New Painting

My newest painting ! I named it ‘Suburban Landscape’ and absolutely LOVE it! I’ll pop it onto my website for sale this afternoon. Details - 8”x10” on heavy cotton rag paper, handmade, color shifting watercolors. 

Check out the changes at dif angles!  $80.00.  Message me if you can’t wait.

LOVE it!!!

More Sketchbook Pages

Continuing my sketchpad digging to find pieces I’ve done on top of backgrounds which I pre-painted. I’m leading my art students through watercolors and we’re sticking to backgrounds only so it’s a little less intimidating. 

I incorporated my molotow chrome marker for this floral so you have to compare photos to see how it reflects.  

Art Supplies

I’m curious what your favorite creative supplies are?  I’m pretty sure that mine are ‘whatever is closest to my hand at the moment.’  Even pencils.  I won’t call it ‘the lowly pencil,’ because these days they’re anything but!  I’ve got a really heavy hand, though, so when I’m using pencils I break them all the time.  Like ALL THE TIME.  But it’s okay, because I’m laying down that luscious color.  Yummy!

So you?  Yarn? Cross stitch?  (I’ll let you in on a secret - I absolutely cannot concentrate to count.  I could do neither of these - I’ve tried!!

Art Lesson on Pencils

School is in session! I’m going to give you Pencil 101.  Did you know art must be learned block by block just like math or science? We always start with pencils!

For great art you need different kinds of lines, darks, lights, etc. and for that you need a range of pencils. They’re numbered like this:

9H 8H 7H 6H 5H 4H 3H 2H HB 2B 3B 4B ..... to 9B.

All the pencils in your house are either 2H, HB or 2B, grouped under the name ‘#2 pencils.’

H stands for hard, and these are light pencils, 9H being nearly invisible. The super hard pencils can also be sharpened to a deadly point and used as a lethal weapon.

B stands for black, and the get continually darker out to 9B, the blackest and most dastardly of all.*  These pencils will break when you drop them because the graphite is so soft, to make dark marks.  So, drop your H pencils.  

If you look at the points as in the second photo, the fattest graphite is the darkest pencil, the skinniest would be the lightest.  So, you don’t even need the pencil name to know what you want! 🙂. Any questions? 🙂 

*art people, I’m simplifying.  I know what you’re thinking.

Lessons in Art

Take a look at this beautiful sunset.  Look at the tree with the sun behind it.  I’m going to assume  ;) you know that the tree doesn’t stop at the sun and have the top half of the tree floating in space above it.  You know the tree is whole; your mind attaches it even though you can’t see it.  In art, that’s called an implied line.  

Now, I have two paintings, Grant Wood’s and mine.  Mine is super simplistic compared to his.  You see the wire that Pippy and the bird are sitting on.  You KNOW that the wire is constant, even though I broke it up for interest.  Implied line.

  Grant Wood’s is more complex; you can see how the man’s ladder points toward George; how the man’s hand points toward George’s ax, how the narrator leads you toward the cherry tree. Even the little tassel balls on the curtain lead you down to the narrator.  Implied line.  

There.  Now you’ve had your art lesson for the day. :)

Cat and Bird Painting

Pippy’s Adventures continued.  If a cat and bird can be kind to each other, then we can be kind to everyone as well.  Let’s do it, shall we?

Many of these beautiful paints are handmade and very special indeed.  The flow from one to the next and pattern of colors makes for a charming little piece.  I’ve got the entire series, many of which I haven’t posted, on my website at: 

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

New Bird/Cat Series

This is the third in a series I’m working on called ‘Pippy’s Adventures.’  What do you think is going to happen as the story unfolds?  You can find my previous two paintings down in my timeline and tomorrow I’m going to spend the day photographing, editing and putting them in my Etsy shop!

Cat Painting Finished!!

May I present my newest painting!  Once more I have given birth.  That’s what it feels like! 

This is ‘The Beggar.’ You can find many works like this on my website.  Doesn’t he have a beautiful face? ❤️ 

This is an acrylic on canvas.  I used a photo of our cat, sitting on my studio floor, begging for me to love him. 

There.  Everything cleaned up. :)

New Painting Coming!

Bright!  No filter needed! Watch for my new painting in the next couple days.  When I’ve got two or more brushes loaded simultaneously it’s a good thing.  It means I’ve done some serious planning and pre-frenzy work and now it’s all out.

Aren’t these colors luscious?

 Stay tuned!

Tiny Watercolor

I’m curious which you like best - the first one with the background, or the second one without the background? 

Just a little watercolor sketch inspired by that teeny little branch I found on our recycling can.

 Sometimes I do little sketches like this as a segue into the big stuff, sometimes this is all I have time for, and often because it inspires me.  Also note the background color in the top half is Daniel Smith’s Fuchsite Genuine.  It is made up of ground fuchsite and has a smooth lay down with a bit of a sheen to it.  LOVE. 

Need Inspiration?

