Closing My LITDigitalPaintings Etsy Shop

I started my Etsy shop back in 2012. I rediscovered my love for watercolors and pastels on my iPad. I started to paint pet portraits and thought I would give it a go on Etsy. I spent a lot of time and energy on this website. I literally self taught my way on two art apps - most recently Procreate. I had 341 sales over the years and still get requests from returning customers. Digital art has changed a lot in the last twelve years. And with AI anything is the limit. But each portrait takes a lot of time first sketching and then hand painting every speck of the canvas. There are also fees for every image and over time the revenues just didn’t match the expenses. So yesterday I decided to close my Etsy Shop. It was rather an easy process. I didn’t take the final step of actually deleting it - yet, but probably will once I feel more up to it. I still have my website and other sites that showcase all of my work - Redbubble, TeePublic, Amazon Merch, Zazzle, and Fine Art America/Pixels. On top of that Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram are also maintained. I want to thank all of my Etsy customers for the enjoyable experiences I have had painting beloved pet portraits. My Etsy shop was a small business venture and I learned a lot. Now I’ve moved on to taking photos for the 52Frames weekly challenges and create composite images as projects. Some of those images are being used as uploads to my other websites. It’s an evolving process just like everything else. It’s sort of sad to say good bye, but the pressure of turning around portraits isn’t worth the effort like it used to be. I still love painting portraits - I’ll just do on my own schedule. 

52Frames Something I Made Photo Challenge

I knew as soon as I saw the subject for the 52Frames photo challenge this week what it would be - my custom pet  portrait digital art of some sort. I started taking photos of my tshirts and then took a few with me in them using a timer to capture the image. Then the editing began. I really didn’t know how I would use the photos but started to play around. Three tshirts were grouped together and then the idea struck me to use the art as the head as well. It would be fun to have a dog with a dog image on his shirt. But it was looking much too busy. So I isolated one and used the art from the shirt as the head - but then thought it might look better using an actual photo of the portrait. First it was the black and white Shetland sheepdog. Then our beautiful Borzoi just didn’t look right. But then the goofy looking hound just looked just right. So I played around with that for a while and spent even more time figuring a complimentary background. The solid colors looked too overwhelming. Then I finally found a paint brush backdrop that looked like wrinkles and dog hair to match the shirt. Then the yellow of the shirt was lightened up and it seemed to look better. My husband liked that one the most. It was a fun project this week. So I could say something I made was not only the pet portrait, but also the composite photo for the submission this week. 

LITDigitalart Labrador Puppies

I have been doing digital art custom pet portraits for over ten years. There is nothing better than to have a returning customer - not just once - but several times. A few years back I was asked to do a head shot portrait of a chocolate lab named Izzie. She was a special lab because she was being trained to become a service dog. So my customer wanted the portrait for her parents who are doing the training. A year or two later another request was made to have a yellow lab puppy portrait made of Humor, who was also being trained to become a service dog. By all accounts they have been successful in that effort. This year there was a third request for a black lab puppy named Lilac to have a portrait. It has almost become a tradition. All of the portraits are head shots, with a blank background. That way they look like they should all be together when they are on display. It is ironic that there was a black, chocolate, and yellow Labrador puppy to paint. I was told that if they don’t succeed in their training that the puppy is kept as a family member. I wonder if I’ll be asked to paint another one? 

A Very Intricate Cat Portrait

I opened my LITDigitalPaintings Etsy shop over ten years ago and have created three hundred and forty custom pet portraits. The competition is fierce since that time because digital art has become so mainstream and the options are limitless. In spite of that it’s always so nice to get a request from a returning customer. And that’s what happened last week. The request was for a cat portrait because they had just lost their pet of eighteen years. Usually the images are primarily of the pet without a lot of background. But this one was very intricate indeed. It would not only include the lovely kitty, but also the sunflowers and leaves surrounding her, as well as whatever else was in the background. I think this portrait required about thirty plus layers to get everything just right. It also doubled the time to do it because each section took twice as long as usual. I still charge the same amount as when the shop opened. Given the time it takes to paint some of these portraits it makes me wonder if it’s enough. But I really don’t do this for the money - it’s a great hobby and keeps me busy. Right after I completed this portrait I got another request from another returning customer. This time it was for a third Labrador puppy being trained to be a service dog. The first one was chocolate, the second was yellow, now this one is black. It’s a cute way to remember each pup. It looks like there may soon become a wall of portraits. 

