Privacy.

The data controller is ARTEX Studios Ltd, company number 17223348, registered in England & Wales, of 150b Bridge Street, Wye, Ashford, Kent, TN25 5DP, England, trading as Samantha Hale Studio. Write to studio@samantha-hale.com.

What we collect

If you ask for a sketch or a commission, we collect the photograph of your dog, the dog’s name if you give it, and your email address. A free sketch also records that you agreed to the sketch email and one follow-up. A commission may include a note, and, if you choose “Your own idea”, the short description you write.

If you order a framed fine-art print or a canvas, checkout collects your name and delivery address. Payment is taken by Stripe. We do not store your card number. If you arrive from a counter card, we keep the referral code so the introduction can be recorded. It does not change your price.

After a commission is delivered we may email you once to ask for a review. If you write one, we keep the rating, the words, and any photograph of the portrait at home. Your first name and the initial of your surname are shown with a verified purchase. A genuine critical review is not removed. A note is held back only when it is abusive or not about the commission. Feedback on a free sketch is kept separately and is not shown as a purchase review.

Why

We use the photograph to make the sketch or the portrait, and to keep the dog recognisable. We use your email to send the sketch, the proof, and news that an order has been received or dispatched. We use the delivery address only to send a print or a canvas.

Who else handles it

These companies process data for us. They do not receive it so they can advertise to you.

• Vercel hosts the site and stores the files, including photographs, so the studio can make the portrait.
• Stripe takes the payment. Card details stay with Stripe.
• Resend sends the studio’s email.
• Prodigi prints the framed fine-art print and the canvas and posts them. For that order it receives the image, the delivery address, and the contact details needed to fulfil it.

How long we keep it

We keep the order record, including what was paid, for six years, so we can meet tax and accounting duties. We keep the photograph and the finished portrait with that order for the same period, so a damaged print can be replaced. A sketch and its photograph are kept with the email record. We do not use them for a later campaign.

Asking for deletion

Email studio@samantha-hale.com and ask us to delete your photograph, portrait, or email address. We will delete the image where we are not required to keep the order record for tax, accounting, or a dispute, and we will ask Vercel, Resend, Stripe and Prodigi to delete any copy they still hold for us.

You can also ask for a copy of what we hold, or ask us to correct it, at the same address. If you are unhappy with the reply, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Cookies and measurement

If you open the site from a counter-card link, we store a referral code in a cookie named hale_ref so the introduction stays with the order. It is not used to advertise. The studio desk uses a separate cookie, only for the people who run the studio. Vercel Analytics measures visits without a cookie and without identifying you. The site does not show a cookie banner.