Well, something like that anyway. And in this case, I was forced to break out the paints. I decided that both my kitchen and my living room needed a jolt of color, so I whipped these up. I wanted to try oils–I hadn’t used them in years. But I wimped out and used acrylics like I always do. They aren’t the greatest by any stretch, but they’ll work until I do some I like more.
has gone on to dwell in doggy heaven, but now he’s forever immortalized in living color. And lot’s of it.
I found the dog photo I was looking for, along with a cat I had completely forgotten about. Makes me think I should offer these again…they weren’t so hard to do, and they are different from typical pet portraits, don’t you think? Seriously, tell me if you think I should start doing these again…
I also found this angel. The angel is pretty significant because she is what got me really going with the card biz. I had her printed onto a square folded card, and used square craft paper envelopes. At the time, the perfect square format wasn’t popular like it is today so it was actually a little ground-breaking. Anyway, I printed a couple thousand of them, and packaged them in tens using brown mail twine and sold them at my company Christmas Bizarre. I worked for Southern Progress, so it was the whole Southern Living, Southern Accents crowd and the cards were an unbelievable hit. I sold every one except for a handful I saved as samples and made a nice chunk of change. People requested them for the next few years but I never reprinted. Made me think I could do ANYTHING which of course didn’t turn out to be the case…but that angel definitely gave me to confidence to try and make a real go of Kat in the Hat Designs. Maybe they should make a comeback? Tell me what you think…
I think people assume that the only kind of artwork I do is whimsical, kid stuff. Believe it or not, I do have a grown up side and actually really enjoy this style on occasion. Here are some things I’ve done over the years and sold, some by commission…others in galleries or shops. I couldn’t find a photo of one of my all-time favorites–a dog that I did for a very proud parent…what’s funny is I used to advertise as a pet portrait artist. Anyone who knows me knows how hilarious this is, as I’m not exactly the biggest animal person. Anyway, I’ll keep digging…
Above is a portrait I did of a cat I had for years, Tucker.
He was my roomie when I got out of college.
I really got into the rotten teeth on this one. Ha.
Various versions of this one were commissioned.
I did these for my dining room..it was one of those “mad scientist” moments. I started out with a huge canvas, with all the botanicals painted on it…but I wasn’t happy with the composition and it ended up stashed in the far reaches of the basement. Months later, I had an epiphany and started schredding the canvas into pieces and parts that “worked” and actually went to Lowes in my pjs to buy wood and copper tacks. Paint and stain were flying and a few hours later…voila!
I did this for a kitchen that was being photographed for a magazine.
This was also done for a magazine shoot, at a home in Texas. When it was published, I got several commissions for similar pieces.