Fine Art America/Pixels Custom Pet Portrait Sales

I’ve been painting custom pet portraits for over ten years. My interest in painting was reignited when the iPad came out in 2010 and the rest is history. I wrote and illustrated three children’s books and self published them on Amazon. Then I opened my first shop on Etsy after first practicing with friends and colleagues. Then after each portrait was completed I used the images to populate my Fine Art America/Pixels website, as well as my LITDigitalpaintings Redbubble, zazzle and Amazon Merch shops. So it is always a treat to get a notice from any of these shops when there is a sale or a custom order. The custom orders require that I need to get to work. The sales are just lovely reminders that someone likes my work enough to buy it. It’s especially more meaningful now when there is so much stuff out there compared to ten years ago. So to get noticed is remarkable. And that was the case last week when someone from Pittsburg purchased an 11x14 matte paper portrait of the black cockapoo and also had it framed. In February someone from Brick, NJ bought an 11x14 glossy canvas of an eskie. I certainly couldn’t make s living on this hobby but it’s a fun past time. Aside from maintaining these shops they are marketed on social media - instagram, Facebook, twitter, Pinterest. It does keep one busy. I also appreciate staying in touch with technology and keeping my brain functioning. I really need to be grateful that I had to use technology as a clinician, nurse administrator, operations expert, and civil servant. It’s been so helpful and I try to stay as up to date as possible. So digital painting and keeping up have really helped. It still tickles me when someone notices my work. 

LITDigitalart Custom Pet Portraits

Ever since I got my first iPad in 2010, my interest in art was reignited. I found an app that I could draw with and it all snowballed from there. I was able to create pastel and watercolor paintings using DC and my husband as my muses. Then I opened an Etsy shop to sell custom pet portraits. My first order was a Labrador retriever from Oregon. Then three children’s books were illustrated and written and self published on Amazon after having two that were made in to apps with Storychimes and sold in Apple’s App Store. Since then I’ve added shops to Fine Art America/Pixels, Redbubble, Zazzle, and Amazon Merch. Every day I’m promoting my work on Instagram, Facebook business page, twitter and tumblr. I tried to tie it all together on my website that was created using Wordpress. All of these things keep me busy in more ways than I can count. It’s still exciting to sell an image of something I painted - worldwide! Now it’s been over ten years since this all started and digital art is commonplace. The orders for custom pet portraits is nothing like it was, but I am still tickled to get returning customers and even a few new ones. Regardless, all of the portraits are posted on all of my sites and I am pleased with what I tried to accomplish - especially since no one helped me do any of it. It’s all self taught! I always had an interest in art. This is a fun way to participate in it. These are a few examples of the portraits that were painted in 2021. Thanks so much for supporting my work - I really appreciate it! 

We Transfer and Walmart

I’ve been painting custom pet portraits on my iPad for about nine years. The jpeg and png digitalart portrait files are sent directly to the customer’s email. They then create the products they want using the images. Every once in a while there is an incompatibility issue. When that has happened in the past, I used my laptop rather than my iPad to send the files. But since my laptop isn’t working, that’s not an option - and I haven’t had that issue for a very long time. So when my most recent customer was telling me that the Walmart photo process kept telling her the image was low resolution, I was stumped. I asked her to try the plain background PNG image. That didn’t work either. An alternate workaround is to upload the image on my Redbubble or Fine Art America/Pixels websites and send the link. Unfortunately the timeline to get the product using those options was too long, so we continued to try other ideas. She asked me to try We Transfer. I did and the files were successfully uploaded and then downloaded, but they didn’t work. I was having no problems uploading the files on any of my websites, so I tried the Walmart option myself. When it told me my images were also low resolution, I figured it must be Walmart that was the problem. So I tried Staples and Walgreens as test cases and had no problem. So I told my customer to try a different website like Walgreens. She did, and it worked seamlessly. She said she even got a discount and would send me a photo of the finished product. The funny thing is is that I had done portraits for her in the past without incident. It took a while to figure it out, but I wouldn’t quit until I did. And I also learned about We Transfer. It may come in handy for large file shares. 

