Tiny Eyeballs Are Hard to Define

I’ve been painting custom pet portraits since 2012. I used to watercolor, pastels, and pen and ink since I can remember. But the iPad reignited my interest in art and digital painting made it so much neater, cleaner, and easier to send the final portrait because it’s all done virtually. The holiday season typically increases my workload and I get a variety of requests. The portrait subjects come in a variety of breeds, full body and close up head shots. The final images can be printed up to about 18x24 inches. But that doesn’t mean they should be - depending on the orientation and size of the subject. So I pretty much completed a full body painting when a customer requested that I sharpen the eyes. I had a feeling she wanted to make a large stretched canvas and I was right. I tried to explain that it’s very difficult to be precise when working on very tiny parts - like the eyeballs that are barely one eighth of an inch. Larger head shots require that level of detail. I think she was convinced once I explained it. Nevertheless I tried to make it look as best as I could. Anytime you blow up a picture or painting the pixels get spread and the program I use to paint can only go so far. I like to think my artwork looks like a painting and needs to be viewed from a distance rather than up close. I think she likes my work because she’s requested three portraits in all. I really appreciate my customers - especially when they understand the constraints. 

Etsy Custom Dog Portraits Feedback

I’ve had an Etsy shop since 2012. I sell both custom hand painted digitalart and downloadable paintings I have created based on our travels and the city we live in. During the holiday season I get more than the usual requests for custom portraits because they make really nice gifts for any pet lover. What’s really heartwarming is when I get requests from past customers. They already know the process and are familiar with me and my work. And that has happened a few times lately. I had to turn one request down because I could only offer to get a sketch out in time for Christmas. Each portrait takes a lot of time and requires attention so every one is happy with the final result. I have received a few feedbacks over the last week. I am very grateful for the lovely comments and make sure I contact the buyer to let them know I appreciate them taking the time to write. So the holidays can be very hectic but also very rewarding. I thank the people who request the custom portraits well in advance, those who understand I may not get it done in time and will accept a sketch with an IOU, and those that have no deadline at all! 

Redbubble American Eskimo Sticker Sale

I’ve been hand painting custom pet portraits for quite some time. It all started when the iPad came around several years ago. It reignited my interest in painting. Except this time rather than watercolors, pastels, and ink it was much cleaner using my stylus and iPad. Since then I opened my Etsy shop, and I’ve used my completed pet portraits to populate my other on line ventures - Pixels/Fine Art America, Zazzle, Redbubble, and Amazon Merch. For these, I get notifications from the vendor when someone purchases an item rather than a request to paint a custom order. So last week I got a notice from Redbubble that someone in the US purchased an American Eskie sticker. Obviously I don’t make a living on these occasional buys. But it feels really great to know someone likes something I painted well enough to not only notice it (out of the literally millions of options out there), but to purchase an item with the likeness of the pooch, kittie, or other sweet face. So thank you for noticing! I really appreciate it. 

Redbubble Golden Retriever Pillow - Sold

Right now I am working on a custom dog portrait. It’s a “freebie” based on a charity auction I participated in. But the process is no different. It’s a lot of back and forth between me and the customer to get it just right. I enjoy it all and it’s even better to know the final portrait will be displayed somewhere in their heart - and probably somewhere in the house. I also have a digitalart shop on Redbubble called LIT Digitalart. Many of the custom pet portrait images I’ve painted over the last six years or so are uploaded to the website that I turn in to products. Those products range from coffee mugs to T-shirts to greeting cards. I’ve done quite a few different breeds, pooches, cats, and birds. So it’s always a treat to get an email from Redbubble telling me I sold something. What interests me even more is where the customer is located, which design was selected, and on what product? This time the customer was from the UK; the golden retriever was the image; and the product was a pillow. What I get out of all this monetarily is just a few pennies. But the joy I feel when I know someone picked out and purchased a product I created is priceless. There are literally millions of options out there. So today I am hoping to finish up the latest pet portrait. After all, they are the inspiration for all my other products. 

Twitter, Tweets, and Updates

I'm always looking at statistics at work and for my hobby. At work, I track and report on all kinds of performance measures. I did that in health care too in Milwaukee - as a clinician and as a regional director.  A lot of decisions were and can be made using this objective data. It's a full time job keeping up with social media related to my digital painting websites. Last week the views in my Etsy shop were significantly higher than "typical." I really couldn't figure out why. Then I got the weekly twitter update and that also showed a spike in views. I had posted a picture of us sitting on the Capitol steps watching the concert for valor on my iPhone. The photo happened to be of Jennifer Hudson with the Washington Monument in the background. Using the hash tag #concertforvalor, it became a part of the thread the evening of the concert, and received a lot of attention. Because my twitter page is linked to my Etsy site, some folks jumped from one site to the next. I don't have a lot of twitter followers, but have been working on that this past month. Whenever my blog is picked up by DC Blogs, the number of visits always increases. So what does this mean? I need to try to connect with key events, get smarter using hash tags, and keep working on all these websites. So if you are reading this blog, check out the links and be a part of a statistic! I'm keeping my eye on all of them!

One Thousand Views on Etsy

It is a little business after all. I've had my Etsy shop about two years. I paint custom pooch and cat portraits, and all kinds of other things using my IPad as the canvas and a stylus as the brush. I always check my stats to see daily activity. Recently the daily views are reaching 1,000! It usually happens near the holidays and it makes me feel good to know people are browsing my LIT Digital Paintings Shop and sending me questions for more information and requesting special orders. I wish I had more time in the day! My husband was just relaying some information about Etsy in an article he was reading. I like the idea that the shop owners feel like they have a real store. It requires good customer service, and marketing, and a lot of time on social media. I don't think of it as work - just a delightful hobby and something I really enjoy. Thanks for looking! I appreciate your business.