Notes from the studio

Hi everyone, I missed telling you happy fall on the first day of fall. We are now a few days into fall and the weather certainly has changed here in Colorado. The temperature is noticeably colder and I heard my heating system kick in just a few mornings ago.

One thing I am excited about that coincides with the cooler weather is that the neighborhood bear should start hibernation soon. What a nuisance he has been, going through my trash almost every single night. No fun to have to clean up the next day. I finally found some pretty decent metal bear proof straps on Amazon and installed them, and that almost did the trick. He doesn't just grab the trash and spread it over the yard. He now takes the entire can with him and deposits it hundreds of yards further away. The first bear proof straps I purchased were plastic and he ripped right through them.

This bear talk is making me think I should paint a few bears sometime.

The website is pretty much complete. I have not made that public yet because I have not yet received my print proofs from my printer. I want to make sure the prints you will receive are of the best quality and are approved by me. Any day now they will be delivered and I am so excited. Currently the only prints I have available are of my oil pastel cats, but soon I will add my birds as well.

Talking about birds, I have joined Birdtober, an art challenge that has us paint one bird a day for the month of October. I started painting my birds September 1 and should have the whole series done by October 1st. I am very excited to share them on my page, and when I do, the originals will be for sale as well as prints.

Thank you all so much for sending me photos of your cats in the meantime. I have so many amazing cat models I can hardly keep up. I am trying to get to every cat but I might miss a few.

Thank you also to all my supporters and fans on Threads. I have found the community there is very friendly and hella supportive!

Hello again from the studio.

I have been painting cats long enough to notice that they are excellent teachers. They nap without guilt. They stretch like it is a performance art. They will sit in a sunbeam for an hour and call it a good afternoon. I am trying to learn from them.

Here are a few fun facts I keep in mind while I work:

Hello, and welcome to my new website. I am so glad you are here.

This little corner of the internet has been a week in the making, and I have had so much fun building it. What started as a simple wish to share my work has grown into a place where I can show my paintings, sketches, photographs, and the stories behind them.

You will find my cat portraits in oil pastel, gouache, and acrylic, each one painted with its own personality in mind. There are travel sketches from places that have stayed with me, like the river surfers in Salida and the scarlet macaws I watched in Costa Rica. My photography portfolio is here too, along with a shop where you can bring home prints and originals.

I also tucked in a few secrets and little surprises for anyone who takes the time to explore. Some things are best discovered by accident, so I will leave those for you to find.

As much fun as this week has been, I am ready to get back to painting full time. The good news is that I have managed to draw a few cats every day since I started working on the site. That is a wonderful thing, because my goal is to draw one thousand cats.

Thank you for stopping by. I would love for you to wander through the portfolio, sign up for my newsletter, or just enjoy the art.