bmore Magazine features Popkin's Pet Portraits

Popkin's Pet Portraits and Damn Good Doormast were featured in this months bmore Magazine!

bmore Magazine

Innovation & Job News

Artist Spoon Popkin Turns Creativity Into Success

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

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Arts and Culture, Entrepreneurship  

Baltimore Artist Spoon Popkin is using her unique perspective on pets and people to create businesses that allow her to pursue her creative passions. Her two endeavors, Popkin's Pet Portraits and Damn Good Doormats, were inspired by her own circumstances, and have allowed the artist to flex her creative muscles while capitalizing on two things that appeal to the consumer market: homes and pets.

"I've been painting my own animals since 1988 for fun. Around 2005 a friend asked me to paint her kitty and I loved it. She was ecstatic and it was a great change from painting humans. Another friend requested a portrait, then another and before I knew it I was in business," Popkin says.

Popkin paints her pet portraits either on-site in the customer's home or through photographs of the client's pet. In addition to using traditional painting styles, the artist also does pet portraits using Japanese sumi ink. Popkin has painted pet portraits for several celebrities, including Jeff Lewis of Bravo TV's "Flipping Out" and Nicole Hollander, author and creator of the syndicated cartoon "Sylvia".

Popkin was inspired to start Damn Good Doormats after a search for a doormat for her newly purchased home turned up too many impersonal examples. Damn Good Doormats offers a variety of pop culture and meme-related doormats.

"I make custom and original doormats to order. I [also] have over 40 designs in stock. Some of the most popular mats are 'The Honey Badger Don't Care', 'The Pride of Baltimore', 'Keys Wallet Cell Phone', Bigfoot, various dogs, cats, and wood grain," Popkin continues.


Writer: Amy McNeal
Source: Spoon Popkin

Blog Hop!

Pet Blog Hop Saturday:
I've joined this fun Blog Hop! Check out some other awesome dog oriented blogs!

This is a Blog Hop! 90 entries so far... you're next!

Bigfoot!

I know it's not a pet portrait, or is it? My wife digs the Sasquatch & we watch "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet every week. So she designed this Bigfoot doormat! I love it when the BFRO (Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization) drives through a wooded area and says "It's Squatchy in here...." spooky! That Bigfoot print is to scale- check out my wife's size 11 feet next to that!
It's up now at my etsy store, Damn Good Doormats.

Flipping Out!

I had a little vacation recently at The Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp at the gorgeous Wildacres Retreat in the mountains of North Carolina. Which gave me time to catch up on portrait orders. I loved painting all day, uninterrupted! After I finished all that I wanted to keep going, so I did some just for fun. My wife is a big fan of Flipping Out! on Bravo,  she loves that Jeff Lewis. I personally have an affinity for Deb- she gets things done! So I painted his cat Monkey. He's got great cranky eyes & looong whiskers. She got so excited, she wrote him and offered to send him the painting. His boyfriend/assistant Gage wrote back that same day & the painting is off to LA!

Christmas in July SALE!

Hi all! I'm having a Big Christmas in July sale! 20-40% off everything in my etsy shop PopkinsPortraits.
I'm posting lots of completed drawings and paintings that are ready to ship now, but custom portraits are included in the sale. That's right- buy bigger & save more! I have gift cards for you holiday shoppers who are thinking ahead for the holidays. We may be sweating now, but before you know it... snow!
Don't wait! When I get overwhelmed the sale will end!
x Spoon

Returning Customer!

Remember how excited I was to get my first commission based solely on my Yelp! review and website? Well, Charlie came back for another painting! This time it was of his own dog Satchel, also known as Mr. Spirit. Satchel was a pleasure to paint and it was fun to see Charlie again and chat about science.

I have just recently added this 10"x10" portrait size as a lower cost option and I am quickly coming to love it. The size allows such freedom of brushwork, requiring a gestural spontaneity- it's very freeing!

shih tzu

I painted this shih tzu recently for the sheer pleasure of it. It's bouffant was just too glorious NOT to paint! She will be available for sale on my etsy shop, Popkin's Portraits in the next few days...