Mixed Media Print, a Complicated Mix

This one’s called ‘In a Dream.’  If you know me you know I like a complicated mix of color texture and design.  This piece is a combination of all these things with the added bonus of shimmery paints below the linoleum block print. As we all need some cheering up these days, my mission is to put really great art at an affordable price into everyone’s hands.  Super cool art, little price. 🙂. Find this super cool, cheery little piece for only $25.00 at 

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

Nice polish, too, right? :)

This piece is soo beautiful in person.  Here it looks okay; in person it fairly glows.  Oh, it DOES glow!

Artist at Work

All four of these photos are of the same cool piece!  I’ve been experimenting with layers of pencil, linoleum prints and color changing watercolors.  You can see that as the light and direction changes, so does the color, in my little piece and also the colors on the background card. By the time we get out of quarantine I’m going to have all kinds of art to sell at the art shows that have been cancelled and rescheduled.  If you see anything you like in my posts these days they’re all for sale, just message me. This one is for sale. It’s a very special 2 1/2” x 3 1/2” 

If you like COLOR, you’ll love my work!

Hard to believe these are all the same piece, isn’t it? It is soooo GORGEOUS in person!

I absolutely adore the layers, textures and colors.  There is so much to look at here!  :)

You can also find my work at:

Color Cat Studios on Etsy 

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.

Leaf Painting in Negative Space

A couple years ago I went to ‘Picasso, Black and White’ down at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.  I was not excited about it and had an appointment after my museum visit.  You may have noticed that I’m a pretty colorful girl, so I was expecting a bunch of tiny black and white sketches.  

Picasso blew me away!  I staggered out of the museum about five hours later hungry, exhausted, missed my appointment and inspired to the hilt! His work was monumental and in many pieces he entirely covered the canvases with colors, only to cover them up with white paint and quickly sketch in his subject. The ‘sketching’ was eliminating the white paint to show the colorful ‘underbelly’ of the piece. 

He inspired me to use negative space in my paintings and this is a good example.  Can you see how the entire piece was once entirely color? By painting the transparent white behind the leaves, the leaves are now the subject. This is for sale on my website, shown below.   It’s called ‘Oh the Beauty of the Earth!’

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

A Spring Floral

When I paint flowers I always paint in joy.  And there’s nothing like a fresh watercolor painting of flowers to soothe the soul. This is actually a mixed media piece with all sorts of hidden things which will pull you into its rainbow of mystery. A tiny work on paper with a tiny price.  Find it on my website, 

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

And another closeup..

This piece has some really cool textures in it.  My studio is open; get a hold of me and I’ll give you a free tour.  Everything looks ever so much better in person!!

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.

Unique, Creative Art

As a professional artist I’ve created paintings and said goodbye to them as they have all gone to various new homes around the world.  Over the years I’ve watched as my style has changed.  I look back at paintings I’ve sold and think, ‘hmm... I guess that’ll never happen again, I don’t even paint like that anymore.’  I change, I grow, I move on to new ideas; after all, I have an entire world of creativity to explore!

All this to say, if you are eyeing art by an artist, ANY artist, whatever medium, BUY IT.  You are not buying Walmart (fake, reproduced, fall-apart) art, you’re investing in an artist’s life.  You’re purchasing an heirloom, a legacy and it’s not going to come around again. If you miss your chance, that particular piece will never happen again.  

You can join the artist in that shining, creative moment in time and enjoy a beautiful, unique piece that can never be reproduced.  Now THAT is special.  Yes, Mr. Bear is long gone, but I DO have small posters of him at  

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

Flower Painting - Spring!

Spring is coming (comes early here in Texas!) What better way to celebrate than with flowers? This little mixed media piece IS a celebration!  5 1/2”x9”.

Sooo much fun. ❤️ 

Mixed Media Owl

Feeling owly? Honestly, teaching art brings out the goofy weirdness in me I guess; this in-class demo was pretty fun.

They say that creative people are good decision makers; I BELIEVE!  That’s because to make even one piece of art takes SO MANY decisions!  For this piece I:

First intended to collage all the feathers. (Oh, by the way, it was an example I did in-class with my students.  I’m teaching them collage.)

Once I drew him in I decided to paint him so he’d look good if the paper showed between the collaged pieces 

Once he was painted, I didn’t want to collage him, so I decided to collage the background.

Once the background was collaged I decided to collage parts of the owl’s feathers around the edge to pull the whole piece together.

(And that ain’t the half of it! :)

Anyway, here’s looking at you!

