Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dina Capitani. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Dina, appreciate you joining us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?
I started hand drawing my doggie doodle art paired with a caption on t-shirts and wearing them. Every now and then people would comment and say I love your t-shirt and where did you get it? I told them I made them! Before long I was taking orders. I got my first order of 10 t-shirts from someone in a support group I was attending. It was exhilarating and then I knew I had something! So my mother, who had a knack for desktop publishing and bookkeeping, helped me make my first invoice. t-shirt tags, business card and flyer and we were in business!
Dina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I came to be a professional artist somewhat reluctantly or at least unplanned. I have no formal artistic training but when I was a child I loved my dog and the emotional lift I felt when I was around her, and tried to recreate that emotional experience by drawing her over and over again. I drew doodles of dogs in many different expressions – some happy, some sad, some lonely, some angry, depending on my mood. It was almost unconscious and like with most doodlers, my mind was on something else, whether a phone conversation, a classroom lecture, or listening to a friend on the phone. I doodled incessantly as it helped me connect with my heart, combat boredom and loneliness and manage my ADD. I called them “doggie doodles”.
It wasn’t until I was 37 that I began my career as a professional artist, when I started pairing my doggie doodles with captions on T-shirts and selling them at local craft fairs and festivals. later I began painting custom caricatures of people’s beloved pets from photos with watercolors and acrylic paints. From my scanned artwork I created a line of dog and cat art representing over 75 breeds, mutts and kitties paired with their corresponding captions and printed them on magnets, which I sold to local and national retailers. From 2011-2014 I licensed my art line to be distributed on a variety of products and distributed internationally. Unfortunately, I never received money from the deal as I was a victim of a scam artist. However, I’m very excited as to announce that in the beginning of 2022 I partnered with Rev. Deborah Bishop in creating “The Temple of Dog Oracle Deck,” which offers 78 spiritual lessons for humans from the heart of dog” starring my Doggie and Kitty Doodles (once again paired with witty captions) curated from over 17 years of painting caricatures of people’s beloved pets. The official reslease date is February 14, 2023.
What makes my pet portraiture different than other artists is that my art as is interpretive (as opposed to realistic) and I draw them intuitively, focusing my attention on the essence rather than the form. Most of my pet caricatures aka “Doggie Doodles by Dina” are painted in the sitting up position looking directly at the viewer with an emotional expression in the eyes and contain my signature heart which represents unconditional love.
I am most proud that my art make people smile and connects them to their heart just like it does for me. I am in awe of the power of art to provoke love, joy and connection and I am grateful I get to be a witness to this every day.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My mission is to bring more love and joy into the world.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is to get to express the life that is reverberating within me and to witness how the expression connects and unites with other humans. I believe we all carry creative energy within us so to merge with that energy and allow it to move through us is our highest calling. Witnessing my hands painting a doggie doodle or witnessing myself singing my heart out is a very profound, joyful and fulfilling experience. It feels like I am actually not the artist, but the instrument the Creator is using to express itself. I believe every single human is animated and inhabited by that creative energy. It just takes being present in the moment and allowing oneself to be moved by it to realize it.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Kier Irmiter