Once Ortega convinced the driver he wanted to turn the ashes into sincere pet tributes, he managed to get five pounds of powdered dogs and cats for experimentation.

Amazingly, Ortega had a doggone good idea. He now sells his “Cremation Ark Work” for between $225 and $900 a pop and has completed at least forty of his Fido masterpieces.

Ortega has each pet owner fill out a biography on the deceased animal that he uses for inspiration. Sometimes he sculpts personal symbols into the art, “as long as they’re not too complicated.”

However, he also has to use his imagination since once he gets the ashes, “a golden retriever and black Labrador look the same.”

So far, Ortega’s ashworks have been limited to dogs and cats. That means no canaries, ferrets or other animals have been given his special treatment. Still, he’s willing to do--and looks forward to doing—a piece of art dedicated to a lizard.

He’s also willing to make pieces from human remains—if customers sign waivers for the finished piece.

In fact, he’s done pieces using the ashes of his niece and his father, but puts the human cremains in vaults behind the artworks, rather than scattering them on the painting itself.

For more information on Ortega’s works, check out www.petstone.net.

David Moye is a Vyuz editor and occasional cremains art critic.