Part the Sixth - Cat Painting

Part the Sixth of my creative endeavor featuring my cat painting.  See previous posts as they’re in order.  As creatives often do, I once again changed my plan, taking a different tangent and turning the entire painting upside down.  I decided I’d prefer the blue at top and the reds below;  all three - the blues, reds and golds presenting our cat Lupino in a very royal manner as he so justly deserves.  A step not shown is that I burnished the golds in the painting for permanent adherence.  Once oriented, I got out my handy dandy Lyra watercolor crayons and drew it out.  Lyra crayons are the adored but unsung heros of my art supply stock.  As sketching is my specialty, this is one of my favorite steps.  Crayon done I try to always walk away and leave it at least overnight.  When I come back I can see any little tiddly-pom discrepancies in my work and can correct them thusly.  This finished, it is finally ready for PAINT! 

Cat Painting Installment #5, Creating

Okay, here we go with Installment #5 spelling out how my creative mind came up with my recent cat painting and the steps I took to get ‘er done.  These four shots show the next set of layers into which I brought golds to pull those royal colors together.  You can see I used my handy dandy linoleum acanthus leaf stamp that I recently carved.  Now... we’re getting close to actually painting a cat!

For me, a painting has to hold my interest, just like music.  With all the layers of color and texture, I never tire of work like this! :)

Sketchbook Inspiration, Trains!

Just a little piece of crazy from one of my sketchpads. I grew up on trains and they hold a neverending charm for me.  If you ever wonder where my ideas come from, they come from, well, everywhere! BUT, many of my finished paintings come from goofy on-the-fly quick draws like this.

My color choices make me think circus, which in turn makes me think I’d like to do a little series of paintings with the circus theme.  So much to do, so little time!

Stuffed Animal Mixed Media Painting

I found this fine fellow whilst shopping this weekend, selling for an exorbitant price.  Instead of spending the money I decided to make him mine in another way and began drawing him in my sketch pad at orchestra practice during the rests.  Just watch an orchestra sometime and notice what musicians do during rests!  Scroll to see his development, and notice the blue light was at orchestra. Anyway, here he is.  I decided to name him Mr. Fuzzy Blump.  I had no idea stuffed animals were so fun to draw; a new series of paintings is calling to me!

I like him a lot! My decision to paint him was difficult because I liked him a lot just black and white as well.  Anyway, it was a good decision. :)

Let me know if you have any stuffed animals you need to have painted.  Then you won’t have to worry about them losing their stuffing! :)

Fun Mail!

Don’t we all just love to get fun stuff in the mail? You, too, can get fun stuff, but first you have to ORDER it!  Outgoing!!! Get on my website and find something fun to find in your mailbox besides bills and junk mail. #reallycoolartcancometoyoutoo!

Abstracts and Flowers

Here I have a pair of almost-abstract florals which I laid down in layers of transparent glazing. Seems fitting to me to celebrate SUMMERTIME!!! 12”x12” each!

They sure seem celebratory to me! And... I love how you can see through one layer to another, like Tiffany’s stained glass.

Can There Ever Be Enough Flowers?

Here’s a cutaway of a floral I just finished and absolutely love.  Tonight I’ll post the painting in its entirety.  This pretty little thing has an abundance of layers in mixed media. I did a wax crayon resist with watercolors and acrylics, used pencil and paint pens and gave some pops of serious colors with some glorious Golden fluid acrylics.

Bloodhound Painting

Just finished this picture of my friends’ old bloodhound, Blue.  I wanted to name him Slobber Dog, but I think we’ll stick with Blue. :). Hope they love their new pet! Yes, you can commission me for your animals.

Here I am holding it.  The clue is if I’m holding a painting in front of my face, it means I’ve been in studio and haven’t done hair or makeup.  Now you know my secret!

The following post will show the finished bloodhound; this is almost done but has minute details...

Outside My Doorstep

Just listed this little 12”square beauty.  I named it ‘Outside My Doorstep.’ The plant that inspired this really IS outside our doorstep, and welcomes us home with its cheery little persona. This painting will do the same, and with its tiny size can warm and cheer even the smallest space.  The depth and colors will draw you back again and again. Check out for purchase. 

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

I posted two ‘identical’ pictures so you could see the variation in color a little better. It’s hard to trust a camera, or the lighting or time of day.

Here’s a nice closeup to let you peer in a bit better.  Bright and cheery.

Painting Sold

This one is sold and tomorrow will be wending its way to its new owner. You would note that I added a little rust into the mix per the client’s request. Love the added color, and now it will compliment their beautiful silk carpet. Absolutely love the rich new dimension added into the mix!

Below shows my original painting.  They request that salmon be added and I really love the difference!

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.