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...

Studio Space of a Creative

Wow.  What a difference five years makes!  My studio before it went into heavy use and now.

What can I say but that I know where everything in this studio resides? Do you know where everything is in your office or workspace?

You would notice the totally goofy charcoal of a rebellious cat; we had to force feed him for some time and that’s where this came from, haha!  The beardy dude in black and white on canvas is our oldest son.  He and I used to enjoy trying on stupid glasses at places like Walmart and making silly faces at each other. :). You’re going to have to ask about the bowling pins.

Studio Work

Whew!  Well, at least I cleaned the paintbrushes before taking the pic. What are YOU doing this summer?

The Continuing Saga of... (cue music) AN ARTIST’S DESK

Between each project I clean my desk and clear off all the stuff.  Okay, not ALL the stuff, but a goodly portion! Then I lay out the tools of my trade with a surgeon’s precision, albeit not that sterile, for the next great work. The brushes laid out here indicate I’m working small, which means I’m either painting a small project or working on a BIG project and getting close to being finished. Generally when I work big, I keep to big brushes for as long as possible and switch to the smaller brushes when they start to feel unwieldy. I think this keeps my work looking fresh and more immediate. And yes, I am getting close to the end of a big project.  Can’t show you yet because it’s a commission.  Dream about a painting you’d like to have and ask! I work within everyone’s budget. My email address is colorcatstudios@gmail.com.

Art Experimentation

I’ve been doing some experiments with oil sticks on top of mixed media and liking the results.  These are the pearlescent and metallic ones, and the illusion is that they’re actually floating on top of the watercolor.  Pretty cool.  Tonight I’m going to post a video of it to explain a bit more. 

My Sketch Pad

Working it out in my sketch pad. Sometimes just laying down some leftover paint on a couple pages can be inspiring.  I’ve had mulberries on the brain for several weeks since it’s picking time and I’m a nature girl. Mentally working out some designs, I happened upon these painted pages and it was the perfect place to lay down some ideas.

I look at my sketchpads as recipe books.  Something wonderful may come from this little sketch.  Maybe in a couple years, something ELSE wonderful and totally unrelated may come from this same sketch.  You never know.

And in the meantime, if anyone needs an artistic manicure, just come on over.