Gnome Art

I just popped my three gnomes on my website; click on

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

I named them Hippy Gnome, Fatty Gnome and Mr. Attitude Gnome.  Can you tell which is which? Get ‘em while you can; I only have these three.

An Artist’s Bookshelf

A little corner of our home featuring some of my art books for your perusing pleasure. And yes, I ADORE gnomes!

Michelangelo

We’ve been looking at Michelangelo in my art classes.  On the Sistine Chapel ceiling, this is one of the Old Testament prophets that foretold Christ’s coming. Through time we’ve been looking at how symbolism is changing.  Can you look at this picture and guess who the prophet is? 

SPOILER ALERT!  The fish.  Jonah. The interesting thing here is that Michelangelo wasn’t content with just painting a figure.  As in all his work he wanted to create a figure at a particular moment.  An example is his sculpture David - at the very moment he was coiling his muscles and scrutinizing Goliath as he contemplated the kill (vastly different from all sculptures of David that went before.) 

So, Jonah? Can you see here that God’s telling Jonah to go, and Jonah is struggling with ‘No, I don’t want to do that! I... think I’ll run away... I’m going to fight this...’  Every fiber of his being in this painting is struggling with God.  Only got Jonah into, uh, deep trouble, wouldn’t you say?  I guess the moral of the story is - let’s obey God the first time, shall we?

I teach at two locations, The Training Center

www.ttcclasses.com

And HIS Classes (Homeschool Instructional Support Classes)

www.hisclasses.org

These are formal art classes that run through the entire school year for homeschoolers.  Both organizations offer all subjects; I just happen to be the lucky person to teach art.

I also teach super fun, super messy classes in the summertime so let me know if you’re interested.

Steampunk Clockwork Art

Here are four cards from my new Steampunk Clockwork series. These tiny pieces are now on my website and I’ll post a video soon featuring one so you can enjoy its color-changing goodness. These feature the coolest sealing wax embossing I’ve seen.  My previous post shows all 14 - all different and original yet united by theme.

I just posted them on my website; they come in a sealed acrylic envelope for display. 

Here’s the website:

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

Oh man... aren’t they just so pretty?

I love them!  I hope you do too!

Art Supplies

I’m curious what your favorite creative supplies are?  I’m pretty sure that mine are ‘whatever is closest to my hand at the moment.’  Even pencils.  I won’t call it ‘the lowly pencil,’ because these days they’re anything but!  I’ve got a really heavy hand, though, so when I’m using pencils I break them all the time.  Like ALL THE TIME.  But it’s okay, because I’m laying down that luscious color.  Yummy!

So you?  Yarn? Cross stitch?  (I’ll let you in on a secret - I absolutely cannot concentrate to count.  I could do neither of these - I’ve tried!!

Leaves on the Ground Painting

Happy Saturday! The best photo in this bunch is the last one. ;) 

Today’s a good day to walk around to see what beautiful things are laying on the ground.  It’s fall!  Let’s think fall and maybe it will cool off a bit. 

The days are getting shorter.  This painting is available, and yes, these three photos are of the same painting which I created with color shifting paint!  Aren’t they beautiful?

You never know what’s going to inspire an artist.  Visit me at colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

The work Behind a Painting

How do you prepare yourself for a piece of work?  As for me, my paintings don’t just jump out.  Idea, brainstorm, lots of thumbnail sketches .  Finally, getting the drawing onto the paper or canvas and then working out the colors.  This swatch?  I had a painting ready and wanted to choose three good, warm colors that would compliment each other.  So, when you see anybody’s art , appreciate it for how much consideration and work has gone into it.  AND... this is a hint of things to come!! 

Giveaway Special on my Website

‘Ya know... they look different from me, but we can still be friends.  I choose to be kind.’

GIVEAWAY UNTIL TOMORROW (SUNDAY).  If you purchase anything on my website ($35.00 or more) you can choose a free holographic sticker.  Just tell me which one you want in a message when you check out.  These Pippy’s Adventures paintings just happen to be $35.00.

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

These are some of the holographic stickers I’ve got on my site.

Comparing Acrylic to Watercolor

Do you prefer one over the other?

First painting:  Acrylic

Second painting:  Watercolor and ink

For me watercolors tend to be more ‘free.’ I like to quickly draw, quickly paint and have it be a little crazy.  

