The Spice of Life Painting for Sale

Here is the painting I just posted for sale, my onion! He's a cute little feller weighing in at only 9"x12". You can find more details than you need to know at my site, colorcatstudios101.etsy.com. I have here many views here so you can more fully enjoy. 

Adolph Hitler Watercolor

This stunning beauty was painted by Adolph Hitler. Hard reminder that there is good and evil in all of us.  We had a lot of discussion in my classes this week about this. It's a sober reminder that God sees all sin as equal. 

Glimpse at an Artist's Studio

This is a continuation of... An Artist's Desk...   Part 68.

This may look like a jumble, but believe it or not, I know exactly where everything is, and that's a feat as many art supplies are un-put-awayable!

I've got a couple paintings on the wall... I try to do self portraits a couple times a year.  Some I spend a long time, some I only spent minutes on.  This one I named Gold Earrings, celebrating my first pair of REALLY BIG gold earrings.  I guess I came to this late in life, but if I had laid down $500.00 on a good pair of gold earrings thirty years ago, I sure would have saved a lot of money.  Now when I look at jewelry I think, "Well, I'd rather wear my gold earrings," - so I don't buy them!  Ladies, try that the next time you look at fine jewelry. :)  I didn't work to make the likeness much like my own features - and I exaggerated my eyes and the glasses, also a celebration of all these goofy heavy frames we are all wearing.

Let's see... three pears... an experiment that turned out rather happy... my cat next to that, painted on top of a fun project including many kids and a lot of splashed paint...

A stunningly gorgeous dress purse... they're just too pretty to put away when you're not using them.  Enjoy your things, people!  Don't put them away!

My drying/storage rack.  When I do particular types of painting I can have twenty wet things laying around.  This comes in handy!  Mostly, I keep finished work on it to preserve it, and mats, matting board, etc.

Brush jars containing all sorts of lovely things, including three beautiful lollies.  I love lollipops!  Because they're beautiful!  I usually never eat them, just enjoy their colorful riot of colors, and then finally toss them after I'm done with looking.

What else... a couple sketchpads that wandered the world with me in my purse.  I refer back to old sketchbooks like recipe books, devouring and enjoying them afresh.  Oftentimes they will spark an idea or begin a painting for me.  Sometimes when I'm tired I'll just look through them and relive memories.  Having taken the time to make a sketch, it brings back the sounds, smells and atmosphere with roaring accuracy, much more than a photo ever could.  Precious.

A stack of paintings leaning against the wall having a party - the one you can see is Abstract con Limons.  Love the layered colors and the way one side plays with the other side.

That's about it!  Can't reveal ALL my secrets!  Stay tuned for more from (music plays dramatically) "An Artist's Studio!"

Metal embossing Decisions

Making decisions tonight for the next step in the process. Step one of about five steps...done! Help me decide if you like it better vertical or horizontal. For the horizontal, rotate it counter clockwise. I've ruled out the other two directions. 

Boxed Beauties for Sale

A few pics from a painting I just listed. Yes, I buy pears because they're beautiful!  I did this in archival pen, watercolor, acrylic and gouache. They're a little hard to photograph; the reality is somewhere between all these!

You can find this little baby for $60.00 at colorcatstudios101.etsy.com.

Fun with Students.

Isn't this what paper plates are for? Fun today with students!

Classes this Week

This week in classes- Monet vs Cezanne. Who will win?

NYC Painting Finished

I finished my painting of New York City yesterday. This was a commission and is already sold. They're bringing a truck this week cause it's too big for me to move!  It was very fun to paint. He wanted a vibrant, bustling city, and they definitely got that. I love it. The colors ar vibrant and the details at mesmerizing. Here you are!

I have the entire piece here; below is a pic of me standing by it so you can get an idea of size and proportion. Then at the bottom are some cutaway closeup so you can see the details. Whatever you want, I can paint for you. 

Free Art Magnets!

