Cat Art At The Cat Show

It was a very busy weekend. Last weekend I had my Chick Artistic Creations booth up for business at the Idaho Cat Fancier's Cat Show here in Boise. I'm always a little nervous about sales these days because of the recession, and although sales were not really high, they were still pretty good. And I met some very interesting cats too.

A local veterinary hospital, The Cat Doctor, bought $50.00 worth of my art prints to hang up in their offices. The prints that I sold were "Maynard on Roses" "Maynard in Pink Basket" and "Reaching For The Star." The doctor that bought them said that these prints communicated a certain type of cat behavior and personality that she wanted in her offices. The prints she bought were all from photographes of either my cat, Maynard, or my mother-in-law's cat, Cinnamon. (Both cats are now deceased.) It is cool that their image lives on in my art and on the walls of a veterinary hospital!

I also got to use some new display equipment that made my booth look really good--gave it that extra touch of class.

Hedgehog--Too Much Hair Gel!

"Oops! Too Much Hair Gel!"

This is my latest piece of animal art. I've been working on it whenever I could get a break from homework, my part-time job, and cleaning the house. This cute little hedgehog was created with colored pencil & Turpenoid with a special type of paper, pasted collage style in the background. A lot of my art seems to center around textures and I really love the way the spikey texture of the hedgehog looks with the paper collage texture. How do you like the title? It seemed appropriate.

Nampa Art Guild Colored Pencil/Turpenoid Demo

I am doing the 'Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy' Ren & Stimpy dance! Last Monday night I got to teach a class of about 35 people by doing a demo on Colored Pencil & Turpenoid! This is the most I have ever had in one class. It was for the Nampa Art Guild. It was an amazing experience and I wasn't even nervous like I thought I might be. A lot of people were really interested in this new technique and had never seen colored pencil used in this way before. I even got paid for it, so it was like an actual real job. This is what I have been working so hard for & sacrificing for!!! I thought to myself after the demo, "Hey! I'm really an art teacher now!"

It was an odd experience for me to be the center of attention for about 2-3 hours. Even during the break, I was busy selling prints to people and talking to them about lessons. It was like a dream come true! I will be doing more demos and workshops for the Nampa Art Guild in the future. Cool!

The Latest Projects

This was a big week at school. My wood sculpture project was due Wednesday and today I took my second human biology exam. My score was just a few points shy of an A. This is not an easy-breeezy, lemon queezy class--nothing like high school biology. In spite of that I am enjoying all the new knowledge I'm acquiring on human biology. Fascinating stuff.

I'm glad the wood sculpture project is over. It was interesting and I'm glad I learned a little about using power tools, but crafting things in wood is just not my thing. My sculpture teacher has a reputation for rarely giving out A's, so I am not expecting one this time. I will try for an A, but I have promised myself that I'm NOT going to have a meltdown if I get a B! However, I may have a meltdown if I get a C!

My hedgehog portrait is almost done. The spikey part of the headhog is very repetitious and is not something that can be done in one sitting. It's the kind of thing that makes you cross-eyed if you stare at it too long an most of the portrait is composed of the little spikey, porcupline-like quills. I have added some of my own touches to the hedgehog that go a bit outside of the original colors from the photograph. I am also using a colored pencil & collage background that looks really cool! This piece is going to be about exploring textures which is something I really love to do in my artwork.

Art & Character Development

Whenever we find ourselves being stretched and go beyond our comfort zone, we may find it not only uncomfortable, but actually painful. My first reaction is usually to run away and hide. Recently in my sculpture class at college, I was assigned my first project--to create a sculpture out of wood and to make an orthographic drawing of it first. Then our drawing and the entire project would be turned over to someone else. We don't get to create our own project. And so starts the stretching. Using power tools for the first time is daunting enough, but to make an architectural drawing that involves math and then do someone else's project other than my own was enough to freak me out. I am actually math phobic and anytime you attach math to an art project, it is automatically ruined for me! Suddenly I have been turned into a carpenter which is not a role I feel comfortable in or have any experience in. I don't even know what type of wood to get and what sizes they come in! Now the stretching has turned into a panic attack and I'm even thinking about dropping the class. But I didn't. Instead, I worked through the problem with my teacher, who was very patient and helpful, and we came to a solution.

This whole experience was a lesson in character development for me. The development of our character and learning to face our fears can be a really hard and painful process. What I gained by not dropping out and giving up was more than just newly-acquired skills & knowledge in architectural drawing and carpentry. I learned a lesson in perserverance, endurance and courage. Running away from our fears just makes it easier to do the same thing again, but when you face your fears, something inside you goes from coward to champion and you have taken one more step on the long ladder of character growth.

