My apologies ... I do see the "hand painted" part. I zoomed way in and it still looks like needlepoint to me with all of the stitches slanting up to the right. Cross stitch typically has a stitch from lower left to upper right, crossed by a stitch from lower right to upper left and is not usually stitched on a canvas. It could be the type of yarn or the technique that makes it look a little different. They are cute!
aggiebabestitches in cross-stitch could lay however you want to, the only rule is: they should be uniform. i mean, if you choose to lay upper stitch from upper left to lower right (as i do :)), they all should be done like that. also - i think in those pillows they used zweigart's aida (it's soft), not canvas (tough one).