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. :)

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.

Top Nine 2019

Instead of choosing nine best to wrap up 2019 I decided to choose nine SOLD.  As for all of you I am sure, it’s been a both an extremely difficult year and a truly wonderful year.  I feel privileged to walk in the creative path that God planned for me and thank all of you who support me in continuing the walk down that path.  #blessed #topnine

Mural Art Portrait

LOVE THESE! When we travel I’m sure to find my way to art.  Here we’re standing in front of a mural by Kelsey Montague in Nashville.

I think if I decide to start a band I’ll use this pic as the cover.

Our time in Nashville was delicious.  Nashville, I never knew!  You are so lovely in so many ways!

Art Studio Work

People ask ‘How long did that painting take?’  Here’s an essential part of my process that never shows.  I choose my paints very carefully for any piece and a lot of planning goes into it that no one knows about.  Mixing colors, matching colors, working out compliments, mixing, finding opaques and transparents.  It’s here where I wrestle with problems so that once brush meets canvas there are no mistakes.  It may look sloppy and messy now, but that gets all worked out so that HOPEFULLY the final will be brilliant.  Also, these notes are important because years later I can refer to them for repairs or for posterity.

For this commissioned work I am making sure the new piece will not necessarily mimic but at least match the two other pieces I’ve done for these people.  You can find lots of my art at www.colorcatstudios101.etsy.com 

www.colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

My Art Studio Today

I had to step aside from the work I’d outlined for my painting day because these hyacinths were driving me to distraction!  Their fragrance is divine and I literally carry them from room to room. Finally I prepared a canvas and did some color testing.  Pictured here are the color winners; the color losers were banished back to my paint drawers.  We artists make it our job to make creation look easy, but you can see from this photo that a whole lot of planning and work go into a piece long before brush meets canvas.

Also, sometimes I have a helper come into my studio.  Trust me, when he comes in, I stop and enjoy life for a while.

Creative Inspiration

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 newest paintings).

And by the way, the INSPIRATION for this painting, of which you see a little portion, is a bag of grapefruit a friend gave me.  They had stems and leaves still attached and were gorgeous!!! I had to draw and paint them for DAYS before I could eat even one!

Owl Painting

This painting was created in joy and makes everyone that sees him smile. I love the way the colors glow through one another. He’s looking for a new home and you can find HIM on my website.

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

An Artist’s Body; Just Another Canvas

I consider my body just another canvas.  Here’s a good example. Sorry for the poor lighting, I look rather like a mannequin.  Ah, well.

Also, what I wear is an extension of my personality and each piece is telling.  First, the dress.  I’ve had it for a long time.  I don’t know why I first bought it, and have called it my ugly dress all this time.  Yet I continue to wear it and it’s always been a favorite.

The long amber strand is about 40” and I usually loop it around a couple times.  It was my mother’s, so it holds special meaning.

The velvet scarf which is a rich brown on one end and a deep red on the other was a find somewhere in the South of England in a little coffee shop.  Wanting coffee, I walked in and this Texas girl found two people, a clerk and a customer, discussing Texas food! It was a warm and welcoming shop with walnut cake, pea soup and a pile of sketchpads on a table into which anyone that had the desire could make an artistic entry.  Enjoying the atmosphere and conversation, I walked around to find the shop was also a kind of second-hand garage sale of sorts.  Draped over who knows what, I found this scarf for a mere four pounds, which I think was about six American dollars at the time.

You can see I’m wearing two scarves; the crazy black one with the dangling shapes I adore! Gary and I went to Florida a couple years ago and I scooped this up on one of the days he had to work all day and, oh, woe is me, I HAD to go shopping.  This scarf fits the weird bill and suits me just right.

The brass bracelet is honey comb shaped, and I bought it to remember the great times I have with my friend who has hives, our honey gathering and bee sting experience, of which we hope to have many more. ❤️ 

The wooden bead bracelet is actually a necklace that was my mother’s.  It’s olive wood from Israel and is also a symbol of her intrepid, adventurous personality.  She traveled internationally twice before dad realized she was having all the fun and decided to join her in her overseas voyages. This bracelet is very precious to me.

I purchased the ruby ring when I was maybe 23.  It’s been my friend all these years.

The gold band is a ring my dad found metal detecting.  It all began for him when we lived in Illinois and the county drained the community lake.  One of our friends had a metal detector and moved right in to the swimming beach finding probably 1,000 rings.  Some were cheap but being the first one to the beach he made a score of a whole lot of precious gems and metals.  Right there the metal detecting bug bit my dad.  He had an awful lot of fun doing this, always drew a crowd, and sometimes found some pretty nice stuff! All this to say, the jewelry from my parents is the most special of anything I’ve mentioned.

Oh yeah, the necklace with the big, glittery hunk o’ glass? True Value Hardware Store.  Where else? :)

Digital Art at the MFAH

Yours truly.  Using some camo to try to blend in for a change.  At the Museum of Fine Arts Houston they’ve got a nice display of digital art which includes a lot of projections. This allows viewers to become part of the art.  I like it! 

Glassell School of Art, Houston

I had work downtown this week and made sure to pop in over at the Glassell School of Art to see what they’ve done.  I missed their Grand Opening (since they razed the previous building to the ground and started fresh), but enjoyed poking around on my own probably more than I would have at the opening.  It’s beautiful.

