My Newest Painting!

Here’s my newest painting, just finished today! Your’s truly holding my matching palette in front of it.

The paints themselves are so beautiful.  Aside from the gold, I used a micaceous oxide paint (expensive) which you can see in the closeup. It’s hard to photograph but is made of crushed up mica and you get this gorgeous, shiny, textured grey like, well, crushed up mica.  

The entire piece is really reflective and hard to photograph.  My goal was to make it look classical and timeless.  What comes off as peachy in the photo is actually a titanium white for the highlights which makes it look more three dimensional.

Here it is still sitting on my easel in my studio:

This is the closeup, showing some of the cool textures as well as the mica flecks (sort of)

  I’ll keep working on better photos.  Anyway, I’m happy.  Finishing a painting is like giving birth to a child. :)

Acanthus Leaves, Newest Painting

This pencil, pen and watercolor piece and the other two pics foreshadow the painting I just finished TODAY!!!  This afternoon will be photography (and soup making) so watch my feed and I’ll post my full-blown 30”x30” painting tonight!

 I am EXCITED.

I really love the watercolor; it seems fit for framing itself.  The big painting is acrylic and charcoal and was a JOY to paint.  I have long love acanthus leaves; they inspire me in so many ways.  Looks like the start of a new series... I used @rubymountainpaintco and @hydracolour handmade paints for this; LOVE THEM.

Wait until you see the finished piece.  A blurry portion is shown here in the background behind the brushes.  :). TONIGHT!!

An Artist’s Palette

Here’s one of my watercolor palettes.  Isn’t it beautiful?  ❤️ I squeeze paint from tubes onto the palette and let it dry.  

The squares in the middle are paints I bought separately, called pans. They’re magnetized, so I just plopped them down. 

 Once everything’s dry, I rehydrate it by spraying all the paints to soften them up. In a minute, they’re ready to go!   You never want to use watercolor directly from a tube. 

The last pic shows my clean palette.  I never go onto the paint itself when I’m cleaning up; that’s too expensive - just around it.  Now it’s all ready for the next time. #watercolorartist

Puppy for Sale

January can be a pretty dark month; pretty sure you need a puppy to shake it up a bit!  This bad boy would love to come and live with you and he won’t even slobber or mess up your place!  Find him at https://www.etsy.com/listing/616755561/excitable-pup?ref=ss_listing

Color Cat Studios on Etsy

Note the way I painted in the background and melded it with my puppy’s fur?  Just another way to show you this boy is on the MOVE! :)

Here he is with me so you can understand the size.  Annnnd.... on my easel...

 A little closer...

Inspiring Art Quote

I believe that artists of every type are commissioned to speak for all of humankind. I myself feel a deep responsibility to use the gift, and sometimes receive comments that surprise me about how what I created has so deeply affected another person.  All I know is that if I’m true to myself and true to my God, then what I feel and create will touch others. I’ve also learned through the years that if I stay true to myself and true to my God and DON’T receive affirmation for my work, that’s okay too.  I know in my heart that I followed the call and did the work, and that’s what’s important.  (my quote is on a portion of one of my paintings).

This painting is so warm it’s just what we need on a cold January day. Love!

Steampunk Gears Painting and Prints

One of my most popular paintings ever!  Although sold (thanks, Hope!) it is now available as prints and on merchandise.  I am really happy about this one. 🙂. You can find it in its different versions at:

Society6

I really love this Steampunky (is that a word?  It is now!) painting of gears.  So much to look at.

Art Teacher Life

Absolutely buried under Artist Trading Cards.  Artist Trading Cards, or ATCs, are to be traded card for card among artists.  We’re exploring pattern my classes and have been looking at contemporary artists that work in the textile industry.  Our first trade will be ‘Patterns.’ So much fun!

I’ve been working with my awesome Molotow chrome pen; that’s why they’re laying all over.  They have to dry!!