Please, Mr. Table Saw, don't eat me!

My part-time job and school have been keeping me from doing much artwork. I have my first big exam in biology next week! I want to get back to the hedgehog portrait that I started a few weeks ago. I have never done a hedgehog before and the textures are interesting. I have a thing about drawing and painting different types of textures.

My sculpture class at college is preparing me for how to use all types of power tools! This class is starting out to be more like wood shop class because our first project is a wood sculpture. This is all really new to me, but I am eager to learn. I have always wanted to learn more about operating power tools so now is my chance. The only power tool I have any experience with is an electric drill. I'm not exactly handy with tools. Some of those tools look kind of intimidating. "Please, Mr. Table Saw, don't eat me!"

12th Annual Realism Juried Online Int'l Art Exhibit For Upstream People Gallery

Maynard On Roses

Just got some terrific news today! I received a letter in the mail today telling me that my art was accepted into the 12th Annual Realism Juried Online International Art Exhibit at Upstream People Gallery. Starting February 1st you can view my art online at http://www.upstreampeoplegallery.com/. The four pieces that will be featured are "Anticipation" "Got Nuts?" "Otter Odyssey" and "Maynard on Roses." Once again my dearly departed Maynard lives on in my art work! That's cool!

Mrs. Messer's "Watermelon" Portrait

Today I delivered the finished commissioned portrait of the two kids eating watermelon. (See the photo from January 12th blog, below.) This was for my Literature teacher at BSU. She really loved it and may even have another commission for me later on. Yay!

My literature teacher is Mrs. Neidy Messer from BSU. When I met with her today, I told her how much her classes on literature have been a major contribution to my life and have really helped me to grow as a person. As an artist, I can really relate to the creative approach of famous writers like Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jack London, etc. Not only were the literature classes fun but the knowledge, insights and philosophies I studied in those classes will stay with me for the rest of my life. These classes really helped me to think about the choices I make in life.

I am reminded of an old Twilight Zone episode called "Changing of the Guard" where a literature teacher has to retire and he thinks his life's work has been a waste of time. He thinks that everything he taught his students was forgotten. Then in the middle of the night, he goes to his classroom one last time and suddenly the room fills up with former students from his class. But these are students who have died, so they are actually spirits. Then one by one, they come up to the professor to tell him about something they learned from his class that stayed with them and had a major influence on them. The professor is so touched he actually cries. It is on of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes and actually helped persuade me to choose teaching as a career.

I recently saw this episode again during a Twilight Zone marathon during New Year's Eve and I couldn't help but think about my teacher, Mrs. Messer. Only I didn't want to wait until I was a ghost to tell her how much I appreciated her! She said that she doesn't get a lot of this kind of feedback and was very glad to hear it.

Art Day!

Except for the hour I spent fixing dinner, I spent the entire day doing what I love the most--creating art. It is nice to have a day when I can be this free!

The painting of the two children (above) happily eating watermelon is actually a portrait commission that I have been working on for several months and finally finished. This portrait is for a teacher at Boise State University. I am really happy with the way it turned out. It was done entirely with colored pencil and Turpenoid.

I even found some time to start on a new piece. It will be called "Massage Therapy" and features penguins. I know you are asking, "What does massage have to do with penguins?" Well, you will just have to wait until this piece is finished, then I will show you!

My Autumn Day Oil Painting

Today I went to BSU and retrieved my oil paintings from the 215 painting class I took last semester. We weren't allowed to take any of the paintings home until the class was officially overwith. This one was a Plein Air Painting that I painted in October. I was painting outside on the BSU campus and the weather was pretty good that day. I really like the way it turned out. I tried to get an impressionist style feeling to it.

You Have Entered The Twilight Zone

I have always thought of this period of time between December 26 and January 1st as a type of "Twilight Zone." Life does not go on as normal. At least not until everyone has had some time to recover from holiday madness and being frazzled with Christmas joy. I think it is particularly appropriate that the Sy-Fy channel is having their annual "Twilight Zone" marathon today.

I feel even more in the Twilight Zone this week because I am battling my way through a holiday virus that has given me an upper respiratory infection and has reduced my brain to jello. I have watched the entire "Back To The Future" series of movies on AMC about 3 times now. At least this virus had the good fortune of hitting me after Christmas and my Christmas Eve concert choir experience, which was wonderful.

I have had some brief periods of feeling pretty good and I have been working on a commissioned portrait that I am doing for my English Teacher at BSU. It is coming along very well and I plan to have it done before I go back to school in mid-January.

By next week I hope to have my brain back again.