Wally Workman Gallery Event--The Cat Scratchin' Book Signin'

I look forward to this coming Thursday night from 5:30-7:30 when I'll be at Wally Workman Gallery signing Cat Scratchin' books and hopefully making some money for Austin Pets Alive! who will get a percentage of sales. I want more than a few folks to come out.
Having the big art giveaway was such a great lesson in giving. I loved the excitement that was generated on facebook and am happy that shelters all over the country got donations based on my cleaning out the studio. I'm passing on the last of those pieces to the recipients  this week and hope to do it again soon. I don't regret any of those pieces handed out. I'm trying to hang onto less and less 'stuff'. Even the artworks that I loved so much while making are good to go soon.
On the road in a few days. It's been about eight months since my last journey and that's too damned long. Still working on the structure of the next book, which will be launched on kickstarter in January. Weekend after thanksgiving is the Eye of the Dog Art Center show, which is one of my favorites.
All is good in Linda-Land today. Hope all is good in yours as well.

Kickstarter Cat Poster Project is Live!

This is #1 of a total of four different posters that I'm putting together for a kickstarter project. Earlier this year I drew 78 cats for the Cat Scratchin' book. These posters will have every cat (twenty per poster) plus two for a total of 80 cats in a limited edition series of posters, signed and numbered. Today is the first day of thirteen days to fund. If you love cats and want to participate please go take a look at the project and jump in. Thanks, I appreciate your support. And the posters are pretty awesome! Here's the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1547701634/cat-scratchin-limited-edition-posters-for-your-wal

Scratching Out A Living

These are little 2"x2" Ampersand Art Stampbords that I've turned into scratchboard using black Sumi ink. I packed a bunch of these into my suitcase before taking off for a 'vacation' in the Boston area. Really good friends needed a house/dog sitter and so they flew me out here (awesome!) to spend a week with Ruby (who one of many dogs in the Dog Scratchin' book) All I have to do is walk/feed/love on her and make sure the house stays intact. I'm staying an extra week to hang out and visit with them, such a bonus. I've been scratchin' away while watching my friend's most excellent collection of videos and TV shows...binge watching ho! I used to live in Boston so there's not that much that I haven't seen here--I'm just hunkered down in Revere, reading, scratchin' watching movies, walking the dog. It's a really nice getaway with no pressure to go anywhere or be anything. That's my idea of a perfect vacation.
I've got 28 of these laid out. I'll add color when I get back to the home studio.
Mostly what I've been doing is trying to figure out a better way to make a living doing what I love.  I used to love construction/plumbing and I made a pretty good living doing that. The past twelve years I've focused more on the art and while it has been extremely satisfying, the money part has always been a scramble with some years better than others. Last year was good, mostly because of the Dog Scratchin' book. I expect this year to be as good via the Cat Scratchin' book. Next year, there will be a new book, new art. And I hope to be doing it in a little Minnie Winnie or some other RV type vehicle. I'm ready to sell the house, release myself from some possessions and hit the road, while I can. I plan to keep a few home base cities, because, let's face it, I need a bank account and some kind of address. Plus there's the whole health care thing. I've got a good doctor and with the thyroid cancer history, I must be just a bit responsible. (and I need the damn meds)
Besides all that, I've got to make money, honey. These little 2"x2" original scratchboards will be made into pins or magnets or both. Fun little, inexpensive art pieces that I hope to sell at a few art shows and in my etsy shop. My friend here thinks more galleries is the answer. What do you think? I can't keep up with the two I'm in. What I've found is if you're not in the same city or area and don't make regular visits, your art isn't displayed or sold. So unless I can pop from one gallery to the next (and maybe I can once I get the RV) I must find a way to promote and market myself, which is something I really would rather not do. Oh damn it...

