Katts Creations

Burning Man 2011

2012-02-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

It seems I've been stuck finding sources of inspiration more often then I've been actually painting.. but here's another inspiration I found. This one is a video of a Dr. Seuss story from Burning Man 2011. I wasn't there but I hope to go someday.

A New Blog and Zentangles

2012-02-07T21:25:00.000-08:00

My Mom

My mom has started a blog and I will be posting some material on there as well. It's name is Inspiring Serendipity. If you like delicious recipes, crafty explorations and good old advice, check it out! =)

My first post on there can be found here. It's got a tip on how to get inspired to a task you might be putting off.

On another note, I'm still trying to figure out how to juggle my Zentangles with my Watercolors. Sometimes I feel artistically bi-polar. I was glancing around The Cool Hunter site, when I saw this photo:

This is a photo of a high-end olive oil shop - yes, a shop entirely for olive oil! - but notice the floor? It's Huggins! (click to see how to draw that pattern on TanglePatterns.com)

New Years Resolution: Weekly Sketches

2012-01-14T10:41:00.000-08:00

Every new year brings a new challenge for me.. A resolution that I always make so high that I can't possibly keep it. This year, I am putting my foot down. I decided to pick something that is both hard, but do-able at the same time and I can use this blog to keep myself honest!

My aim is to go somewhere away from my desk every day, and sketch something. That might not sound hard.. but the key is the going somewhere else. Every day I need to go outside, drive somewhere or walk somewhere and find inspiration somewhere else other than in my studio. I'm hoping that by the end of the year my drawings will be better and that my creative process will also be greatly improved.

And so here is my first week of sketches!

Jan 1st

Jan 2nd

Jan 3rd

Jan 4th

Jan 5th

Jan 6th

Jan 7th

Unicorn

2011-11-16T11:33:00.001-08:00

This is a scan of a sketch I've been working on for a while now.. trying to figure out the coloring just right, then I gotta just grit my teeth and paint it!

I got a beautiful reference for the horse from a Morgan horse at the Granite Rose Morgans farm nearby.
http://graniterosemorgans.com/

CZT 7 - Day 2!

2011-10-14T12:27:00.000-07:00

Ack! Day two never got uploaded after the RI tangle search. D=

These two Zentangles® were done at the seminar, the star is my 7-pointed start for this having been the 7th CZT training. The tile on the right is the first tile we did at the seminar during the intro class. =)

The second day of the certification seminar was as awesome as the first. We did lots of Zentangles and got to see what tangles a few of the others had found around RI. (or at home) I met a lot of pretty awesome ladies both days. I was surrounded by talent and creativity all day because of them!

There was some excitement when we spotted a mouse, but the little thing was just terrified of us. It was just a tiny brown thing.

We all tangled a section of a large Zentangle piece while we were there and they gave that away the second day. Everyone was to guess how many 20-sided dice were in a candy jar... I was 6 numbers off! It came down to me and one other lady and she got it. I was bummed but it's good for her. I'm just amazed I was soooo close! If I hadn't rounded I would have been exactly correct. (darn it right?)

Oh well, the seminar was great and now I am all certified and ready to teach Zentangle! We also got CZT badges. This is mine:

My CZT Badge

Don't worry, I'll post some watercolor progress work soon. =)

CZT 7 - RI Tangle search

2011-10-13T04:39:00.001-07:00

Here's my "waterfire" tile inspired by the sconces along the river. We were asked to go find a new tangle around Providence and I thought I'd use the carpet pattern. I ended up using these sconces make a sort of half circle pattern with a grid behind it. I'll call it RIFS. (Rhode Island Fire Sconce)

I did this pattern as sconces with water coming out the top for an example. I should do another with it used more abstractly.

CZT 7 - Day 1!

2011-10-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that training to teach Zentangle® is sooo much fun. I wasn't really expecting it to be arduous or boring, but it has surpassed my expectations of inspiration. I am so pumped up and raring to go! In our first day we have drawn and tangled so many tiles and even our bags, shirts and name tags! I can't wait for what tomorrow brings.. but until then here are a few photos I can share with you. =)

Me and Terry found this huge mural on a building a couple blocks over. It was designed by Shepard Fairey but put up by someone else. Shepard went to RISD here in Rhode Island so it's not a big surprise that he's got some wall space. =) And.. I don't know that you can see it real well in this picture but try to see how the entire wardrobe leans forward... When you open the doors the TV rolls right out at you and it feels like the whole thing will topple down on you! A lot of things are a little bit slanted here at the hotel.

