Nov 082009
 

octopi

Recently, this really great girl named Barbie contacted me through Etsy and inquired about some custom portraits.  She ended up being one of the friendliest people I’ve interacted with through there and she even said that I’m too cool for Pittsburgh so of course that made her sparkle in my book. Because I am, you know. Too cool for Pittsburgh. Although living in Pittsburgh, that doesn’t take much. But still!

Anyhow, she wanted a 20″ x 20″ portrait of her daughters as octopi. This was daunting for two reasons: I’d never painted anything that large before  (my default is small, smaller, smallest), and her daughters are adorable and doing justice to them was intimidating.

It took a few weeks, but I finished it and she ended up, thankfully, loving it. Customs scare the SHIT out of me. The end result is so rewarding, but I’m so tightly wound that I panic the whole time that it won’t be good enough.

I’ve also been working on three separate ones for my LiveJournal friend Dorothy and she’s been sending me really encouraging emails, so even though I put stress on myself, in the end, it’s worth it to know I’m making people happy.  Deep down that’s a pretty cool thing for me, even though everyone is convinced I’m heartless.

Plus, I get to meet awesome people.

  13 Responses to “Legwarmer’d Octopi”

  1. Oh wow!!!! I love this painting, it’s so bright and charming. I know you really want your customers to be happy, and she has to be with this.

    Anyone who thinks you are heartless… doesn’t know you very well.

  2. If by heartless you really mean badass…then I would have to agree. This paintinig rules! I would totally love to have some of this custom delightfulness someday. I think I would feel guilty about putting you through all the drama of painting dog eyebrows.

  3. OH WOWZAH! Of all the things I have ever seen in my life, THAT is the most delightful. It makes me smile and wish I were in it!

    I have never once thought you were anything close to being heartless. I really doubt anyone could think that of you.

    xox

  4. Stop stressing! I love your paintings almost more than the subjects. Ha. Totally true story!

  5. The painting is adorable! Feel confident about your paintings, woman!

  6. Niiiiice (in borat’s voice)

    The recipient of this painting is thrilled and luhhhhhves it and cannot wait to get more of the custom stuff that scares the shit out of you.

    so great meeting you too erin…srsly.

Leave a Reply to Tuna Tar-TartCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.