---
title: "About Retro Reverence | Our Story"
description: "Retro Reverence began with Pookah, a medically complex cat who survived IMHA. Read the story behind our custom vintage pet portraits."
lang: en
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    "description": "Retro Reverence is a small art studio creating custom vintage heirloom-style pet portraits from customer photos.",
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[![Retro Reverence brand mark: the studio name in vintage serif lettering above a decorative flourish](/__l5e/assets-v1/19b7250e-3685-4e61-903a-e90e6b45c2fa/retro-reverence-logo.jpg)Retro Reverence ](/)

[Home](/)[Cat Portraits](/cat-portraits)[Dog Portraits](/dog-portraits)[Holiday Gifts](/holiday-pet-portraits)[About](/about)[Blog](/blog)[FAQ](/faq)[Shop on Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/shop/RetroReverenceArt)

Our Story

# Pookah is the reason this shop exists

Pookah is the reason Retro Reverence was resurrected. He's my medically complex, impossibly stubborn cat. In December of 2025, he nearly didn't make it. He was diagnosed with IMHA (immune-mediated hemolytic anemia), a frightening illness where the body attacks its own red blood cells. What made it scarier still: Pookah is Type B, a rare blood type in cats, which turned the transfusions he desperately needed into a frantic search.

He came through three blood transfusions and a week in the emergency hospital. Then, just as we caught our breath, came life-threatening pneumonia, and only weeks after that, a urinary blockage that could have taken him too. Somehow, this little cat survived every single one. He's still here: still purring, still ruling the house from the warmest spot in it.

![Pookah, the cat behind Retro Reverence, in the Watchful stairway portrait](/__l5e/assets-v1/e7d66d83-7585-496d-a278-cb39bda4ec3d/pookah-watchful-stairway.jpg)

Pookah, immortalized in the Watchful scene

Sitting beside him through all of it, I kept thinking about how deeply we love these creatures, and how much we long to hold onto them. That's what this whole project became — a way to honor the pets who become family, rendered in the vintage styles I've always loved and made to be kept. In some quiet way, every portrait I make is a little tribute to him.

About the work itself: I'm a designer by trade, and every scene in this shop begins as my own original idea. When your photo arrives, my custom-built studio software uses AI-assisted compositing to place your pet into the scene, and then I take over the old-fashioned way: matching markings and colors against your photos, retouching by hand in Photoshop, and approving every single portrait before it leaves my desk. The technology saves hours; the eye, the corrections, and the care are human. (The supervision is Pookah's.)

His fight gave me a bigger dream, too. One day I hope to build something beyond this shop: a nonprofit here in the Dallas Metroplex focused on IMHA awareness, the urgent need for feline blood donors — especially rare types like Pookah's — and safe foster care for cats who need a soft place to land. It isn't a reality yet, but it's the direction all of this is quietly pointed.

Thank you for being here, and for loving your animals the way I love mine. That devotion — the reverence, if you'll allow it — is the whole heart of this shop.

![Colorful pop-art style illustrated portrait of Amy, founder of Retro Reverence, smiling with bold graphic brushwork](/__l5e/assets-v1/947b5254-c8a0-4135-930a-0eb7078dd30e/amy-signature.png)

Artfully yours,

Amy

[Shop Custom Pet Portraits](https://www.etsy.com/shop/RetroReverenceArt)

![](/assets/crest-De7PXCRD.png)

Retro Reverence

Original fine art with a modern design and a vintage aesthetic. Handcrafted in the USA.

Shop

-   [Cat Portraits](/cat-portraits)
-   [Dog Portraits](/dog-portraits)
-   [Holiday Gifts](/holiday-pet-portraits)
-   [Our Story](/about)
-   [Blog](/blog)
-   [FAQ](/faq)
-   [In Loving Memory](/pet-memorial-portraits)
-   [Shop on Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/shop/RetroReverenceArt)

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-   [Privacy Policy](/privacy)
-   [Terms of Use](/terms)

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© 2026 Retro Reverence. All artwork original.