No I think you are right to try contacting her for a month then put in a dispute since she has not messaged you back at all D: Patience is good but it is better to be acknowledged about it so you can know the artist remembers they owe you something in case they forgot

Nope you're going about it the right way! There's no problem with asking for an update and if she's to afraid to be honest with you then I find her to be an unfortunate artist to commission. If the artist can't even give you an update then thats sad. And especially since you are THE NICEST AND MOST AMAZINGLY UNDERSTANDING commissioner ever! And that also seems really fishy to me, like they just took your money and ran ya know? Which is so not cool!

Thanks hun; you're an awesome person TO commission, and your artwork is amazing. I mean, she posted something she'd done for someone else right after I'd commissioned her, then disappeared...I've tried getting in touch with her here, her email (only reason I even had it was because of paypal) multiple times, looked her up on facebook, went to the other pages she has listed on her FA, and even went so far as to try to add her on Xbox Live to talk to her, and still nothing. I've opened the dispute, but have hesitated to escalate it to a claim because I still want her to have a chance to talk to me, but...eh...I guess this is what I get for commissioning someone unknown on an impulse...

Yea thats what always gets me. If they just kinda drop off the internet planet then thats one thing, they could have RL problems, but when they post things after you try and talk to them, and its obvious that they are ignoring you, then thats just wrong to me. And its not like you're being hostel or anything. And you have every right to open the dispute and even make it a claim because its your money and you trusted that person. Not to mention you are giving her time and a chance and she's taking advantage of that and running :( not cool