Our Story
The Person Behind the Portraits
Every portrait begins with your story. Here’s mine.
I’m Elena.
I grew up drawing anything that held still long enough — mostly the family cats, who were better at it than the dog. I studied fine art at RISD, spent a few years doing editorial illustration in Brooklyn, and eventually moved to Portland with my border collie, Maren, and a vague plan to figure things out.
Maren was my studio companion for fourteen years. She slept under my desk while I worked, nudged my arm when I forgot to eat, and had this way of tilting her head that made every bad day a little better. When she passed in the spring of 2023, I was gutted.
A few weeks later, I sat down and painted her. Not from a tutorial or a template — just from memory and a handful of photos. The process was quiet and slow and exactly what I needed. The portrait hangs in my hallway now. Every time I pass it, I still say good morning.
How It Became a Studio
A friend saw the portrait of Maren and asked if I could paint her golden retriever, Bear, who had passed the year before. Then her neighbour asked. Then someone on Instagram. Within a few months I had a waitlist and a name: The Final Sitting.
The name came from portrait photography — that last session before a subject is gone. I liked the weight of it. This isn’t a novelty print or a quick filter. It’s meant to be the portrait you keep on the wall for decades.
Today I work from a small studio in Portland. I use a combination of digital tools and traditional techniques to compose each portrait, then spend hours refining the details that make your pet yours — the exact shade of their eyes, the pattern of their markings, the way they carried themselves.
Every portrait is personally composed and reviewed by me before it goes to print. I don’t outsource, I don’t batch, and I don’t rush. That’s why I cap commissions each month.
What Goes Into Every Portrait
When you submit your photos, I don’t just run them through a process. I study them. I look at how your pet holds their body, the subtle colour shifts in their coat, the expression they default to. I read the notes you leave about their personality.
Then I compose the portrait from scratch — adjusting composition, lighting, and colour until it feels right. Not photographic. Not cartoonish. Something in between that captures who they were, not just what they looked like.
Once the digital proof is approved (with as many revisions as you need), it’s printed on museum-quality canvas using a 12-colour giclée process. For Premium and Heirloom tiers, real brushstroke texture and hand-painted accents are applied to the canvas surface.
The Details Matter
- •Archival Materials — Museum-grade canvas and inks rated for 200+ years. This isn’t a poster.
- •Personally Composed — I work on every portrait myself. No outsourcing, no assembly line.
- •Unlimited Revisions — Your proof gets refined until you’re completely satisfied. No rush, no limits.
- •Premium Packaging — Gallery-wrapped, protective packaging with a handwritten memorial card. Ready to hang or gift.
“The Final Sitting exists because of a border collie named Maren who made everything better just by being in the room. Every portrait I create is, in some small way, for her.”
— Elena Voss