Portraits with Purpose
Let’s celebrate shelter animals.
Let’s get them seen. Let’s make it fun.
I’m working on a project to help Napa shelter dogs. As a creative director and designer, I think visually—through story, energy, and personality. Every dog has a vibe. Through color, texture, and different painting styles, that energy can be felt before a single word is read. I’m using art and AI tools to help tell these dogs’ stories in a way that feels joyful, vibrant, and full of life.
Shelter dogs don’t need to be presented as sad or depressing. They are hopeful, expressive, and ready to be seen—and art allows us to meet them that way.
It started simply—experimenting with digital tools to create a calendar of my dog, Reba, as a Christmas gift. Then I created a digital portrait of a favorite shelter dog, Azula. It was fun, playful, and surprisingly moving. Soon after, I made another piece for Rayo, a husky with a completely different energy.
Different dog. Different vibe. Each one deserving of a moment in the spotlight.
Let's change the way that we see shelter animals.
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The Shelter Art Shop is ready to order.
If you’re interested in sponsoring this work—or supporting outreach through funding, amplification, or strategic partnership—I’d love to explore how we could collaborate to support local shelters together.
This project is a living body of work—custom digital pet portraits and ongoing artistic explorations designed to support shelter animals through visibility, storytelling, and care.
When someone commissions a custom pet portrait, they help fund the creation of artwork for shelter animals. This art increases visibility, honors each animal’s story, and supports adoption efforts. Too often, once an animal is adopted, their story disappears. But adoption is not an ending—it’s a milestone. A portrait becomes a marker of that moment, celebrating the animal’s journey, the people who cared for them, and the new chapter that begins.
The broader goal is outreach. These portraits are used to help animals find homes by being shared across social media, gifted to adopters at the time of adoption, and used to recognize shelter staff and volunteers.
We’re seeking brand partners to sponsor this outreach—supporting the creation, distribution, and amplification of shelter portraits. Sponsorship enables more animals to be seen, more stories to be told, and more adoptions to happen, while aligning brands with a visible, heartfelt mission rooted in community impact.
