Davailus includes an option to add a painting of the animal’s favorite toy on the back of the canvas.
“I want the client to know that I see their pet,” Davailus said. “I’m not just regurgitating an image.”
Davailus recently created a portrait of a pup named Bo. When she finished the painting, she was reviewing the reference photos the client had sent over when something in one of the pictures caught her eye. In the corner of the image, she saw the dog’s little blue toy crumpled up on the floor and instantly knew it was special.
“[Y]ou can always tell when a toy is the favorite,” Davailus said.
Even though Bo’s mom hadn’t specifically requested that his toy be included in the painting, as soon as Davailus saw the little blue plushie, she couldn’t resist painting him on the back of the canvas.
“[He’s] just a little guy … The little googly eyes made me so happy,” Davailus wrote on Instagram.
Bo’s mom described her pup as a big, silly teddy bear, so adding a toy detail to the artwork just seemed fitting. When Davailus sent along the final update to the client, she completely agreed.
“I sent her the final update and she was like, ‘I’m crying. I’m so glad you spotted that. He loves it. Such a nice final touch,’” Davailus said.
Davailus shared her painting with her Instagram audience, and the post ended up going viral. Hundreds of people left comments sharing their own pets’ favorite toys, and Davailus was deeply moved.
Davailus originally started doing pet portraits after her soul dog, Boldie, passed away. Hearing stories about other people’s pets helped her along her healing journey. So with all of her portraits, she gets just as much out of them as her clients do.
“It’s very gratifying and very rewarding as an artist,” Davailus said.
