The Gnome is HERE!!

What a special Christmas gift!!  Here he is! You can find him here to purchase:

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

Aaand... man, if you could help me name this guy I’m sure you’d do a lot better than me.  So far I’ve got ‘Christmas Gnome.’  Pretty boring name, huh?  Help!

Isn’t he just so cute?  I adore him!

There you go! More photos are on my website. :). Think of that very special person that you still haven’t bought a gift for.

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.

Art Lesson on Pencils

School is in session! I’m going to give you Pencil 101.  Did you know art must be learned block by block just like math or science? We always start with pencils!

For great art you need different kinds of lines, darks, lights, etc. and for that you need a range of pencils. They’re numbered like this:

9H 8H 7H 6H 5H 4H 3H 2H HB 2B 3B 4B ..... to 9B.

All the pencils in your house are either 2H, HB or 2B, grouped under the name ‘#2 pencils.’

H stands for hard, and these are light pencils, 9H being nearly invisible. The super hard pencils can also be sharpened to a deadly point and used as a lethal weapon.

B stands for black, and the get continually darker out to 9B, the blackest and most dastardly of all.*  These pencils will break when you drop them because the graphite is so soft, to make dark marks.  So, drop your H pencils.  

If you look at the points as in the second photo, the fattest graphite is the darkest pencil, the skinniest would be the lightest.  So, you don’t even need the pencil name to know what you want! 🙂. Any questions? 🙂 

*art people, I’m simplifying.  I know what you’re thinking.

More Art Coming!!

It’s coming!  More beautiful artwork in my Shiny Pebble series coming tonight!

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

Phoenix Rising Painting

I decided to orient this painting vertically because I like the way that red wing stands out; hence I named it ‘Phoenix Rising.’  However, if you give it a turn to the horizontal it looks mysteriously like a chicken!!  

Any way you decide to orient it, I’ve now got it available on mugs, pillows, stickers, phone cases and more.  You can find it here: 

Society6, Color Cat Studios

This will definitely put a bright spot in your home, whether you need a phoenix rising or... a chicken! 

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. :)

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.’

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!)

Interesting Finds

I’m thinking that I could intrigue someone well-versed in fluid mechanics with this, or, well, just curious people like myself.  Here is a closeup of a tiny spot in my 22x22” painting I just finished.  Do you see the absolutely perfect 9-pointed star?  That was complete happenstance which took place when I was manipulating the liquid paint.  I didn’t even notice it until I reviewed the video I posted yesterday and saw it in the video!  What are the chances of flowing liquids forming absolutely perfect nine-point stars anyway?  This tiny baby is about 1/2” in diameter, by the way.  Cool, huh?  It sealed my decision to name this piece ‘Hidden Gems.’

If there’s anybody out there that can explain what happened in layman’s terms, I’d appreciate it. :)

Watercolor Sketch

Sometimes I end up liking the weirdest stuff.  This pencil sketch of a tree took me all of a minute.  Painting it probably took all of five minutes.  And I like it!  Who knew? This painting used Ruby Mountain’s awesome Indigo, their Paris Green and coolest-ever Naples Yellow.  Ruby Mountain, LOVE your paints!

You would also notice my phone up there; I ALWAYS use an Otterbox.  I chose to have a ‘pretty’ phone case and my phone lasted three weeks.  Yep.  Tried and true Otterbox person here.  On my phone case is a sticker of one of my paintings.  Did you know?  I sell stickers?  Yep.  Find them on my website with all kinds of lovely things: www.colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

The Day in the Life of an Artist

The day in the life of an artist? It’s complicated and varies a lot, but there is an underlying current that unites my days.  I work a LOT.  If you’re contemplating a career, do not think ‘I would like to be an artist, it’d be fun to just paint all day.’  If ‘artist’ is your choice it’s because you MUST be an artist and have no other choice!  Being an artist is hard work!  Mine is 70 hours/week.

So, what did I do today, a typical day in my life?