I'm sure everyone's noticed our hallway floor by now, but it's a lovely little pattern. You can make the flowers however you like. I was able to re-create it pretty simply by making a grid of the flowers and then running "s" shapes between them. Perhaps I will try to use it in the workshops tomorrow.. Or perhaps on my bag!

And one last thing is the bag! We were each given a canvas bag with all sorts of goodies inside and then this evening they showed us some good pens (Sakura IDenti Pen - actually worked real well!) to decorate our new accessories. Maria was awesome and sat for a while lettering our initials on our bags. The K you see is hers. I added the border lines and leaves. I still have more to add but I'm taking it slow. I think I will tackle the sides next. Maybe I can post an up close picture later on when it's finished so you can see the grey shading on it too. =)

Happy Tangling!

Warner Fall Foliage Festival

2011-10-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

I'm out at the Fall Foliage Festival in Warner today! OOTS has a booth between Wingdoodle and Charlie Macs and you can find some of my prints there. We're also selling buttons and giving out Apple Cider!

The Weather is beautiful so if you're nearby, stop in Warner NH!

Landscape studies

2011-09-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

I did a couple quick studies from the photos I posted the other day. They're a bit sketchy, but you can get an idea of the sort of work we'll be trying to do on Saturday. Here's to hoping for sun! =)

I'm still working on painting a mural on our hallway's wall. I'll post a picture of that as soon as I can - it's sort of hard to photograph. There are no good angles. I may have to just photograph sections at a time and post a few photos? Anyhow, I got the initial sketch done and mom painting the white under painting (her brush strokes are perfect for this mural!). I'm going to go get some paints to do the color now. I'm pretty excited that this turned into a collaboration work between me and my mom. =)

Watercoloring Outside on Saturday

2011-09-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here's some info on a class I'm teaching this Saturday over at wingdoodle! (Weather report says sun!)

Outdoors Watercolor

Bring your paints, brushes and paper to the outdoors. We’re going down to the covered bridge, and maybe the park, to capture some real autumn colors. There’s nothing like painting outside, but bring a light jacket in case fall has already gotten chilly! I’ll be teaching more color mixing and brush manipulation while we’re out there.
Date: Saturday, October 1st, 12-3pm
Rain Date: TBA if needed.
Fee: $25.00
Supplies You'll Need: Brushes (one round, one flat), Water Jar with closeable lid, Paper Towels, Paints (Tube or Well style, whatever you have), Mixing Trays, Old Toothbrush, Watercolor paper.

Bring a small folding stool or blanket to sit on if you don't want to sit on the ground or a rock =)

Call Wingdoodle at 456-3515 or e-mail info@wingdoodle.com to sign up!

Some inspiration!

Photo: ©Paul Van House

Photo ©Debbie LaValley

Website is live - and kicking.

2011-09-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

I've finally finished updating my webpage over at Katts.org! Although you're never truly done updating a webpage.. I'll always have little tweaks to make. But now it's how I want it to look for the most part so the hard and tedious task is finally over! Go on and take a look, the portfolio page is up as well. No more "coming soon" pages. =)

Katts.org

Anyone recognize that background? Yup, it's one of my watercolor experiments. I think it turned out perfectly.

More classes!

2011-08-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

I had a couple more classes since the last post. I taught a Intro to Drawing course last Tuesday, and a Colored Pencil Workshop today. I still have some problems keeping the right pace in the class but today's class was phenomenal! We actually ran out of time! =) We got through drawing an apple though and I just had to share this one with you guys:

As you can see Sandra's apple ended up not being an apple, but more of a little face! We named it "Apple Boy" and I think it was the highlight of the whole class. I can't wait to see what she makes in my watercolor class next week! =)

So game plan here on out is just to do more planning. I planned the time frame of the class and it turned out great. I can't wait to keep teaching. I have another watercolor class next week and I think it'll go great. =)

Watercolor Samples

2011-08-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

During my watercolor class and afterwards I had to make a lot of example cards to show techniques. Here are some of them together in case anyone wanted to see them. =) I'm happy with how the packaging material ones came out. I was pleasantly surprised at the watery look of the flat plastic packing sheets (top left).

