Art Wortd Coop

Wow, what a week. We have been swamped with both gift shop orders and custom orders. I just checked my sales today for my Gift Shop items and someone ordered an octopus tile keepsake box. That was a fun surprise. My cephalopods do not move as quick as the 4-legged creatures in our shop, but every now and then someone stumbles upon a squid type item that they can not live without.
You can check out more of my octopus goodies by clicking here.

The Clock Is Ticking! You have only 2 more days to order a custom portrait with a guarantee delivery by Christmas. When the deadline runs out we will promise "proofing only" by 12/23.

This is Mason, and he is shipping today along with about 12 other portraits.

It is Cyber Monday and we have a few site-specials you can take advantage of.
Take 50% off on any size or style e-cert gift certificate!



TAKE 50% off of a 16 x 20 non-proofed warhol portrait.
Offer expires 11/27


Also Receive Free shipping in our Cafe Gift Shop when you spend $75.
Use Code: Ship07

More Hand Turkeys, and these are from the members at Flickr. If you click any image you can go to that turkey-hand maker's photo stream. I am so inspired ...tomorrow I will make my own hand turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I would love to take credit for these stunning hand-turkeys, but they are stock images from a stock agency. They make me want to create my own.

A lot of times people see a dog or portrait on the web site and they tell me " I want my dog to look just like Mr. Rover". They do not care that Mr. Rover is a black lab and they have a small white Maltese. It is a lot like me going to the hair salon and asking for a Jennifer Aniston hair cut. I can get the same style, but I will never look like Jennifer.

Well a recent client requested a similar style to a popular pup on the site named Bella. While his dog has a different brindle coat coloring, this guy totally nailed the proper pose and posture for us to mimic that portrait well. He could not have chosen a better dog to pattern his portrait after. Scout's Dad knew what he wanted and was able to give us the perfect photo to work from. We altered an ear and then the rest was easy. See Bella below to compare.

This client's portrait turned out great for 3 reasons:
#1 He had a practical vision of what he wanted.
#2 He communicated that well to us.
#3 He gave us a high quality photo to work with.

Ok ... make that 4 reasons ... Scout was a stunning pup to start with.

A few pictures from Hamlet Light. Just so you know I've been busy.

Photos by Susana Jesus

This is Woody, and I got to meet this pup in person. The background above is a variation on the ground I have been playing with all week. I love how versatile it is. The client actually requested it in reds after she saw her proofs, which I was not sure about, but it worked out lovely ...see last image in post.

Coming up with new patterns and background options is always a challenge and yet I feel it is so important to try to keep a fresh look on the site. I find that going shopping and picking up fashion & design mags is the best way to try to keep my finger on the pulse of what is going on in the world. Most of my clients are pretty educated when it comes to design and style. Here at Art Paw we try hard to stay ahead of the curve when we can.

This is Milo the happy pug. I love this portrait and Milo with his cute little brown shirt. I have really been liking my new patterned background. I created it by combining a fancy wallpaper type floral with a halftone dot pattern at a low opacity. It looks likes the store Urban Outfitters to me.

Today I am printing art, working on portraits and ordering supplies. I am on my own today so I should be able to get a lot done. We are really getting busy with holiday orders. Last year our rush did not really happen until after Thanksgiving. I am so glad some people have ordered early.

Sadie and Otis were both approved on this lovely deep teal ground. We are busy working like crazy to get all of the recent orders worked on. We had tons of orders come in this last week and that tells me that you guys are paying attention to our deadlines. Yay! We are going to extend those deadlines with a few restrictions and a variety of ordering options.

This digital portrait is Bubba the Whippet. The proof above was chosen, and I love the subtle warm colors on that piece. We have stopped proofing on-line this week and will be sending proofs by e-mail for the next month. Today is the last official day to order for the holidays. We may extend this date for a few more days, however holiday rates and rush shipping fees will apply.

Last week we shipped our first celebrity dog. This Chihuahua is Mr. Topaz and he belongs to legendary rock & roll star Jerry Lee Lewis.
His daughter Phoebe ordered a custom portrait of this sweet little Chihuahua. I enjoyed skimming through her blog to learn that Jerry has a bad habit of sneaking tater tots and oatmeal cookies to Topaz. Last week I e-mailed Phoebe to get permission to blog on this project. Topaz was a joy to work on due to the terrific high quality original image. The image above was chosen among a group of 4 proofs.

The web is such an amazing place. We have shipped to Japan, Germany and England. We have also had been consigned to create portraits of famous humans such as Bill Gates & Steve Jobs for an executive conference put on by the Wall Street Journal. Now we are thrilled to have even pushed pixels for one of Rock & Roll's living legends. I have always said I am not one to be impressed by celebrities, but it is pretty easy to get a tad star-struck when you are allowed to play with their pups, especially when the pup is as cute as Topaz.

Today's promo is for free shipping on a 34 x 34 painterly portrait, stretched or rolled.
To take advantage of this sale just click here.