July Is The Cruelest Month

I've just come through what has been the darkest July I've ever had. (I'm sure there may have been darker times in my life, but this is the most recent, most painful one so let's leave it at that.) There wasn't any one thing that I can put my finger on and say, "This is it, that's what's causing all of this crap!"  No, just a general feeling of sadness, and failure, and even loss of faith in the path I'm on. Good god. Or maybe not good god. Art sales have been slow, and I haven't had any 'mailbox money' in a while. I'm not destitute yet, but have been feeling like something must change, and soon.  Last night I was even searching want ads to see if any jobs were out there for this 58 year old broke down woman contractor/artist without a college degree. Wah-- Poor me....right? Well, this morning I woke up and took a little ride on my bicycle and thought some things through. (it was a beautiful ride) I'm closer to having a plan of positive action now. I'm sure I'll keep all and any of you folks who read this blog posted, because I'm a sharing kind of gal. The last few months I had pretty much given up and had been feeling discouraged about my path. This is interesting because during that time I've also finished up the Cat Scratchin' book and sent it off to the designer, and had a successful little poster project fund on kickstarter. Go figure. None of that seemed to matter when I was feeling lowest. That's how it works I guess, the spiral down into that dimly lit cellar of hopelessness. Don't worry, I'm on my way back up now. I guess I had to fall down and get scuffed up a bit so I would figure out a different way to achieve the things I wish to do. Ultimately what I realized was that I could get a regular 'day job' (or two or three) and hate every minute of it, or do what it is I feel I'm meant to do and just love doing it, most of the time. I'm choosing love. It's going to be a little more work, but I'm pretty sure it's worth it. And I've been doing it for the past twelve years so why give up now?
The above photo is a fabulous mixed media sculpture (reflective traffic/construction materials etc...) hanging on the wall at the Hive restaurant at the 21C Museum Hotel in Bentonville, Arkansas. I went there last week and had lunch with a good friend and then we went on to Crystal Bridges to see the Angels and Tomboys exhibit. The food was good. The exhibit was ok, I wish there would've been more Tomboys, but that's just me. I thought it was kind of a weak show. (Great classical paintings, but give me 20th and 21st Century art any day of the week and I'm happy.)
Ok, here's my message for today; Don't give up...just don't.

Upcycle-ReUsed Vintage Lumber Folk Art Dogs And Cats

I've been in the process of tearing through a heap of vintage lumber that I moved three times in the last three years. The big pieces are becoming table tops and rolling work stations. I'm left with small scraps and I just hate throwing good wood away. Here you go--I'm in the process of building little dog and cat folk art gee-gaw statues. These are in the rough right now. I will throw some paint on them and embellish the eyes and such. Stay tuned, I'll put finished images up here. I work on these in my kitchen (on the counter) while watching episodes of whatever I can find on Nextflix and Hulu and Amazon. My favorite thing to do is to find a series so I can "binge-watch" while working on art or craft--go figure, it works for me.
I'm still working on the Cat Scratchin' book you can click here to jump over to that blog. I'm on schedule and happy.
I also have a small kickstarter project going to create posters from the Dog Scratchin' book. You can click here to see that.  I used some super cheap poster frames from the big box hobby store to show them off. Here's an image below to give you an idea of what they look like.

It's hot as hell, my ac is working overtime, my electric bill just came and it's almost double what it was last month. I'm remembering when I lived up on the mountain three years ago with no ac and only two windows that opened, during the summer! It was a good day when it was only 80 degrees in the house. How did I survive that??
Hey, have a day!