Cool, huh? I’m also teaching them about focal point, thus the card I’m holding up has a focal point because of the black ink outline.

Now everything’s wet and I just need to walk away.  So... I’m going to go work out, swim and shower, then come home for supper and go to orchestra.  That’ll take me until about 9:00.  At that point, I’ll probably have a little snack, enjoy my fam and hopefully get a little more work done before bed.

Society6 Artist

I am SOO happy that my paintings can go forth in so many forms!  Check out https://society6.com/product/wings-in-bright-colors_iphone-case?curator=colorcatstudios to view all sorts of lovelies. ❤️ 

This paintpour looks like dragon wings to me.  And who doesn’t like dragon wings. 

Cool Phone Cases!

Oh my GOODNESS!  iPhone and Galaxy people, how would you like my artwork on your phone case? Society6.com; search Color Cat Studios.  Wow.  I am LOVING this. Pretty sure we all need new cases. Love these!!!!

www.society6.com is where you get ‘em!

Society6 Artist!!

Eureka! We have found it! A site that we are very happy downloading my art onto to be reproduced in many ways! Cutting boards, tables, stickers, travel mugs, posters, greeting cards, phone cases... yay!  Go to Society6 and search for Color Cat Studios.  There’s a 20% sale on TODAY.  Www.society6.com. 

www.society6.com

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  I’m really excited because for so long people have tried to purchase my chrysanthemum woodblock, which I would never sell.  And honestly, they have so many cool goods, I absolutely love seeing my work on them!!!

Trouble on the Yacht

The wonderful thing about this story is that I was on a yacht.  A big, gorgeous thing, and I was in love.  In love with the sky, the ocean, the yacht music, the friendly, super-efficient crew, the fresh, fishy breeze in my face, my legs crossed and resting on the rail with toes wiggling, the churning wake, the sun shimmering on the waves.

I overcame my fear of heights and clambered up the ladder to the Captain’s bridge for a good view.  Clutching the rail I edged along it and carefully plopped down next to him to enjoy the ride.  We were cruising, heading waay out into the Gulf aiming to get into some seriously deep water for fishing.  We’d caught a lot of fish by this time - 40-50 pound amberjacks, which are aptly nicknamed sea donkeys for their good fight, and lots of 10-15 pound triggerfish.  We were now aiming to get past a shelf into a deep trench where we could catch some weird, deep-living fish.  We were definitely living one of my ongoing life dreams.

All of a sudden we were overcome by a heart-stopping, ear splitting SCREAM of a blast and an overwhelming BOOM that literally stopped my heart!  I was sure something had rammed us and the horrible rending sound was our boat being shredded and literally torn asunder!  The screeching blast and deep sounds erased all else and the ship responded to the core with vibrations of its own. Not one to panic I looked to the Captain for assurance.  My belief is that if the captain is fine, I’m fine.  The look of overwhelming terror on his face did not reassure me.

Adrenaline racing, we frantically looked about to see what on earth was happening when we noticed a fighter jet flying low, away from us, skimming the waves.  That joker had divebombed us!  What we experienced was the scream of his jets and the sonic boom when he shot back up!  Shakily, I looked over to the captain, who was a bit pale, and asked him if this had ever happened to him before.  His response was no, never.  I can only imagine how low that bad boy flew.

Everyone on the yacht had been well beyond terrified.  As our hearts slowed to a normal pace we stumbled around checking on each other.  We continued on our way and I pointed out over the ocean to that same jet, already a few miles away.  He had another yacht in his crosshairs.

Apparently we weren’t the only ones that would have a big surprise that day.  

This second pic shows that we did indeed survive.  Here we are, sun setting, coming in from our incredible day on the Gulf.

Art Show

Looking for abstracts?  This incredible show just went up at St. Luke’s Hospital in The Woodlands today.  Wander on over and check it out! 

Pretty cool background, huh?  It’s another one of my paintings entitled ‘Worldwide Web.’

