Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Palm Tree Painting



Here's a shot of my three  breezy trees, which makes me want to go to the beach. For sale.

 
 

Monday, January 30, 2017

Sculpture Busts

Some thought the art room looked a little scary today! 


 

Bernini' Elephant

When in Roma we went around a corner and ran into Bernini's elephant! Serindipity! 


My piece, done with graphite and red string on cardboard, is for sale at colorcatstudios101.etsy.com 


 

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Student Work

Oh my goodness I love this little piece from one of my young students! Watercolor and colored pencil.


 

Chuck Close Quote

Yep. There's a lot of work to be done. In the midst of the work is where the magic happens. Chuck Close on my work.


 

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Happy Accident

Ha ha... I actually didn't mean to do that. Sometime funny things just happen.


 

Flapping Pennants

This is a closeup of one of my favorite paintings. I have always loved pennants and have often rerouted our drive to sit under them. Yep. You can't watch pennants without being happy. 

 


Find pics of the entire painting on my site, colorcatstudios101.etsy.com, where it's for sale. 


Here's one more awesome closeup.  :)

 

Our Son, and a Sketch

I was surprised to find a goofy pic of our son online, so I used it today to make this goofy sketch in one of my art classes as we're studying expressions!


First the photo...

 


Then the sketch.  Remember, this is a FAST sketch... so be good to me!


 



Another Kind of Paint

It is just another kind of paint, ya know? Studio life.
 

Monday, January 23, 2017

Smile... Cheshire Cat

This #painting was inspired by my cat although I had to give it a #Cheshire smile. For sale colorcatstudios101.etsy.com   You will find lots of pictures of this painting there as well.  She is a larger than life 24"x30".


 

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Missing Baby

This is my best baby. Ever. And she has gone missing. Although my feed is dedicated to art, you will find her in many posts because she acts like a dog and shadows me. And because she is so beautiful. She embodies art. 


 


My baby is gone and I am a wreck.  She followed me everywhere and I can hardly operate without her.


 

I choose present tense in hopes that she comes back. She sleeps with me and stumbles to the bathroom for morning exercises. She eats with me. Paints with me. Critiques my work, as you have seen in previous posts. Gardens with me and walks to the mailbox with me. Wherever I go, she follows and parks herself at my feet. If she's outside and I come home, she runs to my car and jumps in. If she's inside, she comes running and meowing as soon as she hears me. She lays on my iPad and our card games, and parks in the middle of big groups. She continually trips me because she is always there. She cries if she can't find me and comes running when I call. My baby.


 


Art critic extraordinaire.  Always there.  


 


She was happy when she was with me.





 


 


But she is no longer there. There is a tangible empty space around me. I move and she is gone. My hand reaches out to empty air. My shadow is missing. I call out to an answering silence. Tears tears tears, I have made myself sick with tears. My baby, you who scolded us every time we left the yard, please come home. 

Thursday, January 19, 2017

The Tardis, continued.

Here I am with the couple that bought my Tardis, see previous post.
 

Doctor Who, The Tardis

I painted this Tardis for Habitat for Humanity as a fundraiser. Because it was forma home building organization I painted it on a door!
 

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Sausage Sketching

You know, it's important now and then to do a quick sketch of sausages.


That's it for today! It's all you need.


 

Monday, January 16, 2017

Bear Painting

Beary new year! Find this loveable friend at my site!  His name is 'Oh My!  ...lions and tigers and bears.... oh my!  Get it? Get it?  


colorcatstudios101.etsy.com


 

Friday, January 13, 2017

Newest Painting, 'Enter'




When I'm getting close to the end of my creation process, I often carry the painting around the house and look at it in different lighting situations.  Here I am having a good stare.  This will go on for a couple days, sometimes up to a week.

During this time, I will add a brushstroke here, a dash there, getting increasingly smaller (there's a contradiction of terms for you!) as I go until I'm satisfied.  Most of these changes are not observable to the naked eye, or really, I should say, to any eye other than mine.  These tiny strokes, however, are often the cohesive glue that holds the entire painting together.

And below, my Inspector Extraordinaire.  She's checking it out, too.

 

Here's the final.  As you can see, this resolution isn't very good.


And following, some small details.  In this one, you can see from the side lighting that there is a lot of texture that is not brought out by just color.



I used a VERY limited palette - really, only four colors.  Naples yellow, ghost green, indigo and black.  I'm really enjoying these more muted colors this winter.


The patterns and the way I applied paint really give a great feeling of movement throughout the painting.  I like it!

 



You almost feel as if you're looking IN to the painting, with the dark background.  It feels as if you could walk right into it, thus my name, 'Enter.'



Oh, man, I love the splatters!  And I love the way the colors are mixing right on the canvas.



I can see I need to take some more photos in different lighting.  That's always an adventure, too.



Here I am.  After that last brushstroke, I'm always washed with satisfaction.

 

Sitting next to it to give you a sense of scale.  36"x48" doesn't sound all that big, but this baby makes a very big presence in a room, and really lends its feeling of peace to its surroundings.  Trust me on that one, I've been carting the heavy thing from room to room to examine it!



And yes, it's iced tea.  I'm a Texas girl.  No sugar.  I take my sugar in solid form, thank you very much.  This painting is for sale and can be found on my site, colorcatstudios101.etsy.com
 

 

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Woodblock Carving

This is the woodblock I carved to make #chrysanthemum #prints . Find my #chrysanthemums at colorcatstudios101.etsy.com


I hunk my woodblock is a thing of beauty in itself.


 


Here's a portion of one of my flowers for a closeup view of the textures and layers.


 


And...


 


Find the entire painting on my site.

Studio Life

Whew!
 

Chrysanthemums!

This is a mono-print, which means I couldn't make another like it if I tried. I carved the chrysanthemum woodblock and used it in printing this fascinating, layered piece. For sale at colorcatstudios101.etsy.com. There you will find other views, including the entire painting.

 

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Chinese Lanterns

Let's brighten up this new year! This lantern oughta do it! This is one of three Chinese lantern paintings in this series.


 

   

So bright and cheery!

 

I love the layers.

 

There's also a lot of texture with hidden textures within.

 

The bright colors layered make it even brighter!

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Cheetah Painting

The best phot of my cheetah so far. All gold and black, it's hard to photograph. For sale soon! Right now I have the varnish curing.

 

Winter Sketching

Dashed of this little sketch in my purse #sketchpad and #painted it at home. #winter muted #colors . 

 

Monday, January 9, 2017

Handling a Seven Foot Canvas

Yay! It fit! Today I learned a valuable lesson on carrying a 7' painting in a strong wind. Who knew I could fly!


 

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Quote for Artists

Mayhaps this be correct.   My firsthand experience affirmeth the facts. Osbert Sitwell #quote on my photo.