A painting is worth a thousand words—especially when its subject is a dog who doesn’t know how to talk. That’s when local artists Stephanie Toerregrossa, Margaret Rice and Laura Taylor come in, turning photographs of people’s pets into colorful portraits bursting with personality.

For Torregrossa, the business of pet portraiture took off after she posted a painting of her own German shepherd on Facebook. And although her paintings of dogs aren’t necessarily her most profitable product as a full-time painter, they play a special role in people’s lives, especially after after a beloved pet passes away.

Rice, on the other hand, turned pet portraits into her sole business for the past 15 years, taking all reference photos herself and spending up to several months on each commission.

And Taylor found her niche in the pet painting world while she was just a sophomore at LSU, once she decided to commemorate her aging dog, Blue, in a medium more unique than a photograph.

To learn more about these artists and see additional examples of their work, check out our article from the October issue of inRegister, available on newsstands now.