Painting for Sale

These paintings have proven to be really popular.  This one’s still for sale.  I named it Stone Flow.  The second photo is a closeup of a portion of it; it looks like lacework to me. ❤️  You can find it on my website at 

www.colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

Oooh.... pretty!

You can find lots more photos on my website, and I also give free studio tours!  Just ask!

Valentine’s Day Gift

With Valentine’s Day coming fast I’m expecting someone to snap this one up.  This paint pour is heart shaped and glistening with Valentine’s gorgeousness.  Find it at

www.colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

My little giraffe friend certainly likes it!

It is FILLED with pearlescents and golds. ❤️ 

Soo pretty.

New Year’s Resolution - Cleaning

Let’s take a moment to laud the lowly stir stick.  Beautiful in their own right where would we be without them, after all?  As for me, I’d have very colorful fingers. Today is studio cleaning day which involves a lot of gathering and putting things into their rightful place.

The background is a handmade linen scarf we bought from a vendor in Belgium.  We were traveling on a particularly chilly day.  Gary bought a sweatshirt, I bought this scarf.  The two items made our day and we were nice and cozy after that!  I first laid the stir sticks on my desk, but the desk looks the same so it was like they were wearing camouflage.  Had to find a plain background! 🤭

This unsung paint sticks really ARE beautiful, aren’t they? And now I actually have them all in one place instead of scattered all over the house and garage.  Maybe.  Now... what else can I organize around here...

New Painting, Please Help Naming!

I need some help naming this; it reminds me of a river opening up and mixing with the salt of the ocean.  Two of my choices are ‘Delta’ or ‘Rivers to the Sea.’  Any help here?  Oh, and yes, I do have paint on our house.  So glad you asked.

This is one of my newest pieces which I am listing tonight. I really love the colors.  I took photos from different places so you could feel the warmth as the yellows and golds really leave a nice vein throughout and don’t show up in some lighting.  As you scroll I’m sure you’ll notice the difference.  

Oh man, I love these colors! They look very boho to me.  Maybe I should name it ‘Boho.’ ??

I hope you like it!  It will be listed at www.colorcatstudios101.etsy.com in about two hours.  18”x24” on gallery-wrapped canvas.

Art Show in The Woodlands

Last night Melody and I went to the opening of Argentine Art in Texas at Glade Gallery here in The Woodlands. We each chose a favorite painting.  Melody’s was a super thought-provoking piece by Ariel de la Vega.  It was done with pencil, cotton threads, ink and acrylic.  We both pretty much love it.  I chose a lush painting of peonies by Maria Marta Morelli.  If I had the patience to commit 200 hours to each painting, I’d paint like this; it is gorgeous! 

Super fascinating detail.

Oh, well, and the piano. Love. 

It was a fabulous evening (even if we missed the music.  Oh, well!)

An Artist’s Palette

Palette of the Day.  I think they’re beautiful just the way they are.  More than once I’ve thought I’d like to publish a book of studio images and palettes; really, I think it’s just all so beautiful.  I’ve been spending a lot more time in the studio these days, and one of my (multitudinous) goals is to spend even more time creating.  It’s a constant battle to get it all done, as I am sure you know.  Not sure about those books; I have a lot in me but finding the time to get it all out is a continual challenge.  Anybody else feeling this?

Bad Art

It’s what happens to half-finished bad paintings.

Step one:

Step two:

Paint it all under - now.  I’m free of it.  Time to begin again.

One thing a creative person does is stab out and do new things, even if scary, all the time.  And another thing an artist does is continually practice.  Practice, practice, practice.  One cannot be afraid to fail, one can only be afraid to not try.  This painting was bad.  NO big deal; I learned stuff.  I’ll take my ‘learnings’ and go on and continue to improve.  I acknowledge that it was bad, covered it up and go on a little bit better and a little bit smarter.  I guess that makes me the winner!