Saturday, February 29, 2020

Comparing Two Paintings

Which of these two paintings do you like best? The first one reminds me of pastel bubbles; the second makes me think of a delta.  Both of these designs are now on all kinds of things that will brighten your home and wardrobe!  They’re having a 20% sale today.

I really ADORE these paint pours and am looking forward to warmer weather when I can make more!




Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Creativity

This is so true.  It’s all of these things, but really, it’s a lot of seriously hard work. When I had my shoulder surgery last May people would say, ‘well, since it’s your left shoulder you can still paint!’  Nope.  Pain is a big distraction.  So many things have to happen in order for a person to be able to be creative.



Friday, February 21, 2020

Homeschool Art Classes

These print making days have turned out to be really fun for boy my students and myself.  LOVE making prints!


As  you can see here, some of my printing plates are repeated patterns.  Their assignment is to brainstorm with thumbnails for their own repeated patterns. Can’t wait to see what the students design!



I teach homeschool students ages 9-18 in two locations: www.hisclasses.org and www.ttcclasses.com.  I don’t take students mid-year but our schedule for 2020-2021 will be up around the end of April. Here are the links:

The Training Center Classes

HIS Classes




Thursday, February 20, 2020

Cheer Up Your Day!

On these winter days are you longing for something just a little cheery to brighten your day?  Well, these will! Sometimes it’s the little things.  You can find my art on all sorts of lovelies at this site:  

Society6 Color Cat Studios




Sunday, February 16, 2020

Society6 Artist

Did you KNOW?  All wall art at Society6 is 40% off for Presidents’ Day sale! https://society6.com/product/raccoon2599068_framed-print?curator=colorcatstudios. That means my adorable Raccoon!  You asked for him... here he is in whatever size or frame you want! :)

Society6, Color Cat Studios






Saturday, February 15, 2020

Making Prints in The Woodlands

Still making prints over here.  This is a linoleum block.  They’re quite easy to carve; a LOT easier to carve than wood!  Also with wood you can pull maybe only 100 prints before the wood swells and shrinks too much.  These lino blocks can go a long time if you’re careful.


If you want to start easy with print making, you can actually do it on a styrofoam meat tray from the grocery store with a pencil and some acrylic paint.  That’s super basic but a good way to get a feel for the process.  I always use printer’s ink because it’s the perfect viscosity for all the details.  There are SO many ways to print and I love them ALL!







Friday, February 14, 2020

Art Class Printmaking

My classes for the next few weeks will be doing print making. Here are some artist trading cards I made in preparation. If you’re NOT in my classes, I’ll still swap; give me a holler. Some of the qualities in art that I find important are layers, texture, color and contrast.  Hopefully you can find those things here. If you want to learn a little more, look for my video on these cards which I will post right after this. Once my students get a handle on making prints with some of the elements I just mentioned I’m going to have them make artist trading cards so we can all trade. FUN!

Cool, huh.  Note how the colors change with the light.  These are special, handmade watercolors.








Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Acanthus Paintings

This piece and its mate have been in the works for several weeks.  After much planning, careful steps and a mad rush of creativity it’s time for the finishing touches.  


Not done yet but these minute finishing touches have taken up my entire day.  Getting there!  




I am absolutely loving the textures and took a couple closeup shots for you to get the feel of it. 


Love these!  I’m hoping to have both paintings completely finished by Saturday night.

Saturday, February 8, 2020

Handmade Watercolors

Color.  Beautiful, glowing color. These shimmery watercolors are so yummy I could just eat them!  I got these through Indigo Art; does anybody else out there use handmade watercolors?



Friday, February 7, 2020

Picasso Quote

I popped this Picasso quote on one of my paintings and agree wholeheartedly. Honestly, I work like a dog.  I don’t even have time for UN-inspiration.  If I am ever uninspired I just go to my studio and clean brushes, sharpen pencils, leaf through sketchpads, look at my artist trading cards. So, while I’m doing that I’m getting things done AND... before I know it, I’m inspired again!  I am usually the opposite of uninspired; I have so many ideas that I can’t turn them all into paintings, sketches or notes.  There are just too many!  How about you? By the way, this painting is IMPOSSIBLE to photograph! See the lines through it? That’s the clear, shiny varnish which I laid down showing brushstrokes.  Cool, Burt I suppose I’ll never get a good pic.  Oh, well. :/



Thursday, February 6, 2020

Painting Classically

Here we go again.  I’ve been working these two paintings together; the painting in the bottom photo is finished and now I’m doing the serious work on its mate.  A little progress report so you can see how I work.  FYI, it’ll be a while before I get good photos of these as they’re all golds and blacks.  Where you see the light reflecting glows, so it’s hard to photograph.  It should be a challenge for a photographer’s camp or something.

Always the thumbnails first.  And yes, my phone is a mess.  That’s because I USE it.  The sticker is one of my paintings; I sell stickers on my etsy site and my Society6 site.
Background done, so it begins.

Hello, Fibonacci!  You know I love you.
Here’s the finished one.  They’ll be a beautiful pair.






Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Art Online

Now available, all KINDS of lovelies! You can find them and much more of my work at 

Society6, Color Cat Studios

The bag sports my “Phoenix Rising” painting.


I’ve got my art on all their phone cases now.


And... everyone needs a King...


Cool,huh?  I’m really happy about this!








Frank Lloyd Wright Quote

This quote absolutely cracks me up.  I put it on a photo of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim dome.  We’ve been looking at this impressive man’s work in my art classes.  I guess this would be an architect’s advice to ‘measure twice, cut once,’ huh? Haha!




Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect

I’ve been showing my art students Frank Lloyd Wright. He’s reputed to be the greatest American architect that ever lived and looking at his work, I believe it!  His influence has stretched to the present day.  He designed buildings to fit into their environment and opened up rooms so that they would flow together.  He did away with the tiny rooms and small windows of your childhood.  Not content with just any windows, he designed his own (often with leaded and stained glass) and also designed lamps, furniture - well, everything inside the buildings as well!  


And Mr. Popper’s Penguins?  They cavorted in the Guggenheim in NYC, Frank Lloyd Wright’s design. Cool! 






Monday, February 3, 2020

Creativity IS Magic!

Creativity IS like magic! I put this quote on the portion of my paint pour that has the little bottlecap star. This painting is quite large and the star is only about a half inch in diameter.  I didn’t even know for about a week that it was there.  Apparently a bubble popped!  I WISH I could do THAT again!

If you want to see this painting, it’s on display at St. Luke’s Hospital in The Woodlands. :)



Sunday, February 2, 2020

Raccoon Art Available Online

This cute little fellow is now available! Long sold, I’ve found a place that makes really nice acid free giclees on cotton rag paper.  These are  well made and beautiful. You can also order him as posters, phone covers, stickers, cards, etc. at this site: https://society6.com/product/raccoon2599068_framed-print?curator=colorcatstudios 

Color Cat Studios on Society 6





Saturday, February 1, 2020

An Art Teacher’s Homework

These are Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). They must be a certain size, signed on the back and traded, never sold.  I’m doing them with my students in my classes. There are all kinds of places where you can trade and lots of online trading groups.  When I need inspiration, going through my ATCs can put me right back on track. My students think THEY have a lot of homework; I have to make one card for each student!  Fun work, though. :)