The Website Process
Reading this means you took a deep dive into my brand-new website, and I cannot thank you enough for being here. Making a purchase is absolutely not necessary, and I appreciate the visual support of my artwork just as much. Hopefully, you have looked around and made it here after seeing my most proud creation of all — my website. A project I always wanted to start but never really had a reason… until my painting of Vessel from Sleep Token hit the social media circle and blew up my notifications with supportive comments, relatable people, and a fandom that I have found great friendship in. Hundreds of people asking where to order this specific art print made me realize my next step, to create a website, and that’s exactly why you’re here.
thirty-three open tabs, a notebook filled with scribbles of my ideas, a free trial to Squarespace website builder, and two weeks later… I made it. Reading blogs and articles on what I need to do, what I have to include, the best quality to produce prints, and how to get it from point A to point B was the most time-consuming part, but not nearly the most difficult. the most difficult was getting my acrylic paintings that hung on my office walls into images on a website for people to purchase. so, where did I start? By crying first.
I wanted each painting to clearly show my brushstrokes, the textures of the canvas, where I put a little too much paint so it bumped up on the canvas when your finger crossed it, and of course, the imperfections like the little white dots where my paint didn’t cover the rough canvas texture. I needed to photograph my artwork, and thanks to my aunt Shannon for letting me borrow her Canon Camera, so I didn’t have to use my iPhone.
So I borrowed a camera… what now, I know absolutely nothing about photography. But my other aunt, Steph, does! Thanks to Steph for helping me understand— actually, I didn’t understand a single thing she said or did during the process, but she helped get it done while I stood right next to her. There was more to it than just taking a picture, though; we needed natural light. Front patio of my parents’ house (check), a reflector thingy to help minimize shadows and glare (check), and thanks to my sister, Andrea, for taking time out of her nap to hold up this flimsy thing for the photos. But I needed another thing to block the glare of the sun from another angle, so thanks to my mom, Heidy, for holding up the only thing large enough, which happens to be a large art piece of a horse she had hanging in her office (check). After we got the photos, it was time to adjust them, so I got to work.
I needed to edit these images without over-editing. I didn’t want to make the paintings’ images look like they had been face tuned, but needed to remove weird glares that still showed up, cropping, color adjustments, and image extensions for the gallery wrapped canvases. All of which I had almost no idea how to fix, so I got a free trial of Photoshop and Lightroom to “help” even though I felt lost.
I also spent a lot of time figuring out how to make it feel like me. I didn’t want the site to be overly formal or super salesy—I wanted it to feel like walking into my studio, or flipping through my sketchbook. Casual, thoughtful, and centered on the art.
Now that it's live, I'm so proud (and honestly a little relieved). It feels good to have a space that's truly mine—a home for my work that’s always open. Thanks for being here, whether you’re browsing or just curious. Every visit, every scroll, every share—it all means a lot.
And thank you to my Mom, Dad, Andrea, Steph, Shannon, Grandparents, Friends, and my Husband, Dre, for supporting me.