2020 Custom Pet Portraits

Looking back on 2020, several custom pet portraits were ordered and many of them came from repeat customers. It’s always such a great compliment to be contacted by someone I have worked with before. They know my work, the process from start to finish, and liked the results enough to request another. Oftentimes the requests are for memorial portraits. I’ve been painting pet portraits for over eight years, soon after the first iPad came on the scene. I found an app that could be used for painting and never looked back. It’s so much neater than water colors, pastels, and charcoal pencils, and my studio comes with me wherever I go - although last year we didn’t go anywhere for obvious reasons. So thank you for ordering the portraits. I loved painting every single one of them. I know how much those pooches and kitties mean and it is my privilege to be a part of those memories. 

The Guinea Pig and the Hamster Custom Pet Portrait

It was an unusual request. I’ve been painting custom pet portraits for eight years. Dogs and cats are the most in demand; and then there is the occasional parakeet and parrot. One of the more recent requests was for a hamster and a guinea pig, along with another portrait for two beagles. It was a treat to get a challenge. What was interesting was that it came from the father of a person I have done three portraits for. The son had two portraits done for his mother - a dog and a cat, and another dog. He also had a portrait made of his new dog. So the father/husband wanted to round out the animal paintings by having these made for his wife for her birthday. The pooches were a bit of a challenge, but nothing unusual. One had a bandanna which makes things more interesting. The Guinea pig was another thing - I just couldn’t make out the face. Apparently, he didn’t show his eyes much and he was very furry. Since the photos were separate, I had to imagine the size difference between the hamster and the Guinea pig so there was a lot of back and forth in prep time getting it just right. It was also true of the beagles - separate photos but putting them together in one. One dog was shorter and huskier and the other was thinner and taller. In the end it was a great opportunity. Thanks for having so much faith in my work. It’s wonderful to have repeat customers and then getting a wonderful feedback on my Etsy site. It’s been a great “hobby” to get to paint pets for folks. Many of them are memorial portraits. Having had two dogs - Natasha, a golden retriever and Tatiana, a borzoi, I know how it feels to lose a best friend. So I think of them every time I start a painting. It really helps to get it just right. 

Pixels Fine Art America LITDigitalart Products

The iPad became my inspiration to start painting again. I’ve been at it since 2010 and creating custom pet portraits for the past eight years. Once the portraits are completed, the images are uploaded to several websites to showcase my art. One of the first sites I started to use was Fine Art America - now called Pixels. I have a specific FAA website, and on it are many products that can be created from the images I provide. There are a variety of sections aside from the digitalart that include photos that I have taken of Washington DC and Capitol Hill where we lived for thirteen years; England, France, Denmark and Iran; and baseball autographs from my brother’s collection. As is with everything else these days, face masks are a new product now offered. When I was promoting my art yesterday I noticed that at the bottom of the page is a display of all the products each image is on. It looks quite impressive! Most of these websites do a really nice job putting the products in a gallery where one can try a single image on many different products. I also use Redbubble, Zazzle, and Amazon Merch. It’s fun to get notification that something has sold. Out of all the millions of options out there it’s nice to get noticed. It’s all a lot to keep updated and promoted, but it’s a fun hobby. And as long as I get requests for custom portraits, it’s a never ending cycle. Thanks for the requests and thanks for checking out my work. 

Etsy Update and Customer Feedback

Getting feedback on your work is always interesting - especially when it’s so positive. I’ve been fortunate to get a sold five star rating on all of my Etsy Digitalart custom portraits. I got a review this week that reminded me I should probably update my shop. I try to keep about 100 items visible. Most of them are pet portraits, but there are also downloadable files that I painted of DC and some of our memorable trips. Recently three custom pet portraits were completed, so those were the first to get uploaded. Then I went back over the last six months and added several more. Luckily there is a copy and edit function that makes it somewhat easier to process. I always put in the final image, along with the progression from starting sketch to finish, a framed image, several ideas for digitalart options, my background - highlighting my New Yorker Eustace Tilly accomplishment and our beautiful borzoi Tatiana - customer feedbacks, and other related portraits. I always have a back and forth “conversation” with my customers about the set up and portrait orientation, then share updates as the painting progresses. It does take time but I really enjoy painting something that hopefully will be cherished by the buyer and/or the person they are having it done for. A lot of my work is memorial portraits which are quite touching. The best request comes from repeat customers. Nothing could be a bigger compliment.