Festivus for the Rest of Us Cat Lovers.

LA Feline Film Festival
Join me for some fun, films and fur!

What Was I Thinking?

So I was approached via my Etsy site, to participate in a festival with my artwork. http://lafelinefilmfestival.com/  Do you love all those cat videos on line? Well this is the festival for you!
 I have a lot of cat paintings and I thought, "This would be a great way to meet a targeted audience, schmooze with some nice people and sell some work.  I've never sold my work out of a booth at a fair before, so this will be an adventure and push me out of my box. aka my studio."

I asked the universe to send me the $200 fee for the table and a week later we got a rebate from our insurance in the amount of $197.  Can't argue with that.

Bean

I informed my hubby and my son they were "hired" for a day of play, eh....work and we'd be making some new memories.  We all love movies, check. We all love cats... We all love my cat paintings,  check. With massive amounts of enthusiasm.....on my part, I went to work, and I mean work, preparing for this show.

Some of the long list of items to get ready:

 Inventory I decided to bring:   original paintings on canvas, prints matted to 8 x 10 and 11 x                                  14, and a I created a trio of kitty paper dolls with their own theme. These I really am happy                 with and will sell on my Etsy site in a digital form. Looking forward to seeing how well they                    are received. Here is Lucy.

Lucy's Spring Wing Paper Doll

Display, I want  to keep the backdrops neutral so that i can use them for my "a Little Beachy" items if I want to sell them along with my animal art.  And make the artwork stand out. I did purchase inexpensive curtain panels in a bright green to hang at the corners of the tent, so that they'll bring  some attention to the booth from far away. Tablecloths~ I decided on burlap. And for the "walls" I got three flat sheets to create a solid back ground and give us some shade,
The tricky part is how to hang my paintings from the tent. I saw lots of people on line with very expensive panels, but that wasn't an option for me.  I finally found a picture of a booth where the artist draped metal chains and used "S" hooks to hang her work.  This was brilliant. It will give me flexibility to hang wider pieces and many smaller up and down the chains. Will let you know how this works after the show.

Signage: I'm getting a banner printed. Figure this would be a nice large display that will be                                    something I can use for future shows, if I enjoy this experience. I also scored a large, very light weight, unfinished wood frame at Michael's and painted it. I'll hang a sign inside that as well.

Along with all the above, there seems to be a never ending list of  "to do" items to accomplish. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will be a fun experience (for the whole family)  and I'll find some good homes for my kitties.  

I must say thanks to all the veteran craft/art show sellers out in the big wide world who are so generous with all the information they've posted on line in their blogs or on Pinterest. Truly feels like a community has helped me prep for this.
http://www.bobestrin.com/artshow.htm
http://daskendesigns.blogspot.com/2010/05/10-tips-for-outdoor-craft-shows.html

Polished to Perfection

      When I collect sea glass or beach stones, I have very high standards. Nothing comes home with me unless it is fully polished to a velvety smoothness. Any roughness or "unfinished" areas, sends it straight back into the ocean for nature to finish her work.  The sea always accepts my critique and just keeps doin' it's thing.  No voice yells back at me, "Hey, I put a lot of time and effort into that piece! It's almost done. Yeah. It's good enough!"  Time and again that has been the inner dialogue/excuse I've had with myself when judging one of my own sketches or paintings.   Spotting a glaring error or a tiny mistake can sometimes starts a whole negotiation.  It wastes my time and clouds my judgment. Well, no more.

    As I sorted my recent finds from the Great State of New Jersey's Manasquan Beach, I delighted in each piece in my collection.  Then it dawned on me, this is exactly what I strive for in my portfolio.  A perfectly polished group of work.  But why,  when I have the ability to see improvement needed in others work, is it so hard to have the same clarity and ruthless judgement toward my own?   Don't I possess the ability to judge my own work with equal confidence?    I believe I do.    I seem to possess a very loud, sometimes insecure inner voice, that can be kind of a bully. Being aware of the problem isn't fixing it, but until the arguments stop,  I'll rely on my amazing critique group to point out which piece is finished and which doesn't belong in the collection yet.

    For now, my soft beach stones sit on my studio table.  A reminder to get on with creating a polished to perfection portfolio.   Each piece a keeper!

