I can get that managing an art shop can be very, very difficult. You would do well for the first few days, and then you'd start postponing bit-by-bit until a lot of requests have piled up when you either go inactive/close down the shop/do everything in a flash. Doing everything at that time is very unusual, as your self confidence would have probably faded by then. Possibly the reason why we don't have an awesome, long-running shop in the forum, huh? Anyway, I used to have two sprite shops, like way back, and both of them closed up because of this reason. Good for you you're still trying hard.
I actually like having a shop because it makes me work with a lot of different things- mine right now is open to pretty much anything people can think of besides original works because I actually can do this stuff. Even if I'm not the greatest at it, I can do some things that others can't for themselves. Requests make me do things I'd never do on my own (Murkmire's text&bg-only banner; tags with text; a heck of a lot of vertical tags due to the stocks I've been getting; more dynamic pieces than whimsical floaty things) and that's good for me.
I have been having trouble with repetitive stocks lately- I've been pretty much forced to do a lot of vertical tags due to the unforgiving positioning of the subjects and I've been running out of ways to make them look good and different from each other. But I mean, I wouldn't have made any of them at all if I hadn't gotten those stocks? idk it's an interesting range of experience I'm getting.
If you ever feel like you need a break, you can always ask me and I'll close the thread for a couple of weeks. :( That's the main reason I don't want people posting request threads, because I feel they can really compromise an artist's desire to create and puts unnecessary pressure on people where there doesn't need to be. There's nothing wrong with suspending the shop for a small time so you can catch your breath.
Anyway, I am happy that you were able to produce something you're proud of. It's always awesome when you can recapture something you felt like you lost. Just please remember that, if you ever hit those moments of exasperation, I'll be happy to take some of that weight off of your shoulders. <33
If I ever have the thread closed I'll never get back to it tbh. :x And I do like having a shop, even if I don't like all the requests I get. Because while some aren't fun and some are just ??? there are others that I have fun with and end up with something I never would have done without that particular direction. And people clearly want stuff done, too. I remember there used to be like tons of shops that were always really busy and I thought that people had just stopped requesting or something but I guess it was shop owners that didn't want to do it anymore. So if I can do things for people and they continue to like it and come back for more then that's great! I'm sure I'm only getting requests because of the small amount of people offering services tho. ^^;
Galleries are even more difficult for me tbh because everyone is so much better than I am haha. And I learn on my own time and with experimenting rather than trying to figure out what people with actual art knowledge are trying to explain to me. I take criticism fine, I just don't understand it well. -v-; And like. I don't want to show off what I'm doing. I just want to make things that I or other people will use. All the stuff I do has always been for themes. I don't make stuff for the sake of it as much.