I have another class today - drawing this time! - and I am feeling less than prepared. I still need to find a large pad of paper to draw examples on... maybe I can find a spare chalkboard here... hm.. also I wanted to have a handout at this one and I don't have one made yet. Maybe I can crank that out in the next hour I have left for prep? Wish me luck!

Koi Fish ATC Swap

2011-08-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

A while back I joined an ATC swap over at doodleswap. It was their 10th round and there was no theme. I wanted to do something that worked together but stood alone pretty well, while still being somewhat easy to make. I ended up doing a koi fish "pond", where each card has a koi fish and some lily-pads on it. Here's what they look like all together:

I hope everyone enjoyed the cards they got. I am thinking of joining the next doodle swap because I want to be challenged with a theme. It was surprisingly hard to come up with an idea from scratch.

Too many options can sometimes be more of a disadvantage when you can't make up your mind like me!

Watercolor Class

2011-08-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

Watercolor Class went spectacular! It was short of perfect but it was my first class after all. I've planned a lot more classes from now til October and I hope a lot of people sign up. I'm especially excited for "Outdoors Watercolor" were I'll take people out of the store and down to our covered bridge and maybe the park for a while too. It'll be a real lesson in taking your paints to-go and painting what you see. It'll be gorgeous too since it'll be the first Saturday in October and all the leaves will be changing colors.

Here's some photos from my first class:

I had four students, SherRee took the class but was kind enough to take photos!

To see more info on my upcoming classes visit Wingdoodle.com and click on classes.

Watercolor Class!

2011-07-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching a class! Beginner's Watercolor to be exact, here's the class info:

"This Saturday is a watercolor class for those of us who want to just get started with painting. I will be teaching some basic watercolor techniques including washes, graded washes, splatter, salt and even scraping the paint! Once we have those down we'll get painting! I have a lot more techniques up my sleeve I can teach you guys so I can't wait to get started. The great thing about this class is that you don't have to bring any supplies! Just bring yourself and the urge to learn and I'll bring the rest.
Even if you know the basics already, you might learn something new!Class is 12-3 on Saturday the 23rd at wingdoodle."

I cannot wait for this class, it's gonna be so much fun. I already have about 3 students, and I have room for more - any takers? After this I may offer intermediate and advanced classes. I'd love to teach even more classes and really get people learning watercolor but it depends on people's interest level. It would be great to just host watercolor nights where people can get together and paint a still life or go out and paint the outdoors with someone around who can share tips and tricks. (me!)

Speaking of watercolor, I also took part in a ATC swap project over at doodleswap.blogspot.com. Go check them out, it's a pretty nifty idea and I had fun doing my cards. I'll post a picture of my cards later and I'll re-post when I get the others in the mail so you can see what I got!

Fennex

2011-06-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

Brand New Trikky Figure

We had a Munny customization contest at work today for our 10th anniversary. I wasn't allowed to enter to win, but I made one anyway because I wanted to =) Munny's are white vinyl figures that you can decorate however you want. Google image search "munny" and you'll see quite a few amazing figures.

I decorated a "Trikky" and they start out like the one above. I decided to make mine a Fennic Fox. The pics at the bottom of this post are mine and my boyfriend Caleb's submission.

My "Fennex"

Closeup of Fennex

Caleb's Jungle Foomi

Dappled Light Study

2011-04-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

I sketched out a horse head trying to practice dappled light effects. It's very subtle in the pencil drawing but in the painting I'm working on it will be enhanced by the colors in the painting. I'm pretty excited.. I'm getting closer to starting the actual painting! =) I'll post a thumbnail of the sketch for the painting later on.

I'm having so much fun drawing horses.. I think perhaps I'll do a few finished pieces with hroses and see if I can really study their anatomy and get it right.

2011-04-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

I did some experiments of birds. A mockingbird and a cardinal. There are some real problems with the anatomy of the mockingbird, but I think the Cardinal came out okay.

The color seems to be okay, as always it's hard for my to come up with backgrounds that are simple but interesting.

