Reach II gray cat on blue green background

Reach II   Oil on cradled wood  12" x 12"  NFS

Hop Away II News + Hoeptner Interview Link

Hop Away II  Oil on cradled wood  10" x 8"  SOLD

Not to toot my own horn, but my kitteh paintings are getting some serious attention from people.  Art people, cat people and nice people who write me emails.  It's awesome!  A few projects are in the making (too soon to blather about those) and I'll be sending paintings to two new out of state galleries.  In related news, Mousebreath, a wildly popular online magazine for cat lovers is featuring an interview with yours truly.  Click here to see it!  (Yay!)

Stripes striped cat on art nouveau background

Stripes  Oil on cradled wood  12" x 12"  NFS

I painted this once before, here.  I was happy with that one but wanted to see if I could put a different spin on it this time.

Bloom Alert distracted cat on pastel floral

Bloom Alert  Oil on cradled panel  10" x 10"  NFS

You all are probably sick of hearing me rant about wanting to paint bigger.  Well, this Spring I'm gonna do it.  I know my definition of "big" isn't that grand.  At 10x10, "Bloom Alert" might be considered a practice run for a lot of artists...but it's a start.  The plan is to re-iterate new versions of my smaller daily paintings, since they take longer to paint--posts may be a little sporadic.  (:

Reach doe eyed cat on blue green pattern painting

Reach  Oil on cradled wood  8" x 8"  NFS

Intown Corridor Gallery Exhibit

My dear Mom and I.  Thanks, Mom!!

This morning my Mother helped me hang a show in the Corridor Gallery at the Intown club, an invitational private women's lunch club.  I'm really proud of this particular collection.  It has a bit of everything I've worked on for the last couple years:  Cats, flowers, patterns, fruit still lifes and cats+flowers and a few pairs of "floaty florals."  I'm getting a little better at planning and executing exhibits like this.  It's a lot of work, but always worth the effort to see everything properly displayed in one place.

Lee Heinen shot these pictures. (Thanks Lee!)

Life imitating art, my collectors are the BEST

So funny.  This picture made my day!!

This morning a buyer emailed me pictures of her cats with two of my paintings.  When she purchased the paintings she mentioned that they looked just like her cats.  I can see the resemblance(s), despite "Stitch," below refusing to strike the desired pose.  Thank you, Theresa!  (:            

Mums and Coco modern contemporary cat painting

Mums and Coco  Oil on wood  8" x 10"  SOLD

I struggled a bit with this one and finally called it a day. My Husband says it's a good cat painting, it's just not OUR cat...and he's right. I am crazy about the Mums background though and will use it again.

Cat and Flamingos painting I'm not a crazy cat lady

Cat and Flamingos  Oil on cradled wood  8" x 6"  SOLD

If my cats ever became homeless on the streets of Cleveland, I think Coco would fare a bit better.  He's stronger (even though he doesn't know it) and he has a tendency to run and hide at the drop of a pin.  Those attributes would serve him well.  Layla on the other hand has a combative and feisty nature--and she's entirely too trusting for her own good.  She'd probably fall into a bad situation, fast.  Oh man?!  Did I just write another post about my cats??!!

Hydrangeas with Pears before and after fixing

Hydrangeas with Pears  Oil on cradled wood  11" x 14"  NFS

Another do-over.

Tuesday Coco fixing a cat painting before after

Tuesday Coco  Oil on wood  12" x 12"  SOLD

The idea for this painting was pretty simple:  Dark furry cat against light pattern.  The bright whites on kitty's right side were there in my photographic reference, but didn't really say "dark furry cat"...  so I went back in and darkened that and the bit of shiny fur on his chest.  The color of this painting is much closer to the second/fixed version!  Much better!

Daisies in Turquoise Pot floral still life painting

Daisies in Turquoise  Oil on cradled wood  8" x 10"  NFS

Here's a before and after -- The only change I made was the background...  I like them both, but the "after" may be little easier on the eyes?

Dindi pet portrait of white dog with pattern

Dindi  Oil on cradled wood  6" x 6"  SOLD

Dindi will be presented as a birthday surprise.  The buyer opted-in for one of my patterned backgrounds and I gave her a choice of three different patterns.  The one she chose worked out pretty good!  To find out more about my pet portraits, click here. 

Pear Still Life with grapes and tapestry pattern

Pear Still Life  Oil on cradled wood  8" x 8" 

Painting a background that enhances and supports your focal point can be challenging.  I've painted these pears before, here.  This time around I really wanted to push the background back.