Need inspiration? How am I inspired? People ask me this all the time.  Hello!  This is me with one of my paintings I just created!

I don’t create paintings this size without inspiration!  Now look at the next pic; it’s a tiny artist trading card.  A whole lot of my inspiration begins on teeny, tiny pieces like this.  I really liked the leaves in this little card and have been painting leaves big and small ever since. You need to also note my blue fingernail polish and long fingernails.  I haven’t polished my nails in a LONG time, during this lovely quarantine, but we’ve been ‘stepping out’ a bit lately so I’ve been inspired.  Pretty much thinking that when it wears off I’m also going to chop my nails off.  They’re getting a bit TOO long!

This big painting, which I named ‘Enter,’ was done entirely with palette knife. I gave you a couple closeups so you could see and feel the texture.

(It IS for sale on my website)
 Sooo... if you feel uninspired, start small.  Small things don’t intimidate.  Small things beg to be created.  Do it! 🙂 Just one tiny thing! 

Newest Print

I love these bold lines, don’t you?  This tiny piece is one of my double prints. Layers of color and design build up to make one fascinating, tiny piece.  This is only 4”x6”, just the right size to brighten up THAT SPOT.  

So cool, huh? :). Here it is with my computer.  I.... uh... have always wanted one of those cool,

light-up, colorful keyboards - you know what I mean?  Well, here’s mine.  It’s... colorful. :)


Signed on the back. 4”x6” and packaged for mailing and displaY.

I carved the blocks to make this print and layered the colors.  This is an original print; I couldn’t make another one like this if I tried.  You can find it at 

ColorCatStudios101.etsy.com

Art Inspiration

This is what happens when we have peonies, my favorite flower. First a little sketch. Then a drawing.  Then, hmmm... this would be a nice print block, and now... NOW... I am going to be carving FOREVER.  It’s a wonderful work, really, to see this come into fruition in front of my eyes, but it is a long process and my hands are tired. 

 I think I’m gong to go for a walk.  Maybe I’ll find flowers...

Quarantine Lino Printing

My last post showed first prints with my newly finished lino block. This one shows how it looks on a color chart I made. 

Absolutely love the colors peeking through the black pattterns.

You can see in the third photo that I labeled the colors so I could tell how each interacted with the others. I like the layers, and even the words under it all. Do you?

Staying Home Making Art

At it again! Quarantine printing!  First, the idea, then the sketch...

Then making those sketches into a real, exact drawing,

Cutting, cutting, cutting...

Then, the virgin print and more cutting to clean things up...

I am really loving the results.  In my next posts I’ll show you more printing on different backgrounds.

Quarantined Artist

More Art versus Artist photos. I love this painting because it’s of one of our favorite cats ever. She actually looked exactly like this, well, except for the fact that she wasn’t green... or see-through.  Anyway, you can find more of my paintings at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ColorCatStudios101?ref=search_shop_redirect. It’s a good thing to check out while we’re all in quarantine!

Most of my art deals in layers, color and texture.  I really do love this piece. :)

Print Making!

I’m curious which you like best.  Here we have four pieces created with the same two printing blocks which I carved.  There are so many possibilities!  Message me if you’re interested in any of them; they’re all works on paper between $5.00 and $20.00. #artist #quarantinelife 

I love this first one; I like printing in sections so you can see what the different layers look like.  

One thing I think is important is to have slow color gradations.  When they’re layered on like this it’s fascinating!

Ahhh.... what can I say but that I’m in love.

I like the light application of blue in places on this one; it reminds me of indigo denim. ❤️ 

More to come!

Fluid Painting for Sale

For sale, toes not included.  This painting, ‘Chain of Events’ features a copper chain which runs through it.  These neutrals mixed in with the copper remind me of an aerial map of water and land.  You can find it and two of its mates for sale at:

ColorCatStudios101 at Etsy

Online Art Teacher

As long as we’re home, I might as well include you guys just a bit in my online art classes:

Japan is full of art! It’s not only in museums and galleries but right under your feet in the streets!  Aren’t they GORGEOUS???  My favorite is definitely the face.  And if anyone can figure out what that carwash looking one is, please let me know!

In the 80s someone came up with the idea of beautiful art on manhole covers to raise awareness and help pay for costly sewer projects.  Each city had art competitions for designs.  The designs usually speak about that which makes the city famous, for example if they make a certain product there or are famous for whale sitings.

The idea took off and soon cities were competing with each other for the best designs! Now there are manholes all over Japan and they are encouraging tourists and travelers to go to certain places to find special manholes!  Japan has been hard hit in the past years by acts of nature and these regions are creating special manholes to encourage tourists to come.  This will help with the rebuilding of these areas.

Even Pokemon has gotten into the game to help with disaster areas.  They want to encourage tourists to go see them.  Think about it… how could those Pokemon manhole covers help those places make money so they can rebuild?  (I wish WE had such pretty manhole covers!). They’re a delight, aren’t they? :)