How Two Sisters Started a Pet Portrait Business Because of One Very Spoilt Dog

Most businesses start with a plan. A spreadsheet, maybe. A very serious conversation over coffee.

Ours started with a Shih Tzu named Vaayu and a younger sister who has never once done exactly what I asked her to.

The request

I'm Ari, the older sister. Vaayu is, by any reasonable measure, my child. He is also, by any reasonable measure, spoilt. So one day I asked my younger sister, Yuthika, to paint him.

I had a very clear picture in my head. A lovely, normal portrait. Vaayu looking sweet. Something for the wall.

What I forgot to factor in was Yuthika's long and proud history of taking instructions from her older sibling and then doing something else entirely.

The painting I did not ask for

Instead of a regular pet portrait, she put Vaayu into the world of Girl with a Pearl Earring, the Vermeer painting from around 1665 that you've almost certainly seen on a tote bag, a fridge magnet or a very earnest poster in a college hostel.

The famous over-the-shoulder look. The quiet drama. The earring. Except now the face was Vaayu's.

I'd love to tell you I was annoyed. I wasn't. It was funny, it was unexpected and it was ridiculously cute. It also looked like it genuinely belonged in an art book, which was not something either of us expected from a painting of a dog who mostly thinks about snacks.

Why it stuck with us

We kept coming back to one question: why should famous paintings get to have all the human subjects?

Pets already behave like the main characters of every household. They have moods, opinions and favourite spots on the sofa. Putting them inside a classical painting didn't feel like a gimmick. It felt like giving them the stage they'd already claimed.

Pets already think they're famous. We just thought someone should paint the proof.

Five months later

We didn't launch anything that week. We just kept thinking about it. And talking about it. And sending each other ideas at strange hours.

Five months later, we found ourselves starting a business. It's now called Fur the Love of Art, and it does exactly what that first painting did: hand-painted portraits of pets on canvas, inspired by classical art.

What we make now

These days we paint all sorts of pets. Dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, hamsters, guinea pigs and whoever else has managed to steal someone's heart. You can see what we're working with in our collection, and if you'd like something outside it, we take custom requests too.

Every order still starts the way Vaayu's did: with a conversation. We talk about your pet, look at your photos and work out the details together, usually on WhatsApp. If you're curious about the practical side, here's what goes into a hand-painted portrait.

Still figuring it out

We'd be lying if we said we had it all worked out. We're still learning as we go, still sharing creative opinions (and, yes, disagreements), and still completely obsessed with Vaayu.

Yuthika would like it on record that she was right. I would like it on record that it was my idea. We've agreed to disagree, which is the most sisterly sentence there is.

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