I'm taking a poll to find out which of my paintings is your favorite in my Etsy shop. I'm giving out a free magnet to the first 20 people to do this:

- Go to colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

- Punch the heart on the top right; this will add it to your favorites and you'll see when I add new art.

-'Like' your favorite painting and share it on Facebook

-Check out my magnets for sale on the site and let me know which one you want.

-Watch your mailbox for wonderful things!

Metal Embossing

Working tonight on embossing metal. First of many steps. I'll post as I go along. My hand aches, but I'm well satisfied. When I'm done, you'll find it at colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

Pretty, isn't it?  Looks to me like tooled leather. 

'Here's Looking at You!' - New Painting For Sale

I've opened my shop and have been adding work almost every day. Here's one you should like! 

Check out my website and like my store. Then my new entries will send you a notice. 

Colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

L

Metal Embossing In Progress

Filling in the backs of my little metal embossing pieces. Who doesn't like playing with candles?  This is definitely right brained work!

Selling on Website

Here's a painting I just loaded onto Etsy for sale.

 My address is colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

Now Selling Online!!

I've opened shop with Etsy and am now selling online!  Check out my site!! I'll be adding more every day. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/264240996/horatio

In-Class Collage

Usually the samples I make while teaching don't do much for me, but I like this happy little collage fellow. 

Art Class - Japanese Style

I delight in teaching ancient Japanese gyotaku to my students! This art form grew from simple fishermen's bragging.  Long before cameras, they would take ink and paper with them fishing, and ink the fish to make prints before they cleaned them. Sometimes they would simply take newspaper and no ink. The wet fish would lift the ink from the paper, leaving a fish-shaped white space. 

No exaggerating on the size of their catch!

Metal Embossing Fun

Here's a little piece I embossed tonight, getting ready for next week's classes. Gotta stay ahead of my students! Still have a lot of work to do with this one. 

This one is finished, and I mounted it on an iPhone box! Went with the seahorse theme to celebrate a special time we had in Hawaii. 

'Life' Acrylic on Canvas for Sale

For sale. I titled her 'Life' because she is coming to life as she goes on stage. Acrylics and gold paint on canvas. Gorgeously stunning!!  She is $600.00. Kind of like my Instagram photo. ;)

The Continuing Saga of... The Artist's Desk

I've had many posts of my continually changing desk through the months; here's another one!
Let's see... window first, I guess... don't we all have Starbucks mugs from somewhere?  London... one of my favorite places.... *sigh...*

Next to that a can with, well, a stick in it.  Don't we all need a stick now and then? :) This particular one has really nice markings from some nice little buggies that hatched from eggs within the bark and made their ever-enlarging tunnels throughout, turning the wood into a labyrinth.

The red mug - my penny whistle - we all need a tune now and then.  This is the flutist's answer to immediacy.  Various brushes and pallet knives... these brushes represent about five percent of my brush collection.  An empty spray paint can so that I can remember that particular brand and paint...

Pencils, watercolor pencils, layout pencils, markers, charcoal pencils...

Oh!  One of my MOST IMPORTANT tools - an old paintbrush.  Splattering paint, mainly.  Also various scrubbing and dribbling.  And you never know when you might need to brush your teeth when you're sitting at your desk (yes, sarcasm intended!)

What else? Oh, good old Liquatex glosses.  I use these all the time.

Gorilla Glue - an absolute necessity.  Have you ever noticed how pretty much any glues you buy end up with lids that don't work?  Of course they glue themselves shut... they're glue!  I just leave mine open since I pried the lid off, and use the finger of a glove and a rubber band to keep it airtight.

The little pot in the bottom corner is General's brush cleaner.  Can't live without it.  It not only cleans your brushes, but if you leave it IN your brush, paint can't dry into it and you get the added benefit of bristle conditioning.  Maybe I should use it on my hair!  Seriously, in theater I give a lesson on brush care and have saved them hundreds of dollars in paintbrushes.  If you ever need a lesson on brush care, come to me.  They can last a lifetime, or maybe just a day, depending on how you treat them.