This first pic is me and my new friend.  I can’t remember the artist but it was done within the last 60 years, if I remember correctly.  It’s called something like ‘______________ in a landscape,’ and features this fine fellow, made entirely of glitter, yes, glitter, in a landscape of neutrals.  The entire piece was like 12’x7’.  Anyway, this little guy and I made friends and had a nice (pretty much one-sided) conversation.

This is the space they’ve dedicated to performances and lectures, really nice.  Lots of natural light, in fact, maybe too much for things held in the afternoon, with the sun blazing in.

This third photo is from the park in between the MFAH, where I had just been snooping around, and the Glassell.  I didn’t have my sunglasses with me and it was a super hot day, so I avoided the outdoor roof-steps.  That will be for a time with a cool sunset and a friend. :)

Theater Sets Artist

Here is some more of the work I did for Porter High School’s fantastic production of Peter Pan. What a great show!  This was their poster; I thought it looked great.

They asked me to make their fireplace look like marble and paint a landscape over it. Generally in the beginning I will ask them to paint the object with a color of medium value, neither light nor dark.  That way I can add the texturing, dimension, etc. with colors and values on both ends of the spectrum.  The lowlights (shadows) and highlights (nice warm lights) are what make the sets pop.

When I first looked at the fireplace it was a base of off white with a clean red brick veneer.  My first project was to dirty up the brick so it looked more like brick and not just the flat surface.  Several layers of blacks, greys, some green and blue splatter to pull it together with the walls, and believe it or not, I rubbed a little yellow up on the mantle.  Most of these things can't really be seen, but they are felt.  Although you couldn't really see the yellow per se, you could feel the radiating warmth when the light hit it.

Below, some of my paints.  This is my go-to toolbox when I work offsite.Oh yeah, I love my Yeti. It has upped the quality of my life.  Funny how little things can do that, huh?  I didn't mean to wear my good Born boots that I painted; usually I wear sturdy Skechers shoes which I have dedicated to paint.  They're good for climbing.  But these LOOK so good, and I was planning on seeing the show!  Just remember, if you like them, I can paint YOUR shoes, jeans, shirt or purse like this.  Message me.  I charge fifty bucks and you will literally have people chase you asking where you got them.

And yes, just like anybody else and a whole lot of artists, I googled ship to find exactly what I wanted.  Didn't work.  I finally hit upon galleon and hit gold.  This is the little printout I taped up so I could actually see what a ship looked like!  A lot of times I just keep the needed pics on my phone but that has its drawbacks.  Theaters are dark caves.  You have to use your phone flashlight a lot so you don't die.  AND, they're often notoriously bad for reception.  Better to have a hard copy so you can get it done.

In my previous post you will see that I did silhouettes of the characters; they build and hung frames for me to work inside.  There was no frame above the fireplace so I had to paint it in.  (Straight lines are my big weakness - can I get an amen?)  I tried using a long paint stick to get the frame lines straight, but it was too painted.  Imagine that.  Finally I just eyeballed it and went for the long strokes.

This close you can see that it's a little wonky, but trust me, you can't see that from the audience.  If you really want to know the BIG SECRET, everything in theater looks a little wonky closeup.  Costumes, makeup, sets, props... doesn't matter.  What matters is the audience.

They nailed down the bouquet, of course, which also matters huge as this entire sets piece was wheeled in and out innumerable times.  The mantle was also built sturdily because Peter Pan flew up and stood upon it.
I had about 20 minutes to paint the entire ship, and as it was, they were already practicing flying before a show!  I had literally just removed the paint cans when Peter flew up there and almost got paint on her butt!   Yikes!

Because I had to do this quickly, I used big brushes; a 1/2" flat brush is my absolute smallest for sets, and I almost never even take one.  The background of the sky is almost all simply the wall color (hey, it matches!) with the addition of some grey-green clouds.  The final touches of those little yellow dots warmed up the entire feel of the piece, and the red flags added the much-needed flash of color.  I didn't have a brush small enough for the flags so did it with a finger dipped in paint.

Here are the brushes I used.... well, not quite... the three middle ones were the ones I used.  The two outsiders were used on a project at home.  If I HAD had that nice little flat brush on the left, I wouldn't have had to sully my fingers!  Sometime I'll show you my fingernails.  It's a pretty hopeless cause.  But I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Once again, whatever it is you need painted, big or small, call me!  My number is 281-734-3362 and my website is colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

One last word on brushes; I think the big center one is a two inch flat.  It's been a favorite for years because I can hit hard with it and it always remains flat.  Good paint retention too.  The two rounded ones on each side of it are filberts, sometimes called cats' tongues (wonder why).  They don't show brushstrokes as much as a straight-edged brush.  The smallest guy is a 1/2" flat, a size which is one of my personal favorites, Bubba.  Lastly, the brush on the other side, the lowest brush, is a course acrylic or oil brush with completely stiff hairs like boar's hair or something.  It doesn't hold a lot of paint, but the stiffness works under a lot of conditions.  It's one of those brushes that takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

You may note that some of them look a little sudsy?  They are.  Coming soon, a lesson on brush care.