This cake is no lie

2011-04-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

I made this awesome cake the other day. It was two yellow cake layers with homemade butter cream frosting and strawberries layered inside and out. Yummm. It was wicked good. It only lasted 2 days in my house. I wanted to post it here because I made the cake to have fun decorating it and I think it came out alright! Maybe next I'll Zentangle^® a cake.. =) Mmm, I'm thinking chocolate swirls.

New Opportunity

2011-04-04T18:17:00.000-07:00

I followed my boyfriend to a local small-scale pet shop the other day. They have all sorts of interesting animals; lizards, snakes, fish - some small and some very large, birds, small mammals, aligators, etc. He was looking for a volunteer opportunity, I was hoping they'd let me stick around and draw the animals. When I asked to hang around while my boyfriend volunteered the co-owner was surprisingly excited. He offered space on the wall for selling prints on consignment, he even offered to let me set up a pet portrait booth! I don't think I'm good enough to do pet portraits on the fly, but maybe I'll get there. For now I'd love to get the opportunity to paint the birds and sketch the lizards.

The painting above is one I did of Amber, the Red Tailed Hawk. I painted it a couple years ago when we had live birds in our classroom and I think it's time I revisit bird portraits.

Zoological Illustration

2011-04-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

I love painting animals. It hasn't been my focus persay, but I really do enjoy it. I found an illustrator today, Evan Barbour, today who does beautiful animal illustrations. His birds are phenomenal! About those blue jays... =) He says he started with watercolors but has since introduced other materials as his technique has evolved. You can see his website here: http://evanbarbour.com/

His website is also an inspiration. It's always good to see websites that really work just as well as the art.

A new thing

2011-03-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

So I've had this blog for years ever since I had to do a project for a programming class. Now I think I'll refurbish it and use it for real this time! I've been trying to get stuff done - who isn't? - and failing miserably. Perhaps by blogging I can hold myself more accountable and stop blaming things like sleep, books, sudoku or the cat.

First mission, make this blog look less like it's a law firm. I need to figure out how to use one of my paintings as a sort of background maybe?

Second mission? Paint! I need to do two more experiments in the next week! Last week (I hope it was only last week) I painted trees. Trees have always been my achille's heel and I finally painted a beautiful tree. Who knew that I needed to put down the paintbrush and pick up the paper towels? I didn't see that one coming. Next I need to do a lot of trees! A background sort of woodland that isn't too busy, and not too lame.

Left to right: Paper Towel, Round Brush, Flat Brush

The second experiment will be my mother's entrance hall. Right now, it's all brown with a white archway painted along it. Next I will be adding vines, flowers, birdhouses and of course lots of birds! Ever painted a blue jay? Best thing ever. They are just so majestic.

Liz Taylor

2011-03-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this portrait-ish thing of Liz Taylor for a while now.. very slowly in photoshop. Thought today would be a good time to share a small piece of it. It's not finished, but I wanted to share how it's going. I like how the eyes look, but the rest is so-so.

Eye of Horus Tangle

2011-01-29T00:14:00.000-08:00

An Eye-themed zentangle for Sandy over at BEEZinc.
Her website is here: http://beezinthebelfry.blogspot.com/

I chose the eye of Horus because it symbolizes good health and protection, which I thought appropriate for her recovery from surgery. =) The color blue reminds me of health and clarity as well.

Sold a Painting!

2011-01-18T18:08:00.000-08:00

First original art sold!

I sold my "Pumpkin Queen" Painting on 1/16/11 at the Arisia art show. First time I was in the show too, super excited. =D Digital pic doesn't do the midtones justice, it was great in person.. I'll miss this piece.

Earth; Fragile Planet

2010-10-12T21:18:00.000-07:00

‎A 3D Illustration I did for a project themed: "Earth; Fragile Planet"

I chose to focus on the plastic soup in our pacific ocean by turning it into a plastic bag monster. =)

This project is made out of all recycled materials except for the foam core base board, Ink, glue and the map underneath him that I printed.

Signatures Magazine

2010-09-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

My Rose Illustration made it into Signatures Magazine's online gallery of 2010's honorable mentions! =) Thanks to Sarai for telling me to submit it.

Go here to see all the art that signatures has showcased this last year, including mine!
http://www.rit.edu/sg/signatures/online.php