Searching for a Dining Room Carpet

The question is do you have or do you not have a carpet in the dining room? We did when we lived in the Midwest. It was a silk beautiful Persian carpet that was paired with the one in the living room. We left them, and others, behind when we moved to DC almost fourteen years ago. We didn’t even have a dining room in the tiny 500 square foot unit. Our new condo in Virginia has a dining room. It is composed of a small expandable glass table with a glass chandelier above it. We didn’t need a sideboard because of the huge kitchen peninsula so we got a distressed console table and brought our outdoor garden inside. It all looked good, but something was missing. I wasn’t sure what design of a rug would look good there, but it needed to blend in with the tribal Persian carpets we already have. I tried a few things from Crate and Barrel. I searched on line at rugman, tried to find something similar, but didn’t think the red tones would be right.  But I knew I would know it when I saw it. So we drove around town to a couple of places - Bakersfield Rugs, Persepolis, etc. We got really bored with all the driving, the traffic, the really cheap and ridiculously expensive items, and the indecision. So when we got home I had an idea and searched on Esalerugs. The site just popped up and I took the bait. I found a right size carpet with a bit of blue and red tones. It was different from the tribal reds we have but looked like it would go well in the space. It arrived last week and my husband’s anxieties were relieved when he read the description and actually saw it. I’m all for seeing something before buying it, but I have a good sense of how something is going to look. And I have learned a lot about Persian carpets over the years because my husband is from Iran, I’ve been there two times, and know the difference between the hand woven good stuff and the machine made carpets. I wanted something that was old, uneven, was different in design, had fringe, and would be the focal point of the dining room. Now it looks like it’s been with us forever. And that’s just the way we like it. 

Fine Art America, Etsy and Zazzle Sales

Not that it amounts to much, but over the last few weeks I have received notice from three different on line marketplaces that three of my items sold. It just amazes me that out of all the millions of items out there that my digital artwork even gets noticed. And the nicest thing about these orders is that I don't have to do anything more with them, except collect the cash! Usually the orders are for custom and memorial pet portraits that need to be painted for a specific person. The first sale was a Betta fish single greeting card from Fine Art America. The second was "The Women on the Steps of Persepolis" painitng from Etsy. It was for a birthday gift and the customer wanted to know the best size to have it printed and displayed. The last one was just this week. It was a t shirt with a vizsla pooch on it from Zazzle. That portrait was one of the first digital custom images I created from an etsy customer. I have uploaded several of my images to Zazzle where various products can be created. It's such a treat to be a part of this experience and every time I hear from any of these places it is really exciting! Thanks for looking at my work! 

Fine Art America - Women on the Steps of Persepolis

I've been creating digital art pet portraits for a few years. I have an Etsy shop that showcases many of the custom commissioned pooches and kitties, as well as paintings from our travels, popular sights around Washington DC, and illustrations from the childrens books I wrote. One of the more popular scenes I painted is the women on the steps of Persepolis. This particular item was entered at the Library of Congress art show and received positive reviews. Someone purchased a print of it, and it has been ordered several times on line. It is also one of my husband's favorite paintings. We had a small 8x10 of Persepolis hanging on our wall, so I decided to see how Fine Art Amercia products really turn out. All of my images and photographs are also on the Fine Art Amercia website. Usng my digital file to order a 15x20 canvas for our living space, it arrived a few days later. It was packed nicely and the end result was fine! It is amazing how something I created on my iPad can be turned in to so many different traditional formats as well as unconventional items like coffee mugs and totes. We both really liked the end result, and I can claim it as my own! 

Persepolis - Sold!

As is true with most people I know, checking email is a regular habit. One purpose is for personal exchanges, and the other is for my digital art "business." A lot of my artwork are custom orders for pet portraits through my Esty shop - LITDigitalPaintings. But I also have paintings that represent my favorite past time and the things I like to sketch. Some of those items are people, animals or fish, but several are travelogue types. A few are from England, or Copenhagen, but one series is from Iran. We saw so many wonderful places there when we visited five years ago. One of the scenes that gets the most attention is the women on the steps of Persepolis. It was included in the art show at the Library of Congress where I work, and someone bought a copy there. In July, someone bought a copy on my Etsy site. Today when I checked my email, there was a notice that another one was sold. What makes these purchases nice is that I have already uploaded the image and the buyer just needs to make a copy of the digital image. I don't need to do anything more - except send a thank you note for noticing my shop and selecting an image I created. I've had my Etsy shop for three years. I always find it exciting when someone thinks enough of my work to want either a custom portrait or a painting I made. It's a lovely hobby and gives me a great reason to check my email. Stop by and visit my shop!