It all started on a rainy 4th of July.
Due to the crappy weather, our dreams of attending a July 4th BBQ or lighting off fireworks were cancelled. Trapped inside with nothing to do, my husband Mike and I decided to paint portraits of our dogs. At the time, we had two sweet Yorkshire Terriers: Ruby & June. I did a portrait of June (above) and Mike painted Ruby. We had so much fun!
A few months later I had expressed to my boss at my non-profit job that I was really missing my life as an artist. She encouraged me to donate a piece of work to our annual gala auction. I was nervous about putting myself out there, but ultimately a nice couple bid on the custom pet portrait. I painted their sweet labradoodle Banana.
I posted pictures of Banana's portrait on my Facebook, and my cousin Gail reached out to me to see if I would do portraits of her two dogs. She asked me "How much would you charge for that?" I had no idea how to respond! She ended up paying me in Michael's gift cards so I could buy more art supplies. #winwin
From there, things grew very organically. I posted pictures on my Facebook, and friends reached out to me asking me to paint their animals. I even received a few requests for human portraits. In the last year, I started an Etsy page, met with a business coach, opened a bank account, registered my business, and got going. Wild!
My side passion has grown into a small business. I am so grateful for the wonderful folks who have commissioned portraits from me, shared my business card, or followed me on social media. I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for CQStudios!
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