Poems and Pictures

Sloth is slow

So?

She can grow

Head to toe

A coat of algae

Never a worry

To be in a hurry

A furry 

Eatery

While Sloth munches

Bugs in bunches

Take their lunches

and

Keep her company

by kat mcd.

Fun Finds at the Thrift Store

     I'm such a sucker for thrift stores. And living in the San Fernando Valley there is an abundance of them. Much to the chagrin of my son, who'd rather be doing anything else.

Found this wonderful book yesterday at Goodwill. The Natural Way to Draw, "A working plan for art study" by Kimon Nicolaides.  Published by Houghton Mifflin1941.

       A mere $2.99 for an entire class on drawing by an instructor at the Art Students League in New York.   I love that it has pencil marks on it's cover.  I love that he includes very serious schedules for the student to follow. I love that it's called the Natural Way to Draw. So aptly named because his method for teaching asks the student to become so completely involved with observation, through all of their senses, that they will learn to draw from their own experience. Not through some magic formula they hope their teacher will convey to them.  Sounds like he had his ego in check.  Unfortunately, Mr. Nicolaides died before he saw it published.  Luckily. he had a first draft finished.   He must have been an excellent teacher.  I'm so glad his "class" lives on.

Sweet & Savory

     This weekend I enjoyed volunteering at SCBWI LA's Art Directors Day aka Illustrator's Day.
In the six weeks leading up to the event, I had been diligently getting my portfolio ready......eh  creating from scratch, for a critique.  I was very happy with my "finished" book, but was eager to hear what the Art Directors and Cliff Cramp, my reviewer, had to say about portfolios in general and mine specifically.  This year the faculty was going to pick six portfolio's to give a private review of. An enticing carrot for me.

 
     Over the last year I struggled to feel really good about my work as an illustrator. I took a break. Did lots of experimenting and found a way to create illustrations that feel lively and allow me to play while keeping a consistency of character.   The upcoming  Art Directors Day was a great deadline for me and I was happy to hear a lot of the talks were about what should be in a portfolio.

     I've always know the basics; kids, animals, character in a sequence, scenes with groups of kids, non fiction and black and white. But this time I heard a different message.  It got me thinking differently about the work I've included. And the promotional mailers I'll be sending out this year.

     Isabel Warren-Lynch, Executive Art Director at Random House, spoke about "tender moments" in children's book illustration. She stressed how important the subtlety of sweet scenes can convey much about friendship and character. She used E. E. Milne's, Pooh illustration and  the great Garth Williams as examples of illustrators who are masters of this.  Their work resonates with the viewer and we hold those illustrations in our hearts into adulthood, long after we've closed the book.

      My reviewer, Cliff Cramp,  http://www.cliffcramp.com/  teacher and speaker extraordinaire, gave me very good advice regarding color temperature and keeping the viewer's eye on the focal point of the illustration.   This subtle difference in my work could take an illustration from "Oh," to "WOW!"  He's so right. When we look at a great piece of art, we may not even recognize why it's amazing, but we'll keep staring at it, savoring it.

That is the work I'm striving to do. Illustration that is sweet and savory and will be remembered after the meal.....I mean after the cover is closed.

New Perspective

       After a few years with our lovely dog Bixby we had settled into a happy zone of, I know what to expect of you and you know what to expect of me. He was past his destructive phase, except for an occasional shoe. He couldn't be bothered running away if given the chance. And he slept most days away.
       Say hello to my fresh perspective, Frankie. Before we brought this new dog home, our house needed a good once over. I got down to a thirteen inch point of view, so as not to overlook any potential vet visits or escape routes.  A To Do list much longer than expected emerged.
     Looking at my home from a foot off the floor exposed a world of cracks, cleaning, and caulking that I would have blissfully stayed ignorant of, but now begged for correction. The house is grateful for this fresh look, even if I am not.
    I began to wonder if my illustration portfolio needed such an inspection. Getting a new perspective of my work, my be the answer to my ho hum feelings about promoting it.  After careful scrutiny, I've decided my portfolio needs a complete demo and remodel from paper to paint.  Not sure yet if I should be thanking this pint muse yet.