We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Caitlin McConnell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Caitlin below.
Caitlin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
Last year, I had a bridal customer with an upcoming wedding. She had recently lost her father, so he sadly could not walk her down the aisle.
She asked me if I would be able to paint two portraits. One of the bride and her family, including her dad dressed up in a tux. The other painting was of the groom’s family, including his grandfather that had passed a long time ago, standing next to his grandmother.
It was one of the most touching requests that I have ever received. It was also a challenging one because I needed to piece together dozens of photos to make it come to life. One of the real challenges was painting the grandfather from an old wedding photo.
I walked her through each step of designing the portrait layouts, and the final product was exactly what she envisioned.
It is one of my favorite and most sentimental orders I have worked on.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Interdisciplinary Arts & Design, then didn’t paint for about 9 years.
I owned another creative design business at the time, but I was ready for a change. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next. I had an “instafamous” pet rescue squirrel, and I just decided to paint her for fun one day. I posted the painting to her account and her followers went crazy over it. That first painting is now my logo. Her followers started asking me to paint their pets, and I started doing it as a fun side hustle. I did that for about four months, then I went full-time with it at the beginning of 2019.
Things really took off during Covid, I assume because people were at home with their pets. I have mostly grown my account and customer base off of referrals and Influencer posts.
Customers come to me to capture their most precious moments and loved ones. Whether it’s a new pet, memorializing a pet, weddings, a new home, etc, I customize their vision and turn it into a piece of art that they will have for the rest of their lives.
I am most proud of the reputation I have built with my customers and potential customers. I walk each individual through the process, letting them know what will and won’t work, mockups, flexibility, and fast service. I’m extremely proud of the reviews and referrals that my customers give me. I work so hard to make sure that they have a wonderful experience.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding part of what I do is getting a post, photo, or video from a customer as they open or gift one of my paintings. It’s the best feeling in the world to see how meaningful it is to them. It’s almost like magic. I end up crying every time someone sends me a video like that. It’s incredible to me that I have artwork in people’s homes all over the world. That’s something that an artist can only dream of.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I started out by posting on my pet’s Instagram page. She had a pretty large following at the time, about 50K followers. I started a separate business page, and it grew so slowly.
The key is to be consistent and have a clear brand identity. Posting on a consistent basis, engaging with your audience, answering comments and DMs, brand colors, posting on-brand content, etc. are all things I have done to grow.
Another tip is that I will occasionally do a painting for an influencer that I actually follow and engage with. I have been super lucky with this approach. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but I have had major growth from this. It just needs to come from a genuine place.
Contact Info:
- Website: petportraitsbycaitlin.com
- Instagram: @petportraitsbycaitlin
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/petportraitsbycaitlin/