Fluid Art Painting

I just listed this painting which I named ‘Chain of Events’ for the awesome copper chain that runs through it.  For sale, toes not included, but they DO help you to gauge the size.  You can find this and all sorts of lovely paintings and artistic merchandise at my website, www.colorcatstudios101.etsy.com.  It’s gift-giving season; there’s something for everyone here!

This beauty is a paint pour in steel blue, black, white and copper that will look fabulous in so many settings!  I ADORE the copper chain that runs through it.  It’s one of a four-part series of paintings - the second photo shows all four of them together WITH a banana.  Disclaimer - the banana is not for sale, go get your own.  It does help you to understand the size, though! 🙂 This piece is 16x20, the smallest painting of the four.  I painted it on gallery-wrapped (really thick and strong) canvas and it’s 1 1/2” deep and ready to hang. $350.00.  Perfect for, well, that perfect gift!!

Banana!

Paint Pouring Art

I love this! Because it’s covered with smooth, shiny resin the photos aren’t the best and are very reflective, but you get the idea.   That shine deepens the colors and just makes it gorgeous, I’m just sorry I didn’t take pics before I gave it a resin coat.  The reds and blues work so nicely together and the pop of black and white just makes it fun to look at.  Throughout the painting you will see a gunmetal shiny grey sparkle that just pulls the whole thing together.

I created this on an 8” x 8” square cradled birch and the colors flow over all sides to make the entire thing look like art. Rich, high-quality acrylics make this an archival, non-fading heirloom. At $65.00, that’s quite a bargain and a fantabulous one of a kind gift!  Find it at www.colorcatstudios101.etsy.com. 

www.colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

Note: this is an extremely thick layer of acrylics.  What do you do if it gets dusty?  Take a damp cloth to it.  That’s all!  The surface is impermeable. 

Wolf Painting

Feeling wolfish?  Or feeling like you’d like to buy your Christmas gifts online so you don’t have to tramp around?  My website, www.colorcatstudios101.etsy.com is full of one of a kind art gifts, from $10.00-$900.00.  Find THIS wolfish gift coming to your door with the ease of a couple clicks. (24”x30 UV protected acrylic on heavy gallery wrapped canvas) 

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!

An Artist’s Palette

Palette of the Day.  My most-used tool.  I think palettes are beautiful.  This one represents animal fur and animal noses. :)

Dog Painting

After painting so many wild animals I wanted to paint a domesticated one.  Well, this slobber dog at least has a chance of being domesticated, and the crazy background symbolizes his path of destruction.  Wouldn’t you love to own an excitable pup of your own that you don’t have to clean up after?  All my acrylics are protected and all you need do is wipe them off with a damp cloth.  That’s much easier than a dog!  Find details and more pics at www.colorcatstudios101.etsy.com. www.colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

Here I am holding it so you can see what size it is: :)

Golden QOR Watercolors

Oh my lucky, lucky students! I have used every watercolor under the sun and when Golden Paints came out with these QOR colors a few years ago I switched without a backward glance.  Perfect for professional artists, perfect for everyone else too. I absolutely adore teaching watercolor to others.

These QOR sets come ‘High Chroma,’ ‘Earth Colours’ and another one which is called something like ‘Traditional Colours.’  I have a nice set of 12 with a bigger tin.  The wells are in the lid - you can see the lids have different sized circles in them.  Perfect.  They just make so much sense.

DID YOU KNOW.... you should never use watercolors straight from the tube?  Squeeze them onto your palette and let them dry.  When you’re ready to paint, re-hydrate them with a squirt bottle.  If you use it straight out of the tube it will waste paint.  A tube of watercolor paint, used correctly, can last for YEARS.