Oh, another important tool - toilet paper!  Can't live without it, can we? Next to that is a little piece of metal I embossed, waiting for me to get inspired as to what to mount it on.

That's it for ... The Artist's... Desk.  You can find a number of posts like this if you look at the right hand side of my blog and look for the same title.  Goodbye for now!

Trees for Sale!

These gorgeous trees outside my window are for sale... Well, at least my painting is! Acrylics on 9x12 heavy cotton rag - $175.00. 

An Artist's Studio

I've always loved looking at artists' studios. Here's a little tour of a packed corner of my own. Let's see... what have we here? Let's start from the top left, just like the good English readers that we are.

Far left is my bulletin board.  It's always plastered, three-deep with stuff.  You see a license plate - that's an old plate I got in Cuba on one of my trips BEFORE the country was opened up to us.  That's another story altogether!

Above the plate you see a partial rainbow... that's what an artist does to conceal picture hanging-holes-that-went-awry! :)

My tiger painting, which I named Circus for all his great, wild colors.  Top right is a beauty I did of a nest with glowing eggs.  I named it 'Safe.'

Below that, a quick self-portrait with exaggerated features celebrating my new pair of gold hoops.  I try to do self portraits at least a couple a year... most of them are like this one, with maybe an hour or less of work invested. 

An experimental painting of pears which I love behind the lamp.

My rack o' finished, unfinished and drying paintings, mat board, etc.

In the foreground on the right side you see a green and blue, uh... cloth... uh... vine?  Whatever you want to call it, I've enjoyed it a lot.  It represents the time I was in charge of sets for Peter Pan.  This represents one of many huge vines we made to hang in the jungle on stage.  It also represents about 15 kids sitting in my living room putting them together.  Fun.

At the bottom, supplies and books of every sort that are in line for attention within about a two week period.  These piles continually vary.

Oh, and most important - the partial furry ball!  My beauty and companion, Calypso, on her 'bed,' a simple quilted circle.

Life is good.

Escargot, Anyone?

Well, this was a test run on a new app, but you might as well enjoy our little yummies as well.
Escargot, fresh mushrooms and onions drowning in... what else... butter.  Mmmmmmmm....

The Master Artist

This Christmas I painted and sold a lot of birds. A friend of mine sent me this photo - gorgeous, aren't they? Yep. I know a Master Artist. God.

Monet vs Bouguereau

This week I'm comparing Bouguereau's classical style with Monet's outdoor atmospheric work - that rebel - in my classes. Love them both. 

New Beginnings

Well, I rarely post an unfinished work, but here you have it in the new year! A nod to last year with a thankful eye, and a looking toward the freshly-opened new year with hope and gratefulness. 

The Good things in Life

I haven't posted in a while; pretty much feel like I've dropped off the edge of the earth into an unreal, clinical and slightly darkened, fuzzy world, into which I have been forced to establish my temporary home.

My parents are 90 and 94.  We've lived a long, good life together, full of adventure, and love and caring.  It's really difficult watching them get old and feeble, and we're continually stepping up their care as they say goodbye to things they've done all their lives.

My dad just got out of the hospital with pneumonia, and it was a long haul.

Spending five days in the hospital with my dad has really given me pause to contemplate the good things in life. What are they? Well, I still maintain that coffee, tea, garlic, butter and sugar are GOOD things! You have no idea how good this cup o' coffee Gary made our of my OWN mug tastes this morning after all that institutionalised coffee (yuck!)

But seriously, taking a walk with my husband. Chatting with my daughter. Losing yet another game of cards with Noah Johnson, asking Grant to help me with yet another computer problem, the preciousness of the many years we've enjoyed my parents, and most of all, Jesus, who gave us the freedom in Him to walk this life without fear. Thank you, Lord, for our family and for the many simple things in our lives that make us rich.

The good things in life.

Oh! And popcorn!