With acrylics I get a little pickier and can spend a LOT of time on them.  You can see that the BEGGAR’S face is detailed, but the farther you get from his face, the wilder it gets.  That’s simply my style, and helps you focus on what’s important instead of, say, his tail.  So... which do you like better? :)

My Painting Matches the Clouds

After spending days painting my kitty I looked up and noticed that I had chosen God’s color scheme. ❤️ Thank you, God, for making us creative people and for allowing us to appreciate your creativity.  

Wow.  The sky was sooo beautiful last night. It seemed like a verification that, yes indeed, I am doing exactly what God planned for me.

Cat Painting Finished!

Belly Boy!  I’m so glad to show my my latest painting  which I actually did name Belly Boy!  I tried naming him Comfortable Cat but that was just too boring.  

This is our Maine Coon with his double coat and super-pettable peachy belly.

This photo, with my super-gorgeous model, shows how I package my paintings for mailing.  Mounted and sealed in an acrylic envelope.

You can find this painting on my website with more pictures which I took in different lights so you can see how it shows itself off.  It’s 10”x7” - not too big, not too small... juust  right.  Watercolour

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

Cat Painting

Since I seem to have this cat theme going lately I might as well continue with it. This is my baby watching over me. When I woke up from my post-surgery stupor there he was, laying there looking down over me. I did a sketch of him directly onto a canvas in bed and painted it later.  I don’t even remember making that sketch!  It was a bad surgery and a hard recovery.  Anyway, a couple weeks later I had this painting so that’s ONE good thing!  He’s for sale.  12”x24” on canvas, wired for hanging. You can find this fur baby at

Colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

 It’s a painting that’s hard to part with, but I still have my furry feline watcher. Some of these paintings need to go so I can paint new ones!

Art Giveaways

For those of you who entered and won my Win the Masked Cat art contest, they are now ON THEIR WAY!  If you didn’t win, I’m putting some of them on my website at Colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

Giveaway Contest Art

Thanks to all that participated in my first art giveaway contest!  They’re all packaged up and I’m going to take an armful to the post office tomorrow.  

Those of you who won, keep an eye out for fun mail!  

(The inspiration for all this is inspecting my work and giving it not the SEAL of approval, but the foot of approval.)

Hope in a Dark World

In these precarious times we MUST turn to God’s word.  If each of us did our own part in following those ten extremely strong suggestions, can you imagine what kind of world we would live in?  LOVE EVERYONE!

‘Oh Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven?  You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations.  Power and might are in your hand and no one can withstand you..... we do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.’  This is II Chronicles 20 verses 6 and 12.  These seven verses in order, which I did not type, are precious. They praise God, recall his deeds, remember his promises, tell him their problems and ask for help, then the last verse wraps up with ‘We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.’  Maybe this is all we need to do, huh?

Yesterday we got two inches of rain.  Rain and beauty are God’s blessings too. This beautiful hibiscus thrives because of God’s gifts.  Let’s obey him by loving everyone.

Tiny Art - Pocket Art Movement

One card, a thousand color changes. This set of color changing art cards is sooo cool! You can find this piece and the others in this series at

Colorcatstudios101 at Etsy

Get in on the pocket art movement or add to your tiny art collection.

These very special paints come from England.  It took a looooonnnnnggggg time to get them. 💗 I created the design and carved it into a lino block.  Many people collect these cards in books, like baseball cards, and many enjoy brightening up a desk or corner with them. :)

Oh man, I love these.  Start your collection today! 

Quarantine Lino Printing

My last post showed first prints with my newly finished lino block. This one shows how it looks on a color chart I made. 

Absolutely love the colors peeking through the black pattterns.

You can see in the third photo that I labeled the colors so I could tell how each interacted with the others. I like the layers, and even the words under it all. Do you?

Staying Home Making Art

At it again! Quarantine printing!  First, the idea, then the sketch...

Then making those sketches into a real, exact drawing,

Cutting, cutting, cutting...

Then, the virgin print and more cutting to clean things up...

I am really loving the results.  In my next posts I’ll show you more printing on different backgrounds.

Quarantine Printing

The beautiful thing about block printing is that each piece has its own characteristics and no two are the same.  I love the way you can see right through these.

You can find more of my work at 

Colorcatstudios101 at Etsy. COOL STUFF!!!

Block Printing

he two gold ones are the same piece; I’m posting two shots so you can see how highly reflective the gold is.)

See the difference in these two photos?