Pizzella — Fine Art & Framing, Mandeville

A note from the studio Pizzella — painter, framer
Mandeville, Louisiana
April 2026

— Mike

I work slowly, in oil, the way I was taught in New Orleans forty years ago.

Every portrait starts with a conversation — photos, memories, the bit that makes your dog your dog. From there I sketch, then paint, then frame it with my own hands. It’s not fast. It’s not cheap. But when it goes up on your wall, it’ll stay there for a hundred years.

02Photograph → Painting

Pet portraits from your photos.

Send a few clear pictures — the good-light ones, the ridiculous ones. From those I build an oil portrait on linen, in a size and frame that fits the room it’s going to live in.

Reference photograph of a doodle — Reference

Oil portrait of a doodle by Mike Pizzella — Reference

Reference photograph of a schnauzer — Reference

Reference photograph of a spaniel — Reference

Reference photograph of a yorkie — Reference

— at the easel Portrait of Mike Pizzella in his studio

The painterMandeville, 2026

03The artist

Mike Pizzella, painter & framer.

Forty years of oil paint, one pair of hands, and a short drive from the lake.

Mike started as one of the Jackson Square artists in 1987 — easel on the sidewalk, tourists over one shoulder, the Pontalba over the other. New Orleans taught him to paint fast when it had to be fast and slow when it had to be right.

In 2004 he moved the studio north, across the Causeway to Mandeville, and added a framing bench to the back of the shop. The framing pays the rent. The portraits are the reason he still comes in on Sundays.

He’s painted over 600 pets, a handful of people, more than a few historic homes, and exactly one Saints quarterback (ask him). He does not do prints. Every piece that leaves the studio is an original — stretched on linen or panel, framed by hand.

Years painting

600+

Portraits delivered

Pair of hands

04Services

What the studio does.

Four things, done with the same set of hands. Each one is priced by size and complexity — not by the hour, and never by template.

/ 01

Pet portraits

Oil on linen or panel, worked from your photographs. Single subject or full pack. Includes initial sketch review and one round of revisions before the painting is delivered.

FROM $450

/ 02

Custom framing

Conservation-grade matting, UV glass, and hand-finished moldings. Dozens of profiles in the shop; custom leaf and stain by request. Turnaround usually one to two weeks.

FROM $85

/ 03

Originals & commissions

Louisiana landscapes, historic homes, still life. One-of-a-kind pieces painted on commission for the specific wall they’ll hang on. Larger-scale work by consultation only.

FROM $800

/ 04

Restoration & re-framing

Old family paintings cleaned and stabilized. Frames regilt, re-cornered, remounted. Bring in what you’ve got and I’ll tell you honestly what’s worth saving.

BY QUOTE

The Pizzella studio at Market at Chenier in Mandeville

Open / Market at Chenier · Suite 4

05The studio

A brick-and-mortar workshop.

4480 Hwy 22, Mandeville
Market at Chenier · Suite 4

The shop is equal parts studio, framing bench, and gallery wall. Come in with a photo on your phone, a painting from your grandmother’s attic, or nothing at all — Mike’s usually somewhere with a rag and turpentine on his hands.

Hours: Thu – Sat · 10 – 5
Sun by appt.
Phone: (985) 555 · 1987
Email: mike@pizzellapainting.com
Parking: Lot — free, in front

06How a commission works

From your photos to your wall.

A portrait takes four to six weeks, start to finish. Here’s exactly what happens between the day you email photos and the day it shows up at your door, frame and all.

Step 01 · Day 01

Send photos.

~ 15 minutes of your time

Email three to eight pictures of your pet — natural light is best, eye-level is better. Send the goofy ones too. Include the size you’re imagining and the room it’s going in.

Phone photos are fine. Really.

Step 02 · Day 02 – 03

A conversation.

~ 20 minutes on the phone

Mike calls. You talk about the animal — the thing that makes them them, the quirk, the sleeping pose, the stare you want to remember. This is where a painting becomes a portrait instead of a copy.

Step 03 · Week 01

Pencil sketch.

Delivered by Friday

A rough sketch goes back to you for sign-off. Proportions, pose, composition, crop. One round of changes is built into the price — anything structural we fix now, before a drop of paint hits the linen.

Say so if the nose looks wrong.

Step 04 · Week 02 – 04

Oil on linen.

Two to three weeks of painting

The painting happens in layers — an underpainting first, then build-up, then the detail pass. Oil needs time to set up between coats. You’ll get one work-in-progress photo around week three so you know it’s alive.

Step 05 · Week 05

Framed by hand.

Three to four days at the framing bench

Once the surface is dry enough to move, the piece comes off the easel and onto the bench. Frame stock picked from the wall, cut, joined, finished. The painting is mounted with archival hardware so the canvas doesn’t shift.

Step 06 · Week 06

Delivered, wrapped.

One afternoon

Local clients pick up at the shop or Mike drops it off himself. Out-of-state ships packed in a custom crate, insured, with hanging hardware and a written care note in the back.

Hang it somewhere you’ll see it every day.

Oil, linen, & patience.

Recent pieces from the bench.