2 Sweet Dogs Commission

This is the work in progress from the previous post about "choices." You can see I've made quite a few, choices that is. There is some tweaking to finish, and a frame to build before I deliver it. My clients already approve and like it very much. I'll change the collar to red and make some other changes. This is a 16"x20" ampersand scratchboard with colored inks.  Lots of scratchin' going on there. In addition I've been scratchin' out cats left and right for the Cat Scratchin' book, and getting ready to launch a kickstarter project to create posters with the artwork from the Dog Scratchin' book.
Along with all of that, my truck which I love so much hit 200,000 miles last week. It came and went without the fanfare I had expected--no parade or confetti. I looked down and whoop there it went. Oh well. I personally put 160,000 of those miles on the truck in eight years of owning it.  I had always used 200,000 has a sort of milestone, although I can't remember what I thought would happen afterward. I'm in no hurry now, to sell or trade it in. I'm in no hurry to do anything right now. That is an unusual condition for me. I am always moving ahead, often quickly leaving folks in the dust. My movement forward has not always been in the 'right' direction, or should I say, sometimes in my haste I leap before I look. Like a cat though, I most often land on my feet. Or my ass, and then I have to pick myself up and dust off and try to make the best of it. Waiting and patience is not something I'm known for. But, here I am, waiting and studying to see what path is next for me. I will say I hope to be in a small travel trailer or rv type vehicle in the next year or so. Free of the responsibility of owning a house...and all the things that go with that. I can do what I'm doing, ie. the books the scratchboards, anywhere that there is a table to work on. I don't need stuff...There you have it. This time next week I hope to be raising some money to print dog posters. Don't worry, there will be plenty of notice about it.
 Until then, be happy. Really, that's it.

On The Drawing Table

Sorry I've been missing in action for a bit. Working on the Cat Scratchin' book and other commission pieces has kept me at the table scratchin' away for days. In fact everyday is an art day for me. Not a bad thing, I'm happy. I've found that I post less here and more on Instagram so if you are interested in following me at the profile blueyemonkey, that would be super cool. In the meantime, the above is the current cat on the table. Got to get back on it. Have a day!

Early Morning Studio Time

This morning I'm juggling several things, here is a shot of the studio table and it's pretty messy. I'm making folk art birds at the kitchen countertop, scratchboard drawings at the above table, franken-furniture pieces in the workshop, and mixing in some visiting with Bowen the dog (below) at his home with good friends.

He's the cutest little guy, but being a puppy I found I couldn't get anything done with him doing what puppies do. So he's still a part of my pack, but we are all happier.
Oh yeah, still funding the Cat Scratchin book on kickstarter. It's almost to the end...soon I get to start gathering and drawing the cats. Go here to see the project. If you have a rescued cat, you may want to jump in...like, uh, now....please.
I'll be in Austin next week starting a visit and teaching tour. Check out Casa De Linda in New Braunfels for a listing of classes, plus I'll be at Jerry's Artarama Austin Sunday the 17th doing a demo. Line up-sign up. Ok, that's all for now. Stay happy.

Scratchboard Demos And Kickstarter Project

Here's the February schedule of scratchboard drawing classes and demos: We'll be drawing dogs, monkeys, and flowers on Saturday Feb. 16th 9am-12 Casa De Linda New Braunfels, TX. / Sunday Feb. 13th 12-3pm Jerry's Artarama Austin, TX./ Tuesday Feb. 19th 9am-12 and 1-4pm Casa De Linda New Braunfels, TX. There is a small fee and pre-registration required at Casa De Linda. Jerry's Artarama is on N. IH 35 and is free but space is limited.
I'll also be giving a class at the Pavilion in Austin on the 22nd for residents and the 27th for Rockwall Middle School systems Teachers.  All in all a busy Feb for me. I continue to raise funds at the Cat Scratchin' book project on kickstarter. Funding ends on Feb 13th and I'll be on the road driving to Austin so won't be checking the $$ amount too often, or worrying about whether or not it will fund. Here's how kickstarter works, if I don't raise the amount I need I get none of the money and the project doesn't go forward. So if you are thinking about being a part of the book and have not picked a pledge level, please do so pretty soon. 24 days left to raise $7800.00.
I continue to learn about having a new puppy in my life. One week in we are making adjustments to each other.

Cats Baby Cats!

Well, the kickstarter Cat Scratchin' book project is in full swing! In 24 hours it is now at $901.00 which is amazing! But We've got a long way to go to hit that $7800.00 mark by Feb 13th. Here is the link please go and check it out. If you can't participate, that's fine, just give me a facebook like though if you will. And share the project with your friends who love cats. The above photo is a cat that belongs to a friend, Ginger likes to drink out of the watering can. The drawing is an earlier Ampersand scratchboard...old style Linda folk art. Still, fun. Thanks for stopping by.