Even In a Pandemic, Your Creations Matter

You must take your art seriously, others may or may not.

You must take yourself, as an artist, seriously others may or may not.

Don't rely on anyone other than you to deem your creations worthy of existing and in which form.

Take joy in your unique creative process. However your work ends up, enjoy the time spent creating it.

When you put your creative projects out into the world, others may or may not appreciate them or like them. That's OK.

Listen to the voices of those in whom YOU have chosen to be your creative guides. Not everyone has to have equal space in your head.

Ideas are free. But you can't hoard them.  If you don't use it, you will lose it to another artist.  Ideas and inspirations want to be born.  They won't wait for you forever.

Now that we all have a bit more time on our, very clean, hands, use it to bring some amazing art into the world.  It needs it right now..

kat  >'y'<  

No Thanks in 2018

At the start of 2017, my plan was to make it my year of saying, "Yes."  And it was a success. 

In 2018, I will continue to say, "Yes" to opportunities and challenges, but I will add, "No thanks," too.

No thanks to social media that doesn't inspire, instruct or make me feel hopeful or helpful.

No thanks to news programs that hold me hostage in the hopes they'll finally tell me it's all going to be ok.  They will never say that.

No thanks to people who make excuses for awful behavior.

No thanks to giving up my time in exchange for nothing or worse, negativity and loss of productivity. 

I think it's going to be a great year!

Kat  >'y'< 

An Instagram Virtual Art Show

      I always enjoy the camaraderie of other creatives. It's more fun trying new avenues of promotion as a team, then going it alone.  My art group, 818 CREATES,  thought we should  better utilize Instagram as a marketing tool for our art. So we  came up with having a Virtual Art Show. The plan is this:

     1 Come up with a theme for our show. Our first show started with SUMMER, we've stayed with each theme for three months. Now we're on our second month of WINTER

      2. Create a unique hashtag for our "gallery" where we'll "hang" our work #818CreatesWinter

   
     3. Create a unique hashtag for our group ~ to pool our ongoing work in #818Creates

   
     4.  Schedule our "opening." We chose three dates to post with this theme. And we'll send an invite out for each.

   
       5. Create an invite to promote via Twitter, Facebook and good ol' email. Ask for likes and comments.  This will help to get feedback for future work/shows.

   
      6. Post work at designated date/time with the two #'s, then add 6-7 more hashtags pertaining to work

   
  7. Include a link back to our commerce sites in our description in post

       I love the direct feedback I get when participating in a gallery shows. This virtual show allows for that and gives us the opportunity gain new fans, friends and followers from around the world with our "opening." The only thing missing is providing the wine and cheese.

      It's great way to become more familiar with Instagram.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how this will grow our presence and followers and customers! 

     >'y'<  Kat McD Instagram

          

Summer Camp

A Few Of My Works In Progress

       Need a boost to your creative engines?  Lost your whimsy? Try hunting on YouTube for it. I've mostly used YouTube for plumbing fixes.  But over the summer I took an advantage of generous artists, willing to share their talents and techniques for free.   I began the summer knowing I would not have much in the way of quiet time with a teenager at home. So I decided to attend "Craft Camp" via YouTube.   Lack of exciting local classes and library shelves light on "crafty" books, I turned to the very cheap, ie free, craft classes on line.   It didn't take long before I felt as giddy as a Pokemon Go player catching a Pikachu.   Each new channel, filled with inspiration and information, got my creative energy flowing on my own camp schedule.

I suggest:

• Follow YouTube's suggestion on your search. Watching a video brings ups a bunch of new suggestions
• Change up your search criteria.  Start out with a broad search. After you've watched a few videos, include specifics search criteria that will give your skill building some depth
• Subscribe to your favorite channels. 
• Watch channels even if you think you won't ever try the craft. Inspiration can be found in many places.
• Companies that manufacture art materials have very informative sites.

After weeks of "YouTube Camp,"  I had notebooks filled with instructions and ideas.  I felt the joy of being a kid discovering new ways to be creative. I made some fun stuff.  I found papier mache was a great way to learn sculpture. And I have loads of ideas for future projects.
I am so grateful for the free tutelage. Maybe my next project will be to create my own channel.
See ya on the screen!

Some favorite  channels :
      https://www.youtube.com/user/UltimatePaperMache  ~papermache
     https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXJrmqUYTtQ224N0QcUcnYw  ~Polymer Clay
     https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGbxOeCBuGSsKvt4g9lEv3A    ~Book Making
   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQOKYjvA0xYeHXAnQCmTlIQ     ~Felting

Color Me Happy~How?

A page from Color Me with Kat McD. 

 I've been diligently working on creating an adult coloring book through Createspace with Amazon. The process was a bit of a learning curve, but I'm so happy with the results.  Always looking to re-purpose artwork and with the piles of my Day of the Dead line drawings growing, the adult coloring book craze could not have been a better fit.

  Here is what I had to learn:

• How to clean my artwork very well in Photoshop
• How to increase the stroke size for the line work
• How to save files to PDF - 
• How to design a cover with the help of great artist friends

Here is how I did it ~ for Createspace in Photoshop

Scan/Clean
      Scan interior art at high res 1200 dpi,  grayscale.  Clean with magic wand, erasure tool - delete all
         the white .
Stroke
        Select white, inverse to the black lines and go to stroke, add 1 or 2 pixels
Interior
        I used MS Publishing Layout. Keep in mind your gutters and bleed.  I kept all odd pages blank so            that markers won't bleed into images next page. insert each image to new page.
PDF - on mac MS
        Save cleaned Photoshop files as tiff, then change dpi, Save As 300 dpi png
            This was the most frustrating part to figure out.  To Save this interior file as a PDF, go                              to PRINT and  click on the button left labeled PDF. Here you can save as a PDF.
Cover
      Design your cover so that it is clear when viewed as a thumbnail.
       Create a template that includes bleeds and page count. Get friends to critique it.

I hope this helps those of you who are working on publishing your artwork into a coloring book.
I just got my proof and love the quality.

Hooray! Yay! Oh Happy Day!

     I'm so proud! I've completed my first Adult Coloring Book, Color Me with Kat McD!    It's filled with cats, dogs, blossoms and birds.  All inspired by the Day of the Dead.

You can find it on Amazon at:  http://www.amazon.com/Color-Me-Kat-McD-Dead/dp/1532721013?ie=UTF8&keywords=color%20Me%20with%20Kat%20Mcd&qid=1461161284&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

    Color Me Happy!

A Video Game For Me? Never Alone.

   Well crafted characters, beautiful artwork and an intriguing story make up a perfect book for me.  In some instances,  they even exist in the video games my son plays.  He knows the  only way to get me to consider a purchase, or to watch him play, is to sell those aspects of the game to me.   Have to say, it will keep me interested for at least a few minutes.  So, while I am no video game aficionado, I am going to recommend one to you.
     While binge watching/listening to The New Yorker Presents, (seriously addictive)  in my studio, I perked up when a story came on about a video game called Never Alone.  http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/never-alone-video-game-help-preserve-inuit-culture
     Developed by the Cook Inlet Tribal Council of Alaska and E Line Media, to keep Inupiat's rich story telling, language and history alive and relevant.  The artwork that inspired the game, along with the melodic language is almost meditative.  It's storyline imparts the important message, that we all are in this together.  A universal truth quite evident in the harsh environment of Alaska, but one that would serve all of us to remember.   I may have to take up gaming, or, at the very least  own this so that I can explore the beautiful universe and traditions of the Inupiat people.  My son better watch out, I may be beating him at a video game yet.
Check it out for yourself. http://neveralonegame.com/