• My first job was to take a payment on a sold painting with my Square.
• Reached out to a designer that I want to work with in the future.
• Breakfast - social media.  I’m more of a content creator because it’s my business.  I try to post on my blog, Facebook, Instagram, Linked In and sometimes Pinterest.  It’s how I generate business.  Artists need to be good writers.
• Worked on a commission
• Made a couple painting videos
• A few more touches on that commission so it will dry for the next layer...
• Went to the gym and worked out and swam for a couple hours
• Took a nap!
• Social media posting.  I’d like to paint all day but the paintings would sit in our house and have conventions if I did only that.  An artist these days should paint only 10% of the time and work on the business the other 90% of the time.
• Continuing work on that commission. 
• A nice cozy fire with my hubby and daughter.  Recruited them to help me finish some coasters; preparing for an upcoming Christmas show.
• I teach five art classes and completely write my own curriculum so I worked on class preparation tonight.  It takes me an average of six hours a week to prepare and maintain my classes, which does not include teaching them, ordering supplies, transit, cleanup, emails answering questions, preparing my own work to use as examples, researching art history, sending assignments, ‘student management,’ chasing payments.
• Conversation with clients, having them check on almost-finished piece.
• Watched one TV show with fam and enjoyed our fire.
• Stumbling around doing house things and last check of social media.
• BED!

This is a typical day, but they vary widely.  The underlying tie is discipline.  Don’t even contemplate an artistic career unless you are one disciplined human!  So... if you’re interested in the arts, it would be a lot easier instead of producing art yourself to just buy mine!! :)

Also, there’s a myth about artists looking fab and wearing high heels when the paint.  Forget that.  Just forget it.  HERE is the dirty truth!

Interesting Photo Editing

I find this fascinating and am really impressed with the updates on my photo-editing process with my iPad.  The first pic was automatically straightened in my editing process and the second picture is before I edited it.  This is a reproduction of Norman Rockwell’s Barbershop Quartet in Nashville - isn’t it delicious?  I recently gave a presentation in an 800 seat auditorium.  The tech guy set up the projector for my computer at the base of the stage and aimed it at a 60 degree angle up to the screens which were close to the ceiling.  I was certain it would distort the heck out of my photos at that angle but it didn’t.  It worked the same way my new photo editor does.  Cool, huh?

And yes, I do give presentations; glad you asked!  It’s just another part of my business.  If I can hold close interest of 600 students from age 8-18 for 90 minutes or a lively group of 200 Cub Scouts I’m pretty sure I can hold the interest of your group too.   And what would it be about?  Pretty much anything to do with art! :)

Florescent Coasters for Gifts

I’m excited about this sneak peek into my Christmas season wares - fluorescent coasters for gift giving!  This is a little smattering of what’s to come, reminiscent of butterfly wings, dragons and old Florentine marbled papers.  Hit these babies with a black light and they come alive!

Absolutely loving these.  The one below reminds me of a bird’s feathers.

This next one looks to me like dragons or spiny fish.  In person the blues and greens recede into the background and the reds and pinks come forward, giving it a three-dimensional effect that is mind boggling.  I tried to take a video of it but that didn’t show it either.  I guess you’ll just have to buy it so you can see it in person.

This one looks pretty cool as well.  The yellows float a surreal layer on top of everything, and I adore the lacey black lines.

Ooohhhhh.... this next one... here you are with your Florentine marbled papers!

This one looks like an x-ray, doesn’t it? :)

And this... well, let’s just close our eyes and go back to the 70s...

If you’re interested in any of these, I haven’t listed them on my website yet as I’m preparing for a couple shows.  Email me at colorcatstudios@gmail.com if you want one; they’re $15.00 each.

Me and Bob Ross

Just me and Bob hanging around. :)

An Artist’s Palette

Well, I am fluent in English and music (considered a language), adore old English, am pretty dangerous in Spanish and Italian, fascinated with German and completely stymied by Dutch, and spent about five years intensely studying and teaching Latin.  But did you know I can read paint palettes?  Looking at this one, I can clearly see that someone was definitely painting an animal’s nose. 

Well, okay, it’s my palette.  But I can look back at any photos of my palette over the years and clearly remember exactly what I painted.  Cool, huh?

Sold! Here’s Looking at You

SOLD!  ‘Here’s Looking at You.’  This piece is ink and watercolor, two of my favorite mediums to combine.  I like the discipline of the ink and the loose lay down of the watercolor; a marriage made in heaven if you ask me!  When I work like this I like to use a heavy paper - this is a heavy cotton rag.  You can’t see the deckled edges, but they’re there.  When you do get a nice piece like this, frame it on top of a mat so that you can see the nice edges.  Another one gone!

The man that purchased this painting actually has no place for it right now but is working toward a move and a new place within two years.  He is at this time collecting art with which to fill his home when he gets it set up. :). Sounds like a good plan to me!